Epic of Gilgamesh Reading Comprehension Assessment
Epic of Gilgamesh Reading Comprehension Assessment
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1. What river flows past Uruk?
(A) The Nile
(B) The Rhone
(C) The Euphrates
2. How was The Epic of Gilgamesh preserved?
(A) In writing on scrolls
(B) In carvings on tree trunks
(C) In writing on clay tablets
3. When did the real Gilgamesh live?
(A) Before the Ice Age
(B) In about 2700 b.c.
(C) In the Middle Ages
4. Why did the gods create Enkidu?
(A) To overthrow Gilgamesh
(B) To be Gilgamesh’s loyal servant
(C) To provide a counterforce to Gilgamesh’s power
5. Who introduces Enkidu to civilization?
(A) His mother and father
(B) A temple priestess
(C) A talking gazelle
6. Who guards the Cedar Forest?
(A) Two scorpion monsters
(B) Shamash, god of the sun
(C) The demon Humbaba
7. Which god supports Gilgamesh’s excursion into the Cedar Forest?
(A) Enlil, god of earth, wind, and air
(B) Ea, god of wisdom
(C) Shamash, god of the sun
8. What does the Bull of Heaven bring to the city of Uruk?
(A) Famine
(B) War
(C) Seven years of plenty
9. Why does Gilgamesh leave Uruk after Enkidu dies?
(A) To avenge his death by killing a god
(B) To find out how he can avoid having to die himself
(C) To escape the police, who think he murdered Enkidu
10. How does Gilgamesh get to the other side of the twin-peaked mountain called Mashu?
(A) He climbs over it
(B) He walks around it
(C) He walks through it
11. How does Urshanabi’s boat cross the Waters of Death?
(A) A god blows it across with his breath
(B) Urshanabi rows it
(C) Gilgamesh poles it
12. What advice does Siduri the tavern keeper give to Gilgamesh?
(A) To never mix beer and wine
(B) To take his pleasures in this world
(C) To offer up libations to Ea, the god of wisdom
13. How did Utnapishtim find out that the gods were planning to destroy the world with a flood?
(A) Ea, the god of wisdom, spoke to him through the walls of his house
(B) His joints were aching
(C) Ishtar told him
14. What test does Utnapishtim give to Gilgamesh, to see if he is worthy of eternal life?
(A) He makes him name all the Babylonian gods in alphabetical order
(B) He wrestles with him
(C) He asks him to stay awake for six nights and seven days
15. What is the name of the magical plant that Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh about?
(A) Loco weed
(B) Rag weed
(C) Widow’s weeds
16. Who steals the magical plant?
(A) A winged lion
(B) A scorpion monster
(C) A snake
17. Who is Sin-Leqi-Unninni?
(A) The author of the most complete version of The Epic of Gilgamesh that we know of today
(B) The god of fire, wheat, and pottery making
(C) Gilgamesh’s father