ARCH 0412 From Gilgamesh to Hektor: Heroes of the Bronze Age April 22, 2016: The Lingering Bronze Age Heroes Timeline of the Eastern Mediterranean • Royal Tombs of Ur • Egyptian Old Kingdom • Sumerian cities (c.4100-2000 BCE) HOMERIC EPICS Composed Written Modified • Alaca Hoyuk burials Battle of Kadesh Early Bronze Age Middle Bronze Age Late Bronze Age Proto-Geometric Geometric Archaic Classic (3000-2000 BCE) (2000-1700 BCE) (1700-1100 BCE) (1100-900 BCE) (900-700 BCE) (700-480 BCE) (480-323 BCE) • Gilgamesh written down for the first time • Palace of Knossos Lefkandi Heroon • Egyptian Middle Kingdom • Hittite archives Placing offerings in Mycenaean and settlements tombs start in late 8th century BCE • Mycenaean sites • Egyptian New Kingdom A Connected Eastern Mediterranean: Transmission of Myths, Epics, People Cosmogony: Any model explaining the origins of the universe (cosmos) Babylonian Cosmogony Hittite Cosmogony Greek Cosmogony (Enûma Eliš) (The Song of Kumarbi) (Theogony) At first, the waters of primeval Apsu and First there was Chaos Tiamat were mingled together. Through the union of Apsu and Tiamat, the In primeval years, Alalu was king in From Chaos, Gaia (Earth), Tartarus (depths gods were called into being, one by one. heaven. of the earth) and Eros (love). From them, And they reside in Tiamat’s body. the first generation of gods were created. These new gods were loud and restless. In the ninth year, Anu fought against Alalu Uranus (Sky) mated with Gaia (Earth) and Apsu was disturbed by them and decided and became the king of heaven. created twelve Titans. He was disgusted to kill them. with them and hid them in the earth. Tiamat warned Ea, the most powerful of In the ninth year of Anu’s kingship, Anu Gaia is angered by Uranus’s actions, and the gods, of Apsu’s intentions to protect her decides to wage war on his son Kumarbi. asks her children to punish their father. children. One of the children, Chronos, agrees. Ea kills Apsu and becomes the chief god. Kumarbi defeats Anu and bites Anu’s Chronos castrates Uranus and becomes the ‘manhood’. chief god. Ea’s son Marduk is even stronger than him. Anu’s manhood impregnates Kumarbi with Chronos marries Rhea, one of his sisters. To stop Ea and Marduk becoming too the Storm God. Kumarbi wants to swallow Since there is a prophecy that one of his strong, the other gods fetch a plan and Teshub (The Storm God) upon his birth to children will overthrow him, he starts convince Tiamat to avenge Apsu’s death. eliminate the threat swallowing his children. Ea gives Kumarbi a piece of basalt to Rhea gives Chronos a stone to swallow swallow instead of Teshub. instead of Zeus, and sends Zeus away. Marduk defeats Tiamat and the 11 Teshub defeats Kumarbi in battle and After he is strong enough, Zeus fights monsters she created, and becomes the became the chief god. against Chronos and the Titans, overthrows chief god. him and becomes the chief god. The Ahhiyawa Question The Alaksandu Treaty (early 13th century BCE) Between Muwatalli II and Alaksandu “Formerly, when my forefather Labarna had conquered all the lands of Arzawa and the land of Wilusa, thereafter the land of Arzawa began war, and the land of Wilusa deflected from Hatti – but because the matter is long past, I do not know from which king. (…) And as I, My Majesty, protected you, Alaksandu, in good will because of the word of your father, and came to your aid, and killed your enemy for you, later in the future my sons and my grandsons will certainly protect your descendant for you. ” The Tawagalawa Letter (mid-13th century BCE) Hittite king (very likely Hattusili III) asking a king of Ahhiyawa to get in touch with Piyamaradu, who is causing trouble around CTH 76 The treaty between the Hittite borders, and tell him: Muwatalli II of Hatti and Alaksandu of Wilusa Fragment Bo 402 “The king of Hatti and I – in that matter of Wilusa over which we were at enmity, he has converted me in that matter, and we have made peace; … a war would not be right for us.” Near Eastern – Greek Interactions • Hurrian and Hittite SIR3 “Song” performances and Homeric poems • Debate and assembly scenes present in Hittite myths, Gilgamesh and the Iliad • Debate used to contrast characters (Agamemnon vs. Achilles & Meki vs. Zazalla, Gilgamesh vs. Town Elders • Detention and captives (Song of Release, Helen, Chryses) • Iliad funerals and Hittite royal funerals • Queen’s intervention and assembly – Trojan Hekabe in the Iliad, Hittite Puduhepa in the Hittite ritual texts, Panathenaic Games in Classical Athens • Many other Hittite-Mycenaean interactions between the 15th-12th centuries BCE • Overall, many Hittite burial practices, prayers, hymns, oaths, curses preserved in Greek ritual. “Within the corpus of Bronze Age texts detailing campaigns, cease-fires, embassies and overtures, prayers and curses, lie events that later Greek poets turned into epic encounters and episodes of the Trojan War” (Morris 2013: 161) 6th century BCE 18th century AD 2004 MEMORY Mental maps and memory • Scale • Orientation • Location • What is remembered and forgotten • …. ARE ALL SUBJECTIVE … But we still remember with places and things. • “Country of the past” and the “country of the present” • Place names describing the landscapes and the events that happened there. E.g. “Water flows inward under a cottonwood tree” • Dynamic landscapes and dynamic names Mycenae Individual vs collective memory Places and landmarks Uruk Hattusa Thebes ….As long as we remember things, they continue to evolve and change King Tut Gilgamesh and Enkidu Funerary pyre Achilles and Hektor Next (and Final) Week: Bronze Age Heroes in Modern Imagination Monday (4/25): NO CLASS Wednesday (4/27): Heroes & Video Games (Lecture by Dr. Willis Monroe) ‘Bring a video game’: Think about a game in which Bronze Age heroes or civilizations are used. Friday (4/29): Heroes & Hollywood Watch a movie and be prepared to discuss: How are Bronze Age civilizations and heroes portrayed? How taking this class changed your view of these portrayals?.