Today's Topics: 

Today we caught up from last Friday, and we completed our look at The Descent of Inanna. We will still need to go over The Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld, as well as Etana and Adapa (our two stories pertaining to heaven).

Nergal and Ereshkigal

In this story, we see a longer (and later) version of the episide that occurred at the end of Enlil and Ninlil. Ereshkigal has been selected as Queen of the Underworld, even though Enki's battle against the Kur was vistorious. You should note that the names of characters in this story reflect the Babylonian names, since this is a Babylonian story. Therefore, An becomes Anu, Enki becomes Ea, Inanna becomes Ishtar, and Kur becomes Kurnugi ("The Land of No Return").

Anu declares a celebration in honor of Ereshkigal, but unfortunately she can't attend since she is locked into the Underworld. Therefore, a series of messengers, usually advisors to the gods, are allowed to take the long stairway to Heaven and the Underworld, back and forth. Entering the Underworld, one must pass through a series of seven gates that serve as the checkpoints into and out of the Kur, each gate guarded by a different guard.

On page 166, notice that Kakka, Anu's messenger, enters the underworls and is greeted by Ereshkigal who, on three occasions, offers him "peace." Remember that the Underworld is not Hell. It is not a place of punishment, but rather the necessary abode of the dead. The Underworld does not pose harm.

Ereshkigal then sends her servant, Namtar, to the heavens to receive her gifts. When Namtar enters Heaven, he is acknowledged and respected by all the gods, except Nergal, who refused to kneel. We don't know why. This makes Namtar mad, and he tells Ereshkigal about Nergal's behavior.

Perhaps to make it up to Ereshkigal, Nergal will walk down the stairway and present Ereshkigal with a throne, which ha makes by cutting down several varieties of trees and painting it to look like it is made of gold, silver, and gems. Some may look at this throne and recognize that it bears a false impression: it looks like gold, but it's really wood. Some may think that Nergal's throne is a cheap imitation; however, a closer inspection reveals deeper symbolism. The chair is not cheap, since it is crafted with several types of wood and decorations. Time and effort certainly were applied here. The throse of the Underworld, being made of wood, reflects the essence of what the Kur is all about: that trees, once living, were now dead, but they still have a place and a value, despite their deceased condition.

Ea then instructs Nergal on how to behave in the Underworld: don't accept any gifts: accepting a gift from the Underworld means that you accept the Underworld, meaning that you have chosen to stay there forever. One of the Underworld rules is that no escape is possible, at least for mortals, and the gods tend to escape either because of their power, their cleverness, or their bargaining. Among the gifts that Nergal is supposed to avoid is Ereshkigal's naked body.

Nergal passes through the seven gates and greets Ereshkigal, who offers him all the gifts that Ea foreshadowed. Nergal rejects each one ... until Ereshkigal takes off her clothes and entices him to make love to her. For six days they make love, but on the seventh Nergal wakes up in the middle of the night and is afraid of what he has just done. He runs out of the Underworld, telling the gatekeeper that Ereshkigal sent him away. This is apparently a lie, a clever way to escape.

At the bottom of page 171, the gods call Nergal the "Son of Ishtar," implying that he has changed into a fertility god due to his relationship with Ereshkigal. Ishtar (Inanna) has long been associated with Ereshkigal beyond merely being sisters. Scholars have suggested that Inanna (Ishtar) and Ereshkigal are actually the same character, but each possessing an opposite aspect of the other: Inanna with life and Ereshkigal with death. In the heavens, Ea sprinkles Nergal with magic water that changes his appearance, since everyone knows that the Underworld will come looking for him.

When Ereshkigal awakens, she asks the gatekeeper where Nergal went, and she learns that her lover has escaped. She calls for his immediate arrest and sends Namtar to Heaven to seize Nergal. If she can't get Nergal back, she threatens to raise all the dead to become living again! Up in Heaven, however, Namtar cannot recognize Nergal's changed appearance, and he returns to the Underworld alone ... until Ereshkigal sends him back up the long stairway to heaven to get Nergal, who is now bald and crouching in the fetal position.

