The Epic of Gilgamesh is the first epic poem to be written in ancient West Asia. It was written around the third millennium BCE in Mesopotamia by Sumerian people (Spodek, 127). The epic is based on actual an historical figure, a Sumerian king who reigned the city-state of Uruk around third millennium BCE. Ashurbanipal, the last Neo-Assyrian king who was literate, built a great library in his capital and preserved 20,000 tablets including the earliest complete version of The Epic of Gilgamesh (Spodek, 128). Sumerian attitudes towards gods, friendship, and the story of the great flood are revealed throughout the epic.
Gilgamesh, the king of the city-state Uruk, was born as two-thirds of a god. He, a beautiful and ambitious man, always won wars
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People of Uruk suffered from tyranny and were brutally oppressed. They complained to Aruru, the goddess of creation, that she must make someone stronger than Gilgamesh. Aruru listened and made Enkidu. Enkidu was made of clay and Aruru’s saliva, and had nearly equal power as Gilgamesh. Hairy and brawny, Enkidu lived with animals in the wilderness. Unlike Gilgamesh, Enkidu was the ideal leader. He had good manners, and protected the oppressed people of Uruk from Gilgamesh. The people of Uruk began hailing Enkidu as their hero. However, Enkidu chose friendship over becoming the perfect leader. After Enkidu challenged Gilgamesh to a contest of strength, they became best friends. Enkidu’s friendship makes Gilgamesh calm and helps him to become a better king. Throughout the epic, Gilgamesh and Enkidu kiss and hug each other frequently. After conflicts between the two, they kissed and formed friendship. But Gilgamesh is never seen sleeping with a woman after conflict, and he even rejected Ishtar, the principal goddess of Uruk. “Come, Gilgamesh, be you my bridegroom! Grant me your fruits, O grant me! Be you my husband and I your wife! Let me harness you chariot of lapis and gold, its wheel shall be gold and its horns shall be amber. …show more content…
The flood story is based on the geologic ages identified through scientific understanding of the changing physical features of the earth (Origin myths: The Flood, 37). The period is between about 12,000 and 7000 BCE which was a period of worldwide warming (Origin myths, 37). Changing environmental conditions was common throughout the world. The rainfall and ocean levels rose some 300 feet (Origin myths 37). Some people began to believe their creator was punishing humans who were displeasing, so the Great Flood become part of the origin myth. Around 4000 BCE, environment conditions finally settled into the pattern we see today (Origin myths, 37). In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Ea, the cleverest of the gods, warned Utnapishtim that the gods would be sending the great flood to wipe out humankind. Utnapishtim then builds a boat to save as many people as he can and every living creature. After seven days, Utnapishtim released a dove and raven to find dry land. The Great Flood story is very similar all around the world, as we can find similar stories in West Asia, South Asia, and China
Moreover the friendship of Enkidu helps Gilgamesh change from a shallow, cruel ruler to a leader who is content with what he has achieved. Before the God, Aruru, formed Enkidu to change the character of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh was portrayed as a cruel and haughty leader. He would “leave no son to his father” and “leave
“Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception (Carl Sargon)”. According to The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis, unprecedented floods occurred in the stories. The exception fell on the kind men, Utnapishtim and Noah: they survived the powerful event of destruction. However, in the same theme of the stories, there are sources of similarity and differences.
“His body was rough, he had long hair like a woman’s[...] he was covered in matted hair… He was innocent of mankind.” Enkidu fit well with animals and the animals appealed to him. A trapper saw Enkidu and said to his father, “There is a man, unlike no other, who comes down from the hills. He is the strongest in the world…
He had many extraordinary qualities, and heroic characteristics. The most obvious being that he is a king, a man of highest level in society. He was also known and appreciated for building many walls and temples around his city, which no man who followed ever matched. However, after the presence of Enkidu was made, Gilgamesh started to become the more noble and favored ruler of Uruk. Since he finally knew what it was like to have a companion and someone of his level of greatness, he no longer terrorized his city as he did before, and is still aware that death is inevitable.
According to Schechter and Semeiks “The Quest” passage on help “The hero, it is clear, needs all the help he can get on the quest, for wherever it leads him.” (The Quest 323). Within both books, The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey both Gilgamesh and Odysseus receive help throughout their journey’s. Gilgamesh experience in his quest of being helped in his most needed time was his encounter with Utnapishtim. For The Odyssey, Odysseus runs into many difficult on his journey, until he encounters Agamemnon.
