Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh Assignments Questions: The first ten tablets of the Gilgamesh Epic are briefly summarized on pages 16-17 of the introduction. Here is a link to [|another one]. To understand the the story, be certain to review one (or both). Why have the editors of the text provided two different versions of Tablet XI of the epic? What is it about Utnapishtim, he who has been the lone mortal to enter the assembly of the gods and to gain eternal life, that surprises Gilgamesh when he finally encounters him? If the gods have sworn to keep secret their plan to destroy humankind, how does Utnapishtim learn of the ensuing disaster? Contrast this flood account with the one in Genesis (pp. 43-46), considering points such as the reason for the flood, instructions for building the boat, who/what was taken on the boat, how long the flood lasted, the number/types of birds released to test for dry land, circumstances of sacrifice after getting off boat, and the nature of the divine covenant/promise for the future. How does Utnapishtim test Gilgamesh to see if he is worthy of immortality? What is the symbolic significance of the passage about the bath and new clothes? As Gilgamesh is leaving, Utnapishtim--at his wife's insistence--reveals one further secret of the gods. What is it? How does Gilgamesh gain--and then lose--this secret thing? Is there a parallel to the Garden of Eden story here? What significance is the sloughing of the skin? Was Gilgamesh's search futile, or did he learn something of value? At the end, is he a defeated man or a wiser man capable of living a productive life? http://www.octc.kctcs.edu/crunyon/e261C/02-Gilgamesh/GilgQues.htm


 * || **Mesopotamia** **Reader**


 * [|The Code of Hammurabi]

Mesopotamia Glossary**


 * [|Cuneiform]** ||
 * || **Gilgamesh** was an historical king of Uruk in Babylonia, on the River Euphrates in modern Iraq; he lived about 2700 B.C. Although historians (and your textbook) tend to emphasize **Hammurabi** and his code of law, the civilizations of the Tigris-Euphrates area, among the first civilizations, focus rather on Gilgamesh and the legends accruing around him to explain, as it were, themselves. Many stories and myths were written about Gilgamesh, some of which were written down about 2000 B.C. in the Sumerian language on clay tablets which still survive; the Sumerian language, as far as we know, bears no relation to any other human language we know about. These Sumerian Gilgamesh stories were integrated into a longer poem, versions of which survive not only in Akkadian (the Semitic language, related to Hebrew, spoken by the Babylonians) but also on tablets written in Hurrian and Hittite (an Indo-European language, a family of languages which includes Greek and English, spoken in Asia Minor). All the above languages were written in the script known as cuneiform, which means "wedge-shaped." The fullest surviving version, from which the summary here is taken, is derived from twelve stone tablets, in the Akkadian language, found in the ruins of the library of Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria 669-633 B.C., at Nineveh. The library was destroyed by the Persians in 612 B.C., and all the tablets are damaged. The tablets actually name an author, which is extremely rare in the ancient world, for this particular version of the story: Shin-eqi-unninni. You are being introduced here to the oldest known human author we can name by name! ||


 * This summary is derived from several sources: translations, commentaries, and academic scholarship on the Shin-eqi-unninni tablets. Verses are derived from several English and French translations in consultation with the English and German language commentaries and with the Babylonian text. For the entire text, you should turn to //The Epic of Gilgamesh//, trans. by Maureen Gallery Kovacs (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990), or //Gilgamesh// , translated by John Maier and John Gardner (New York: Vintage, 1981)
 * This summary is derived from several sources: translations, commentaries, and academic scholarship on the Shin-eqi-unninni tablets. Verses are derived from several English and French translations in consultation with the English and German language commentaries and with the Babylonian text. For the entire text, you should turn to //The Epic of Gilgamesh//, trans. by Maureen Gallery Kovacs (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990), or //Gilgamesh// , translated by John Maier and John Gardner (New York: Vintage, 1981)

As you read this short summary, ask yourself the following questions: 1. **Themes**. The first things you want to sort out are the ideas which seem to animate the work. One of the problems with literature, art, mythology, etc., is that you can never be quite sure that you've correctly identified the central ideas or philosophy of the work, but you should take a stab at it anyway. Keep in mind that there is no such thing as one and only one idea in a work of literature, and that in most art and literature, like life, there is no one correct answer concerning any single issue. To identify an idea, question, or theme that the work seems to treat, look for specific places where that idea seems to be a concern; mark these passages and combine and contrast them when you begin to try to resolve what the work seems to be about. The questions I provide in these reading notes are meant to organize the families of questions you can bring to these texts.

