Civilization When researching the meaning behind the term of civilization, it is the intense study of both primary and secondary sources that look into myths, poems, and various other forms of literature. This paper will be focusing on the different primary sources, the impact to history, and also the role these play on its impact on modern society. When we look into what a myth really is, it is seen as a traditional story that is passed through various generations in which gives a new generation a look into how the people before them, train of thought. As this paper goes into what a myth is, the first evidence of a myth came from King Gilgamesh and myths also played an important role into understanding the writings of Homer. Prayer is a …show more content…
But based on the way of communication available to them before 3200 BCE which was word of mouth, there can be seen a light of truth into myth as they would not have any other means of communicating important things between each generation. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Myths are important tools which can be used by an upcoming generation so that they can improve on ideas and train of thought of the generation which came before them. The first account of a Sumerian myth was the Epic of Gilgamesh, this myth was vital in that it brings to light the day to day life of the Sumerians. This myth discusses the theory of life after death and also takes a look into immortality. This can be seen in an excerpt from the epic in which Gilgamesh’s brother dies and Gilgamesh is said to be roaming over the plains, during which he says, “How can I rest, how can I be at peace? Despair is in my heart. What my brother is now, that I shall be when I am dead. Because I am afraid of death I will go as best as I can to find Utnapishtim whom they call the Faraway, for he has entered the assembly of the gods (1, p8).” The story of Gilgamesh also brought to life the reality of the Egyptians fear of death, and this is critical to driving force behind Gilgamesh search for immortality. As it was mentioned in the introduction, prayer was another aspect of the study of