Question

1. What can you gather about Sumerian civilization by reading the text? How modern do the people of this 4,000-year-old epic seem to you? Why?

Answer 1

heres the text:


Document Selection:
"Bull of Heaven" 2000 BC "...one day Ishtar, cruel Queen of Love, looked from Eanna [heaven] to where King Gilgamesh sat on his royal throne in robes of state. She looked and loved. 'O Gilgamesh,' she said, 'if you would be my husband, I would harness to the storm a chariot of lapis lazuli and gold; on golden wheels would you ride earth and air, and all the kings and princes of the world would bow themselves before you, and give praise.' 'How could I take the Queen of Heaven for wife? [replied Gilgamesh] Would you wear earthly garments, eat our bread? And, Lady, all men know that you break faith. For Tammuz, your young husband, women wail at the ending of the year: who let him die? You loved the roller [a bird] once -- and broke his wing; now he stands crying "kappi" in the groves. What happened to the shepherd of the herd who daily heaped up sacrifice to you? You cursed him and you turned him into a wolf. His herd boys chase him off and his own dogs tear at his flanks.... If I became your husband, you would soon grow tired of me and treat me like to them.' A great wrath fell on Ishtar. She ascended into Heaven. She stood raging before Anu, her father, and she said: 'Gilgamesh has cursed me, and taunted me with all my deeds. He has refused to be my husband!' 'And if he has?' Lord Anu said. 'Have you not deserved his taunts?' 'I will have vengeance! Father -- make me the Bull of Heaven, that Gilgamesh may be destroyed! If you will not do this, I will break down the Door of the Underworld and cause the dead to rise again, and they will be more numerous than the living upon earth.' 'If I do this,' said Anu, 'there will be drought for seven years. Have you fodder for the cattle and grain to feed mankind?' 'There is enough,' said Ishtar. 'Be it so, then,' Anu said. [Gilgamesh and his younger brother and friend Enkidu slay the bull, which upsets Ishtar so much she demands Gilgamesh's life. But, since he is part-god, the gods decide to take Enkidu instead. Enkidu is stricken with a withering disease and dies in bed soon afterwards.] As soon as the first light of morning came, Gilgamesh cried: 'Elders of Uruk! [Gilgamesh's kingdom] It is for Enkidu my friend that I now weep. It is for Enkidu that I shed bitter tears. He was my axe, the bow in my right hand, the shield that was before me, and my joy. An evil foe has robbed me of my friend, my younger brother, who once ran with the wild retriceand the panther of the plain. We two ascended mountains, we killed the Bull of Heaven, and we slew Humbaba [a very nasty giant], the keeper of the trees. O, Enkidu, where are you? ... The King then veiled his brother like a bride. Back and forth he paced before his friend and like a lion lifted up his voice, or a lioness robbed of her young cubs. He tore his hair, cast off his royal robes and wept: 'I gave to you the seat at my left side, so that the princes of the earth should kiss your feet. Now I will cause the people of Uruk to weep and wail for you, and over you, when you are buried, I will mourn. I will let my hair grow long, put on a lion-skin, and wander in the desert for your sake.' For seven days and seven nights he wept, before he gave his brother to the earth. And then he left Uruk, and went away to wander in the wilderness in grief."