the epic of Gilgamesh and greek tradigies

Aegeus

" I need the help of your clever mind"

Chorus

" the boys are bead, their mother killed them... open the doors, you will see how they died."

What is a "forest"?

"A woodland district, usually belonging to the king, set apart for hunting wild beasts and game...having special laws and officers of its own"(OED)

Gilgamesh

"As I look upon you, Utanapishtim, / Your limbs are not different, you are just as I am"

chorus

"As you have held me to my oath, I speak: / I neither killed the king nor can declare / the killer; but since Phoebus set the quest / it is his part to tell who the man is"

repetition of lines

"At twenty double leagues they took a bite to eat, At thirty double leagues they made their camp.Fifty double leagues they went in a single day,A journey of a month and a half in three days.They approached Mount Lebanon..."

nurse

"But here are the boys coming back from the track, not thinking about their mothers problems"

Ishtar

"Come Gilgamesh, you shall be my bridegroom! / Give, oh me of your lusciousness! / You shall be my husband and I shall be your wife"

Humbaba mocks Enkidu

"Come now Enkidu, small-fry, who does not know his father, / Spawn of a turtle or tortoise, who sucked no mother's milk!"

Enkidu

"Enlil has appointed him to terrify the people"

Oedipus

"Even were this no matter of god's ordinance / it would not fit you so to leave it lie, / unpurified, since a good man is dead / and one that was a king"

Same as the beginning of the poem(ending)

"Go up, Ur-Shanabi, pace out the walls of Uruk. / Study the foundation terrace and examine the brickwork. / Is not its masonry of kiln-fired brick? / And did not seven masters lay its foundations?/ One square mile of city, one square mile of gardens, / One square mile of clay pits, a half square mile of Ishtar's dwelling, / Three and half square miles is the measure of Uruk!"

Oedipus

"Hark to me; what I say to you, I say / as one that is a stranger to the story / as stranger to the deed"

Gilgamesh

"Hear ye blacksmith, lapidary, metalworker, goldsmith, jeweler! / Make an image of my friend, / Such as no one ever made of his friend! / I will lay you down in the ultimate resting place"

Oedipus

"I command all to drive him from their homes, / since he is our pollution, as the oracle / of Pytho'sgod proclaimed him now to me"

strophe

"I do not approve what was said / nor can I deny it. / I do not know what to say; / I am in a flutter of foreboding" (541-4)

oedipus

"I have sent Menoeceus' son / Creon, Jocasta's brother to Apollo, / to his Pythian temple, / that he might learn there by what act or word / I could save his city" (78-82)

Utanapishtim

"I looked at the weather, stillness reigned, / And the whole human race had turned into clay. / The landscape was flat as a rooftop. / I opened the hatch, sunlight fell upon my face. / Falling to my knees, I sat down weeping, / Tears running down my face"

Teiresias

"I see that even your own words / miss the mark; therefore, I must fear for mine / ... / I will not / bring to the light of day my troubles, mine- / rather than call them yours"

Oedipus

"I will bring this to light again / ... / when I drive the pollution from the land / I will not serve a distant friend's advantage, / but act in my own interest"

Medea

"I will send her the most splendid gifts that can be found anywhere in the world [a delicate robe and a golden crown] and the boys will take them"

Gilgamesh asks the elders of Uruk for their blessing

"I will set my hand to cutting a cedar,An eternal name I will make for myself!"

Gilgamesh

"If I fall on the way, I'll establish my name:'Gilgamesh, who joined battle with fierce Humbaba' they'll say"

Medea

"Just let me stay here for one more day so I can work out my plans for exile and make some arrangements for my sons, since their father is not inclined to help"

Anu

"Let them summon Aruru, the great one, She created the boundless human race. Let her create a partner for Gilgamesh, mighty in strength, Let them contend with each other, that Uruk may have peace"

Enkidu

"May you never make a home you can enjoy, / May you never caress a child of your own, / ... / May beer sludge impregnate your lap" "Because you diminished me, an innocent, / Yes me, an innocent, you wronged me in my steppe"

Gilgamesh to Enkidu

"My friend, Humbaba's features have grown more grotesque, / We strode up like heroes to vanquish him"

