If you are looking for the beginning of the Epic of Gilgamesh study you should start HERE with the Historical introduction. The links to each set of study questions will be posted at the bottom of that original post as they are completed so you can easily find whichever section you are looking for.
Grammar Questions: (The Facts of the Text)
What happens to Gilgamesh “Almost as soon as Gilgamesh the king sat down to test himself?” (v)
Why does Utnapishtim not do as his wife suggests and wake Gilgamesh immediately? (v)
What does Utnapishtim instruct his wife to do? (v)
After Gilgamesh fails his test, what instructions does Utnapishtim give to Urshànabi concerning Gilgamesh? (vi)
What does Utnapishtim give to Gilgamesh as a consolation prize for having made his “terrible journey” even though he did not gain the eternal life he was seeking? (vi-vii)
Where does Gilgamesh have to go to acquire this gift? (vi)
What does Gilgamesh say he will do with his gift? (vii)
What becomes of Gilgamesh’s gift and what is his reaction? (viii)
Upon arriving back at Uruk, what does Gilgamesh tell the boatman (Urshànabi) to do? (ix)
Logic Questions: (The Interpretation of the Text)
What is the purpose in baking the wafer each day and leaving it next to Gilgamesh? (v)
Why might Utnapishtim have forbidden Urshànabi from crossing the waters anymore? (vi)
In what ways do we see gracious hospitality and concern from Utnapishtim’s wife towards Gilgamesh? (v-vi)
In what way is the plant Gilgamesh receives a fulfillment of what he is pursuing (eternal life) and how does it fall short? (vi)
What might we infer from the fact that the serpent was able to steal the plant from Gilgamesh? (viii)
Why is it significant that the text tells us, “as it disappeared the serpent shed its skin.”? (viii)
Why doesn’t Urshànabi tell Gilgamesh what to do after the plant is stolen? (viii)
Why does Gilgamesh tell Urshànabi to “study the brickwork” and otherwise examine the city of Uruk? (ix)
Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of the Text)
In Tablet I Gilgamesh was described as a tyrant toward his own people. The text tells us “Neither the father’s son nor the wife of the noble; neither the mother’s daughter nor the warrior’s bride was safe” from their own king in Uruk. How does this current reading (particularly XI.vii) show that Gilgamesh has changed? Why do you think he has changed?
Theological Analysis: (Bringing the Scripture to Bear on the Text)
Read Genesis 3. What similarities and dissimilarities do you find between this current reading in Gilgamesh and that chapter of the Bible? What might be important about these differences?
Compare and contrast Gilgamesh XI.ix with Zechariah 2:1-5 and Revelation 21. What do you see that is similar and what is different? What might be important about these differences?
Virtues/Vices/Great Ideas: (Find them in the Text)
Despair