2. **Structure**. Try to define for yourself the overall structure of the story. This narrative has two distinct parts; what are these parts and how are they separated? How do events in the second part of the narrative repeat or develop ideas in the first part of the narrative? Do these events contrast with or develop themes and values articulated in the first part of the narrative?

3. **The Nature of the Heroic**. When you read the myth, notice how Gilgamesh is presented as superhuman, so powerful that the gods create a counterpart to moderate his desires and actions. Do you get the sense that Gilgamesh and Enkidu should have spared the demon of the cedar forest? Despite all of Gilgamesh's power, he is unable to prevent Enkidu's death, and the narrative changes direction. How can one describe Gilgamesh as a hero in the last half of the work? What has he achieved at the end of the poem? Why is this important?

4. **The Gods**. The gods in Gilgamesh are a bit problematic. How do the gods behave? What is their relation to humans? How much freedom do humans have, or are they merely subject to the will of these gods? ||


 * || **Hebrews Reader**


 * [|Genesis: The Flood]** ||
 * || 6. **The Flood**. The story of the Flood is a familiar one, as we shall see in //Genesis// and //Popol Vuh// (Plato also gives an account of the Flood and the city of Atlantis in the dialogue, //Critias// ; the Nez Perce of the Palouse also have a flood story in which the only humans that survived did so by climbing the mountain, Yamustus, that is, Steptoe Butte). The earliest surviving reference to the Flood goes back to 1900 B.C. Why is it brought in here? Why do the gods bring on the Flood? Is any reason given? (Later compare the reasons for the floods in Genesis and Popol Vuh.) What does it tell us about the nature of history and the relation of the gods to humanity? ||

