ipl-logo

Gilgamesh And Henotheism

1034 Words5 Pages

As narrated through one of the most significant books in history, humankind is inherently flawed and needs a single ruler, the Lord God, to sublimate their culture. If people remain obedient and devoted to God by following the rules He lays out for them, the society will have order and harmony. Through human nature, patriarchy, and the transition from henotheism to monotheism, the purpose of the Bible is for a single God to issue rules to humans, giving them a set of laws and a hierarchy.
Human nature is to be evil and therefore they need the rules presented in the Bible in order to live a prosperous religious life. God only makes laws for humans, because unlike angels, they are born evil. The men of Sodom and Gomorrah prove that humans are …show more content…

In the time period, the world was full of polytheistic religions, like the Ancient Egyptian religion, and therefore the transition from henotheism to monotheism was extremely significant in history. The start of this transition can be seen in the story of Noah’s ark, especially in comparison to the flood from the Epic of Gilgamesh. These two stories are undeniably linked and share many similarities. An important difference between the two is that the Mesopotamian story contains many gods and the Biblical story only contains one God. Creation myths are essential to a religion because they give an explanation for the origins of the world, and usually revolve around certain deities. In the Genesis creation myths, there is only one God who is the sole creator of the universe and everything in it. A crucial step on the path to monotheism was the naming of God “I am” because it identifies one single God. During the exodus of the Israelites from Egyptian oppression, God makes the ten plagues to show the people that the other “gods” are nothing in comparison to Him. The Egyptian magicians were able to imitate the first two marvels, however, they were unable to perform the third marvel. This proved to the Israelites and the people of Egypt that the LORD God is more powerful than all other gods, including the pharaoh. The first commandment identifies God as the one who brought the Israelites out of Egypt and slavery. God says, “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3), firmly establishing that the religion is

Show More
Related
643 Words | 3 Pages

Political Before the prominent Code of Hammurabi was established, rulers Ur-namma and Lipit-Ishtar also set lists of laws which consented their actions and often were political motivations. The laws made by Ur-namma and Lipit-Ishtar consisted of a prologue and an epilogue and had a popular repeating theme -- the authority of gods. The Code of Hammurabi remains one of the greatest early examples of juridical literature.

Read More
805 Words | 4 Pages

The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority. Based on my reading of The Epic of Gilgamesh, I found that influence of the leader in the Ancient Near East, was pivotal in order for the society to function. The Mesopotamian society had three major factors; economics, politics, and a system of values. All of these factors were intertwined, where one factor has influence on all the others. So when someone like Gilgamesh relies on his ability to lead only with authority, the society begins to divide.

Read More
2116 Words | 9 Pages

The Parallel Stories Whether God is real or not, there’ve been many stories in ancient times concerning god. Especially stories about floods. For example “The Epic of Gilgamesh”, and “Noah and the Flood”. The Epic of Gilgamesh, is one of the oldest epics ever to be created. The sumerian story was composed before 2000 B.C.

Read More
481 Words | 2 Pages

Also when something went wrong, they just blamed it on the devil or witchery. Then to prove that a person is siding with the devil a person had to recite the commandments. This is another reason why the court system was bad or corrupt is that no one could actually remember all of them off their head. Also, people don’t always remember to practice memorizing those commandments. If someone didn’t remember all of them then they would get charged with siding with the

Read More
547 Words | 3 Pages

(2) On the other hand, the Ten Commandments given from God after the Exodus from Egypt were important to the development of democracy because they were authoritative, consistent, individual, and prohibited. Like the Hammurabi Code, the Ten Commandments were permanent as they were inscribed on stone tablets. In the Old Testament, the

Read More
142 Words | 1 Pages

Although, the Israelites laws were established by the Commandments. Also,

Read More
394 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
1660 Words | 7 Pages

Greek mythology has been one of the most complicated subjects in the field of religion and mythology. This is due to the complex relations and interactions which exists in the history of Greek gods and the humans who lived in ancient Greece. Different versions of the existence and the establishment of the superior beings were developed, which at times created suspense for readers through their interactions. The various tales which exist explain the various connections between different gods, how they relate to one another, the ideological order in which they came into existence as well as the interactions they had with humans. These tales form the basis of various religious beliefs and practices since it is perceived that it is through the interactions of the gods that humans came into existence, a situation which created the dependent relationship between mortals and gods.

Read More
694 Words | 3 Pages

Many with a modern, Christian worldview believe there is only one God and He created the world. The Mesopotamians, according to the Enuma Elish, believed in multiple gods and they seemingly were constantly fighting amongst themselves. Tiamat was the name given to chaos and it was through her defeat that the world was created. Later in the story, Marduk creates humans to essentially be servants to the gods.

Read More
849 Words | 4 Pages

Literary devices are used to bridge the gaps and fill in the cracks for me where simple words do not suffice in some stories. I find myself constantly searching stories for and identifying different types of literary devices. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, three uses of literary devices were demonstrated and used consistently. These literary devices are: repetition, imagery and flashbacks. This literary narrative is centered on an epic journey that utilizes literary devices to enhance the complexity and understanding in the story.

Read More
921 Words | 4 Pages

The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible have a few similar events and historians think that they may refer to the same event. The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible share a similar event, the flood, and a similar character, the serpent. Though there are still several distinctions between the two stories. The Bible and the Epic of Gilgamesh both contain a serpent as one of the less significant characters.

Read More
1021 Words | 5 Pages

The rivers that these civilizations were built around directly impacted the way they viewed their gods. The Nile was a very strong and reliable river. It flooded annually blessing the Ancient Egyptians with a richer agriculture then Ancient Mesopotamians. (pg 17) Because of this the Egyptians viewed their gods as reliable beings who wanted to help them.

Read More
1666 Words | 7 Pages

Men make laws to instill order in a society and prevent chaos in any shape or form. Naturally, laws will always be somewhat unjust because it is impossible to consistently construct laws that directly and equally benefit all members of a society. There will always be a majority that makes the laws and a minority that has to obey the laws. Although laws are usually the standard of morality by which we live by, they must be disobeyed in certain situations. These situations are, but not limited to, an undemocratic formation of aforementioned laws, laws that are inherently unjust according to human law which can be synonymous with God’s law.

Read More
1067 Words | 5 Pages

The Epic of Gilgamesh: Relevant Truth for Today’s Society The Epic of Gilgamesh is set in Uruk, an ancient city of the ancient Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer, now modern-day Iraq. The epic was said to be written by Sin-liqe-unninni, but it is based on five earlier Sumerian poems with no known author. The piece was difficult to translate, and there are two main version for the Epic of Gilgamesh. This is the result of the environment during the time the piece was being written.

Read More
721 Words | 3 Pages

Around 1300 BCE, the Jews were slaves in Egypt, and their leader was the prophet Moses. Then God guided them through this trouble and Moses lead them out of slavery and to the Holy land of Canaan. God gave another covenant when the Jewish people reached Mount Sinai, reinforcing the covenant that God had given to Abraham. God promised again that the Jewish people are his chosen people, and will never give up on them. God told the Jews that they must pledge to serve God forever and obey his rules to make the world a better and holier place.

Read More

More about Gilgamesh And Henotheism

Related Topics

Open Document