Introduction...“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to always

remain a child.”

~ Cicero, Roman Statesman and Orator, 1st century B.C.

What does this mean? What is Cicero attempting to teach us about history?

What is “Western Civilization”?

Civilization vs. Culture: two separate yet related concepts

What does “western” mean?

What are “humanities”?

What is “Western Civilization”?

• “Civilization is the way people live in a complex political, economic, and social structure, usually in an urban setting, usually after making certain technological and artistic advances and sharing a refinement of though, manners, and tastes.”

• A physical community; a social matrix.

• Comes from the Latin for “city.”

What is “Western Civilization”?

• “Culture is the artistic and intellectual expressions of a people; methods of survival, political, social, economic institutions; values and beliefs; and the arts.”

• Culture is the expression of various achievements of a civilization rather than the structure of a civilization itself.

What is “Western Civilization”?

The West: Europe and beyond! The story of Western Civilization actually begins in the Near East, in Mesopotamia and Egypt (see map on page 6 or 7 of textbook)

Humanities: the study of people! Art, literature, history, religion, music, philosophy: the cultural products of human society show us what it means to be a person living in society!

Major Eras of Western Civilization

• Antiquity

• The ancient world. Typically, Greece and Rome. AKA Greco-Roman Antiquity or Classical Antiquity.

• Medieval Period

• After the fall of the western Roman empire in 476 AD and the end of Classical Antiquity.

• Modern Era

• 15th century onward.

Antiquity (to 476 AD)• Ancient western civilizations - Greece & Rome

• Pagan, polytheistic, fate-based beliefs

• Traditional religious and cultural views vs. new ways of viewing humanity and nature

• Humanism, a human-centric view of the world that puts faith in human wisdom (philosophy)

• 5th c. BC Athens and the Classical Ideal - Classicism and Humanism are ancient contributions to the Western Tradition

• Participatory and responsive government - Athenian democracy and the Roman Republic

Medieval Era (476 - 15th c.)

• Monotheistic - Christian

• East - Byzantine Empire continues the Roman imperial tradition

• West - Western Europe develops something different

• Monarchy, aristocracy, church

• Feudalism - Society and economy

• Middle class sets the stage for the future…

Modernity (15th c. -)• New ideas

• Individualism and individual value

• Secularism - freeing truth from traditional religious politics

• Fundamental rights to be protected by government (classical liberalism)

• Human rationality and right to make individual choices

• Equality/egalitarianism

• Old ideas from antiquity make a comeback

• Humanism & philosophy

• Classical ideas - aesthetics and beyond

• Responsive and participatory styles of government

Ancient Mesopotamia3rd Millenium B.C.

Mesopotamian kingdoms: Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian cultures

Highly-developed & industrious

Lasting impact on developing civilizations nearby, including GREEK ones - Greece is traditionally known as the “cradle of western civilization”

More in common...Bronze Age Greeks and Mesopotamian peoples had polytheistic religions

Other traditions contributed by ancient Mesopotamians to the West: legal traditions!

The Code of Hammurabi in 1700 BC (see inscription at right) - Hammurabi a Babylonian king

The Code: An ancient social contract; divine rulership/regency on behalf of the divine

Life in CivilizationCommunity evolves because life is easier and better when lived together - civilization!

Social contract: People “agree” to live together under a government/authority in order to achieve the safety and stability (the original purpose of government) that life in civilized society provides.

It involves trade-offs (Thomas Hobbes, later in the semester): You give up some freedoms to get better quality of life.

The pre-modern “social contract” is usually initiated and typified by the “last warlord(s) standing” - kings and oligarchs take control by force or threat (of varying degrees). Citizens are reluctant to put themselves in danger and tend to accept rulership that promises safety and stability.

The modern social contract is ideally the creation of civil authority - a real contract between government and citizens that is representative of actual choice by and benefit to the governed (negotiation and ratification of the U.S. Constitution by representatives of state populations, for example)

Code of HammurabiReligion and divinity = powerful traditional authority

Divine right of rule a common way of putting a prettier face on “last warlord standing”-type governments (“The gods choose this king!”)

Hammurabi’s memorial stones presented the code and this inscription: “The great gods have called me, I am the salvation-bearing shepherd, whose staff is straight, the good shadow that is spread over my city; on my breast I cherish the inhabitants of the land of Sumer and Akkad; in my shelter I have let them repose in peace; in my deep wisdom have I enclosed them. That the strong might not injure the weak, in order to protect the widows and orphans, I have in Babylon…in order to declare justice in the land, to settle all disputes, and heal all injuries, set up these my precious words, written upon my memorial stone, before the image of me, as king of righteousness.”

Code of Hammurabi

Grand rhetoric, but a practical purpose: Bureaucrats pulled together centuries of existing Mesopotamian law in order to unify a diverse set of Mesopotamian people and provide peaceful and effective administration of a kingdom.

The code creates the “backbone” of a successful civilization - laws that promote peace and cooperation.

Some examples that may resonate with modern people, even if in a small way:

“If any one bring an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if it be a capital offense charged, be put to death.” - Even today, if someone files a frivolous lawsuit, for example, or makes false criminal accusations, they run the risk of punishment via tort reform penalties (the frivolous lawsuit) or criminal charges.

“If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out.” - How does this sound familiar?

Code of Hammurabi

Sharing IdeasMesopotamians and Egyptians very close to what would become the Greek world: ancient Greece the “cradle” of Western Civilization

They traded and interacted with Greek travelers: shared ideas!