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/GILG.HTM

6 And Yahweh regretted having made man on the face of the earth, and his heart grieved. 7 And Yahweh said, "I will wipe man from the face of the earth, man, my own creation and also the animals of the field, and the creatures that crawl on the ground, and the birds of the air; for I regret having made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of Yahweh. 9 These are the lines of Noah: Noah was a righteous man, he was blameless among his contemporaries; Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah fathered three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in the face of God, and the earth was full of violence. 12 And God saw the earth and see! it was corrupt, for every one had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, "The end of every person is coming before me, for the earth is filled with their violence, so now I am destroying them along with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark of cypress wood! Make rooms in the ark and coat it inside and out with pitch. 15 And this is how you will build [it]: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, her width fifty cubits, her height thirty cubits. 16 Make a roof for the ark and finish her within a cubit from above, **[|1]** and put the door of the ark on the side, and make a lower, a second and a third deck. 17 And now I am bringing a flood of waters over the earth, to destroy every creature that has the breath of life, everything under the heavens and on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my Covenant with you, and you will enter the ark, you, your sons, your wife, your sons' wives with you. 19 From all living things, of every creature, you will bring two, male and female, into the ark to stay alive with you. 20 Of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal according to its kind, and of every kind of creature that crawls on the ground according to its kind, two from all these will go with you to stay alive. 21 And take every kind of food that is eaten and store it for yourself and for them as food." 22 So Noah did all that God commanded him [to do]. 2 From every kind of clean animal take with you seven, both male and their mates; from every kind of animal that is not clean take two, a male and his mate, 3 also from the birds of the air, seven, both male and female, to keep their kind alive on the face of the earth. 4 For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe away from the face of the earth every creature that I made." 5 And Noah did all that Yahweh commanded. 6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters [appeared] on the earth. 7 Noah with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives entered the ark [to escape] the face of the waters of the flood. 8 From the clean animals and from the animals that are not clean, and from the birds and all that crawls on the ground, 9 in pairs they came to Noah and the ark, male and a female, just as God had commanded. 10 And after seven days the waters of the flood appeared on the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, and on the seven­teenth day of that month, that very day all the springs of the great deep broke through, and the floodgates of the heavens opened. 12 And the rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights. 13 That very day Noah and Noah's sons Shem, Ham and Japheth, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons boarded the ark, 14 and with every animal of its kind, all cattle of its kind, every creature that crawls on the ground, and every kind of bird of its kind, every bird, and everything with wings. 15 One pair of every creature that had the breath of life in them came to Noah into the ark; 16 and the ones going in were male and a female of every creature, just as God had commanded him. Then Yahweh closed the door behind him. 17 And the flood came for forty days on the earth, and the waters increased, and the ark rose from the earth. 18 And the waters rose and the waters increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters. 19 And the waters rose very greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heaven were covered. 20 The waters rose fifteen cubits **[|2]** higher, and the mountains were covered. 21 And every creature crawling on the earth, with the birds, and with the cattle, and with the animals, and with everything that swarms on the earth, and all mankind perished. 22 Everything that has the breath of life in its nostrils, everything on the land died. 23 And everything living thing on the face of the earth, from man to animals to crawlers, and the birds of the air, were wiped out. And they were wiped out from the earth, and only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. 24 And the waters flooded the earth for one hundred and fifty days. Chapter 8: 1 But God remembered Noah, and all the wild animals and all the cattle with him in the ark, and God sent a wind across the earth and the waters receded. 2 And the springs of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were closed, and the rain ceased [to fall] from heaven, 3 and the waters continued to recede from the earth, and receded, and the end of one hundred and fifty days the waters went down, 4 and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of that month, the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters continued to recede until the mountain tops became visible in the tenth month, on the first day of that month. 6 And at the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made. . 7 Then he sent out the raven, and it went out, and returned, until the waters dried from the earth. 8 Then he sent out the dove, to see if the waters had receded from the surface of the earth. 9 But she did not find a place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him in the ark, for the waters were over the whole surface of the earth. And he reached out his hand, and he took her, and he brought her back to himself in the ark. 10 And he waited seven more days and he again sent out the dove from the ark. 11 When the dove returned to him in the evening, see!, a freshly-picked olive leaf in her beak! Then Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 And he waited seven more days, and he sent out the dove, and she did not again return to him. 13 And he was in the six hundredth and first year of his life, on the first day of the first month of that year; the waters dried up from the earth and Noah removed the covering from the ark and looked out: see! the surfaces of the ground were dry! 14 And by the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of that month, the earth was dry. 15 Then God said to Noah, 16 "Come out of the ark, you, your wife, and your sons, and the wives of your sons. 17 Bring out with every living thing, every creature, with the birds, and the animals, and with all the creatures that crawl on the ground, so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase upon the earth." 18 So Noah, and his sons, and his wife, and the wives of his sons came out. 19 Every animal, every crawler, and every bird, everything that moved on the earth came out from the ark. 20 Then Noah built an altar to Yahweh and he took from every kind of clean animal and from every kind of clean bird, and he sacrificed burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And Yahweh smelled the pleasant aroma, and Yahweh said in his heart, "I will not again curse the ground because of man, even though the inclination of the heart of man [is] evil from childhood. And I will not again destroy every living thing as I just did. 22 During all the days of the earth, seed time and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night will never cease. 2 and the fear of you and the dread of you will be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the air, on everything that moves on the ground and on all the fishes of the sea. Into your hands are they given. 3 Everything that moves will be food for you, just as I gave you green plants [for food]. 4 But you must not eat meat with the lifeblood [in it]. 5 And surely for your life blood I will demand an accounting, and from every animal I will demand an accounting, and from every man I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. 6 The one who sheds the blood of a man by man his blood will be shed. For in the image of God he made man. 7 And you: Be fruitful and increase. Multiply on the earth and increase [your number] on her. 8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons, 9 "See! I am now establishing my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature with you: with the birds, with the cattle, and with every animal of the earth with you, with all those coming out of the ark, with every living creature of the earth, 11 and I establish my covenant with you, and life will never again be cut off by the waters of the flood, and the earth will never again be destroyed. 12 And God said, "This is the sign of this covenant that I am making for generations to come between me and you and every living creature that is with you: 13 I set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth, 14 and when I send clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and every living creature of every kind, and the waters of the flood will not again destroy all life. 16 When the rainbow is in the cloud and I see it, I will remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of every kind on the earth. 17 So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I established between me and all life on earth." //Translated from the Hebrew by Richard Hooker (©1994)//
 * Chapter 6**: 5 And Yahweh saw that man's wickedness was great over the face of the earth, and that all day the thoughts in his heart formed nothing but wickedness.
 * Chapter 7**: 1 Then Yahweh said to Noah, "Go! You and all of yours go into the ark, for I found you righteous before me among this generation.
 * Chapter 9**: 1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, and he said to them, "Be fruitful and in­crease and fill the earth,