In the epic, within which many episodes are interlinked, depicts an image of a kind who underwent development and tends to understand the world where he was living. Within the version of the Babylonian, hero Gilgamesh 's character is best compared to Achilles. While comparing the characters of Achilles and Gilgamesh, he (Gilgamesh) changed and his nature was affected duet the presence and absence (loss) of Enid his comrade, thus the nature of Enkidu was static. Achilles ' nature and character followed the same pattern as that of Gilgamesh as he was also influenced by the presence and loss of Patroclus his comrade.
Even though both The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis are similar in that they all use the floods for a destruction, both the stories are different from each other in the distribution of roles within the gods and a way to warn the extermination from the gods. First, the similarity between The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis is the relevance with the flooding that used to exterminate the human. To prove the occurrence of the flood, chapter 5 of The Epic of Gilgamesh records, “For six days and six nights the winds blew, torrent and tempest and flood overwhelmed the world, tempest and flood raged together like warring hosts (line 62-63, p. 21)”. Also in Genesis, the text “The waters flooded the earth for a hundred
Gilgamesh is an epic hero because, he part divine, interacts with gods and his story has a series of adventures and superhuman victories. Gilgamesh is a king that shows off his power and enviably shows his weak side in most altercations. Most scholars see him as a historical figure, but I myself think he is definitely an epic hero. He oppresses people who call out to the gods, this is not very heroic, but his other actions will show the truth. Gilgamesh IS an epic hero.
In the epic Gilgamesh, the characters traits of both Gilgamesh and Enkidu help to build a lasting friendship through their differences. For example, Gilgamesh is the king of Uruk, a city of culture, and personifies the highest of human virtues, such as fairness, bravery, and courage. However, Gilgamesh is often unstable. In sharp contrast, Enkidu was raised in the wild and is foreign to civilization. Enkidu is caring and thoughtful and equal to Gilgamesh in strength.
Through their relationship they become wiser and more viable assets to each other and their society. Before meeting Enkidu, Gilgamesh was a powerful leader, revered by his subjects, but his arrogance and egotism fueled his decisions. Contradistinction, Enkidu had only physical power; he was mentally incompetent as a human. The text describes their relationship as an intimate one: "'[I fell in love with it], like a woman I caressed it, / I carried it off and laid it down before you, / Then you were making it my partner'" (48-50).
Without a prior ordinary world, Gilgamesh was born one third human and two third god. The goddesses made Gilgamesh strong and near perfect in order to become the King of Uruk. Gilgamesh impresses his people with his unusual abilities and strengthens by predicting the coming flood and building a magnificent wall around Uruk. However, Gilgamesh was not a kind king, he used his status immorally to rape any women he liked. Gilgamesh had a lot of powers, but he was not wise as he was not content with what he had, and attempted to live forever.
In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu, the companion and friend of Gilgamesh, obtains an amount of power that is different from Gilgamesh’s power. Although Gilgamesh is the king of Uruk and controls power in the city, Enkidu was created as
He built the city of Uruk and there they value music, food, and dancing. He also built the temple and the walls. This shows his connection to the divine and protection he offered the Mesopotamians in Uruk. When Enkidu is created he represents nature. He is illustrated as beastlike and untamed.
Silvy Elsa Mathew Hum 120 3/1/18 Paper 1 - The Epic of Gilgamesh and Homer’s Iliad The two main oldest epic tales in the world, ‘Epic of the Gilgamesh’ and Homer’s ‘Iliad’ deals with many significant issues that pose a meaning in the life of an individual and communities. The Epic of Gilgamesh was written 1500 years before Homer wrote the Iliad.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest story known to mankind, being written on Sumerian clay almost five thousand years ago (Garone). Since the story was originally known orally, the culture and themes from The Epic of Gilgamesh must have existed long before it was finally inscribed (Mark 4). Having known this, the cultures and themes can be compared to today’s society, discovering about how they have shifted and evolved, and also observe how they are similar. The ancient days of Gilgamesh has brought culture that has greatly influenced today’s society. Because Gilgamesh was set around the time of late Babylonian or early Sumerian society, the Babylonian and Sumerian cultures also play a role in shaping the world into what is is today (Mark).