Throughout history, dreams have been seen as one’s imagination, memory or conscious. Merriam-Webster defines a dream as “a series of thoughts, images or emotions occurring during sleep” (MW). However, during the period of Gilgamesh, dreams were seen as an interaction between god/ goddess and man. Within the dreams of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, it is significant to understand that gods have complete control over humans, even though they do not interfere with human actions except for the ones they are dissatisfied with.
Even today, people see dreams as a way of God communicating with them. Marianne sates in her article, “Divine vs Natural Dreams”, that in scripture, “God always made the meaning of the dream clear” and that “when you’re asleep, you’re vulnerable” and God then takes control of your life. This idea can be strongly compared to the “Epic of Gilgamesh”, as dreams served as leading communication between man and god, in which they used symbols to accurately portray
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For instance, after killing the Bull of Heaven, Enkidu is faced with a dream in which the gods are furious with him and Gilgamesh for what they have done and decide that one of them must die. After awakening from his dream, Enkidu falls ill shortly after, proving the dream to be true. This dream shows that although humans are free to do as they please, the gods will intervene if they are displeased with the actions committed. Dreams from a long time ago and today are also both interpreted deeply. Many people find dreams [to be] symbolic-like Joseph’s dream of stars” and decide they need to comprehended (Marianne). This is seen in the “Epic of Gilgamesh” as Gilgamesh prays to Shamash to give him dreams and he and Enkidu travel to the Cedar Forest to kill Humbaba. Enkidu is asked to interpret his dreams and states that Humbaba is being symbolized as a mountain, a “strange thing”, and a volcanic explosion (Foster