ENDNOTES
[|1] Meaning: "leave an opening between the ark and the roof one cubit (about half a meter or sixteen inches) wide" [|2] About twenty feet (6.9 meters).

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/HEBREWS/GENFLOOD.HTM

GILGAMESH: he who saw all During the ORIAS summer institute on History Through Literature, 6th and 7th grade teachers shared resources and sketched out possible lesson plans for introducing epic heroes and villains from the ancient and medieval worlds. During the coming year we will share some of these ideas with you in our newsletters. In this issue we are highlighting lessons for Gilgamesh. The historical Gilgamesh was a Sumerian king of Uruk around 2700 B.C. Sumerian fragments of the legend that grew up around him have been found dating back to about 2000 BC. The most complete version of the story comes from twelve clay tablets in Akkadian copied by Shin-eqi-unninni around the seventh century B.C. They were found in the ruins of the Library of Ashurbanipal of Nineveh and, like the earlier Sumerian tablets, were written in the “wedge-shaped” script known as cuneiform. You can find a summary of the story derived from these tablets on the University of Washington’s World Cultures Home Page maintained by Richard Hooker at http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/GILG.HTM //See the bibliography below for suggested student versions of the epic.//

BIBLIOGRAPHY
 * Dr. John Hayes, from the Department of Near Eastern Studies, supplied the class with most of the following bibliography of basic books on the Ancient Near East:**
 * Children's version of Gilgamesh**
 * Zeman, Ludmila. Gilgamesh the King (1992), The Last Quest of Gilgamesh (1994), The Revenge of Ishtar (1995). Toronto: Tundra Books. 1992. Paperbacks.


 * ARAMCO World, "Zeman's Gilgamesh." May-June 1996. (See "Free" section below for contact information.)
 * Finkel, Irving. //The Hero King Gilgamesh//. Illinois: NTC Publishing Group, 19998. (First published in the United Kingdom in 1998 gy British Museum Press.) ISBN 0-8442-4701-4. Hardback. $12.95 Irving Finkel is a curator in the Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities, British Museum. He is the author of several books for children and his retelling of the epic is good for the middle school reader who is ready for a more challenging text than the Zeman picture books offer. It is about 30 pages of text and includes16 excellent reproductions from the museum collections.