Namtar convinces Nergal to meet his fate, and Nergal arms himself. Entering the seven gates, Nergal fights his way into the Underworld, but immediately seizes Ereshkigal and jumps in bed with her, apparently happy to be back. In Enlil and Ninlil, notice that Nergal seemed prepared to kill Ereshkigal until she relented and vowed to share rulership with him.

Therefore, the rules of the Underworld have been upheld, and Ereshkigal has a husband who is bound to the Kur forever. This suggests that the Underworld is really a place of life, not death, since life goes on down there, albeit in a different capacity.

Ningishzida's Journey to the Nether World

Although there isn't a lot of plot here to consider, this story provides some additional examples of why characters enter the Underworld. In this tale, Ningishzida is summoned to board the barge to the Underworld in the opening paragraph, an indication that he has died and that he has been called to his fate down below. He has two sisters who beg to board the barge with him, an apparent reference to the survivors wishing to be with their loved ones. throughout human history, stories abound of widows who cast themselves into their deceased husbands' graves, and in ancient India many women immolated themselves on their husband's funeral pyre, since the Hindu customs prevented them from owning any property once their husband died, leaving them relegated to a life of extreme poverty.

Notice that a demon operates the ship and calls Ningishzida aboard. Remember that a daemon (or demon) is an intermediary. A demon is capable of passing beyond the boundaries that constrain the rest of us. Be being able to pass through into a different realm (such as heavens, underworld, etc.) is a powerful and impressive ability, relegated only for the most profound of creatures. Mortals pass through only at the moment of death, but the gods may do so freely, making them intermediaries as well. Enki, Inanna, and Nergal all descend into the Underworld, and all return, albeit under different conditions. Likewise, the demons can transcend the boundaries as well, and they are not evil unless they are identified as such. The beginning of the last paragraph on page 104 is one such example of an "evil demon." Unless they are called evil, they are not, although they can be scary when you encounter them!

On page 105, Ningishzida compares himself to baled flax or barley that has been cut (harvested) and tied together, suggesting a connection of this character to fertility. It also reaffirms that death is simply part of the life cycle, perhaps explaining why Ningishzida so willingly complies with the demon's requests. In Western traditions, once someone sees the Grim Reaper, that person must already be dead, so why fight it?

The sisters bribe the demon to allow them to accompany their brother, and the demon tells the drivers to stop pulling away from the quay. Ninazu, however, stops the boat as it attempts to enter the Underworld and announces that his mother Ereshkigal has pardoned them.

A Hymn to E-Kur

The only points I made about this hymn is that the Underworld is being praised (it's a hymn, after all). As well as being referred to as a "Great House" and a "Mountain," it is also called the "Gate of Well-being" and "The house that comes forth like daylight." Things come out of the Underworld as the gods ordain, including the sun and the moon, which appear to rise out of the Eastern mountain range if you are standing in Sumeria. The Underworld is then said to contain "full grandeur" and "aromatic cedars," suggesting that it is a place of life, not death.

A Hymn to Nungal

This hymn is a much later addition to the Underworld cycle of stories, and it shows a changing perspective over time regarding the purpose and power of the Underworld. In other stories, we read that the gods of the Underworld were also called "judges," such as the Anunna (or Anunnaki) gods, including An, Enlil, and Enki. Judgment of the soul, however, is not a Sumerial ideal. We don't even see it in Egypt until after the fall of Sumeria.

In this hymn, Nungal, a daughter of Ereshkigal, is in charge (showing the passing of time), but her approach is far more gentle and forgiving than was her mother's. Although the hymn opens with some violent descriptions of the Underworld, including references to storms, prisons, dragons, and daggers, it presents Nungal as a caring and fair judge of deeds. Evil-doers will be punished by being cast into oblivion ("destruction"), whereas the righteous will be sentences to death, but "will not be killed," suggesting that the Underworld wasn't that bad a place to go anyway. Of course, we don't get this mentality of judging the dead until after the great law codes were written, telling us that judgment would pertain to these laws, since the laws of Nature simply say that we all die the same -- good or bad, we still face the exact same fate. In the next unit, we will see how human laws became the sacred standards to which mortals are judged.

