Epic Of Gilgamesh Comparative Essay

Further analysis of the poem The Epic of Gilgamesh, described the characteristic of king Gilgamesh from the beginning, middle, and end. Throughout the poem, there are immature and petrified moments of Gilgamesh, but more importantly he learned to grow as he explore his journey. Friendship, love, and fear appears to be essential in this poem. Why are those terms relevant ? and how does it connect with the trait of Gilgamesh ?, let’s continue to find out the truth about Gilgamesh.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a tale from ancient Babylon. Its hero, Gilgamesh the king of Uruk, is two-thirds god and one-third man. Throughout the epic, which consists of three stories, the character of Gilgamesh is developed. This is accomplished by changing the vices he possesses at the start of the epic, and replacing them with virtues he receives by its completion. “A virtue is a quality of righteousness, goodness, or moral excellence; any good quality or admirable trait of a character.” (Halsey Collier’s Dictionary 1114) “A vice is an immoral or harmful habit or practice; fault or fall” (Halsey Collier’s Dictionary 1111). Gilgamesh is not the only character in the

. Mesopotamia, current day Iraq, derived its name from words meaning, "the land between the rivers," which refers to the Tigris and Euphrates. This land was inhabited during the fourth millennium B.C.E. and throughout time transcended into political and military organizations. The significance of these cultures revolved around important warrior figures and their impact on society. The most important figure that will be discussed is the protagonist from The Epic of Gilgamesh. Many consider it to be the greatest literary composition written in cuneiform Akkadian around 2150 BC. This epic portrays the life of the great warrior, Gilgamesh. It chronicles how his victories, both militaristic and internal,

The themes of myths speak to concerns for every human being. This shows that different cultures are interconnected and share ideas. From reading the Epic of Gilgamesh we can begin to understand the values help by ancient Mesopotamian society. By reading the Ramayana we can analysis the religion and world view of Hinduism. Many ancient stories seem to parallel each other. Although stories are written in diverse cultures, there tend to be likenesses, especially between the protagonists. This is true with the stories of the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Ramayana when it comes to the depictions of their hero’s.

The Epic of Gilgamesh was translated by Andrew George and the Iliad was written by Homer. These are both heroic epics that show some similarities in their stories. The Epic of Gilgamesh came to us in a fragmentary form and was written in some form we no longer have. It possibly influenced the Iliad because the Iliad showed some modification of the epic and was written later than Gilgamesh. Both stories show some similarities in theme, such as pride, morality, friendship, love, fate, and free will. In both the books, pride seems like a big topic. Comparing the pride in the character Gilgamesh in the, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and Achilles in the Iliad shows that the mistakes both make is that they can not let go of their pride.

The historic document of The Epic of Gilgamesh, a truly historic piece to human history, locks in and greatly explains how ancient civilizations would have worked. In deeper context, it would truly show how Religion and the overpowering idea of a God, have been in human history since writing has begun. Gods, Pharaohs, deities, Kings of Kings, holy father, creators, the lords, whatever term is chosen to be used represents one individual or in other cultures many powerful individuals in charge. These over watching Gods are believed to have been guiding the path for humanity and we’ve believed in them since human civilization has begun. Early civilizations like Egypt and Mesopotamia have strong beliefs in these figures.

     In the epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh embarks upon a quest seeking immortality as a means to peace, meaning, and joy in life. He tries to reach it in many different ways, each as unsuccessful as its predecessor. The two main types of immortality are physical and through the actions or achievements of ones life. Gilgamesh tries first through his actions, but then undergoes a transformation which leads him to next attempt physical immortality. He eventually comes back to the point at which he began; however, now he realizes that the beginning point was always the object of his quest. Uruk, his city, is his legacy and the key to his quest. This lesson underscores his humanity, for often we cannot truly learn a

According to atomism, the essential quality of matter is the small, indivisible and externally existing particles called atoms. Atoms have different shapes and textures and that is the reason that for example different foods tastes differently and have different affect to our tongue.

Mediterranean and Near Eastern literature conveys common ideas and themes, such as The Babylonian Creation Epic, and The Bhagavad-Gita, Epic of Gilgamesh.Each ancient story has it’s own message, but with similar themes. The most prominent theme they all share is violence and mortality. The Babylonian Creation Epic tells the creation of the world through violence and death used to create life. The Bhagavad-Gita is a conversation between a human, Arjuna, and a god, Krishna, about war and the taking of life. The Epic of Gilgamesh depicts King Gilgamesh’s journey, in which he learns the consequences of violence and becomes fearfully aware of his mortality. These three stories stress the importance of mortality and violence in the creation and perseverance of human culture differently.

The Epic of Gilgamesh gives a lot of insight to what was happening and what was expected in ancient Mesopotamia. The epic poem which revolves around a king, includes many details about the civilization, beliefs, and values of the Mesopotamians. The king thrives to be remembered and many of his actions reflect that. The Epic of Gilgamesh, which involves culture, religion, and heroism is one way to learn about ancient Mesopotamia and the king’s involvement in the city states.

The Epic of Gilgamesh has many important female characters, and from them we can learn how females were viewed in ancient Sumerian society. The women are not typecast with simply one personality and role but instead are shown with many facets. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, women are shown as essential beings who can be either loving and nurturing or incredibly powerful and scary.

The truth of life is not open to one at one day, but it takes time. “The story of its main protagonist, king Gilgamesh, and his quest for immortality touches on the most fundamental questions of what it mean to be human: death and friendship, nature and civilization, power and violence, travel adventures and homecoming, love and sexuality” (Homer 33). In every individual life, there are things that strengthen and things that transform one’s life. Power Gilgamesh possess had given him the opportunity to rule and overcome defeat in the land of Uruk. Gilgamesh was a strong and heartless man to his people. Contrary, the friendship that he developed with Enkidu transforms his life and gave him a valuable person to his people. In addition Enkidu was also changed from the Wildman to civilize man from the friendship he also developed with Shamhat, the harlot.

The story I wrote is an adaptation of “The Epic of Gilgamesh” by Herbert Mason. My adaptation is based off of the theme in the epic of “personal growth and development.” In “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” Mason conveys this theme by transforming Gilgamesh from “a tyrant to his people” (15) to a ruler who was “awed at the heights his people had achieved” (92), determined to better the lives of the citizens of Uruk. At the beginning of the story, Gilgamesh is a greedy, obnoxious king, with little-to-no respect for anyone. Later, however, after many journeys and a loss, Gilgamesh sees light at the end of tunnel.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a Sumerian epic of the great king Gilgamesh and his deeds on Earth in ancient mesopotamia and in the city of Uruk. It is an important historical text because it is one of the oldest western epics and because it explains much about how the ancient Sumerians viewed the Gods (Mark). The epic contains the tells of Gilgamesh, Enkidu, Utnapishtim, and many Gods and Goddesses of ancient Sumeria specifically Ishtar, the Goddess of love.

In the text “The Epic of Gilgamesh”, refers to how the Mesopotamians treated their gods. The Mesopotamians believed in a higher life after death, an afterlife. In the afterlife , one would continue their jobs as servants to the gods. The Epic of Gilgamesh shows us how the gods were the creators of everything around them. Gods were created for every aspect of life including love, death, even animals.