IN CLASS April 1: Shiduri's advice

For this group assignment, please work collectively on a google doc for your group.

PLEASE EACH SUBMIT THE ENTIRE GOOGLE DOC INDIVIDUALLY TO RECEIVE CREDIT FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT.

PART ONE:

Take a look at the fragment of the Old Babylonian version of the Gilgamesh epic (this particular fragment is dated to 17-18th century BCE) on pp. 193-195. This corresponds to the beginning of tablet X (page 74) of the Standard Version (our main text), which is about a thousand years later than the Old Babylonian one. Pay particular attention to the advice Gilgamesh gets from the tavern keeper on page 194. Here is text, titled "Gilgamesh at the End of the World."

Now, discuss and answer the following questions:

What do you make of the advice that the tavern keeper Shiduri gives Gilgamesh? In particular, do you think this advice fits into the overall narrative arc of the epic, now you have read to the end of it? Why does Gilgamesh reject her advice?  Why do you think the author of the Standard Version omits this part? Does it seem as if at the end of the Standard Version Gilgamesh comes in any way to agree with Shiduri and, if so, to what extent?

PART TWO:

Now let's go a little further. Does comparing Gilgamesh's interaction with Shiduri in these two texts tell us anything about the development of the epic?

Here is some food for thought, namely the opinion of our translator, Andrew George, as expressed in conversation with Melvyn Bragg, the host of the BBC podcast “In Our Time.”

... The poem that we have in the oldest fragments has, it seems, a very different mood from the poem that is much better preserved from a thousand years later [the “Standard Version”]. And the Babylonians themselves gave us the name of the poet [Sin-leqi-unninni], the name that seems to be younger than the oldest version of the poem. So, it seems that the mood changes from a poem about the glory of an epic hero, the glory of the greatest hero and king of old, to one that is essentially a meditation upon the facts of life, and particularly on death. This, it seems to me, is an intervention in the poem, which is very considerable, and changes it completely, and I would think that this is also the work of an individual.

Comparing the “Gilgamesh at the end of the world” with the Standard Version, to what extent do you see the change in mood? If so, how does it change? Do you agree with Andrew George's assessment or would you add/change anything in it?

EXTRA:

If you are curious and have the time, here are a couple more fragments from the Old Babylonian poem (all of them from your book) —these are not required to respond to the prompt.

Gilgamesh argues with Enkidu and the elders and decides to go to the Forest of Cedar and kill Huwawa in search of his “eternal name.”

Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill Huwawa

And if you are even more curious, here is an excerptfrom the Sumerian poem “The Lord of the Living One’s Mountain” in which Huwawa pleads for his life and Gilgamesh is inclined to spare him, but Enkidu insists on Huwawa’s death; Enlil is angry and reproaches Gilgamesh, yet the poem ends with “honor to the mighty Gilgamesh, praise to the goddess Nissaba!”

GROUP ONE Links to an external site.

GROUP TWO Links to an external site.

GROUP THREE Links to an external site.

GROUP FOUR Links to an external site.

GROUP FIVE Links to an external site.

GROUP SIX Links to an external site.

GROUP SEVEN Links to an external site.

GROUP EIGHT Links to an external site.