Gilgamesh

"My friend, why were the great gods in council?" "I will make your image of gold beyond measure"

Medea

"My plan is clear: as fast as I can I will plan is clear: as fast as I can I will kill my sons and leave this land, I cannot hold back and let those and let those boys be slaughtered by someone who loves them less. they have to die, so it is only right that I who gave them life should kill them"

Utanapishtim

"No one sees death, / No one sees the face of death, / No one hears the voice of death, / But cruel death cuts off mankind." "The sleeper and the dead, how alike they are! / They limn not death's image" "[The gods] did not reveal the time of death"

Gilgamesh

"Now then, tavern keeper, what is the way to Utanapishtim?"

tavern keeper(siduri)

"Now then, tavern keeper, what is the way to Utanapishtim?"

Ninsun

"O Shamash, will not Gilgamesh [become a judge] among the gods for you? / Will he not share heaven with you?"

Gilgamesh roams the steppe, mourning his friend

"Shall I not die too? Am I not like Enkidu? / Oh woe has entered my vitals! / I have grown afraid of death, so I roam the steppe"

nurse

"She is fierce. If you get into a fight with her, you won't come out singing a victory song"

Ishtar

"That bully Gilgamesh who demeaned me, he's killed the Bull of Heaven!"

Tavern keeper

"The eternal life you are seeking you shall not find. / [...] / [The gods] established death for mankind, / And withheld eternal life for themselves. / [...] / This, then, is the work of mankind"

Oedipus

"The town is heavy with a mingles burden / of sounds and smells, of groans and hymns and incense"

Teiresias

"The truth is what I cherish / and that's my strength"

Ea

"Then Enlil came up into the boat, / Leading me by the hand, he brought me up too. / He brought my wife up and had her kneel beside me. / He touched our brows, stood between us to bless us; / 'Hitherto Utanapishtim has been a human being, / Now Utanapishtim and his wife shall become like us gods. / Utanapishtim shall dwell at the source of the rivers'"

Gilgamesh

"Then he covered his friend's face, like a bride's. / He hovered round him like an eagle, / Like a lioness whose cubs are in a pitfall, He paced to and fro, back and forth, / Tearing out and hurling away the locks of his hair, / Ripping off and throwing away his fine clothes like something foul" "I will put on a lion skin and roam the steppe!"

Gilgamesh

"There dwells in the forest the fierce monster Humbaba, You and I shall kill him"

Utanapishtim

"Upon you he shall shower down in abundance, / A windfall of birds, a surprise of fishes" "Beasts of the steppe, wild animals of the steppe, all types of skilled / craftsmen I sent up on board"

Ishtar

"Well then, Father, pretty please, the Bull of Heaven, / So I can kill Gilgamesh on his home ground. / If you don't give me the Bull of Heaven, / [...] / I'll raise the dead to the devour the living, / The dead shall outnumber the living!"

Gilgamesh

"What then should I do, Utanapishtim, whither should I go, / Now that the Bereaver has seized my flesh?"

Gilgamesh

"What would I get if I marry you? / You are a brazier that goes out when it freezes, / A flimsy door that keeps out neither wind nor draught"

Enkidu overhears her

"When Enkidu heard Ishtar said, / He tore off the bull's haunch and flung it at her"

Utanapishtim

"When the seventh day arrived, / I brought out a dove and set it free. / The dove went off and returned, / [...] / I brought out a swallow and set it free, / [...] / I brought out a raven and set it free, / The raven went off and saw the ebbing of the waters" "The gods smelled the savor, / The gods smelled the sweet savor, / The gods crowded the sacrificer like flies"

The elders respond

"You are young, Gilgamesh, your feelings carry you away,You are ignorant of what you speak, flightiness has taken you. You do not know what you are attempting"

Teiresias

"You blame my temper but you do not see / your own that lives within you; it is me / you chide"

Enkidu

"You have brought Gilgamesh before me, / You stand there, a barbarian foe!"

