Gilgamesh Challenges

Challenges in Life “The Epic of Gilgamesh” is an ancient story by William Ellery Leonard that we have a written record and was recited for generations before it was inscribed on the clay tablet in cuneiform script(6). Leonard presents challenges and experiences encountered by the most powerful man Gilgamesh, who ruled the city of Uruk in ancient Sumer, between 2700 and 2600 B.C (6). This King was regarded to be half human and half god because of his power and strength. The society then called upon their god’s to make them another man who can take over from him (7). Engidu was chosen to be the person to overcome Gilgamesh, but the King challenged him to a fight and Engidu lost the fight (9). By reading this epic, we can learn more about:

In the Content Section, the main ideas depicted are friendship, death, and anger of gods (10). For instance, it is represented that Gilgamesh and Engidu become comrades after their wresting. This is an indication that good friendship existed among rivals during those ancient days within the entire society (10). The narrator also explains the anger of god’s that exist in the community. For example, gods were very angry at Gilgamesh with his friend Engidu because they killed “the king of the bull-of-heaven” (10). The gods then decided to kill Engidu as revenge because they were mad at him (10). Another lesson learnt also is the existence of death in the society. For example, Engidu died and his friend Gilgamesh was afraid that he might die too (11). He ran away across the sea to avoid death, but he later realized that death is inevitable and no one can evade it (11). In the citation part, we also get to know that a young English archaeologist discovered this epic in 1839 beneath the desert sand that belonged to the buildings or a library that was destroyed by an invading army of Medes and Babylonians in 612 B.C at the city of Nineveh (6). The type of the source of this epic is a primary historical source which was reconstructed and translated for the new generation to learn historical information that once existed in cuneiform tablet at the library