Afterlife Essay

To begin with the Mesopotamians believed in the gods and goddesses. They would praise them for a significant reason either if its water, nature, wind, sun, etc. and each god has their own specific powers. To please the gods they will have to sacrifice one for a specific desire or necessity. In The Epic of Gilgamesh it is said that gods feast and love the smell of burnt human flesh; “When the gods smelled the sweet savor, they gathered like flies over the sacrifice” . The relationships that Mesopotamians have with their gods is cruel, they please the gods with sacrifices. This is what they believed was necessary to have a peaceful life with no catastrophic chaos. The Mesopotamians wanted harmony with their gods so they don’t die. Mesopotamians did not only believe in one god but many gods so they would worship the gods for specific needs. They also viewed the gods as the highest level class, in other words

While both the Egyptians and Sumerians developed a sophisticated way of life with complex religion, political system, system of writing and social classes, there are numerous differences between the two groups. The Egyptian's beliefs in gods and goddesses indicated the significance of nature in their lives and every human activity. The Egyptians thought that the power of nature were superintended by the different deities. They also believed that the gods and goddesses had the power of life and death over everyone. The ancient Egyptians thought that after death they could enjoy their lives because they believed that in the afterlife people were happy, well fed, and busy with the same activities they had done in life. This belief sometimes led

Life and human fortune was very instable in Mesopotamians’ eyes. People just observed death and afterlife from a distance and some made them into a series of myths. For instance, “The Epic of Gilgamesh” expresses its idea on eventual death. No matter how hard Gilgamesh tries to lengthen his life, his death is predestined. The Mesopotamians viewed afterlife as an inevitable end.

While many believe inhabitants of early civilizations, like the Sumerians, were at peace with their environment and community, The Epic of Gilgamesh has challenged that idea and suggests that whether or not a Sumerian was civilized or not, determined their relationship with the environment and community. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, representation of the best and worst of humanity is presented through the characters, Enkidu and King Gilgamesh. From the beginning, Enkidu is portrayed as an uncivilized, wild man who is living harmoniously with the environment in which he resides, whereas King Gilgamesh is portrayed as a man of great wealth and stature, who is two-thirds God and one-third human and believes that the environment is at his

Ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians had two different ideas of the afterlife. Ancient Egypt celebrated the afterlife, performing burial rituals such as mummification, and ceremonies to ensure a happy and easy transition into the underworld. Egyption gods did not have as much interference with humans unlike the Mesopotamian Gods. Egyption gods ruled as pharaohs other deities such as Osiris, god of the underworld. Mesopotamian afterlife beliefs were not as joyful as ancient Egyptians. The Mesopotamians afterlife had a gloomier outlook. Most of what we know about Mesopotamian afterlife comes from the epic of Gilgamesh.

Most societies that developed in ancient civilizations were centered around their belief systems. The Egyptians and the Mesopotamians were no different in this sense. Both civilizations were polytheistic and built elaborate temples to praise their gods. Additionally, the leaders in both regions were believed to be related to the gods because of the great power they held and the wealth under their control. However, the Mesopotamians had a pessimistic outlook on life because of the unpredictability of their environment. The Egyptians, on the other hand, had an optimistic outlook because the Nile River inundated their region regularly, which could be predicted by the stars. The similarities and differences in the religions of these two

Another example of how the Sumerians felt about their gods came from The Epic of Gilgamesh. The gods brutally punished Enkidu, causing him death, because he aided Gilgamesh in killing the Bull of Heaven and Humbaba. This is portrayed in a quote by Anu, a Sumerian god, “Because they have killed the Bull of Heaven, and because they have killed Humbaba who guarded the cedar mountain one of the two must die”. Since Gilgamesh was part god, the gods chose to kill Enkidu, the full human. This demonstrates how merciless the Sumerians portrayed their gods.

