RG ST 12 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Girsu, Votive Offering, Ereshkigal
Document Summary
Later translations: babylonian, akkadian, sumerian, etc (languages from ancient near east) Disappeared because scripture was no longer readable. Libraries of hammurabi (1700 bce) and ashurbanipal (612 bce) Gilgamesh is the earliest epic in the history of writing. Everyone has one inscribed on their chest. Later elevated to a divinized ancestor and a king of the underworld . Gilgamesh"s name means the old man is youthful . Plant of immortality called the old man becomes a young man epic shows inescapability of death. Mesopotamians always buried their dead in the ground according to economic means of the family could be buried in various places when the family could afford it, they would bury pots, bowls and other supplies for their dead. Ancestor (left), offering table (center), human donor (right) Offered to/on behalf of dead, and to annunaki. Cause of natural disasters, epidemics, war, etc. Aided by spirits of the dead had 7 gates plus a river to enter.
