The Legacy of MesopotamiaCuneiform and Epics

Lesson 2-3

WS: Gilgamesh the First Superhero

Online Story: Gilgamesh and the Cedar Forest TN SPI – 6.4.3, 6.5.10

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Key Terms

• Cuneiform (Qnee i form)– a groups of wedges and lines used to write several languages of the Fertile Crescent

• Epic – a long poem that tells a story• Oral traditions – stories passed down through the

generations by word of mouth• Primary Source – an eye witness account of an

historical event• Secondary Source – information about an historical

event from a source who was not an eye witness• Gilgamesh – Sumerian who ruled the city-state of Uruk

c2600 BC

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Sources of Information

• Primary Source – an eyewitness account or summary of a historical event based on direct observation

• Secondary Source – a second hand account or summary of a historical event not based on direct observation.

Oral Traditions

• Writing is said to have begun with oral traditions.

• Before the invention of writing, history was often passed through generations by word of mouth.

• Stories were told of heroes and events of the past.

• These stories changed as they were told and retold over the years.

• They contained facts mixed with personal beliefs and exaggerations.

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Origins of Writing

• Sumerian became the world’s first written language.

• They used symbols to represent words.

• Over time the symbols were combined with wedges and lines.

• This wedge-shaped writing became known as cuneiform.

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A Record in Clay

• The Tigris and Euphrates rivers provided scribes with the clay they used to write on.

• Each spring, the rivers washed down clay from the mountains.

• Scribes took the clay and shaped it into flat surfaces called tablets.

• Tablets ranged in size from the size of a postcard to larger tablets that were used for reference purposes. (dictionary)

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Written Language

• Scribes decided that the symbols should be set in rows, that each row should be read from left to right, and that a page should be read from top to bottom.

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Scribes and Writing

• Scribes held positions of great respect in Mesopotamia. They kept records of:– Farm animals– Sales and trades– Tax payments– Gifts for gods– Marriages and deaths– Military records– Government records

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Epic of Gilgamesh

• The ancient Sumerians were great story tellers. Thousands of years ago, they created the story of Gilgamesh. 

• Gilgamesh is one of the oldest recorded stories in the world. It's about an ancient King of Uruk who may have actually existed and whose name - Gilgamesh - is on the Sumerian King List.  

• According to the story, Gilgamesh was not just a hero. He was the first superhero! He was part god and part human. He had many special powers.

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Epic of Gilgamesh• The story of Gilgamesh was

first told aloud in the marketplaces of Mesopotamia and later written down as one of the world’s first epics – a long storytelling poem.

• Twelve tablets that tell parts of the tale were found in Nineveh in the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal.

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