A The Descent of Inanna

In The Descent of Inanna, we see Inanna as a fully grown goddess.  She has had many adventures and experiences between the previous story (The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi) and this one.  You should know that Dumuzi was her first lover ... but not her last.  She has fallen in love hundreds of times by now, and has been with many, many men (gods).  She gathers a reputation as a wild lover, but also a man-eater of sorts, chewing them up and spitting them out when someone new comes along.  When we get to the story of Gilgamesh, we will see Gilgamesh reject Ishtar's (Inanna's) advances, due to her reputation.  In fact, Gilgamesh recalls what Ishtar had done to Dumuzi as one of his reasons for rejection (Dumuzi will be called "Tammuz" in many translations, and this name appears in the eighth chapter of Ezekiel in the Bible, referencing his crying and wailing).

Inanna plans to enter the Underworld to visit her older sister, Ereshkigal, who is mourning the loss of her husband, Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven.  However, anyone who enters the Underworld will never be allowed to leave.  Instead, the Underworld is a dark, dusty,  and lonely place where nothing ever happens.  Imagine entering the scariest old haunted house imaginable.  Inside it is dark and has fallen into disrepair.  The floorboards give way, spider webs hang from the bannisters, and no lights in the house are working.  Now imagine that you decide to explore the musty basement of this ancient house.  As you step down the stairs, you smell the dank mildews and chase away the rats.  Entering the bowels of this basement, you realize that you are standing in a lifeless, dark, and scary environment, where your cries for help go unheard.  You sense that others are around you, but you do not interact with them.  In a sense, the Underworld represents a lifeless, lonely existence.  You are not being punished, but you have no worth, value, or purpose either.  You are "just there."

The Mesopotamians believed that three realms existed: heaven, earth, and underworld.  The heavens were the distant stars in the sky.  You can reach as high as you can, but you will never be able to touch them.  You can build Towers of Babel, climb the highest mountains, or jump as high as possible, but you will never reach the sky.  This distant, unreachable place is referred to as "the heavens."  The earth should speak for itself, a place that is influenced by events occurring both on earth and in the sky.  It is the realm of duality, human life, and a middle state, where the demons (intermediaries) roam freely from one realm to the other.  This story will show you how these intermediaries operate.

On page 53, Inanna instructs her trusted servant Ninshubur about what to do if Inanna does not return.  She tells her friend to ask the gods for help if she becomes trapped in the land of no return.  Therefore, Inanna clearly knows that she has a difficult journey ahead.  By page 55, she has descended the stairs and approaches the door to the netherworld.  She knocks, and the door is answered by Neti, the main gatekeeper of the seven gates into the Underworld.  He asks her what she wants, and she tells him that she is Ereshkigal's sister and that she comes to attend the funeral of her brother-in-law.  He tells her to wait so that he can ask the Queen of the Underworld, Ereshkigal, what to do.

But wait.  There is something else going on here.  On page 55, Inanna says that she is "[o]n my way to the East."  However, the East always represents life and rebirth -- the West represents death and dying.  Why would she be traveling through the Underworld to get to the East?  Joseph Campbell explains that all of us are "twice born," and that we have to "die" before we can assume a new "life."  For example, when you meet your significant other, your single life "dies" so that you can be reborn into a new person, one who is not alone any more, but rather part of a whole -- your relationship.  Likewise, when you become a parent, part of your old life is replaced with a new one, filled with new responsibilities and challenges that changes the way that you live your life.  If Inanna is traveling to the East, then she is metaphorically seeking a rebirth, which can only occur through a death, hence her visit to the realm of the dead.

