Around 460 BCE a man named Thucydides lived to experience and record the historical storyline the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides was an Athenian, unbiased, historian that is best known for the way he structurally reconciled information from the Peloponnesian War and is credible for the most reliable source that chronicled the war. The Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient epic poem regularly deemed as the first great work of literature, gives civilization a definition to the people of ancient Mesopotamia (Earth of Its Peoples, 26). Gilgamesh, the ultimate leader of Uruk, pursues immortality throughout his journey, exemplifying his power and educating himself on humankind along the way. If a fellow Athenian were to recite the Epic of Gilgamesh to Thucydides, he would likely …show more content…
Gilgamesh’s dictatorial and authoritarian styles tie into how Thucydides viewed innate dictatorship. Thucydides saw how corrupt human nature was and commented on how people during the Peloponnesian war reacted by saying, “Indeed…men take it upon themselves to begin the process of repealing those general laws which are there to give a hope of salvation to all who are in distress, instead of leaving those laws in existence, remembering that there may come a time where they, too, will be in danger and will need their protection” (Thucydides, 245). The manner in which Gilgamesh abused his power might be one of the few things Thucydides agreed with. Thucydides believed human beings were innately sinful and their only good intentions came from being influenced under laws and communal constrictions. Gilgamesh, being one-third God, has no restrictions; therefore, in Thucydides eyes is bound to allow his viler desires to control his actions. While most people respond negatively towards Gilgamesh’s tyranny, Thucydides would accept his methods of regime knowing he didn’t have to abide by any