Week 10: Gilgamesh on Trial

Dominic Inouye
Nov 23, 2015
1 min read

Well, it's been a while since I've posted--and a lot has gone on, even though it might not seem like it! Students spent time in class creating and sharing Hero Journey projects to demonstrate their understanding of the concept, then they paused temporarily in their reading of The Epic of Gilgamesh to plan, prepare, and perform in a formal trial of the title hero--because he and his brother and bff Enkidu mercilessly kill Humbaba, the guardian of the Cedar Forest, set there by the gods to protect it. They proceed to chop down the forest to create a huge door (100'x300'!) for the city of Uruk, ostensibly to honor the gods. Hmm...

Students took on roles of prosecuting and defense attorneys, witnesses like Enkidu, Enlil (god of the forest), and the ghost of Humbaba (very Rashomon, if you know what I'm talking about), and, of course, jurors representing the people of Uruk. Opening and closing statements were written, jury bios were imagined, initial biases considered, and cross-examination questions prepared. Costumes abounded and words got heated, attorneys tried to outsmart each other and out-persuade the jury, making the jury deliberations all the more difficult.

In the end . . . well, you'll have to ask the students which side won in their class!

Stay tuned for the upcoming trial of King Oedipus . . . or will it be Antigone? Or Odysseus?