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Gilgamesh - Quiz
Contributed by: French
  • 1. Who is Enkidu initially created by in the story?
A) The gods
B) Shamhat
C) The people of Uruk
D) Gilgamesh
  • 2. Gilgamesh is 2/3 god and 1/3 what according to the epic?
A) Spirit
B) Bird
C) Man
D) Beast
  • 3. Who is Gilgamesh's mother in the epic?
A) Shamhat
B) Ninsun
C) Siduri
D) Ishtar
  • 4. Who is the wise man that Gilgamesh seeks out for help?
A) Humbaba
B) Enkidu
C) Utnapishtim
D) Anu
  • 5. Who helps Gilgamesh defeat Humbaba?
A) Ishtar
B) Enkidu
C) Shamash
D) Siduri
  • 6. Who is the father of Gilgamesh?
A) King of Uruk
B) Lugalbanda
C) Shamash
D) Enkidu
  • 7. What deity aids Gilgamesh in his quest for immortality?
A) Ishtar
B) Shamash
C) Enki
D) Anu
  • 8. What does Gilgamesh search for after the death of Enkidu?
A) Immortality
B) Wealth
C) Power
D) Love
  • 9. What is Enkidu's relationship to Gilgamesh?
A) Servant
B) Father
C) Friend
D) Brother
  • 10. What animal represents the god of the earth in the epic?
A) Lion
B) Bull
C) Snake
D) Eagle
  • 11. What city does Gilgamesh rule over?
A) Nineveh
B) Babylon
C) Uruk
D) Ur
  • 12. Who is the guardian of the Cedar Forest that Gilgamesh seeks to defeat?
A) Enlil
B) Utnapishtim
C) Humbaba
D) Anu
  • 13. Who created Enkidu?
A) Aruru
B) Ishtar
C) Gilgamesh
D) Ninsun
  • 14. Who is the goddess of love who tries to seduce Gilgamesh?
A) Ishtar
B) Siduri
C) Ninsun
D) Shamhat
  • 15. What was the original Sumerian name for Gilgamesh?
A) Utnapishtim
B) Huwawa
C) Bilgames
D) Enkidu
  • 16. During which period did Gilgamesh become a major figure in Sumerian legend?
A) Old Babylonian Period
B) Third Dynasty of Ur
C) Early Dynastic Period
D) Akkadian Empire
  • 17. Who composed the standard Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh?
A) Huwawa
B) Sîn-lēqi-unninni
C) Aelian
D) Enkidu
  • 18. What did the oracle predict about Gilgamesh in Aelian's anecdote?
A) He would die young
B) He would become a god
C) He would overthrow his grandfather
D) He would find immortality
  • 19. Where was the Epic of Gilgamesh rediscovered?
A) Babylonian Library
B) Ur Excavations
C) Library of Ashurbanipal
D) Sumerian Archives
  • 20. What creature rescued Gilgamesh mid-fall in Aelian's anecdote?
A) An eagle
B) A serpent
C) A lion
D) A dragon
  • 21. Which epic poems are believed to have been influenced by the Epic of Gilgamesh?
A) Beowulf and The Aeneid
B) The Iliad and the Odyssey
C) The Divine Comedy and Paradise Lost
D) The Mahabharata and Ramayana
  • 22. What was the name of the giant Gilgamesh defeated in Sumerian poems?
A) Aga
B) Enkidu
C) Huwawa
D) Utnapishtim
  • 23. What objects did Inanna give to Gilgamesh, which he later lost?
A) Sword and shield
B) Ring and staff
C) Crown and scepter
D) Mikku and pikku
  • 24. What was the main reason Gilgamesh became afraid of death?
A) Oracle's prediction
B) Rejection by Ishtar
C) Enkidu's death
D) Defeat by Humbaba
  • 25. What did the guards do to prevent Gilgamesh's mother from becoming pregnant?
A) Imprisoned her
B) Banished her
C) Sent her away
D) Kept her under guard
  • 26. What was the name of the tree infested by creatures that Inanna needed help with?
