Xenia

Quiz tomorrow on xenia, types of epics, vocabulary, Books 1- 4 and Book V, which you need to read this evening.

Greek to Roman Book 1

Schema: SAT

We covered a lot of preliminary ground today. Our current text is the Odyssey, by Homer. Homer also wrote the epic poem, the Iliad, which is about the Trojan War. Homer is generally described as a blind poet. One difficulty, but also a learning opportunity, is that we will read two translations of the text. One translation is from Latin (the Internet version), while the other is from the Greek. Remember that the Romans simply took the Greek gods as their own and renamed them. Here is a chart for your use:

Greek Roman

Odysseus Ulysses
Zeus Jove/Jupiter
Athena Minerva
Poseidon Neptune
Hades Pluto

Names spelled with a ‘C’, Calypso, are from a Latin translation, while names spelled with a ‘K’, Kalypso, and are Greek translations.

Book 1 starts with the classic call to the “muse’ for inspiration and a brief on Ulysses’ position and troubles. We find Minerva working Jove to help Ulysses escape from his kidnapper, Calypso. She is doing so because Neptune is off at a festival in Ethiopia (the end of the world). Neptune is Ulysses’ nemesis because Ulysses blinded Neptune's son, Polyphemus. Also, note that Neptune won't kill Ulysses, only torment him. Jove speaks of Agamemnon and his death and his son’s revenge. The importance of Agamemnon is to remind the audience of his poor homecoming (nostos) and the problems resulting from Helen’s kidnapping and the Trojan War. Minerva is off to help Telemachus, Ulysses’ son with the nasty suitors besieging his home (note what bad guests, xenos, they are). Please note how good a host, xenos, Telemachus is to the disguised Minerva. We also meet Ulysses’ wife, Penelope, model of the Greek faithful wife. The book ends with Telemachus calling an assembly a thinking about finding his father.

Interestingly, the first four books of the Odyssey are not about Ulysses, but his son Telemachus, Penelope, and the suitors. We will not meet our hero until Book V.

Answer for bonus question - Helen of Troy was often referred to as the face that launched a 1000 ships since her kidnapping by Paris lead to a 1000 Greek ships being launched for war.

Please comment on what you've read so far.

Odyssey - Book 1

By now you should have finished Book 1. Now, what is it that is unusual about the text and its characters? Let's begin by looking at the presentation of the gods. Remember that Greece at this time was a polytheistic society. Do the gods seem"godlike"? Are they omniscient and omnipotent (two vocabulary words you will see of the quiz)? Who is the hero of the epic? These are several of the questions we'll examine on Monday and Tuesday. In addition, we'll examine a major theme of the Odyssey, and that is the Greek concept of hospitality, or xenia(1), and how it marks or drives much of the action of the story. To get a head start - examine the text and find examples of when hospitality is discussed and highlighted. What does it say about the characters? Finally, we'll look for evidence of foreshadowing in the text, so I suggest you take out your notes and make sure you can identify foreshadowing.

Essays are due on Monday and make sure you include your outlines, and drafts.

(1) You'll notice this link is to a Wikipedia post, which is very unusual for me. I wanted to point out that you need to be very, very careful with Wikipedia because it is constantly changing and is not always reliable. I would prefer you not use this as a source unless you verify its content elsewhere (you 'd probably be better off using this other source), are absolutely confident you know its content is correct (as I do from my past work on this issue), and note the date you cited it. Wikipedia post can be changed at anytime and there is an issue with pranks and malicious changes, so the Wiki entry you cite might be different the next hour, day, week...you get the message. Having said all this, I thought the Wiki post I read on this date was excellent and I doubt this is an entry that is a focus for pranks.

The Odyssey

Today and Friday will be writing days. The bulk of the two days will be spent writing and reading about writing. I suggest that you use this time in working on your thesis and looking for appropriate quotes to support your thesis. Equally important, you should be fine tuning your topic sentences and making sure your paragraphs flow and make sense.

Over the holiday, the A and B Block will read the first book of Homer's Odyssey. A and B Blocks will write a summary paragraph for Book 1. Here is a link for the Odyssey.

