Historical Figure:

Sumerian King

King of Uruk (modern day Iraq)

Also known as Bilgames

Legendary figure:

hero

2/3 divine - 1/3 human

son of Ninsun and King Lugalbanda

1. The two creation myths (Son of Ninsun + King Lugalbanda; Formed by nintu herself)

2. People of Uruk pray to Anu for relief of Gilgamesh's torments

3. Enkidu is created to match gilgamesh

4. Shamhat sleeps with Enkidu, Enkidu becomes civilized and goes to Uruk to try and stop Gilgamesh

5. Enkidu + Gilgamesh become friends

6. Quest to kill Humbaba (gets help from Shamash, 4 winds)

7. Ishtar wants Gilgamesh; Gilgamesh rejects her

8. Ishtar unleashes Bull of Heaven on Uruk; Gilgamesh kills it with help from Enkidu

9.  One of them must die because they have overstepped their mortal bounds

10.  Enkidu is killed by illness

11. Gilgamesh becomes sad about death; seeks immortality

12. Gilgamesh seeks Utnapishtim (the only man who is immortal)

13. told by Siduri (an alewife) to find Urshanabi (ferrymen)

14. Travels to Utnapishtim (across sea, at very edge of earth ["underworld-like place"])

15. Asks Utnapishtim about Immortality

16. Utnapistim tells the Flood Story (review)

17.  Says to Gilgamesh that a flood will never happen again so your only chance to become immortal is if you can stay awake for 6 days, 7 nights.

18. Gilgamesh fails to stay awake for 6 days, 7 nights

19. Realizes he will be die eventually, gives up quest for immortality.

20. Utnapishtim's wife suggests to look for magical plant that restores youth

21. finds plant in Apsu, a snake steals it.

22. Gilgamesh returns to Uruk and realizes that his cultural achievements (Uruk's walls that he built) equals immortality; his legacy will remain

-Babylonian Legendary hero

-Equal to Gilgamesh

-created by Nintu to match Gilgamesh

animalistic at start; becomes civilized when he sleeps with Shamhat

-Stops Gilgamesh's evil ways

-Gets killed by illness; illness sent by gods to punish him for overstepping mortal bounds (killing humbaba + bull of heaven)

Giant that is protector of a pine forest (power givin by Ellil)

Gets killed by Gilgamesh + Enkidu with help by Shamash (4 winds immobilizes Humbaba)

Ishtar = Babylonian god; God of sexual desire

Shamash = Babylonian god; Sun God

Man that becomes immortal (epic of gilgamesh flood story)

One of the 300 stories in The Thousand and One Nights

Arabic

Sassanid Empire

1200-1300 CE

an Arabic collection of stories

1200-1300 CE

Sassanid Empire (224-651 CE)

1. King Shahriar's wife commits adultery

2. Shahriar kills wife

3. So angry that every day he marries a virgin then kills her at night

4.  Vizier's daughter Scheherazade volunteers to marry Shahriar to end the murders

5. Scheherazade tells the King a story but does not finish it in order to stay alive for one day.

6. She does this for 1001 nights

7. Shahriar becomes humanized; doesn't kill wife, also pardons her.

8. All the stories she tells, is the stories written in The Thousand and One Nights

1. Buluqiya's Father tells his son to check inventory of possessions in the palace (Father is on his death bed)

2. Buluqiya discovers a gold box

3. Inside the gold  box is a greek parchment

4. the parchment tells of

a) a ring that originally belongs to adam 

b) the ring gives power to all living beings

c) location: isle of seven seas; can't sail there

d) magical plant sap enables you to walk across water

e)only queen Yamlika can give you plant

f)once you have ring, you can drink from fountain of life, grants immortality

5. Sage Affan as guide to Yamlika

6. Yamlika tells Buluqiya to stop this quest; instead take this plant (it grants eternal youth)

7. Buluqiya and Affan cross seven seas

8. Find a fruit tree; Buluqiya wants the fruit (they were starving I think?)

9. A giant is guarding the tree (the tree = tree of knowledge)

10. They give up on tree and find the tomb of Sulaiman instead

a) inside they find the ring.

b) Affan wants the ring; he needs a protective spell to touch it

c) buluqiya says spell; but he says it backwards

d) Affan is turned to dust when he touches ring

11. Story ends with Buluqiya at a loss at what to do.

Causation of Trojan War (Pre-story to Homer's Illiad)

1. Wedding of Peleus(King of Phthia) and Thetis(Sea nymph)

2. All gods invited to wedding except Eris ("discord" [disorder])

3. Eris shows up with golden apple ("For the most beutiful goddess")

4 Hera, Athena, Aphrodite all claim the apple is for them

5. Zeus is asked to decide

6. Doesn't want to; let's King of Troy (Paris/Alexander) decide

7. Each goddess tries to bribe mortal man

a) hera offers political power

b) athena offers military glory

c) aphrodite offers the most beutiful woman in world

8. Paris chooses Aphrodite

9. Paris chooses Helen for his woman

10. He breaks xenia by stealing helen. (he is guest of menelaus and Helen [Husband and wife])

11. Menelaus asks brother Agamemnon(Most powerful king; king of Mycenae) to raise an army to rescue Helen

12. Trojan war

a) fought at troy

b) lasts 10 years

c)greeks win it with Odyseus's(Hero w/ High Wisdom) Trojan Horse

written 750-700 BCE

Set during trojan war 1200 BCE

Iliad = "story about Troy"

in medias res = "In the middle of the things": Poem starts at 9th year of trojan war, ends a few weeks later

Greeks are not called Greeks

-called themselves Hellenes (post-Homer)

-Homer calls them Achaeans, Argives, or Danaans

Starts off with menis ("rage")

-anger of Achilles

Greek Oral Poet; Maybe writer as well

oral poet sorta like today's rappers

Used Dactylic Hexameter

Memorized a ton of formulae

1 example: "God-like Achilles"

-would place these formulae wherever he needed six syllables

Dactylic Hexameter

The poetic meter for Homer's epics

Each line of poetry has six parts and contains dactyls and spondees

dactyls = long-short-short

spondees = long-long

Daughter of Chryses

Agamemnon's war prize

son of Peleus/Thetis

Best warrior

chooses short life but eternal kleos; instead of long life.

kills hector

river god

tries to drown achilles because he is angry that achilles is clogging up river (Himself) with dead Trojans

Greatest Trojan warrior

Kills Patroclus

dies by Achilles

a mighty warrior; Greek; part of embasy for achilles.

his words have effect on achilles

Greek god "Discord"

ruins Peleus/Thetis Wedding

daughter of Greek god Nereus

a sea nymph

mother of achilles

father of achilles

King of Phthia (mortal man)

King of Troy

Starts Trojan war by taking Helen