Ur-Shanabi

"Your own hands have foiled you Gilgamesh, / You have smashed the Stone Charms, you have thrown them into / the channel. / The Stone Charms, Gilgamesh, are what carry me"

nurse

"[In Corinth] where even in exile she has charmed the citizens of her new home, doing could to help her husband.That is the strongest safeguard there is: when a wife always sides with her husband"

the people of Uruk

"this is the shepherd of ramparted Uruk, this is the people's shepherd, bold, superb, accomplished, and mature!"

Jason

"you women there standing beside the house, it Medea inside, the perpetrator of these terrible crimes?"

Tablet 1: What makes a good leader? &. Does Gilgamesh have these qualities yet? Provide a quote from the text to backup your answer.

A good leader is someone who takes care of their people, puts their people's best interest first, and someone who is honest and only wants what's best for the land they are leading. Gilgamesh does not have the qualities of a good leader at all. He was an arrogant person who only cared about himself. He takes away the first night rights to any woman who is soon to be married"This is the people's shepherd, Bold, superb, accomplished, and mature! Gilgamesh leaves no girl to her mother!" (line 79).

Medea

A man who feels oppressed by the company at home goes out and gets relief for his low spirits ...but we [women] can only look to that one other person. They tell us that we enjoy a sheltered life, staying at home while they are out fighting. How wrong they are! I would rather face battle three times than go through childbirth once"

tablet 2: Gilgamesh and Enkidu develop their friendship here. What are qualities of a strong friendship? & Do you foresee these two men being able to maintain a strong friendship? Provide a quote from the text to backup your answer.

A strong friendship is one that has trust, honesty, and is dependable. A strong friendship is one that shows up without you even asking for it. Gilgamesh and Enkidu have a strong friendship as they are kinda the same person. Gilgamesh and Enkidu will have a strong friendship as Gilgamesh is brave and wants to do everything without explanation and Enkidu wants to take a step back and look and really process if we do that, who will it affect and how. "They kissed each other and made friends"(line 115).

Aegeus agrees to help Medea out, but why is he so insistent that Medea escape from Corinth by her own means before he will offer her sanctuary in Athens?

Aegeus doesn't want anyone to know that he is working to help Medea so he wants her to escape on her own. He also doesn't want the blame of not taking her out of the city himself, so he is giving her a place to stay once she leaves Corinth.

chorus

All for nothing, your labor in childbirth, all for nothing, your dearly loved children"

Medea

And now I will tell you what I have in mind...I will send trusted servant to Jason who will ask to meet me face to face...I'll plead for the children to stay behind...I'll send them to [the princess] with gifts in their hands...a delicate robe and a golden crown...whoever touches her--will die because of poisons I will spread on the gifts...the thought of what I have to next fills me with grief: I need to kill the children"

Siduri

At the sight of him the tavern keeper barred her door, / She barred her door and mounted to the roof terrace"

Medea

Boys, you are cursed, your mother is loathsome. You might as well die along with your father. Let the whole house come down!"

Oedipus

But I came, / Oedipus, who knew nothing, and I stopped her. / I solved the riddle by my wit alone. / Mine was no knowledge got from birds. And now you would expel me"

When Creon goes to Medea to order her and her children out of Corinth, why does he particularly fear her?

Creon is scared of Medea because he knows that she is capable of very harmful things. He is also scared that she will kill him and maybe even kill the women that Jason is now with.

creon

Do you know what you're doing? Will you listen / to words to answer yours, and then pass judgement?"

Utanapishtim's wife

Gilgamesh has come here, spent with exertion, / What will you give him for his homeward journey?"

tablet 10: Do you agree that seeking eternal life is pointless for Gilgamesh? Why or why not?

Gilgamesh seeking eternal life is pointless. Throughout all of the tablets he has tried and tried to seek eternal life and everytime he is so close something happens and he ends up ruining his attempt for eternal life. If he wouldn't have searched for something that is almost impossible he could have done other things with his life that achieved other things, because in the end everyone dies.

chrous

He has been your friend before all men's eyes; do not cast him away dishonoured on an obscure conjecture"

nurse

Her grief is is like a thundercloud which her mounting fury will ignite"

Ea

How could you, irrationally, have brought on the flood?" "Instead of your brining on a flood, / Let the lion rise up to diminish the human race! / [...] / Let the wolf rise up..."

