class: middle # 1. Rampolla,"Introduction" # 2. Origins of the Book: Clay Tablet # 3. The Epic of Gilgamesh
Matthew J. Lavin Clinical Assistant Professor of English and Director of Digital Media Lab University of Pittsburgh September 2018 --- class: middle # Rampolla's "Historical Thinking Skills"
- #### engagement with historical evidence - #### comparison - #### contextualization - #### causation - #### continuity/change over time - #### interpretation - #### periodization - #### argumentation - #### synthesis see Rampolla 3-7 --- class: middle # Assyria, Babylonia and Sumer - ### Can you define how these groups are related? See also http://www.wlps.org/view/1416.pdf --- class: middle # Cuneiform
- ### As we heard in the documentary, the term mean "wedge shaped" - ### "Fearsomely complex" (Robson 69) - ### "increasingly became a prestige medium" (69) --- class: middle # The Scribal Tradition
- ### Many recovered tablets relate to scribal education (71) "House F" - ### Copy and Memorize (73) - ### Reed stylus technique (69) --- class: middle # Cultural Capital
- ### "Forced acquisition of cultural products" (76) --- class: middle # A Possible Quiz Question
### What is Textual Stability? #### And why do we care about it? --- class: middle #### http://www.learner.org/courses/worldlit/gilgamesh/watch/ --- class: middle # Gilgamesh
- #### Later work comparatively - #### "much longer and more standardized composition" than previous tablets (75) - #### Gilgamesh had an influence on later epics and the Bible. --- class: middle # Gilgamesh
- #### By 2500 BCE, Gilgamesh had come to be deified (6) - #### City of Nineveh was sacked and razed in 612 BCE (8) - #### British began to excavate the site in 1840s, uncovered the palace in 1849 (8) Ziolkowski, Theodore.
Gilgamesh among Us : Modern Encounters with the Ancient Epic
. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2011. Accessed January 16, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central. --- class: middle # Gilgamesh
- #### British also began deciphering cuneiform at the same time (8) - #### Were interested in Gilgamesh because it contains a flood narrative (9) - #### Initially known as the "Izdubar legend" (15) Thought it was Nimrod of the Bible Ziolkowski, Theodore.
Gilgamesh among Us : Modern Encounters with the Ancient Epic
. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2011. Accessed January 16, 2018. ProQuest Ebook Central. --- class: middle # Gilgamesh, Tablet VI #### Count off by fours, form small groups for each number, and discuss these questions:
- #### How does the Gilgamesh excerpt depict the relationship between humans and gods? - #### How can we understand the insults that Gilgamesh hurls at Ishtar? Why does Anu suggest that Ishtar provoked Gilgamesh? - #### What does this episodes suggest about notions of right and wrong? How about power and strength? - #### How can we enact Rampolla's "Historical Thinking Skills" (3-7) when reading about clay tablets, Sumeria/Babylonia/Assyria, and Gilgamesh?
#### Be prepared to summarize your discussion for the rest of the class