The Great Flood: The Epic Of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest written epic in history, documented in 2700 BC, in cuneiform, on clay tablets, found in the library of Nineveh, describes the king of the city-state Uruk’s love of his friend Enkidu and his quest for immortality. The Book of Exodus, written in 1400 BC describes God’s call of Moses, a Hebrew raised in Ramses II’s court in Egypt, to the Promise Land in Canaan. Gilgamesh and Moses function as heroes in these two ancient literary works. Gilgamesh and Moses exhibit similarities yet also exhibit differences. In particular the two men are alike in that they both embody their cultures; however their personalities and their journeys differ.

Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia. Dating between 2700 B.C. and around 600 B.C. in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq). The type of work is an epic, a long poem, typically one from ancient tradition orals. Genre would be a heroic quest; heroic epic. The language it is written in is Sumerian. That is the language that was written in the cuneiform. The story of Gilgamesh, a cruel king and powerful king in ancient sumer heroic quest to find immortality. Who is later granted immortality because he saved humankind from a great flood. The poem is one of the world’s oldest epics. The way it is written makes it very clear. Example, “when the seventh day drew nigh.” The narrator also exaggerated and described things in great details.

The epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient Sumerian story that was found in the mid-1800s, about the King of Uruk who reigned around 2700-1400 B.C, written on clay tables, retold and rewritten by Assyrian, Babylonian and Hittite. Gilgamesh, which was preserved by the ancient Mesopotamia of rival societies and continues to exist as the oldest epic in literature today. The eleventh tablet, discovered in the mid-1800s by archeologists, pre-dates the Biblical version of the flood of Noah. It is believed that the tomb of Gilgamesh was discovered in Warka, in 2003.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest recorded stories in literature and was written between 2000 and 1400 B.C. The main protagonist, Gilgamesh, is two-thirds human and one-third god. Through his search for obtaining everlasting life, he experiences several obstacles and constantly demonstrates heroism, even when he’s near death.

The excerpts from “The Epic of Gilgamesh” are a summary of a story of a Mesopotamian king and his adventures with the gods and immortality. “The Epic of Gilgamesh” was written in stone about 2000 B.C. This story shows that the values of beauty and strength were strived for by ancient people of Mesopotamia because these were the traits they admired in their herculean hero Gilgamesh.

During the second millennium B.C.E., there was a cataclysmic series of climatic events, including droughts and famines present in Egypt and China, as well as floods in Mesopotamia and Sumer. Climatic events, such as those that were present during the second millennium B.C.E, were catastrophic to the civilizations who experienced these events, often reducing the population greatly. These civilizations interpreted such natural, destructive phenomena, being in a time when humans believed a natural disaster was a sign or punishment delivered by their respective deity or deities, as messages from the gods. Survivors of these cataclysms often adapted and responded to these environmental changes by recording these interpretations as stories that, over time, eventually became distorted into myths and legends.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is said to be written circa 2100 BC. It tells the story of King Gilgamesh and Enkudi, a man created by the gods to free Gilgamesh’s people from his oppression. The Epic of Gilgamesh predates Homer’s Odyssey and is believed to have heavily influenced the work.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest surviving great works of literature. It derives from ancient Mesopotamia. Originally the story was recorded in separate poems, but later was combined into the famous epic we know it as today. This work dates back to the Third Dynasty of Ur, which would be around 2100BC. In 1853, Hormuzd Rassam discovered The Epic of Gilgamesh. For several years these writing maintained a different title until another man discovering writings

Like other epics, The Epic of Gilgamesh started as an oral fable passed by word of mouth. The epic was written in about c. 2750 BC, by a Babylonian scribe. The Epic of Gilgamesh tells the story of Gilgamesh, who is known to be ⅔ god and ⅓ man. Gilgamesh was the king of Uruk, a large city in Sumer. He took care of his village, making sure the had nice homes, temples, and gardens. Gilgamesh was a big role model to the people of Uruk, and everyone looked up to him. Gilgamesh had so many adventures, and each one tells a very different story.

It was passed down orally and has been traced back to as early as 2100 BC. The story follows Gilgamesh, King of Uruk and his companion defeating mythical monsters and travelling to imaginary realms of the earth. The Epic reflects some key ideals of the mesopotamian era, such as the inevitability of death, love and familial bonds as a cause for ambition, and the might and power of the gods. “You will never find that life for which you are looking. When the gods created man they allotted to him to death, but life they retained in their own keeping”(Sandars 102). The mesopotamian people believed that you should make the most of your life now, when you die, your soul moves onto the same afterlife regardless who you were on Earth. Gilgamesh is considered one of first surviving works of great literature and set a precedent for later pieces of written art.

Ever since ancient times, humanity has sought to explain the world in which we live. Mythology is a set of stories that a particular culture believes to be true, and which

As was one of oldest stories ever recorded the Epic of Gilgamesh reveals the values and ideas of the Mesopotamian culture. The Epic of Gilgamesh was written on clay tablets around 1200 BCE, by the scholar priest Sinleqqiunninni, who could be the oldest author that is known (Sayre 47). This epic focuses on the heroic greatness of the Mesopotamian kings and their people (Sayre 48).This epic consists of eleven tablets, and is written in Akkadian cuneiform. None of the tablets are completely whole so the version is a compilation. These tablets portray Gilgamesh as the fourth king of Uruk who ruled around 2700 and 2500 BCE, as an epic hero of the

Gilgamesh is known as one of the oldest stories in the world. It tells the story of an ancient King of Uruk, Gilgamesh, who may have actually existed, and whose name is on the Sumerian King List. The story of Gilgamesh,was told in various Sumerian versions, and was originally known in the third millennium B.C.. The story of Gilgamesh was first found in the library of King Assurbanipal of Nineveh, written on twelve tablets. "Gilgamesh's life and his adventures during his unsuccessful quest for immortality are told on eleven of the twelve tablets." The twelfth tablet was "a description of the nether world, in which Gilgamesh rules after his death as divine judge over the shades, guiding and advising them. Later in the years, the story of Gilgamesh

Considered one of the earliest great pieces of literature, the Epic of Gilgamesh tells an adventurous yet profound tale about the god like king of Uruk, Gilgamesh, and his quest to find immortality. This Mesopotamian epic poem, however, argues that existence is cyclical and death is assured through its use of repetition, religion, and biblical references.

The poem The Epic of Gilgamesh is considered to be the first documented work of literature, which originated in Uruk, a city-state located along the channel of the Euphrates River in Sumer. The Sumerians were the first civilization in Mesopotamia to devise a system of written language, which consisted of wedge shaped characters that were inscribed in clay tablets. This system of writing is known as cuneiform, and it was used to record The Epic of Gilgamesh. Throughout this epic poem, Gilgamesh, the king and ruler of Uruk, encounters a number of religious figures that sheds light upon the history and culture of the Mesopotamians. It is apparent from the start of the poem, that the people of Uruk centered their entire lifestyle around the many deities of the polytheistic Sumerian religion. Gilgamesh himself was the son of the goddess Ninsun and king Lugulbanda, and was considered to be one-third human, and two-thirds god. Gilgamesh also encounters Utnapanishtim, who was gifted with immortality from the gods after serving as a heroic savior during a great flood, in which the biblical story of Noah’s Ark alludes to.