Epic Of Gilgamesh

One of the most fascinating pieces of literature, The Epic of Gilgamesh, deals with and explores many of the problems humans have wrestled with for thousands of years. Even though the text does not explicitly answer any of the questions it poses, it gives clues that point to the answers. One of these questions, the dilemma of whether to act based solely on a person’s intuition or act based on reason and advice, occurs regularly in the text. Throughout The Epic of Gilgamesh, characters have success and failure when they act based on either their intuition or using reason, but the epic clearly points out, through examples, that acting based on reason instead of intuition constitutes more success in all facets of life.

Justice is described as a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, fairness, or equity. The people of ancient Egypt and ancient Mesopotamia also believed and relied on this concept. Rulers, if not fair and just, were often eliminated by their subjects or their enemies. There were many great kings and pharaohs of the ancient age that were just to their kingdoms, and these often went down in history. Yet, those kings and pharaohs who were blinded by their own selfishness often became just as famous. Two men, Akhenaten of ancient Egypt and Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, were such rulers. They were powerful and cunning individuals, yet they let their own selfish nature ruin the ability to be a great

People have been fascinated by tales of heroism for centuries. In ancient Mesopotamia, heroes give people hope and comfort, and fill them with strength. Ancient Mesopotamia is filled with tales of heroes- mighty warriors battling monsters, men ready to risk life and limb to save their true love or to fight for their nation. Still, there is a great difficulty that lies in defining what a hero truly is. Strength alone does not make a hero; nor does intelligence. Moreover, the Epic of Gilgamesh truly defines the definition of a hero. Gilgamesh is portrayed as a true hero through his skill, intelligence, willingness to die, reverence, and his respect for death.

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

The maturation of Gilgamesh and his desire to acquire wisdom throughout his journey is quite apparent. By overcoming difficulties such as upholding Uruk, becoming friends with Enkidu, and various other scenarios, Gilgamesh proves that he did in fact grow up throughout the epic.

In his engaging book, god Is Not Great, Christopher Hitchens is on a mission to combat, what he views as, the “malignant force of religion.” Hitchens considers religion a scourge of society that is responsible for much of what is wrong in the world. “Violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism and tribalism and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children: organized religion ought to have a great deal on its conscience.” Ultimately, Hitchens makes the case for a secular approach to life and seeks to engage the reader with his central thesis: religion is “manmade” and “poisons everything.” As a well-accomplished writer and journalist, Hitchens displays his plethora

(1) The black demon saw a beautiful woman and out of all the nobel women. He picked the one that was about the be married. He kidnapped her on her wedding night. It shows that the black demon does things impulsively. He does not care of the consequences. It shows that since he is a demon. He does not fear the consequences of men. When he saw her he could not longer live without her. When he kidnap her. He locked her in box showing that he does not trust the women he kidnap with other men. It also means he wants to keep her pure. She was kidnap on her wedding night so she did not have sex yet so the demon believed she was pure. The untainted virgin that has not been violated by men was his and his only. When he traveled he took her out of the box and wanted to sleep beside her. It shows when he his comfortable. He would sleep better beside her. The women was the demon's most prized possession. It is like comparing the women to a boy's secret toy. When a boy is around someone he would hide his secret toy from everyone. When the boy is alone he would take it and worship it. This meaning is similar to Metamorphoses when Apollo wanted Daphne. Even though she refused him. He impulsively try to rape her. She was turned into a tree, but he still tried to rape the tree. Another text with the similar meaning is in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Any women Gilgamesh desired he would take married or not. Since he was part god and king. He did not care of consequence like the demon.

Dinner With Skeptics Defending God in the world that Makes No Sense, by Jeff, Joplin: College Press, 2008. 221 pages. Reviewed by Josiah R. Boyle

Baba Brinkman’s “Rap Guide to Religion” is a one of a kind rap music that tries to explain the evolution of religion. Throughout Brinkman’s rap performance, I agreed with many of his argument on how people of faith are prejudice over then who are atheists. Although Brinkman’s “Rap Guide to Religion” is original, interesting and informative, he could have done a better job in explaining how religion actually evolved by using a timeline (or some type of visual aid) rather than jumping from one epoch to another. Moreover, he could have used his bar charts to better explain the relationship between faithful followers and atheists, all the while trying to rationalize why as technology is beginning to overtake religion, the trust and acceptance for atheists are still relatively low.

Perhaps one of the main reasons the Epic of Gilgamesh is so popular and has lasted such a long time, is because it offers insight into the human concerns of people four thousand years ago, many of which are still relevant today. Some of these human concerns found in the book that are still applicable today include: the fear and concerns people have in relation to death, overwhelming desires to be immortal, and the impact a friendship has on a person’s life. It does not take a great deal of insight into The Epic of Gilgamesh for a person to locate these themes in the story, and even less introspection to relate to them.

I hope you all have the opportunity to listen to this lecture which I really enjoyed. Yes, I admit that sometime I feel like I am infallible in my solution, no matter how the problem complicated, I have the right solution for it which simply means “the God complex”.

Even more ridiculous is the thought of dissecting a religion and proving it to be truth not fancy. But our faith is the only faith that can survive being under the microscope. Chapter two tackles the age old question of God’s existence. Is there a God and what does that entail?

prove that diverse origination of God are identified with social states of mind, it stays hazy which pictures of God are most striking as to demeanors in regards to criminal discipline. Because of constraints in information sources, most past research has been compelled to concentrate on a solitary part of God's apparent

Gilgamesh being two-third God and one-third mortal positively has the quality and special past to be take a gander at has a hero, per say. In any case, he is narrow minded and brutal to his own particular individuals of Uruk, assaulting his nobles' wives, leaving sons without fathers and grabbing whatever he wanted from his people. To add to the disqualification of a leader and hero, Gilgamesh misuse is power. Since Gilgamesh is still a good and not impeccable, Gilgamesh is continually looking for exhortation and assistance from the Divine beings. A hero is not viewed as immaculate particularly if the legend is mortal. By the by, the choices one must make which builds a genuine legend. Gilgamesh in the end chooses to acknowledge his everlasting

As Wilson Knight states, the frequent pleas to the gods "show at most an insistent need in humanity to cry for justification to something beyond its horizon" (188).