ANTH 2820 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Warka Vase, Karl August Wittfogel, Eanna
28 Mar 2017
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Document Summary
Epic of gilgamesh: poem of a king of uruk. Most of the chapters were found during the last century of nineveh in the ruins of the temple of nabu. Said to be the son of the goddess ninsun. The epic says his father was a high priest of kullab" (district in uruk: means he was semi-divine, father was actually king lugalbanda. What can we learn about mesopotamian culture through this: everyone"s time comes to die. Lots of detail: anticipation of natural disasters. Leaders can take control of decimated areas after a disaster: the king is highly involved with the gods. Gods that are worshipped effect the landscape. Gilgamesh is the son of ninsun (goddess) The way different cities titled their kings comes from where they place their value: war, religion, prosperity. Stylistic elements: repetition, sentence structure, shows that the writing style has been refined (more primitive writing must have existed)