For the Mesopotamians view of the afterlife was not always a good thing. Mesopotamians did not live a long life they would die at a young age due to the sickness that thee had back then. Mesopotamia is a place that the Mesopotamians believed to be between two rivers. Mesopotamia first got started through a poems and myths that the ancestors told. They also believed that everything has a personality. The Mesopotamians believed that the afterlife death was a descent of the underworld believed to be ruled by the god Nergal. They lived bad lives and their idea about the afterlife resemble the hardness that they will have to face during their present life. They will ¨wasted no times¨ preparing for the afterlife. This is what usually happens to

Even though they believed in an afterlife, the thought of it was not pleasant. The people of Mesopotamia lived very difficult lives and when one was deceased it was more of a reminder of how hard life was. “Likewise, the dead could rise up and torment the living if not given a proper burial, so the bodies of enemies were buried in a manner such as to prevent this from happening.” (4) Unlike where we burry the deceased today, some of the Mesopotamian children were found buried in various places such as under the floors in houses and even in cooking

In Egyptian Culture, it was believed that individuals survived after death and that life did not end after their earthly death. In the past, people performed specific rituals and prayers after the deceased had moved on. These practices were to ensure that the deceased spirits moved on safely through the journey to their afterlife. The ancient beliefs of an afterlife were provided from the ancient Egyptians who viewed their lives as a never-ending, cyclic pattern. Their views of the afterlife guided not only their lives in the underworld but also their mortal lives on earth.

Buddhism began in the fourth and fifth centuries before Christ by Siddhartha Gautama. The teachings of Buddha, also known as Siddhartha Gautama, are the major beliefs of Buddhism. Buddhism is a belief and religion based on an assortment of customs, principles, and practices. The name Buddha means the awakened one. Buddha’s teachings were of the termination of suffering, attaining nirvana, and absconding from the cycle of suffering and rebirth. Buddhism has spread all across Asia and throughout the world, now with between two hundred thirty million and five hundred million followers. Buddhism is largely based around the belief of Karma. Karma is the “action, seen as bringing upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in a reincarnation” (Dictionary.com) or “the cosmic principle according to which each person is rewarded or punished in one incarnation according to that person’s deeds in the previous incarnation.” (Dictionary.com) In simpler words, how you live your life now determines how you will come back when your current soul expires. Buddhists live their lives in hopes of achieving to be placed in the highest state known as Heaven. The after-life stems from Karma and leads into Rebirth. Rebirth is a course of action where humans proceed within multiple lifetimes in one or more of the six states of after-life. Each lifetime begins with birth and ends with death. Buddhists believe that we should not fear death because

The Mesopotamians believed that the universe was divided into the real world, and the realm of the dead. The realm of the dead was ruled by a queen named Ereshkigal and her partner Nergal. The graveyard was not a resting place according to ancient Mesopotamian, but it was the doorway to the afterlife. The

The early Mesopotamian religions, as all folklores, depicted the activities of nature as those of divine beings and goddesses. These were brought into being by four maker divine beings, who were thus made by Tiamat and Abzu, customized (or humanized, maybe) powers which emerged from a primordial disorder. There was a sky-god, An, Enlil a tempest/climate god, an earth god named Nin-kharsag and a water god named Enki. You see the same or varieties of these and other lesser divine beings and goddesses all through Mesopotamian history from the soonest urban areas through the considerable realms of Babylon and Assyria. Sumerian culture being Mesopotamian a similar essential convictions apply-a level earth encompassed via oceans from which the universe

The ancient civilization of Sumer was located in modern-day Iraq and Kuwait, and is believed to have begun around 6000 B.C. It is considered ‘The cradle of civilization’ by most historians, because it’s where the first elaborate urban societies appeared. Sumerians were polytheistic, and had a pantheon consisting of many gods and goddesses, who were anthropomorphic superhumans. The Sumerians held a unique view of creation, the afterlife, and worship. They contributed one of the most well known literary works “The Epic of Gilgamesh”, which tells of a hero’s quest to attain immortality.

They were responsible for creating “an urban civilization, economically based on a vast surplus of wheat and barley grown in the fertile floodplains of the Tigris and Euphrates valleys” (Hoffman, 2004, p. 240). Ancient civilization was dependent upon these rivers for survival, but Mesopotamia, while fertile soil, was not predictable with rainfall. The Sumerians, advanced beyond their time, developed a canal and irrigation system. Populations began growing and city-states began forming. Thus, the development of government. Each city-state was self-governing and independent of the others. Each of the three cultures were extremely religious. They were a polytheistic culture and believed their gods determined everything. Apparently, this king decided how the people should honor the gods; hence, he ended up wealthy because the people would bring him fruits of their labor for the gods on their behalf. Ironically enough to me, for them to be so devoted to their gods, they were extremely pessimistic cultures. They offered up their goods to be blessed, but always thought the worst would happen to them (Osborne, 2015). The Epic of Gilgamesh, first piece of literature, illustrated their pessimistic nature (Matthew, et al,