A) Huluppu tree
B) Sakku tree
C) Ziziphus tree
D) Date palm
  • 27. Where did Friedrich Delitzsch give his controversial lecture?
A) Library of Ashurbanipal
B) University of Leipzig
C) Sing-Akademie zu Berlin
D) British Museum
  • 28. Which scholar stated that Gilgamesh has become an autonomous entity independent of his epic?
A) Susan Ackerman
B) Wayne R. Dynes
C) Theodore Ziolkowski
D) Charles Olson
  • 29. Who unveiled a modern statue of Gilgamesh at the University of Sydney in 2000?
A) Guido Bachmann
B) Douglas Geoffrey Bridson
C) Assyrian sculptor Lewis Batros
D) Hermann Kasack
  • 30. Which part of the Epic of Gilgamesh attracted early interest?
A) The friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu
B) The flood story from Tablet XI
C) Gilgamesh's journey to the Cedar Forest
D) The death of Enkidu
  • 31. Which author believed that the Epic of Gilgamesh contained ancient virtues capable of curing modern moral degeneracy?
A) Guido Bachmann
B) Hermann Kasack
C) Gregory Corso
D) Douglas Geoffrey Bridson
  • 32. What does Shamash do to help Gilgamesh and Enkidu defeat Humbaba?
A) Transforms Gilgamesh into a god
B) Summons lions to attack Humbaba
C) Turns the forest into a desert
D) Blows eight winds in Humbaba's eyes, blinding him
  • 33. Who wrote the first modern literary adaptation of the Epic of Gilgamesh?
A) Sir Henry Rawlinson
B) Alfred Jeremias
C) Peter Jensen
D) Leonidas Le Cenci Hamilton
  • 34. How was Gilgamesh's name originally misread?
A) As Enkidu
B) As Uruk
C) As Shamhat
D) As Izdubar
  • 35. What happens in both epics when Gilgamesh and Odysseus visit the Underworld?
A) Both find themselves unhappy while living with a seductive sorceress.
B) They defeat underworld monsters.
C) They receive gifts from the gods.
D) They are crowned as new rulers.
  • 36. Which former President of Iraq had a lifelong fascination with Gilgamesh?
A) Guido Bachmann
B) Hans Henny Jahnn
C) Douglas Geoffrey Bridson
D) Saddam Hussein
  • 37. What does Enkidu's ghost promise to do in Tablet XII?
A) Recover the lost items
B) Marry Ishtar
C) Help Gilgamesh become immortal
D) Lead Gilgamesh to the Cedar Forest
  • 38. Who equated Gilgamesh with the king Nimrod from the Book of Genesis?
A) Sir Henry Rawlinson
B) Leonidas Le Cenci Hamilton
C) Peter Jensen
D) Alfred Jeremias
  • 39. Who produced the first translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh?
A) Ashurbanipal
B) Austen Henry Layard
C) George Smith
D) Friedrich Delitzsch
  • 40. Who is described as 'two thirds divine and one third mortal' in the Epic of Gilgamesh?
A) Gilgamesh
B) Humbaba
C) Enkidu
D) Utnapishtim
  • 41. Which novel by Guido Bachmann became a classic of German 'queer literature'?
A) The Quest of Gilgamesh
B) Gilgamesch
C) River Without Shores
D) Zabibah and the King
  • 42. Who directs Gilgamesh to Urshanabi, the ferryman of the gods?
A) Siduri
B) Shamash
C) Ishtar
D) Enkidu
  • 43. What does Utnapishtim tell Gilgamesh is necessary to become immortal?
A) Defy sleep
B) Marry Ishtar
C) Conquer the Cedar Forest
D) Kill the Bull of Heaven again
  • 44. Who was Gilgamesh's overlord that he revolted against?
A) Utnapishtim
B) Aga of Kish
C) Huwawa
D) Enkidu
  • 45. What was the time period during which the standard Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh was composed?
