Epic of Gilgamesh, The Road, and Homer's Iliad Lecture Review

Vocabulary flashcards covering the literary themes, cultural concepts, characters, and vocabulary from The Epic of Gilgamesh, Cormac McCarthy's The Road, and Homer's Iliad.

The Epic of Gilgamesh

The world's oldest written story, first composed by ancient Sumerians around 2,200 BC on eleven stone tablets, recounting the deeds of King Gilgamesh of Uruk and his companion Enkidu.

Ancient Hero

In Mesopotamian and Greek tradition, an extraordinary person (almost invariably a man) possessing extreme qualities such as great strength, cleverness, wrath, or appetites, whose greatness is a two-edged sword capable of being both beneficial and destructive to society.

Modern Hero

A person who performs a great deed in the face of overwhelming difficulty or sacrifices themselves for the benefit of others, serving as a model member of society.

Apotropaic Worship

A form of ritual worship intended to 'turn away' (from Greek apo = away, trop = turn) the wrath of a powerful spirit from the grave and appease it, rather than to ask for rewards.

Cleomedes of Astypalaea

An ancient Greek athlete who killed Iccus of Epidaurus in a boxing match, pulled down a school roof killing about sixty children in grief-fueled madness, vanished inside a chest, and was declared the 'last of heroes' to be honored with sacrifices by the Delphic oracle.

The Heroic Choice

The deliberate decision made by an ancient hero to value glory, fame, and an enduring name above a long, safe life or physical existence, trading a short and dangerous life for symbolic immortality.

Hubris

A sin of excess characterized by arrogant pride in one's power or achievements that leads a mortal to imagine they are equal to the gods.

Sympathetic Magic

The ancient practice and belief illustrated by temple prostitution, where enacting sexual activity in connection with a fertility goddess's temple is believed to magnify fertility blessings for the entire city.

Shepherd (Symbolic Archetype)

A Near-Eastern mythological figure representing humanity's intermediary place between animals and God, symbolizing humility, dependence on divine guidance, and the king's duty to protect the weak.

Asyndetic Style

An unconnected narrative technique seen in Mesopotamian epic poetry, characterized by deliberate, abrupt transitions between scenes and lines that mirror, comment on, or ironically contradict each other.

Enlil's Fire Curse

A curse pronounced by Enlil after the slaying of Humbaba that acts as a mortality curse, symbolizing that all mortal life is like a fire or stomach that consumes until it eventually consumes itself.

Tripartite Universe Birds

The three birds released by Utnapishtim from the ark that symbolize re-ordering the cosmos: the dove representing heaven/gods, the swallow representing middle-earth/men, and the raven representing the underworld/death.

"The Old Man Becomes Young"

The magical underwater herb of rejuvenation given to Gilgamesh by Utnapishtim, which Gilgamesh plans to share with the city elders of Uruk before a serpent steals it.

The Road

A novel by Cormac McCarthy described as a secular meditation on the Book of Job, exploring the meaning of living as a true human being under post-apocalyptic devastation.

The Dark Wood

An allusion to the opening of Dante's Inferno, framing the journey of the Man (as Dante) guided through a post-apocalyptic hell by his son (as Virgil).

Warrant

The role played by the boy in The Road as his father's moral justification and living sign of divinity, reflected in the line: 'If he is not the word of God, God never spoke.'

"Carrying the Fire"

A recurring ethos and metaphor in The Road representing the determination to maintain humanity, moral decency, and kindness, demonstrated by refusing to resort to cannibalism or pointless killing.

Ely

An elderly, partially-sighted wanderer in The Road using a pseudonym who acts as an anti-prophet, declaring in a reversal of the Muslim Creed that 'there's no God, and we are his prophets.'

Pajaro de Esperanza

A beached sailboat (translating to 'Bird of Hope') scavenged by the father, yielding essential food, clothes, and a flare gun.

Trout Markings (The Road)

The vermiculate patterns on brook trout described in the final paragraph of The Road as 'maps of the world in its becoming and in its passing away,' signifying the mystery, transience, and intrinsic beauty of creation.

Iliados

A Greek phrase meaning 'of the Song of Ilion,' Ilion being another name for Troy; it designates Homer's epic poem sung to glorify the martial deeds of past heroes.

In Medias Res

A Latin literary term meaning 'into the middle of the story,' describing how Homer begins the narrative near the end of the ten-year Trojan War rather than at the war's origin.

Menin

A specialized Greek term for wrath or divine anger, used strictly for gods offended by dishonor; its placement as the first word of the Iliad highlights Achilles' godlike, hubristic rage.

Shame Culture

A social framework in Homeric society where an individual's worth is determined by competitive martial prowess and public acknowledgment from peers, rather than internal guilt.

Aretê

The innate quality of personal excellence, valor, or superiority displayed by an aristocratic Homeric warrior in battle.

Timê

Publicly acknowledged honor and social standing in Homeric society, awarded to heroes through tangible war prizes.

Geras (plural: Gera)

A concrete war prize or trophy of honor awarded to a Homeric warrior as public acknowledgment of their aretê and marker of their timê.

Kleos

The imperishable glory or renown won by a warrior in battle, celebrated in the songs of bards (klea andron) to grant symbolic immortality after death.

Proem

The opening section of an ancient epic poem, consisting of the first eight lines of the Iliad, where the poet invokes the Muse to narrate the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles.

Homeric Simile

An extended, multi-layered poetic comparison between two different things, frequently contrasting the brutality of war with peaceful scenes of nature, craft, or domestic life.

Tragic Irony

A dramatic device where a character expresses a belief, hope, or boast that the audience knows cannot be fulfilled due to unalterable fate.

Atê

A state of ruinous delusion and blindness, frequently resulting from an act of hubris, that impels a character toward their own destruction.

Shield of Achilles

The divine armor wrought by Hephaestus displaying scenes of normal civil and domestic life in a Greek polis, representing everything Achilles renounces by choosing glory and an early death.

Supplication

A formal, ritual gesture in ancient Greek culture where a petitioner humbles themselves before another—demonstrated by King Priam grasping the knees of Achilles—to implore mercy.