Listening to Gilgamesh

E's grandfather has been following our progress online, and he recommends the "History of Our World" podcast on Gilgamesh. It's 45 minutes long, and dramatizes the epic.

A good video introduction to the cultural legacy of Gilgamesh can be found in this program, 30 minutes long. It includes interviews with Ludmila Zeman, David Damrosch, and others who have interpreted and retold this story.

And there is a 15-minute BBC podcast on the 1872 rediscovery of the flood tablet, which made one otherwise staid library assistant understandably ecstatic. This comes from the incomparable "A History of the World in 100 Objects"; hear also the earlier episodes on cuneiform, and on the Standard of Ur.

The kids genuinely love it when family and friends become involved in the story's background. It's marvelous to hear them discussing the narrative with peers as well as adults. Your interest helps reinforce the their own curiosity about this fascinating era and epic.


p.s. the version Miss E has been reading them is called Gilgamesh the Hero, adapted by Geraldine McCaughrean. And everyone has a copy of an informative DK volume on Mesopotamia. We can recommend both -- and there are many more books in our library for lending (see the other column on the right).

Humbaba -- Tablet 3

From Miss E:

Today marked the third day of following Gilgamesh's epic adventure. First, we briefly recounted last week's class, which led to discussing the length of time that has passed since the reign of Gilgamesh, around 4,000 years ago. This in turn led to quite some interesting questions from the group.... E: How long ago did life on Earth start? H: How was the first person born? J: Maybe two dinosaurs had a human. I think the life started when everything was still, then it all went CRASH together [these aren't their exact words, but it's the general idea].
Then we dove right into Tablet 3. During this part of the story, Gilgamesh, and his new BFF, Enkidu, plot to enter into the forbidden Cedar Forest, ruled by the fearsome Humbaba. This gigantic, horrid monster was traditionally known to have a lion's head and dragon's teeth. Today we painted Humbabas of our own, quite a sight to behold!

After imagining these gruesome monsters coming to life from the paper, as E excitedly did, we settled down to finish painting our beads.

She formed him out of clay and leaves.

Last Thursday, we added H and J-L to our second Gilgamesh adventure. First, Ms.E reviewed what happened last week. I was excited to hear that everyone excitedly answered "Mesopotamia!" when asked where our story took place.

Ms. E read another section of the text, paying special attention to Wild Man and the hunter. Ururu, the goddess, fashioned Enkydu from clay and leaves and twigs. H said that Enkydu probably looked like a Minotaur. They discussed how Enkydu felt about the hunter's traps and pots. Ms. E read about the woman sent to the forest to tame Enkydu and how every time he went to growl and howl, she would kiss him. The children commented on how she captured him with love rather than traps and snares.

Ms. E read about the first meeting of Enkydu and Gilgamesh - their wrestling match turned to hugs and laughter. They talked about what it must have felt like for Gilgamesh to finally have found a friend.

Ms. E lead the children outside to collect their own materials for creating Enkydu. They found sticks, straw, charcoal, sand, dirt, chicken feathers, leaves and berries. Invoking Ururu, they mixed their materials together with clay and formed their own wild men. E put a stone inside his head. R labored on a head. J-L fastidiously created a well dressed warrior.

Next, they revisited the beads from last week and painted them. H made some new beads and J was inspired to create a clay pendant styled after the filigree gold jewelry found from ancient Mesopotamia.

Another great adventure complete, the kids checked out books to tide them over until next week.

Posted by Sarah

The Epic of Gilgamesh Begins

Last Thursday we began our newest epic adventure - Gilgamesh. Like our Odyssey odyssey, Ms. E will lead our children to explore the story of love, friendship, trust, heartbreak and overcoming challenges. H was ill, so the journey kicked off with J, E and R.

Ms. E began the session with a geography lesson on ancient Mesopotamia and located the Fertile Crescent on the globe, map and google Earth. The children looked at the timeline to put this ancient story into perspective. Ms. E read the beginning of the story and the children talked about tyranny and what it means to be a good leader vs a bad leader. They talked about what it meant for Gilgamesh to be completely friendless.

Ms. E showed them cuneiform writing. The children made their own clay tablets and took a stab at writing in code. J was very interested in writing her name using a cuneiform version of letters. R created a symbol that would represent her name. E created a sentence using cuneiform symbols for water and reeds.

After the tablets were set to dry, Ms. E showed the children pictures of jewelry from ancient Mesopotamia. The crew made beads of all shapes and sizes.
It was a great start to exploring the Epic!