Aramco World Teachers can request a complimentary subscription to Aramco World by writing Aramco World, Box 469008, Escondido, CA 92046-9008.
 * Gilgamesh**
 * Readable scholarly translation:**
 * Kovacs, Maureen Gallery. //The Epic of Gilgamesh//. 1989. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Paperback.
 * Interpretive background:**
 * //Maier, John (ed.). Gilgamesh: A Reader. 1997.// Wauconda IL: Bolchazy-Carducci. Hardbound. Expensive.
 * Extension reading for heroes in the Near and Middle East:**
 * //Zenobia//**
 * Readable scholarly presentation of Zenobia, queen of Palmyra: Stoneman, Richard. //Palmyra// //and Empire: Zenobia’s Revolt Against Rome// at Ann Arbor: Univeristy of Michigan Press, 1992.
 * //Sindbad the Sailor//**
 * Readable reliable translation: Haddawi, Husain. The Arabian Nights I-II, 1991-95. New York: W.W. Norton. Paperbacks. Watch for Ludmila Zeman's retelling of Sindbad for children this year from Tundra Books.
 * Collections of Primary Sources:**
 * 1967 Oppenheim, A. Leo. //Letters from Mesopotamia//. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
 * 1989 Dalley, Stephanie. //Myths from Mesopotamia//. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 * 1995 Foster, Benjamin. //From Distant Days: Myths, Tales, and Poetry of Ancient Mesopotamia//. Bethesda: CDL Press.
 * More Popular:**
 * 1963 Kramer, Samuel Noah. The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
 * 1967 Oates, David and Joan Oates. The Rise of Civilization. New York: Phaidon Press.
 * 1968 Gray, John. Near Eastern Mythology. London: Hamlyn.
 * 1981 Kramer, Samuel Noah. History Begins at Sumer: Thirty-Nine Firsts in Man’s Recorded History. Third edition. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
 * 1988 Knapp, A. Bernard. The History and Culture of Ancient Western Asia and Egypt. Chicago: Dorsey Press.
 * 1989 Saggs, H.W.F. Civilization Before Greece and Rome. New Haven: Yale University Press.
 * 1992 Black, Jeremy and Anthony Green. Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary. Austin: University of Texas Press.
 * 1995 Saggs, H.W.F. Babylonians. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
 * Free**

Lesson Plans Gilgamesh Lives By Deborah Petranek, Winship Junior High, Eureka,CA Grade: 6th grade / Time: 3-4 weeks By Deborah Petranek, Winship Junior High, Eureka,CA Grade: 6th grade Time: 3-4 weeks Create a class book of ancient and medieval “heroes and villains.” Small groups each choose an episode of Gilgamesh to retell and illustrate. ¨ This could be a year-long project with stories from ancient Greece, China and India and stories of other peoples and lands that would be published as a culminating project for the school year. o Ludmila Zeman, //Gilgamesh the King//. Tundra Books, 1992. (ISBN 0-88776-437-1) o Ludmila Zeman, //Revenge of Ishtar//. Tundra Books, 1994. (ISBN 0-88776-436-3) o Ludmila Zeman, //Last Quest of Gilgamesh//. Tundra Books, 1995. (ISBN 0-88776-380-4) o ARAMCO WORLD, May-June 1996, “Zeman’s Gilgamesh.” o Ideal technology materials: Class computers with internet access, encyclopedia program such as Encarta, drawing program such as KidPix, graphics presentation program such as Hyperstudio, printer, digital camera. o Index cards or squares of scrap paper. In the absence of high technology, good old pen, ink and scissors can be used. 1. As individuals or small groups choose an episode of the story of Gilgamesh that illustrates heroic and/or villainous qualities. 2. Research the art of the age, area and people described in the story. 3. Following the 10 Step Project Development Process below, outline the story and create a script. 4. Create a storyboard of the outline. 5. Write the story with illustrations using KidPix (or equivalent drawing program), importing graphics to Hyperstudio (or equivalent presentation program) where text is added.
 * Procedure:**
 * Project Extension:**
 * Materials:**
 * __Student Activities:__**
 * Read aloud** the Gilgamesh story retold by Ludmila Zeman and the ARAMCO World article on Ludmila Zeman. Give students an opportunity to thoroughly view Zeman’s illustrations.
 * Discussion:** What is a hero? What is heroic? What is a villain? What is villainous?
 * Assignment:**

