Chapter 13Lecture One of Two

Introduction to Heroic Myth

©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Introduction to Heroic Myth

• Humans are the protagonists, not gods• Narrative about events in the human, not

divine, past• “Hero”

– Homer: noble-born male who’s alive– Later: noble figure from the distant past.

©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

TOMB OF HEROES

©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Tomb of Heroes

• Object of Hero cults– heroa (heroön)

• Bronze Age earthen mounds– sêma

• Cults and tumuli of Alyattes, Achilles, Theseus . . .

©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Fig. 13.1 Tomb of Alyattes

©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Photo by William Aylward

EPIC OF GILAGMESH

©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Epic of Gilgamesh

• Tumuli cults date from the Iron Age• Associated with the popularization of heroic

myth via writing• But not heroes in Egyptian or Semitic myth• The great hero of Mesopotamia is Gilgamesh

©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Epic of Gilgamesh

• Comes to us as a written exercise, not as the dictation of what an oral poet was saying. A literate myth– Scribal exercises

• Strong indications of influence from the Epic of Gilgamesh and Greek heroic myth

• Gilgamesh an historical king of Uruk in Mesopotamia (2600 BC)

©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

GILGAMESH AND ENKIDUGilgamesh and Enkidu

©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu

• Opening lines like that of Homer’s Odyssey.– The one who saw all [Sha nagba imuru] I will declare to the

world,The one who knew all I will tell about[line missing]He saw the great Mystery, he knew the Hidden:He recovered the knowledge of all the times before the Flood.He journeyed beyond the distant, he journeyed beyond exhaustion,And then carved his story on stone.

©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu

• Gilgamesh abused his royal power• Aruru sent a rival, Enkidu

– Lived in nature– Gilgamesh sent out a whore to make him fall

• Enkidu comes to Uruk to prevent Gilgamesh from abusing a virgin

• After the draw in the wrestling match, they become friends

©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

EPIC OF GILGAMESHGilgamesh and Humbaba

©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Gilgamesh and Humbaba

• The Land of the Living (Land of Cedars)– Shamash– Humbaba

©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

EPIC OF GILGAMESHGilgamesh and Ishtar

©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Gilgamesh and Ishtar

• Ishtar– Gilgamesh rebuffs and reviles her

• Anu• The Bull of Heaven• Enkidu’s dream• Enkidu’s death from illness

©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Fig. 13.2Gilgamesh kills the Bull of Heaven.

©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels

End

©2012 Pearson Education Inc.