Knowledge plus experience equals wisdom.  Inanna seeks the experience of death in order to better understand life.  Only when a person comes to terms with his or her mortality does life take on its proper meanings.  I recall being a small child and thinking to myself that I wanted to live to 100, just because it seemed like the thing to do.  Now that I have a better understanding of life and death, I do not wish to live to 100, which now appears a more frightening thought.  If you always keep the dualities in mind, you will see the reasons behind the actions.  Inanna wishes to understand death, which can only occur once it is experienced.  Once she knows death, then she can become better at life.  After all, our lives are defined by our births and deaths more than anything else.

Furthermore, let me give you some insights into Gugalanna, the Bull of Heaven, a character that we will see in Gilgamesh as the representation of drought.  If Gugalanna has died, and he represents drought, then what has died?  Drought!  (See the Gilgamesh story.)  The way to kill a drought is to apply water, which replaces it (or chases it away).  Perhaps this story really represents the changes that occur from the season of winter into spring.  Inanna knows that the cycles of life whirl around and around, and that there is always a new life after each death.  She is going to pay tribute to the end of winter and the beginning of new life in the East.  She is going to become born again.  First, however, she needs to experience death.  Hence, the Underworld.  Inanna ia already the "Queen of Heaven and Earth," as your book's subtitle indicates, but does she control the Underworld?  No.  Perhaps she is curious about it so that she can also assume power over the third of the three realms?  

On page 56, Inanna gathers together seven Holy me, her powerful weapons and wisdom that she will need to do battle with the forces of the Underworld.  These take the form of royal robes and assorted jewelry.  At the bottom of the page, though, Ereshkigal (Queen of the Underworld) tells Neti (the gatekeeper) to allow Inanna in only one gate at a time, removing one of the seven me as she passes through each gate.  Pages 57-59 show Inanna's passage until she finally arrives in the Underworld completely naked.  Immediately (page 60), Ereshkigal attaches the "eye of death" onto Inanna and hangs her corpse on the wall.  Inanna is dead.

Ninshubur, Inanna's assistant, begins to ask the gods for their help.  First she asks Enlil (also called Ellil), who refuses to help.  Next, she visits Nanna, Inanna's father, but he too says no.  Why won't these father figures offer any succor to Inanna?  Perhaps because they have no power over the Underworld, as each god and goddess controls limited aspects.  Furthermore, Inanna is an adult woman now, and she needs to fight her own battles, especially since nobody forced her into the Underworld!  Much like in the earlier Inanna stories, Inanna must face her own life changes, as nobody else can experience these things for her.

Enki is the only god who makes a commitment to help Inanna, and he does so on page 64 by creating two androgynous creatures, a kurgarra and a galatur.  He gives them the food and water of life, and he sends them into the Underworld.  Because they are neither male or female, they will be allowed in and out of the Underworld at will, and they will not be subjected to the same rules that mortals and gods must follow.  But why is their lack of sexual identity a benefit (or a condition that circumvents death)?  Perhaps this has a lot to do once again with dualities.

As men or women, we live in a world of opposition.  The only way we can rise above these dualities is to transcend these dualities.  One way that we shed our dual natures is through death.  In death, we are not male and female (gender only matters on earth).  We finally share the exact same experiences together, if you will.  Therefore, sexuality is an inherent part of a dualistic being, just like we are living in one side of the duality of life/death.

If we were to avoid the traps and conditions of this dualistic state, then we would not be living in the forms that we are in right now.  That would be impossible, given our world that we live in.  Keep in mind that we don't die because we are men or women, but that, in death, we become unified in our experience.  An agendered creature (a creature with no gender), therefore, is already a unified idea, much like the way that many cultures conceive of their gods (as a transcendent entity that is not locked into the world that we know, but a different one where there are no distinctions between the dualities).  The term "androgynous" is made from the combination of "andro" (implying the male, such as in the hormone "androgen") and "gyno" (referring to the female, as in "gynecologist").  These creatures, therefore, are neither male nor female (or they could be BOTH).  Either way, they have nothing to offer in the Underworld, nothing to exchange, and nothing to lose.  They are already unified, so death does not change their natures.   They are the classic intermediaries (demons), according to the definition.
 