Shared story form: orally-transmitted epic poetry

Epic of Gilgamesh influenced Homeric epics of the Greek world, including the Odyssey

7th C. B.C. depiction of “Gilgamesh” and the bull of heaven

General Timeline

B.C. ( “Before Christ” )or B.C.E. (“Before Common Era”) vs. A.D. (“Anno Domini”/“Year of the Lord”) or C.E. (“Common Era”)

Epic of GilgameshFolklore first “written down” around 2000-1600 B.C.; the version left to us dates to cuneiform tablets from 7th c. B.C., in the Akkadian language.

Oldest piece of western literature? Canon of folktales recorded by Shin-eqi-unninni.

Real King Gilgamesh was a Sumerian ruler living around 2700 B.C., during the Mesopotamian Bronze Age

Founder of the Ur Dynasty

Real figure, legendary legacy: How much of the oral tradition was true?

Epic of Gilgamesh

2350 B.C.: Sumerians fell to neighboring Akkadians

Sumerian cultural traditions melded with Akkadian traditions: Gilgamesh too!

Running theme: conquerors as cultural heirs of the civilizations they vanquish (Rome and Greece, for example)

“Gilgamesh” as epic poetry...

“Gilgamesh” influenced the Greek epic poems canonized ca. 800 B.C. by Homer

Epic poems are basically long songs which include characteristics of the “epic” story form

The epic genre crosses cultures and time periods (and it goes beyond poetry), but all varieties have several elements in common:

Elements of the “Epic”

Superhuman protagonist/“epic” hero: better than regular mortals

Hero is a king of his people (like Gilgamesh and Odysseus)

Hero is a paragon of manhood for the civilization in question (in at least some ways)

Epitomizes the values and ideals of his society (in at least some ways)

Usually descended from divinities (like Gilgamesh, who’s 2/3 god)

Involved in an important quest (killing Humbaba, finding immortality, going home - Odysseus, &c.) - Gilgamesh has several quests, but the most significant is the search for immortality

Has flaws that impede his quest (hubris is a big example - extreme arrogance!). Tragic heroes, like Oedipus, have flaws/“frailty” as well!

Divinities and superhuman villains also hinder his quest

Gilgamesh as an Epic Hero

(Some of these questions are similar to the study questions posted on the web site!)

How does Gilgamesh fulfill the requirements of “epic hero”?

What kind of king is he? What is his parentage? How is he viewed by his people?

Who is Enkidu? How does he enter the picture, and why? What is he like? What is his initial purpose?

How does Enkidu’s purpose shift over the course of the story? Who or what is responsible for this shift?

What are Gilgamesh’s (and by extension, in many cases) and Enkidu’s quest-goals in the story?

Are they successful? Why do they succeed or fail in their quests?

Gilgamesh as an Epic Hero

How do these two specifically represent Mesopotamian standards of heroism? What do they do right? What do they do wrong?

How much control over human events do the gods seem to have?

The role of dreams - do they foretell a set future? If so, do the gods all seem in on the plan?

What are the lessons that the Epic of Gilgamesh appears to be teaching Mesopotamians? Ideally, how should the people view the gods? How should they approach life and death?

Premonition, Dreams, & FateSome gods seem to have some knowledge of what will happen, and some power over how it goes down...but no one god alone has full and complete control! They all have different roles in ordering mortal life...

Rimat-Ninsun’s reading of Gilgamesh’s dreams versus her worry and prayer to Shamash regarding her son’s safety in the battle against Humbaba...

"The [immobile meteorite and] axe that you saw is a man... you love him and embrace as a wife, but I have it compete with you. There will come to you a mighty man, a comrade who saves his friend - he is the mightiest in the land, he is strongest, he is as mighty as the meteorite of Anu!"

Why did you give my son such an adventurous heart?

Anu’s creation of Enkidu as a punishment for Gilgamesh is transformed into a boon for Gilgamesh! What does this say about gods’ power? Does it say anything?

Gilgamesh’s dream about the gods’ council and Enkidu’s demise - does Enkidu’s passing seem to be set in stone, or is it up to debate? Shamash and Enlil fight over who is to blame, and who should be punished...

The Mesopotamian PantheonGods and demigods - what’s the difference?

Humbaba, the demon of the Cedar Forest, and Enkidu - demigods?

Rimat-Ninsun - Gilgamesh’s mother

Anu, the sky god and a patron of the city of Uruk

His daughter, Ishtar - poster child for vengeful gods, but also a goddess representing balance in the mortal world

Aruru, goddess responsible for the design of mankind and Anu’s assistant in the creation of Enkidu as a match for Gilgamesh

Shamash, the sun god and “patron god” of Gilgamesh in the Cedar Forest adventure

Enlil and Ea (co-creator of humanity) disagree over the fate of humankind in Utnapishtim’s story of the flood

Lessons to Learn...Humans created to serve the gods; as Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh, mortals are destined to die because that is the will of the gods.

Though as a group they are all-powerful, they are not necessarily omnipotent or omnipowerful as individuals. They may act alone, but these actions may be subject to alteration by the group (Shamash’s blessing in the Humbaba caper, for example, does not save Enkidu).

The gods have some very human vanities, conceits, and eccentricities.

The afterlife is not really a good thing; as Enkidu discovers, it is the ultimate, complete fulfillment of mortal service to the gods.

Siduri and Utnapishtim advise: live life to the fullest, but don’t try to alter your fate - don’t seek things that are not properly intended for you as a mortal.