Gilgamesh

I am Gilgamesh, who killed the guardian, / Who seized and killed the bull that came down from heaven, / Who felled Humbaba who dwelt in the forest of cedars, / Who killed the lions at the mountain passes.

Oedipus

I command him to tell everything / to me, - yes, though he fears himself to take the blame / on his head; for bitter punishment / he shall have none, but this land unharmed"

tablet 5: Gilgamesh almost shows compassion toward Humbaba. What would change about Gilgamesh if he hadn't killed Humbaba?

I feel as if he didn't kill Humbaba that nothing would have ever changed. In the end he would have everything that he wanted which was internal fame. His name would never die. The only reason that change ever happened was because he lost his best friend.

chorus

I heard a voice! I heard the cry of that poor Colchian woman! Tell us, old nurse, has she still not calmed down?"

Medea dramatically changes her attitude toward Jason when she begs his forgiveness. Why do you think Jason believes her? Cite passages to support your opinion.

I think Jason believes Medea because she blindsides him into thinking that she has changed and that her anger is gone. "Jason, please overlook what I said before. You should be willing to put up with my fits, for the sake of the love that we once shared." Another reason I think that he believes her is that she has a different attitude toward him getting remarried and having a different wife. He thinks that she isn't angry anymore and wants what is best for their sons. He states, "I'm pleased with your present behavior, Medea, and I forgive the past: of course a woman minds if her husband decides to import a new wife."

tablet 3: Do you think this journey is a good or bad idea? Why? Provide a quote from the text to backup your answer

I think the journey is a bad idea because they are going to fight a forest God and for Gilgamesh it's for one reason only to get eternal fame. He doesn't care if he dies as long as his name lasts forever and he is searching for immortality. "Come back safely to Uruk's haven, Trust not, Gilgamesh, in your strength alone, let your eyes see all, make your blow strike home"(line 2-4).

aegeus

I wanted to know how I might have children"

Gilgamesh

I will have an old man eat some and so test the plant. / His name shall be 'Old Man Has Become Young-Again-Man'"

tablet 8: If your friend were writing a "lament" about you, what would you want included?

I would want it to include all the good things in life that I accomplished and the family members that helped me accomplish all those great things in life. I wouldn't want it to include anything that is bad. I wouldn't want it to be sad either because death is something that happens to everyone at some point in life.

Medea

I'm all for it now. I think you are wise to arrange this connection. I'm the fool; I should have thrown myself into these plans and helped them along, tending the bed and gladly serving your new bride"

nurse

If only the Argo had not slipped through the dark clashing rocks and landed at Colchis, .... Then my mistress Medea would never have sailed to the towers of Iolcus, overwhelmed by her love for Jason"

Medea

In you she has the best of husbands and she will wear the ornaments that my grandfather Helios left to his heirs"

tablet 4: Analyze the dreams of Gilgamesh. What would you have interpreted those dreams to mean?

Interpreting these dreams would be very hard to do because they are very vague. I would interpret these dreams as the things that are going to happen in the future or things that both him and Enkidu are going to encounter in their future together as friends.

Medea

Jason, please overlook what I said before...[why] turn on those who wish me well, picking a fight the country's rulers and my husband who serves us all by marrying a princess and giving our sons new royal brothers? Why be angry?"

creon

King Phoebus in plain words commanded us / to drive out a pollution from our land, / pollution grown ingrained within the land; / drive it out, said the god, not cherish it, / till it's past cure"

Is Medea's revenge only against Jason? Who else is she getting revenge against? How is this represented in the text?

Medea's revenge isn't just only against Jason I feel like. I feel a lot of the revenge is toward Jason but that some is toward his new wife and city of Corinth. This is respected throughout the text as she doesn't like the fact that Jason is getting married to another girl for any reason. There are multiple places throughout the text where Medea states that she killed her two sons so that Jason knows what it feels like. I believe that she killed his wife just to be mean because she took Jason from her. I feel the revenge on the city of Corinth is because they extiled her and she states, " I will bury them myself in the shrine of Hera of the Rocky Heights, where none of my enemies can get to them or wreck their graves."