Ereshkigal (the Queen of the Underworld, and Inanna's sister) questions these kurgarra and galatur creatures and attempts to offer them gifts, but they refuse the offerings (pages 66-67).  The only gift they ask for is the body of Inanna, whom they revive with Enki's magic potions.  Ereshkigal allows Inanna to leave the Underworld, due to these highly unusual conditions, but places one strict demand on her exit -- if she leaves, she will be accompanied by the galla creatures (little demon dudes) who will search the Earth for someone to take Inanna's place in the Underworld.  After all, the Underworld must be balanced, so the soul of Inanna must be replaced.

Why does Ereshkigal affix the "eye of death" upon her sister Inanna?  Is she evil?  Corrupt?  No.

View Ereshkigal as a mirror image of Inanna herself.  Whereas Inanna represents fertility, Ereshkigal promotes the opposite force.  Both are aspects of Nature and natural cycles.  Inanna, however, is the friendlier (and more flirtatious) side of Nature, while Ereshkigal offers the dark side.  In other words, these two women are really different halves of the same concept -- one that operates by day, and the other that tends to the night.  They are more than sisters -- they are both components of Nature's dualities.  

As Inanna and her demon companions re-emerge on the land, the galla creatures begin to point out prospects for Inanna's replacement.  First, they find Ninshubur, Inanna's assistant, but Inanna complains that Ninshubur cannot be taken, since she is so valuable to Inanna.  Next, on page 70, the galla stumble across two of Inanna's sons, Shara and Lulal.  But Inanna complains again, stating that her sons are brave warriors and needed on the Earth.  That is when, on page 71, the galla find a man sleeping beneath an apple tree -- Dumuzi.  Inanna then exclaims: "Take him!  Take Dumuzi away!"  Fighting, kicking, and screaming, Dumuzi is dragged away toward the Underworld, wondering why he has met this fate.  He will attempt to hide, and succeeds temporarily, until he is finally sentenced to the Underworld in the next two sections of this story. 

In the section entitled “The Dream of Dumuzi,” we see Dumuzi asking his sister Geshtinanna to interpret his dreams, which she does on pages 76-77.  In short, she tells her brother that his dream portends his own death, followed by hers.  After this interpretation is made, Dumuzi runs away.  Notice that Geshtinanna does not tell Dumuzi that he will die.  Rather, she uses nature metaphors to describe Dumuzi’s passing: “terror of tall trees,” “fall to earth,” “given to the winds.”  Remember that these nature-based stories tell about natural events and cycles.  Geshtinanna discusses the “sheepfold” to Dumuzi, which can be translated into “Mother Earth.”  This allows us to better understand some descriptions, such as  Dumuzi’s fire being “put out on your holy hearth,” allowing the “sheepfold” (earth) to “become a house of desolation.”  Why does Geshtinanna use nature references rather than speaking directly about his death?  Maybe Dumuzi is not going to “die.”  Perhaps his “death” is really another “birth.”   We all must make a sacrifice before we can gain something.  Dumuzi will gain an important role in the cycles of the earth by the end of the story.   Remember that Inanna was traveling to the “East,” representing life.

On pages 78-79, Dumuzi goes into hiding, asking his sister and friend to keep his hiding place a secret.  When the galla approach Geshtinanna, she refuses their gifts. The “water-gift” and the “grain-gift” are both representations of life (the same stuff that the androgynous creatures fed to Inanna to revive her in the Underworld).  Why does Geshtinanna refuse the gifts of life?  Perhaps because they come from down below, or perhaps because of her loyalty to her brother.