There will be a reading check on the Monday we return from vacation.

Because of the two lost days, essays may be handed in the Monday after vacation.

Essay

For those who don't have a copy of the Bible at home, here is a link to the Genesis flood narrative. Scroll down to Genesis 6 and 7.

Please be creative in your research. Look to outside sources for additional ideas and support.

The Test and essay

Schema: Quiz

Today was a review for tomorrow’s unit test. The test will cover all that we’ve done in the past three weeks. Please review previous blogs and compare to the notes you took today. The test will cover Gilgamesh and the concepts we discussed in class. These include but are not limited to: Parts of Speech and the ability to identify them in a sentence; genres (poetry, prose, drama) and subgenres; the four myth types and their focus; archetypes and the ability to identify and apply them to the text; the stages of grief and Dr. Kubler-Ross; and important element in the Gilgamesh epic. There will a little about Genesis and the flood narrative.

The short answers will be have to do with the image of god(s) in the Gilgamesh and Genesis flood narratives and how this reflects the different cultures; the role of the harlot and Ninsun in Gilgamesh; and the genres and subgenres for Gilgamesh – poetry, epic and Mesopotamian. Even though our text is in prose form, the original was a poem.

While you are studying, look for ideas and support for your essays. Here is a link to one on-line version of the text. You’ll have time this week to work on the essay in class.

Schema: Quiz on Stages of Grief

I really enjoyed the work many of you did on your ark drawings. Many showed that they understood the text and were able to creatively demonstrate their understanding.

We finished our reading, comparing and contrasting of the flood narratives in Gilgamesh and Genesis. One can see why there was such a uproar in the Biblical world when the Mesopotamian narrative was discovered. The similarities are startling: both have detailed descriptions of how to build the ark (Noah’s is a rectangle, Utnapishtim’s a square); both save their immediate families and the animals of the world (Utnapishtim includes craftsmen as well, very practical); both use birds to confirm dry land (raven and doves); and both finally end up on a mountaintop.

There are also differences, the days it rained, the names of the mountain, etc. The most telling differences reflect the cultures that eventually wrote down the stories. Gilgamesh comes from a polytheistic culture where the gods are more feared than loved and represent natural phenomenon. The gods of Gilgamesh are not attractive at all – they are compared to ‘curs’ and ‘flies’ and even become afraid of the flood they created. They decide to destroy humanity because they are too loud and interrupt Enlil's sleep. Ea does not tell Utnapishtim directly to prepare for the disaster (some say he was scared of Enlil) but through a dream. In the end, they all regret the decision to kill everyone and make Utnapishtim immortal.

The God of Genesis (a monotheistic deity) feels that mankind is wicked and that this wickedness and evil needs to be destroyed. He is portrayed as a just God, one who spares Noah because he is a good man. He walks with Noah and tells him to prepare. He is direct and has a personal relationship. There is a different, loving, respectful relationship than seen in Gilgamesh. After the flood, God decides that there is evil in all men and makes a covenant with Noah not to destroy mankind again, and He puts a rainbow in the sky as proof and a reminder.

The final sections have Gilgamesh failing the test for immortality to stay awake for six nights and seven days (remember that bread is used to measure the time he sleeps). The wife of Utnapishtim suggests that Gilgamesh be given a break and Utnapishtim tells him about the flower of everlasting life at the bottom of a clear pool (water archetype = rebirth). The serpent steals the flower, and sheds his skin, and Gilgamesh loses his last shot at immortality. Keep in mind that it was a serpent that tricked Adam and Eve and they lost their immortality. I guess the message is to stay away from serpents.

We watch the Noah video tomorrow and you get an essay assignment. Unit test on Monday or Tuesday.

Noah and Utnapishtim

Utnapishtim's ark

Schema: SAT

The class created a summary and character list for Gilgamesh. The key characters are Gilgamesh, Enkidu, Ninsun (Gilgamesh's Mom), the sun god Shamash, Enlil, father of gods, Humbaba, Ishtar and the harlot. This will be used in tomorrow's quiz (along with the Stages of Grief). The archetypes are: hero, Enkidu's loss of innocence and initiation into society, and Gilgamesh's task of killing Humbaba, which is spurred on by Shamash and irritates Enlil.