Teiresias

Misery shall grind no man as it will you

Gilgamesh

My cheeks would not be emaciated, nor my face cast down, / Nor my heart wretched not my features wasted? / Nor would there be woe in my vitals, / Nor would my face be like a traveler's from afar, / Nor would my features be weathered by cold and sun, / Nor would I be clad in a lion skin, roaming the steppe, But for my friend, swift wild donkey, mountain onager, panther / of the steppe, / But for Enkidu, swift wild donkey, mountain onager, panther / of the steppe, / My friend whom I so loved, who went with me through every hardship, / Enkidu, whom I so loved, who went with me through every hardship, / The fate of mankind has overtaken him. / Six days and seven nights I wept for him. / I would not give him up for burial, / Until a worm fell out of his nose. / I was frightened. / I have grown afraid of death, so I roam the steppe..."

Oedipus

No, certainly; kill you, not banish you."

creon

No, you have to leave at once. Enough talking. It is decided: you are my enemy, and none of your tricks can keep you here"

tablet 11: What do you know of the Flood Story of the Bible or the Qur'an? How does it compare to the story told by Utnapishtim? & What do you predict for Gilgamesh after all his adventures?

Noah's Ark from the bible is about Noah, a person who is instructed to build this ark and supply it with every species of animal and once the ship is full the earth will flood. This shows that all the animals on the ark are going to live and anyone who isn't won't survive. The two stories are very similar but in Gilgamesh people/craftsmen created the ship/ark. Another is that they took skilled craftsmen on the boat with them so that once the flood subsided that they could rebuild the world and knowone is instructed to build the ark. "Beasts of the steppe, wild animals of the sheppe, all types of skilled craftsmen I sent up on board" (line 86). I predict that Gilgamesh will still end up dying. He isn't going to find enmortally and he wasted his life trying to find something that is impossible. That all of his adventures just prolonged his wish of finding enmotally but in the end he doesn't find anything, but in the end he finally figures out that death is inevitable. "For myself I have obtained no benefit, I have done a good deed for a reptile!" (line 316-17).

Ea

Now then, who will converse the gods for your sake, / That you may find the eternal life you seek? / Come, come, try not to sleep for six days and seven nights"

Oedipus does not have to blind himself, but he chooses to do so anyway. What reasons does he give for taking this course of action?

Oedipus blinds himself as a punishment for what he has done but also because he is ashamed of what he has done. He does this so that he doesn't have to see what he did.

In the opening scene of the play, Oedipus learns that to cure his city (Thebes) of its troubles, he must avenge the murder of the city's previous king, Laius. Describe Oedipus as a king and leader at this point in the play. Use specific examples of Oedipus' actions to support your answer.

Oedipus is a king that cares for his people and is seen as a good leader within the city of Thebes. He is also a great leader as he takes leadership throughout many events within the play. "We have not come as suppliants to this altar because we thought of you as of a god..." "You came and by your coming saved our city, freed us from tribute which we paid of old to the Sphinx, curel singer."

Humbaba to Gilgamesh

Say how many trees you [require...], / For you I will guard the myrtle wood [...]"

nurse

She hates her sons, gets no joy from seeing them. I am afraid that she's planning something[I know her: she's relentless and will not put up with being mistreated.I can imagine her sharpening a knife and stabbing someone, sneaking into the house where the wedding bed's made, to kill the king and his daughter's new bridegroom!]"

Aruru

She pinched off clay, she tossed it upon the steppe, She created valiant Enkidu in the steppe"

Messanger

She was under a double assault: the golden crown she had put in golden crown she had put in her hair spewed out a torrent of consuming flames, while those fine robes she got from your children were eating away at away at her pale flesh...her poor father came in without warning...he took [her body] in his arms...he stopped lamenting and tried to stopped lamenting and tried to stand, he got tangled in those in those silky robes, like a laurel shoot shoot encircled by ivy"

creon

Suppose you do not understand?"

Medea

Swear by the Earth and by the Sun, father of my father, entire race of gods...[not] ever to cast me out from your land, and if some enemy tries to lead me away, not to allow it while you live and breathe"

Medea

Take me into your country and your house. Do this and may the gods grant your wish.May you live out the happy life you long for.You don't know how lucky you are to find me I can take care of your lack of children. I know the right drugs to make you a father"

Explain the various functions of the Greek chorus in the play. Provide at least two different roles the chorus performs in the play.