The galla proceed to torture Geshtinanna (they rape her) before moving onto the friend who, on page 80, immediately accepts the gifts and reveals Dumuzi’s hiding places.  What kind of friend is this?  Why would a friend turn against you?  Maybe he feared the torture that the galla applied to Geshtinanna.   Or perhaps he was just selfish.  Additionally, maybe the friend knows something that we are not aware of.  Either way, Dumuzi’s sister is more loyal, in part, because she is a member of his family.

The friend here actually does the right thing.  Although we want to assist our friends in their times of need, sometimes we need to let go and allow them to mess up in order to learn a valuable lesson themselves.  We learn best by doing, so perhaps the friend can’t stop Dumuzi’s progress into his next set of experiences.  Parents face this dilemma all the time in their attempt to achieve a balance between allowing their children to learn from experience while wanting to shelter them from harm.

The galla catch up with Dumuzi, of course, because this is his fate.  In a panic, Dumuzi calls up to the sun god, Utu, to transform his arms and legs into those of a snake, and later as those of a gazelle.  Utu complies, and gives Dumuzi one last chance for escape.  Why does the sun god have mercy on Dumuzi as he is dragged away to death?  The sun represents life and its energy.  The sun naturally wants to preserve life and keep it active.  The moon reflects the changes of death, in dual opposition to the qualities of the sun (male vs. female).  Dumuzi is eventually seized by the galla, who take him to his new home.

In the final section entitled “The Return,” we see everyone in tears over Dumuzi’s fate.  His family is crying, including his mother Sirtur and sister Geshtinanna.  A strange fly appears who seems to know where Dumuzi is, but it asks for compensation before saying where.  Inanna grants the fly the abilities to enter the taverns (which explains why flies are attracted to restaurants!) and listen to people’s conversations (the traditional “fly on  the wall”).  Bear in mind that any flying creatures were considered to be gods or spirits of some fashion, since they can fly heavenward, unlike people.  (In fact, in Genesis 9, after Noah alighted from the ark and made a sacrifice to Yahweh, the "gods" descended 'like flies" to the sacrifice; the flies here too represent gods, a carry-over tradition from Mesopotamian literature). The fly tells Inanna to look at the “edges of the steppe,” or on the horizon, to find Dumuzi -- which they do!

Why the horizon?  Think about what the horizon is – the intersection of heaven and earth.  Dumuzi is about to leave the earth and pass into the next world.  The horizon represents a boundary between these two realms.  However, the horizon is also a trick that is played on the eyes.  There really isn’t a “horizon,” since it is a matter of perspective.  In the third unit on Egypt, we will see the horizon play an even more important role in the stories.

On page 89, a deal is struck.  Geshtinanna offers to make a sacrifice of herself so that Dumuzi can be released from the Underworld for one half a year.  In Mesopotamia, the growing seasons of different crops lasted about 6 months each -- in the spring and summer, grains were grown; but in the fall and winter, grapes were cultivated.  The grains were harvested to produce beer, and the grapes were collected to make wine.  Dumuzi, although he is a shepherd in the earlier stories, later assumed control over the grains, perhaps because of his marriage to the goddess of fertility.  Likewise, Geshtinanna is the “lady of the vine,” assisting in its production.

The Mesopotamians needed to explain why certain “forces” allowed different plants to grow at opposite times, so they used their understanding of dualities to tell their stories.  They also shape their view of the world in the contexts of their surroundings.  Because the end of one growing season corresponds with the beginning of the other, the Mesopotamians constantly associated death with life and life with death.  Citizens of the United States typically experience four distinct seasons.  In the autumn, the crops wither and die, and then lay fallow for months before new life springs into action.  The Mesopotamians lived in a very arid and warm climate year-round, although they recognized three distinct seasons. 

This story is really a metaphor of the changing seasons, where Dumuzi and Geshtinanna (the winter and summer) return to earth, exchanging places twice a year.  Undoubtedly, this also explains the rotation of the cosmos, and ties the planting and harvest seasons into these six-month periods of transition.  The siblings tag-team their duties on earth and the Underworld, just as the plants do, but then wither away in their “off”  seasons.  The seasons belong to the same family, and the year becomes broken into a fertile season (when Inanna and Dumuzi are together) and a fallow one.

