Gilgamesh And Odysseus Compare And Contrast

The earliest surviving literary work, dating from 2100 BC in the Sumerian city of Uruk, The Epic of Gilgamesh tells the story of a hero’s journey to immortality. The Epic of Gilgamesh, written by the Sumerians in their akkadian text and translated by George Smith in the early 1870s, follows the main character Gilgamesh, the unjust and cruel king of Uruk, and his friend Enkidu on their journey to achieve greatness in which Enkidu dies, prompting Gilgamesh to seek immortality. In the story, Enkidu’s character serves as a foil to show and exaggerate Gilgamesh’s immorality and bravery.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a Mesopotamian myth and the oldest known narrative there is, originally created on clay tablets written in cuneiform. The story focuses on two individuals. Gilgamesh, who is the tyrannical ruler of the kingdom of Uruk. Then his counterweight, Enkidu who resides in the forest and was raised by animals. It may seem that neither would have much in common, considering one is royalty and one is a wild man. However, these two characters balance each other despite their differences, which results in a beautiful friendship, but both will lose as well as gain in the end.

Heroic, Strong, Brave, Confident. A hero is these things and many more. Two heroes who are very alike are Odysseus from the Odyssey and Hercules from the Disney movie Hercules. Not only did they both battle fearsome monsters, they were both working against an angered Greek god and shared many common characteristics. Odysseus and Hercules may have been uncannily alike but in the beginning they had their differences in motive. Although towards the end their purpose became more alike than ever.

The epic of Gilgamesh is the earliest primary document discovered in human history dating back to approximately 2,000 B.C.E. This document tells a story of an ancient King Gilgamesh, ruler of Sumer in 2,700 B.C.E. who is created gloriously by gods as one third man and two third god. In this epic, Gilgamesh begins his kingship as an audacious and immature ruler. Exhausted from complaints, the gods send a wild man named Enkidu to become civilized and assist Gilgamesh to mature into a righteous leader. However, Enkidus death causes Gilgamesh to realize his fear of immortality and search for an escape from death. On his journey, Gilgamesh learns that the gods will not grant his wish and that he must

The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey have been a part of human literature for many, many years now, they are both more referred to as epic poems. Both epics are found in different points of time in human cultures stretching roughly 1000 years apart. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a poem from early Mesopotamian culture and The Odyssey is said to be written from the early onset of the Greek civilization. The main characters for these epics are Gilgamesh, a demigod and ruler of Uruk, and Odysseus a great warrior returning home to his wife from war. The two main characters of these epic poems, Gilgamesh and Odysseus share many traits together and apart from each other. Among the qualities that these characters display in each of their respective poems,

Each mythological hero by all accounts seems to be on a quest searching for what he desire most on the planet. The same can be said for the two heroes I chose, Gilgamesh and Achilles. Gilgamesh's greatest fear was dying, while Achilles fear was his legacy lost and overlooked. Although their wishes differ, their quest share numerous similarities. In the end it all comes down to the same thing. Both Gilgamesh and Achilles wanted immortality regardless of anything else, but  each in his own particular manner. In spite of the fact that immortality has a different meaning for Gilgamesh, as it does for Achilles, each choice and additionally every one of the sacrifices they make, all depend on their fear of dying and death. Both Gilgamesh and Achilles actions showed insight into their cultures. It somewhat proved an answer to the way they did things and why they.

In the text that has been covered in class we often see how the gods so often turn their backs on their heroes i.e. “Odyssey” by Homer. However, our God promises He will never leave us or forsake us. There are many gods in the Greek mythology yet one god could be for the hero and one could be against; they can completely counter act what the other god is doing. They lack in communication i.e. “The Epic of Gilgamesh.” Our God is three in one Father, Spirit, and Son, yet there is no lack in communication because they are one. In the Greek stories there are monsters and all other sorts of enemies and they all do whatever their little hearts desire (this is seen in the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Epic of Gilgamesh). We believe in one enemy his name is Lucifer (Satan, The devil). He is the king of lies, deceit, and temptation. He is the deceiver. He is everything bad rolled in to one creature. People may not

The Odyssey, written in 725 BCE. in Greece is a tale of a great warrior Odysseus, trying to return home to his wife after fighting a great war. The Epic of Gilgamesh, written earlier in 2700 B.C. in Mesopotamia, is the tale of a King Gilgamesh who goes on a quest to find immortality. Throughout these two epics’ both Gilgamesh and Odysseus are required to fight for their survival.  In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk has to fight Humbaba, a giant beast who is the guardian of the Cedar Forest. While Odysseus lands in the island of the Cyclopes and is trapped in a cave with a giant.

An epic hero is a character in an epic poem that is recognized for their courageousness and success in the face of great trials and tribulations whereas a tragic hero is a character in a tragedy who, despite his/her nobility, can’t escape their imminent collapse. Although Gilgamesh is an epic hero and Oedipus is a tragic hero there are many similarities between both epics. Both characters are valiant and heroic in their very own way.

Odysseus and his men land on the shore of cyclops island. They get trapped in a cave by Polyphemus, the cyclops son of Poseidon. Odysseus tells the cyclops

(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.

The term hero is can mean many different things in just as many different cultures. For example, modern day Americans would refer to a hero as someone who sacrifices oneself in order to protect and save others. While this current definition of hero is similar to that of the past, the first generation of heroes certainly had their differences. Two unique examples of these heroes are Gilgamesh and Rama. Gilgamesh was the king of Uruk in the Middle East who ruled as a tyrant, while Rama was the king Ayodhya who ruled with compassion. While these two individuals are clearly heroes, they couldn’t be more dissimilar.

Gilgamesh and Odysseus are similar not only in their physical appearances but also in the way the two of them deal with life's dilemmas. Although Gilgamesh and Odysseus possess great strength and sharp minds, their own flaws blind them similarly, which does not aid in their quest for what they desire. As part of their heroic character, the gods must guide them in order to reach their goals. In every epic from antiquity, the greatest challenge a hero must overcome is not a monster or an evil tyrant but themselves. They wish to have glory, honor, and a place in history forever. Doing something that no one else could ever do again is what a hero desires to do. From Gilgamesh to The Odyssey, epic

Odysseus and his men land on the island of the Cyclops extremely hungry and looking for food. He and his

Gilgamesh was a powerful king of Uruk an ancient city in Sumer now known as Iraq. Created by the gods, Gilgamesh was 2/3 god and 1/3 man he thought of himself as undefeatable, and carried himself immorally, taking advantage of his people. Being tired of this the people of Uruk began sobbing, and the goddess Aruru heard their cries and created Gilgamesh 's equal Enkidu. Together they would go on to venture into battles, one of which leads to the death of Enkidu that brings Gilgamesh to his very own journey to find immortality. This epic demonstrates the traits identified by the renown American psychologist Joseph Campbell in the story lines of the hero 's journey.