Summary of Thomas Cahill's The Gifts of the Jews

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The written word was an invention born of necessity: how else were the Sumerians to keep their accounts straight. The novel agglomeration of human beings and their possessions into a city such as Uruk cried out for a new way of counting shipments and recalling transactions.
#2 The first written language was invented in Sumer, and it was used to record business transactions. Sumer had risen to dominate all of Mesopotamia by the time the first word was incised on a small clay tablet. The city-states seemed to be uniform, but the nomads outside the city-states saw them as a collection of shining things they did not possess.
#3 The first civilization, Sumer, was led by a society of nomads who did not possess any of the things that the Sumerians had. The Sumerians were a practical people who were more interested in calculating the extent of their fields and the capacity of their warehouses than anything else.
#4 The worldview of a people can be found in their stories, myths, and rituals. The stories of Sumer, as resurrected from their clay tablets, possess a burnished splendor that cannot be missed.

Sujets

• History
• Religion
• Judaism
• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 30 avril 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669397038
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Thomas Cahill's The Gifts of the Jews
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The written word was an invention born of necessity: how else were the Sumerians to keep their accounts straight. The novel agglomeration of human beings and their possessions into a city such as Uruk cried out for a new way of counting shipments and recalling transactions.

#2

The first written language was invented in Sumer, and it was used to record business transactions. Sumer had risen to dominate all of Mesopotamia by the time the first word was incised on a small clay tablet. The city-states seemed to be uniform, but the nomads outside the city-states saw them as a collection of shining things they did not possess.

#3

The first civilization, Sumer, was led by a society of nomads who did not possess any of the things that the Sumerians had. The Sumerians were a practical people who were more interested in calculating the extent of their fields and the capacity of their warehouses than anything else.

#4

The worldview of a people can be found in their stories, myths, and rituals. The stories of Sumer, as resurrected from their clay tablets, possess a burnished splendor that cannot be missed.

#5

The stories of ancient Sumer are full of pleasure for us, both because of their archaic strangeness and because of the occasional mirror-moments in which we are startled to glimpse something of ourselves.

#6

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a story of a legendary hero who probably flourished toward the middle of the third millennium B. C. as king of Uruk, the city where writing was likely invented. It is a tale of great splendor and extent, as the poet takes us on a tour of his city.

#7

The lines I have quoted come from an unbroken portion of Tablet I. But now I must quote from a portion of the tablet that will give a better idea of the difficulties faced by a translator. The lines describe how Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk, was making a nuisance of himself by bullying the boys and bedding the girls.

#8

The story of Enkidu is a prime example of how the gods would create a man who was similar to them, a natural man. Enkidu was created by the god Anu, and was a mixture of animals and humans. He was perfect in strength, and could save the life of a friend.

#9

The story of Gilgamesh and Enkidu is a mystery that remains unsolved. It is clear, however, that Gilgamesh was a warrior, and that his most valued human relationships were with males. His encounter with Shamhat changed him, making him ready for life in Uruk.

#10

Gilgamesh was a great king who ruled over the city of Uruk. He was loved by the people, but he was also hated by the goddess of love, Ishtar. She convinced the father god to send down the Bull of Heaven to destroy him. But he and Enkidu overpowered the Bull and slaughtered it.

#11