We read Part 4, Gilgamesh's search for everlasting life. This search is an example of the quest archetype. Gilgamesh overcomes several tasks on his quest - killing lions, getting past the Scorpion men, the tunnel of darkness, and crossing the water of death. He finally meets Utnapishtim who tells him the story of the flood. The class read from the Genesis version of the Flood for comparison purposes.

Homework: draw the two arks based upon the description in each text.

Stages of Grief

Schema: What is your image of the afterlife? Mortality is a central issue in Gilgamesh, and one can see why with Enkidu's fearful dream of death. The first three texts we will read have death and the afterlife as important themes. Literature is the primary vehicle for passing on cultural values and a societies' view of the afterlife is very important to the way people lives their lives.

Nice work of the skits.

We reviewed Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross' Stages of Grief. It is interesting how we can see her theory and research in action in Gilgmesh. Gilgamesh experiences all the stages: anger at Enkidu's death, denial of his own mortality, bargaining to avoid the inevitable, depression, and then acceptance (we know this since we read he turned out to be a great king). Please note that not everyone reaches all the stages - many do not reach acceptance. As you experience life, you will meet and see people who never leave the denial, anger or depression stage. One reason to be aware of the research is to learn to accept the process and hopefully reach the final stage.

Enkidu must die

Part 3 begins with Ishtar's proposal to Gilgamesh and his ungentlemanly rejection. Lesson One - don't dis the goddess or else. She releases the Bull of Heaven, a symbol of earthquake, and it wreaks havoc on Uruk until Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill it. Afterward, Enkidu insults Ishtar and that is the final straw. The gods decide that one of them must suffer for the killing of Humbaba and the Bull - they decide it will be Enkidu. His death scene and dreams are horrific. He dreams of death a a place of vampires, toil and dust (dust to dust). He enters death as a conscious being who is seen and spoken to. It is clear that the afterlife holds everyone in the same place - servant, prince, and priest. Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh grieves and then begins his quest for immortality.

Today, the class worked in small groups and read Part Three. They wrote a paragraph summarizing Part 3. Each group was assigned a major action and they created a skit in modern voice. The scenes were: Ishtar's rejection, Bull of Heaven, Enkidu's dream, Enkidu's death.

Narrative poems were due today - put in the EP and printed copy given to me.

Homework: Read War and Peace, write a 5 page essay or watch the Super Bowl :)

Humbaba

Humbaba and Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh is not only the oldest epic, it is the first "buddy" adventure. Gilgamesh and Enkidu are bored. Gilgamesh is also beginning to worry about his reputation and his mortality. He needs to have his named stamped in brick. So what do they do? Well, naturally, they go off to harass and slaughter some poor monster minding his business and guarding the Cedar Forest for Enlil, father of the gods. The second section tells us about their adventure to fight and kill Humbaba, Enlil's guardian of the Cedar Forest. They are helped by the god, Shamash. Off they go in this odd example of fear and bravery. In the end, they prevail with the help of Shamash. Even though he begs for his life, Gilgamesh decapitates Humbaba and gives the head to Enlil, who is very upset about their action. This sets the stage for the next adventure and the eventual death and quest.

Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh is ancient but its themes are universal and similar to issues we deal with in today's world. It is about friendship, love, loss, man's relationship with divinity and the struggle to deal with mortality. The first tablet begins by describing the greatness of Gilgamesh and the city he built, Uruk. It then discusses the young Gilgamesh, who is arrogant and as much a menace to his people as a help. He is so troublesome, his people ask for help and the gods create Enkidu. However, Enkidu is a savage and it takes his union with the harlot to civilize him. This union is an example of the archetypes, loss of innocence and initiation. The harlot initiates him to civilization and makes him a man. At the end of the the first section, Enkidu prevents Gilgamesh from violating another woman; they fight; Gilgamesh wins, but they end up as friends.

It is interesting to note the similar images of Enkidu being made from clay while Adam is made of dust. Both are innocent and are given or lured into knowledge by women. Also note the role of dreams and that of Gilgamesh's mother, Ninsun, in interpreting the dreams.