Sending Dumuzi to the Underworld also gives him a divine purpose.  Instead of sitting around in a state of retirement or leisure, he now can be deified by assuming a greater cosmic purpose. The male characters don’t really understand what they’re getting into when they marry a powerful goddess!  In the end, Dumuzi becomes glorified, especially since he sacrifices his “self” for the greater harmony of the world.  He has now become an important god, worthy of worship.  He began as a stubborn shepherd who had no knowledge of agriculture, and he ends up becoming a fertility god through his association with Inanna and his experiences in the underworld.  His name means “faithful son,” and he parallels many other sacrificial sons throughout world literature.

We'll cover the later Babylonian equivalent, The Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld, next week before the test.
 

Announcements:

Coursepackets are in!

Please pick up your copy in the KSU Bookstore. The price is around $60, which is more than I was hoping, but I don't get a single penny. You don't need to have them for class next week, since we'll be taking our test, but you will need to purchase them soon. After today, I will not post any more files from the coursepacket since they are now available to you.

Use of Class Time Next Week

Class will begin at the usual time (8:00 AM for section 42 and 11:00 AM for section 44). However, we will only have one official break, a long one, before the test. We will not need more than 45 minutes to address the remaining stories, and I would like to give you a 20-30-minute break before the test begins (at 9:15 or 12:15, respectively). You may leave as soon as you complete the test.

Test Reminders

See your Study Guide for Details. You wiull be asked to write a paragraph-length response to five questions that cover the Age of Taurus unit. The test is open-book and open-note, so bring all of your materials. Remember that the best answers begin with a clear answer to the question and are well-supported by discussion and references to the readings that defend your thesis. Since I will be asking you questions that are open-ended and that test your comprehension, there will be many possible answer directions that can be strong. There is no multiple-choice, and I will not ask you any objective questions (such as "Who is Inanna's father?"). I want to see how you are assessing the mythological motifs in this literature.

I am not interested in tricking you. I will ask you big, obvious questions that pertain to the most important ideas from this unit. Your careful articulation of your understanding will determine your grade, not knowledge of randomly selected nit-picky answers. You can predict many of these questions by simply looking st the Study Guide. I will ask you about some of the concepts listed in the terminology listing, and I will ask you about as many stories as possible. Often, you will be asked to answer a question about one particular story, whereas other questions will ask you to discuss what you like from the whole unit. I will ask you a question that is inspired by Campbell's The Power of Myth, but all questions will relate to the literature selections, not Campbell's supplementary text.

Make-Up Quizzes

Make-up quizzes need to be completed next Friday. You may take a quiz after taking the test, but you might want to have the quiz completed before the test so that you can use it.

Extended Office Hours

Next week I will be available for additional office hours, allowing you opportunities to come and see me. The hours will be an open-door policy, and I will not take any appointments. Stop by, knock on the door (HU 139), and come on in. Of course, I will gladly answer questions via e-mail as well. Here are the additional hours:

 

MON 26 SEP:	2-4 PM	WED 28 SEP:	2-4 PM
TUE 27 SEP:	9 AM - 2 PM	THU 29 SEP:	9 AM - 2 PM

Grades Will Be Available Online

Grades will be posted online on Wednesday. I will make available the gradebook in a pdf file, and I will identify students using the last four digits of their KSU ID number, to retain anonymity. Over 95% of my students want to see their grades available online. If you do not, then you need to contact me and let me know. I will not post any information against your wishes, but I need to assume that you agree until you tell me otherwise.

Today's Handouts:

None, but here is the Study Guide if you need it (I passed it out last week):

Study Guide: Test 1: The Age of Taurus

Due Next Time:

Adapa (Dalley, 182-188); Reading Guide

Etana (Dalley, 189-200); Reading Guide

Take-Home Question: 

NONE.

We have a test next week, not a quiz.