The function of the chorus is to give the actors within the play breaks and scene changes, to provide further information within the play, and to summarize information to the audience. The chorus gives us the atmosphere and emphasizes the actions that occur throughout the play. Not only that, they play peacemaker and can make us have fear when reading. Within Oedipus the King the chorus gives us the atmosphere and emphasizes the actions/tragedies that happen throughout the play.

creon

The god commanded clearly: let someone / punish with force this dead man's [Lauis] murderers"

tablet 7: What do you feel is the most important lesson that Enkidu has learned? Provide a quote from the text to backup your answer.

The most important line is where he gets told that he will die (21). This to him makes him crazy and mad, but it also shows him that he has lived a very good life and accomplished everything that most people want in life, true friendship. The important lesson that he learned is that now he has to accept the life that he has lived and that it was a good life.

Medea's nurse serves as her chief servant, governess of the children, and confidante; therefore, she knows Medea well. How does she describe Medea's reaction to Jason's abandonment? What does she say about Medea's personality and temperament?

The nurse describes that Medea is deeply upset and that she is crying out to God about how she has done everything for Jason and this is how he's paying her back. Medea is also feeling isolated and that she wasted her time. The nurse explains that she doesn't get enjoyment from her children, is in a very bad headspace, she's full of anger and rage, and has a bad temper.

Discuss the theme of sight versus blindness in the play. Note at least two specific examples.

The theme of sight vs. blindness within the play is portrayed in many different aspects. The first of that is Oedipus, in the beginning of the play he can see but is blind to the fact that he is the problem within Thebes that he is the one who killed his father and married his mother. Later in the play he truly blinds himself because he is truly ashamed of his past and the fact that he is the problem within his city and he married his mother and killed his father. Another example is of Tiresias and the fact that he is physically blind but knows the truth about Oedipus and what he has done the whole time.

Teiresias

Then I warn you faithfully to keep / the letter of your proclamation and / from this day forth to speak no word of greeting / to these nor me; you are the land's pollution

strophe

There are no growing children in this famous land; / there are no women bearing the pangs of childbirth. / You may see them one with another, like birds swift on the wing"

Is there any opportunity for the exercise of free will in the play? Why or why not?

There isn't much of an opportunity for free will in this play but Oedipus does make some choices. Oedipus is a God and since his birth he has had his own destiny that was going to happen. He made the choice to kill his father and marry his mother and these things are what lead to his prediction from the gods of what was going to happen within his life.

Gilgamesh

Treat him, a human, to woman's work!"

Oedipus

Was there no messenger, no fellow traveller / who knew what happened? Such a one might tell / something of use?"

Oedipus

What you have said so far / leaves me uncertain whether to trust or fear"

nurse

Why blame your sons for their father's offenses? Why turn on them?

Enkidu to Gilgamesh

Why, my friend, do you raise such unworthy objections? / How you pule! You make me ill"

Medea

Women of Corinth, I left the house to avoid offending you. With many people, you know that they're proud whether they stay home or go out. But others are seen as aloof just because they choose to lead quiet lives. People aren't fair when they judge with their eyes"

priest

You came and by your coming saved our city, / freed us from tribute which we paid of old / to the Sphinx, cruel singer" (39-41)

Jason

You had the chance to stay in this country, going along with what your betters had planned, but you're being thrown out for your pointless rants, and there's nothing I can do"

Oedipus

You know of something but refuse to speak, / Would you betray us and destroy the city?"

Humbaba to Enkidu

You know the lore of my forest, / And you understand all I have to say. / [...] / Now then, Enkidu, mercy is up to you, / Tell Gilgamesh to spare my life"

Jason

You may be quick-witted....[but] you are living in Greece, not some foreign country....all of Greece knows how clever you are; you're famous"

Oedipus

Your life is one long night so that you cannot / hurt me or any other who sees the light"

kurios

curator

Enkidu

tell Gilgamesh to "finish him off"

Themes to consider:

• City vs. Wilderness • Man vs. Nature • Life and Death