1. Determine project focus and audience § Answer these key questions: How does your story illustrate the qualities of heroes and villains? As storytellers, how can you point out these qualities to your audience? § Generate and organize ideas by brainstorming. Accept all contributions. Ask for details if idea is unclear. § Use webbing, mapping, or grids to identify the major ideas in your story. § Categorize and classify the heroic and villainous qualities you want to portray. § Look for similarities and differences between heroes and villains (compare and contrast). 2. Describe what materials and resources you need and how you will determine if your project is successful 3. Write a three paragraph proposal/ Get first approval signature § Paragraph One: Why are you doing this? What is your key question? § Paragraph Two: What is your subject focus? Who is your audience? Name the type of presentation (examples: KidPix, MSWord, PowerPoint, HyperStudio) § Paragraph Three: How am I going to do this (equipment such as recorders, audio or video, materials, knowledge …)? What resources will be needed (photos, films scripts, text)? 4. Share and revise project proposal Discuss with teammates and instructor: § Does the project address the criteria set in the first step of the process? § Do the learners have the knowledge, skills and time to do the project? § Is the project relevant to the Key Question that was developed? 5. Research books, articles, art history/photos and drawings on the internet, in the library and other available resources. 6. Develop outline, script, and storyboards: Use index cards or scratch paper to outline the project. § For linear presentations, place the cards in sequence to make a script with enough details to describe text, pictures, video and audio § For interactive or non-linear projects develop a storyboard for each card and map of the overall project clearly labeling text, pictures, video, audio and links between cards. 7. Get approval for script or storyboard § Share script or storyboards with the instructor § Determine whether the learners have the knowledge, skills and time to do the project as planned. 8. Engage in project work § Monitor and adjust the use of resources as needed § Monitor you own time so you are able to complete your project 9. Premier projects: § Share projects with the whole class in a formal presentation § Participate in an assessment process that engages the presenters, audience and instructor in constructive feedback that will promote growth. 10. Assess projects. § Review the products in relation to the project criteria established in Step One. Evaluate the products based on the model identified in Step Two.
 * Ten Step Project Development Process**

Gilgamesh the Hero By Johanna Rauhala, Valley View Middle School, Mt. Diablo, CA Grade: 6th grade / Time: 3 class periods § Ludmila Zeman, Gilgamesh the King. Tundra Books, 1992. (ISBN 0-88776-437-1) § Ludmila Zeman, Revenge of Ishtar. Tundra Books, 1994. (ISBN 0-88776-436-3) § Ludmila Zeman, Last Quest of Gilgamesh. Tundra Books, 1995. (ISBN 0-88776-380-4) § Plain 81/2" by 11" paper for each student, divided into eight squares. (This will become a literature map.) § Overhead transparency
 * Materials:**

