EXAM 2 STUDY GUIDE ANCIENT MYTH 2 11 13 Mesopotamia The Epic of Creation It opens with a theogony the descent of the gods set in a time frame prior to creation of the heavens and earth At that time the ocean waters called Tiamat and her husband the freshwater Apsu mingled with the result that several gods emerged in pairs Like boisterous children the gods produced so much noise that Apsu decided to do away with them Tiamat more indulgent than her spouse urged patience but Apsu stirred to action by his vizier was unmoved The gods stunned by the prospect of death called on the resourceful god Ea to save them Ea recited a spell that made Apsu sleep He then killed Apsu and captured Mummu his vizier Ea and his wife Damkina then gave birth to the hero Marduk the tallest and mightiest of the gods Marduk given control of the four winds by the sky god Anu is told to let the winds whirl Picking up dust the winds create storms that upset and confound Tiamat Other gods suddenly appear and complain that they too cannot sleep because of the hurricane winds They urge Tiamat to do battle against Marduk so that they can rest Tiamat agrees and decides to confront Marduk She prepares for battle by having the mother goddess create eleven monsters Tiamat places the monsters in charge of her new spouse Qingu who she elevates to rule over all the gods When Ea hears of the preparations for battle he seeks advice from his father Anshar king of the junior gods Anshar urges Ea and afterward his brother Anu to appease the goddess with incantations Both return frightened and demoralized by their failure The young warrior god Marduk then volunteers his strength in return for a promise that if victorious he will become king of the gods The gods agree a battle ensues and Marduk vanquishes Tiamat and Qingu her host Marduk then uses Tiamat s carcass for the purpose of creation He splits her in half like a dried fish and places one part on high to become the heavens the other half to be the earth As sky is now a watery mass Marduk stretches her skin to the heavens to prevent the waters from escaping a motif that explains why there is so little rainfall in southern Iraq With the sky now in place Marduk organizes the constellations of the stars He lays out the calendar by assigning three stars to each month creates his own planet makes the moon appear and establishes the sun day and night From various parts of Tiamat s body he creates the clouds winds mists mountains and earth Meanwhile Marduk fulfills an earlier promise to provide provisions for the junior gods if he gains victory as their supreme leader He then creates humans from the blood of Qingu the slain and rebellious consort of Tiamat He does this for two reasons first in order to release the gods from their burdensome menial labors and second to provide a continuous source of food and drink to temples 2 18 13 Mesopotamia The Epic of Gilgamesh tablets 1 11 o The epic s prelude offers a general introduction to Gilgamesh king of Uruk who was two thirds god and one third man He built magnificent ziggurats or temple towers surrounded his city with high walls and laid out its orchards and fields He was physically beautiful immensely strong and very wise Although Gil gamesh was godlike in body and mind he began his kingship as a cruel despot He lorded over his subjects raping any woman who struck his fancy whether she was the wife of one of his warriors or the daughter of a nobleman He accom plished his building projects with forced labor and his exhausted subjects groaned under his oppression The gods heard his subjects pleas and decided to keep Gil gamesh in check by creating a wild man named Enkidu who was as magnificent as Gilgamesh Enkidu became Gilgamesh s great friend and Gilgamesh s heart was shattered when Enkidu died of an illness inflicted by the gods Gilgamesh then traveled to the edge of the world and learned about the days before the del uge and other secrets of the gods and he recorded them on stone tablets o The epic begins with Enkidu He lives with the animals suckling at their breasts grazing in the meadows and drinking at their watering places A hunter discovers him and sends a temple prostitute into the wilderness to tame him In that time people considered women and sex calming forces that could domesticate wild men like Enkidu and bring them into the civilized world When Enkidu sleeps with the woman the animals reject him since he is no longer one of them Now he is part of the human world Then the harlot teaches him everything he needs to know to be a man Enkidu is outraged by what he hears about Gilgamesh s ex cesses so he travels to Uruk to challenge him When he arrives Gilgamesh is about to force his way into a bride s wedding chamber Enkidu steps into the doorway and blocks his passage The two men wrestle fiercely for a long time and Gilgamesh finally prevails After that they become friends and set about looking for an adventure to share o Gilgamesh and Enkidu decide to steal trees from a distant cedar forest forbidden to mortals A terrifying demon named Humbaba the devoted servant of Enlil the god of earth wind and air guards it The two heroes make the perilous journey to the forest and standing side by side fight with the monster With assistance from Shamash the sun god they kill him Then they cut down the forbidden trees fash ion the tallest into an enormous gate make the rest into a raft and float on it back to Uruk Upon their return Ishtar the goddess of love is overcome with lust for Gilgamesh Gilgamesh spurns her Enraged the goddess asks her father Anu the god of the sky to send the Bull of Heaven to punish him The bull comes down from the sky bringing with him seven years of famine Gilgamesh and Enkidu wrestle with the bull and kill it The gods meet in council and agree that one of the two friends must be punished for their transgression and they decide Enkidu is going to die He takes ill suffers immensely and shares his visions of the under world with Gilgamesh When he finally dies Gilgamesh is heartbroken o Gilgamesh can t stop grieving for Enkidu and he can t stop brooding about the prospect of his own death Exchanging his kingly garments for animal skins as a way of mourning Enkidu he sets off into the wilderness determined to find Ut napishtim the Mesopotamian Noah After the flood the gods had granted Ut napishtim eternal life and Gilgamesh hopes that Utnapishtim can tell him how he might avoid death too Gilgamesh s journey
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