A) Late Bronze Age
B) Middle Babylonian Period
C) Old Babylonian Period
D) Neo-Assyrian Period
  • 46. Who sends the Bull of Heaven to attack Gilgamesh and Enkidu?
A) Ninsun
B) The goddess Inanna
C) Enlil
D) Lilitu
  • 47. What language did Leonidas Le Cenci Hamilton have rudimentary knowledge of?
A) Hebrew
B) Akkadian
C) Sumerian
D) Greek
  • 48. Which scholar observed a parallel between Gilgamesh rejecting Ishtar's advances and a scene in the Iliad?
A) Homer.
B) Aelian.
C) Walter Burkert.
D) Barry B. Powell.
  • 49. Which king of Uruk adopted Gilgamesh as his patron deity in the 21st century BC?
A) Shulgi
B) Agga
C) Utu-hengal
D) Gudea
  • 50. What does the name Gilgamesh translate to in English?
A) Builder of walls
B) King of Uruk
C) Chosen by Utu
D) The (kinsman) is a hero
  • 51. What is Gilgamesh's name rendered as in the Book of Giants?
A) Gilgamish/Jiljamish.
B) glgmš.
C) Γίλγαμος.
D) Seuechoros.
  • 52. What ideology did Peter Jensen propose regarding the Epic of Gilgamesh?
A) Panbabylonianism
B) Solar hero theory
C) Psychoanalytic interpretation
D) Romantic adaptation
  • 53. In which work does the middle section center around a composer whose relationship mirrors that of Gilgamesh and Enkidu?
A) River Without Shores by Hans Henny Jahnn
B) The Quest of Gilgamesh by Douglas Geoffrey Bridson
C) Zabibah and the King by Saddam Hussein
D) Gilgamesch by Guido Bachmann
  • 54. Which German novelist adapted elements of the Epic of Gilgamesh into his novel 'Die Stadt hinter dem Strom'?
A) Guido Bachmann
B) Hermann Kasack
C) Douglas Geoffrey Bridson
D) Charles Olson
  • 55. Which country showed most interest in the Epic of Gilgamesh in the late nineteenth century?
A) France
B) German-speaking countries
C) Italy
D) England
  • 56. Who tames Enkidu before he confronts Gilgamesh?
A) Urshanabi
B) Siduri
C) Inanna
D) Shamhat
  • 57. What similarity exists between Gilgamesh and Odysseus in their epic journeys?
A) Both build a great wall around their city.
B) Both sail to the land of the Phaeacians.
C) Both encounter a woman who can turn men into animals.
D) Both are kings of Troy.
  • 58. Which Australian band recorded a song titled 'Gilgamesh' in October 2023?
A) A German avant-garde theater collective
B) King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
C) An American radio play group
D) The Gilgamesh Group
  • 59. Who first discovered the Akkadian text of the Epic of Gilgamesh?
A) George Smith
B) Friedrich Delitzsch
C) Ashurbanipal
D) Austen Henry Layard
  • 60. Who does Gilgamesh meet in a beautiful garden by the sea?
A) Siduri, the divine Alewife
B) Inanna
C) Shamhat
D) Ishtar
  • 61. Which scholar noted that the language describing Gilgamesh's relationship with Enkidu has homoerotic implications?
A) Susan Ackerman
B) Wayne R. Dynes
C) Charles Olson
D) Theodore Ziolkowski
  • 62. Which god creates Enkidu to counterbalance Gilgamesh's cruelty?
A) Shamash
B) Ishtar
C) Anu
D) Ea
  • 63. What was the title of Delitzsch's book published in 1920–21?
A) Das Gilgamesch-Epos
B) Babel und Bibel
C) Der Ursprung der Bibel
D) Die große Täuschung (The Great Deception)
  • 64. What is the modern form of the name 'Gilgamesh'?
A) Bilgames
B) Enmebaragesi
C) Gilgāmeš
D) Pabilgames
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