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.