Q 01/05

The Epic of Gilgamesh comes from which ancient region?

A) Mesopotamia

B) Egypt

C) Anatolia

D) The Indus Valley

Answer · why

A) Mesopotamia

It is generally called the world's oldest surviving work of narrative literature.

Q 02/05

Gilgamesh was king of which city?

A) Nineveh

B) Ur

C) Uruk

D) Babylon

Answer · why

C) Uruk

At the end of the epic the sight of the city's massive walls consoles him for his failure to find eternal life.

Q 03/05

According to the epic, what fraction of Gilgamesh was divine?

A) Two-thirds

B) One-third

C) One-half

D) Three-quarters

Answer · why

A) Two-thirds

His mother was a goddess who helps interpret his dreams.

Q 04/05

How many tablets make up the Standard Babylonian version of the epic?

A) 12

B) 7

C) 20

D) 30

Answer · why

A) 12

The final one is a later appendix in which Enkidu is somehow alive again; roughly a third of the whole is still missing.

Q 05/05

Which scribe-scholar compiled the Standard Babylonian version around 1300-1000 BCE?

A) Enheduanna

B) Nabu-zuqup-kenu

C) Sîn-lēqi-unninni

D) Berossus

Answer · why

C) Sîn-lēqi-unninni

He is thought to have pushed the theme of mortality to the fore, turning the hero from adventurer into wise man.

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