Mystery Of History: Lesson Nine – Gilgamesh

Having already covered Gilgamesh during our Ancient Mesopotamia Unit Study with the littles a couple of years ago I wondered if I should maybe skip it.  I mean, we had studied it quite in depth.  But then I began to toss around some ideas, and figured why not!  They were very young before, and we had not been able to focus on the epic side of things.  So this is where we started.

Gilgamesh: Reading

I read the lesson from the Mystery of History text book, and then we reread these three fabulous Gilgamesh story books:

It was definitely worth redoing this because the girls were so much more into it this time around.  They loved the books and especially the illustrations 🙂

Gilgamesh: Writing

I created a couple of note-book pages to help the girls first understand what an epic story was, and to then answer the question of whether the story of Gilgamesh was an epic of just a really long story:

Here are their completed note-book pages:

We also did a quick comparison study of the similarities and differences between the Gilgamesh flood and the Biblical Genesis flood:

And here are their completed pages:

Gilgamesh: Art Study – The Lamassu

I created a note-book page especially for this with a photo of a Lamassu I took at the British History Museum:

I included some information about the Lamassu, leading questions about the statue of the Lamassu and its link to the Epic of Gilgamesh.  This was a simple relaxed chat.

I also included a simple instruction sheet for the girls to make their own Lamassu from clay:

The girls did a great job with their models, and had so much fun:

They created a notepage with a photo of their work of art:

Gilgamesh: Readers’ Theatre

I used a play which I downloaded free from TPT

It was a very simple version, but I got the older ones involved and of course all ended in hysterics!  Bear in mind, this was very impromptu and the girls had about a minute and a half to create their costumes…and my did we get some odd ones!

I shall, without further ado, introduce the rather eclectic cast.  Lillie went for the tea towels on the head look as all of the narrators:

Becca played the parts of all the gods in Frozen themed attire (of course):

Abigail played Enkidu in her Harry Potter outfit with a pink scarf wrapped around her middle:

And yes, Charlotte played Gilgamesh in a rather peculiar mix of her pink bath robe, an array of Meso-American dressing up and (for a touch of real authenticity) she tied her hair around her chin to create a lifelike (not) Mesopotamian beard!

What can I say?  She is a law unto herself!

Anyway, here are a few snaps of our (not very at all) educational readers’ theatre:

The audience was singularly unimpressed!

Free Gilgamesh Activity Pages

For my free note pages please do click on the link below, or alternatively visit my free notepages page where all the downloads are available for freeeeeeee…

Mystery of History Lesson Nine The Epic of Gilgamesh

I have also created a MEGA Mesopotamia Unit Study post which is full to the brim of free printables and heaps of activities. Do take a look!

For More Mystery of History Posts:

For All Free Printables:

Free Activity Sheets