Epic Of Gilgamesh And Instruction To Merikare Analysis

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Epic of Gilgamesh and Instruction to Merikare reflect aspects of kingship and cultural implications in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. The ancient Egyptians, unlike most people in Mesopotamia, did not create heroic tales like the Epic of Gilgamesh. Although Egyptians and Mesopotamian civilizations are evidently both similar in that they blah, they are also intricate and distinguishable in ways such that they embody different perceptions on religion, culture, and the way divinity is manifested within kingship. The Instructions from Merikare and the Epic of Gilgamesh encounters with various lands and characters reflect his attempt to tread the thin line between the three main duties of a proper Mesopotamian king: conquest, civic life, and religion.
In the beginning of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the exemplification of a standard Mesopotamian
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While the epic prides over Gilgamesh’s wondrous feats of being responsible for he is portrayed as a nonpareil king, describing him as “tall, Magnificent, and terrible” (I, 37). Gilgamesh exploits his power by having “no equal”(I, 65). His overbearing superiority makes him uncompassionate and subjects his people to oppression, who complain that “by day and night his tyranny grows harsher” (I, 69). There is a juxtaposition of Gilgamesh’s roles, going from being the “shepherd of Uruk-the-Sheepfold,” to being one who “lets no daughter go free to her mother” (I, 71)” The contrast of these two roles of being the defendant versus the tyrant demonstrates the Mesopotamian perception of kingship; Gilgamesh’s actions as a tyrant are discerned as antithetical to as an ideal protector and leader. His savagery drove his people weary, thus complaining to the god, Anu, that a “savage wild bull you have bred in Uruk-the-Sheepfold.” From this, it can be concluded that an ideal king must be compassionate, trustworthy, and

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