Connections to Mesopotamia What do you think of when you hear the word “Mesopotamia?” What thoughts or pictures flash through your mind as you think about “Mesopotamia?” To most people, Mesopotamia is just a word to describe a place that existed a long time before our existence. Not much is known about this mysterious place and some people may not even know what it is or where Mesopotamia is located. Now we get to The Epic of Gilgamesh. Said to be the oldest written series of poems and stories about the wild and adventurous King of Uruk. The Epic of Gilgamesh is said to be stories and poems directly from ancient Mesopotamia and they are said to give us many hints as to what life was like back then. These poems are able to give us a sense of
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Because of his powers, we learn that Gilgamesh is two-thirds god and one-third human. This makes Gilgamesh part of the heavenly gods. Based on the poems, the people of Uruk believed in the gods to a very high extent. This is believed to be the same for Mesopotamia. The gods are considered a part of religion and The Epic of Gilgamesh helps us to know and understand this. Gilgamesh speaks to the gods in many situations throughout the stories, therefore we connect those ideas to real life Mesopotamia believing that the people of Mesopotamia also thought very highly of their gods. Many natural forces are said to be the works of gods. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh denies the goddess Ishtar. Ishtar, being very upset by the rejection, forces her father to send down the bull of heaven to earth to destroy all crops and water sources as well as many people (George, 1999, pg. 48). This story is said to describe and represent the droughts that ancient Mesopotamia experiences. The bull of heaven drinks all the water from the rivers causing the city folks and farmers to suffer from lack of food and drinking water. After Gilgamesh and Enkidu destroy the bull of heaven the drought is said to be over. These stories prove to us that the Mesopotamians looked up to the gods to supply them with the resources they needed. When they had droughts and bad years it was said to …show more content…
Many people believe they should be known as the “cradle of civilization” because of the first writing system they created. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a perfect example of some of the first written works of art. They can tell us stories and lay down laws for the city-states; it gave a rise to literature and philosophy, and in some places, to history (Strayer and Nelson, 93, pg. 79). Having an artifact, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh tablets, lets historians rewrite history and it helps us to better understand the world we came from. They are able to take the stories from Gilgamesh and compare them to findings in ancient Mesopotamia. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a great source for researchers to compare back to. It is a way of understanding things and piecing together the
Because of his powers, we learn that Gilgamesh is two-thirds god and one-third human. This makes Gilgamesh part of the heavenly gods. Based on the poems, the people of Uruk believed in the gods to a very high extent. This is believed to be the same for Mesopotamia. The gods are considered a part of religion and The Epic of Gilgamesh helps us to know and understand this. Gilgamesh speaks to the gods in many situations throughout the stories, therefore we connect those ideas to real life Mesopotamia believing that the people of Mesopotamia also thought very highly of their gods. Many natural forces are said to be the works of gods. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh denies the goddess Ishtar. Ishtar, being very upset by the rejection, forces her father to send down the bull of heaven to earth to destroy all crops and water sources as well as many people (George, 1999, pg. 48). This story is said to describe and represent the droughts that ancient Mesopotamia experiences. The bull of heaven drinks all the water from the rivers causing the city folks and farmers to suffer from lack of food and drinking water. After Gilgamesh and Enkidu destroy the bull of heaven the drought is said to be over. These stories prove to us that the Mesopotamians looked up to the gods to supply them with the resources they needed. When they had droughts and bad years it was said to …show more content…
Many people believe they should be known as the “cradle of civilization” because of the first writing system they created. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a perfect example of some of the first written works of art. They can tell us stories and lay down laws for the city-states; it gave a rise to literature and philosophy, and in some places, to history (Strayer and Nelson, 93, pg. 79). Having an artifact, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh tablets, lets historians rewrite history and it helps us to better understand the world we came from. They are able to take the stories from Gilgamesh and compare them to findings in ancient Mesopotamia. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a great source for researchers to compare back to. It is a way of understanding things and piecing together the