1. Have students fold their plain white paper to make eight squares. Have students set this aside. 2. Put the word “hero” on the board or the overhead. Have students brainstorm any words that come to mind when they hear this. (I sometimes tell students that they can call out their answers, and I try to write as fast as I can so that ideas are kept flowing.) List as many words as possible. 3. Ask: “What makes someone a hero? What does someone have to do in order to be a hero? What do they have to be like?” List some of these on the board. Students should not only begin describing characteristics, but also experiences and personal similarities that heroes share. 4. Take the white paper and have students number the boxes 1 to 8 from left to right. 5. On top of each box, write each stage of the hero’s journey from Joseph Campbell’s Hero With 1000 Faces. § Stage 1. The calling § Stage 2. Helper § Stage 3. Tests § Stage 4. “Belly of the whale” or Abyss § Stage 5. Final struggle ¨ Stage 6. Elixir § Stage 7. Flight § Stage 8. Return home 6. Review what each stage means with students. It would probably help to bring in examples from the Star Wars series. 7. Tell students that they are about to hear the story of a Mesopotamian hero named Gilgamesh. They will only be hearing the first part of the story, so remind them that the story isn’t finished. They are to listen for: 1) who is Gilgamesh? And 2) how his actions fit into the stages of the hero’s journey. 8. Read the first story to students, stopping at points to review basic plot/character elements. 9. Go over, as a class, the first three stages of the hero’s journey. Did Gilgamesh do any of these things? Write down, in note-taking form, ideas as appropriate. 10. Repeat this process with the next two books, only allowing students to work in pairs/groups at first and then regrouping to go over Gilgamesh’s journey. 11. Once students have filled in their literature maps with the steps of Gilgamesh’s journey; discuss whether students think he is a hero. § Have students, in pairs, create their own “epic” and hero using the steps of the hero’s journey learned in the Gilgamesh stories. They can create a large-scale drawing of their hero and read these out loud. § Have students create a mini-journal of four entries from the point of view of Gilgamesh or another character in the stories. They must include information about geography, food, clothing and religion. Have students create a pictorial essay (colored pencil drawing in background, writing in foreground — this is done on legal-sized white construction paper) describing why they think/do not think Gilgamesh is a hero. They must support opinions with facts from the story. Gilgamesh the Hero By Sheryl Hott Little Oak School, Dobbins, CA Grade: 1st-6th / Time: 1-2 days **Materials:** § Ludmila Zeman, //Gilgamesh the King//. Tundra Books, 1992. (ISBN 0-88776-437-1) § Ludmila Zeman, Revenge of Ishtar. Tundra Books, 1994. (ISBN 0-88776-436-3) § Ludmila Zeman, Last Quest of Gilgamesh. Tundra Books, 1995. (ISBN 0-88776-380-4) § Container for clay ¨ Digging tool for clay ¨ Plank for working on clay tablets creekside § Cunieform writing tools (case knives, chopsticks whittled to one of 3 shapes, willow or other twigs whittled to shape) § Modeling clay for cuneiform practice; FIMO Clay to produce a lasting cuneiform product § Pictures/examples of archaeology, architecture and artifacts of ancient Sumer § Harp or zither § World Atlas or map § Map of Mesopotamia or SW Asia showing Tigris and Euphrates rivers § 5X7 paper with quote: “You’re all fools, heroic fools” —X-Men § Large bowl of lentils § Cuneiform example by Prof. John Hayes provided below
 * Activities:**
 * Extension activities:**

§ Weather permitting, walk to creek, dig clay for cuneiform tablets. § On a plank, form rounds or tablets and write cunieform using websites or examples provided by Dr. Hayes below. § Clean up. § Provide several opportunities to practice cunieform. Encourage both true copying and creation or words or phrases. Provide FIMO for permanent product. § Construct a timeline showing own birthday, personally significant dates, lifetime of Gilgamesh and time epic was written (2600 BCE and 2000 BCE). (See web resources below.) § Decorate with drawings and pictures of archeological digs, artifacts or architecture of ancient Sumer. § Begin to understand the magnitude of 2,000 and 7,000 and 600 years by estimating the amounts with palmfuls of lentils or rice. Count 100 kernels into the palm, then estimate the remaining amount by continously scooping equivalent palmfuls. § During the above project, listen to the background Arabic music (dancing when finished or need a break). § Look at a world atlas or map locating hometown and SW Asia. On SW Asia or Mesopotamian map locate Tigris and Euphrates rivers and (approximately) Uruk. § Listen to or read the X-Men quote, “You’re all fools, heroic fools.” Tell what you think a hero is. § Listen to the epic retold by Ludmila Zeman. Lightly play the harp or zither during the reading/singing of the book. Talk about the story and Gilgamesh as a hero.
 * Activities:**

Follow-up: The following day look at pictures of cuneiform, archaeological digs, artifacts and architecture again. § Ask what was the most interesting part of yesterday’s activities? Where is SW Asia? Who was Gilgamesh? If there is still real interest shown, more Gilgamesh books by Zeman can be read and other creative projects planned.

Cuneiform Example - provided by Dr. John Hayes
 * Read from left to right.**

1: lugal-Ki-en-gi-Ki-uri-ke the king of Sumer and Akkad 2: é-a-ni his temple 3: mu-na-dù he built
 * Transliteration** **Translation**

class site: 2000 http://www.ias.berkeley.edu/orias/gilgamesh.html