The Sumerians built ziggurats which are huge temples and they believed these temples connected Earth with the heavens and people to the gods. In document two it explains one of Mesopotamia’s pieces of literature, The Epic of Gilgamesh. This story is about a king created perfect and is part human and part god. He goes on a long journey to immortality but then finds out he must die.…
The allegory of the cave is meant to be a visual aid for Plato, through Socrates, to show how philosophers come to be from a common crowd, how they come to understand the forms, and how they should teach those who do not understand the forms and be the ones who rule over the city. A second way to view the allegory is as a description of how education begins even today. Plato starts off by comparing ignorance to living in a cave with limited knowledge, which makes sense when one thinks about how closed-minded a people of any population can be. A person like this does not give any thought to things outside of his or her own knowledge and never expands on what he or she may know, just like the prisoners in the cave and how they accepted what they were seeing as the truth. This lifestyle is represented by the chains holding prisoners against the wall, only able to see shadows of…
Role of women in ancient Greek mythology Name Institution Introduction Myths serve two key functions: 1) to answer the kind of awkward questions normally asked by children like ‘How was the world made? Who was the first person to live in the world? Where do the souls of the dead go?’ 2)…
All through history, the role of women has molded and shaped both society and culture into what it is today. In the Epic of Gilgamesh the role of women is not precisely clear, as various women convey distinctive characteristics and power. The themes of the story revolve around masculinity and brotherhood, but the female characters essentially have control over the men in the Mesopotamian society. A standout amongst the most fascinating parts of the story is that it indicates how men knew about the force of women, and in outcome they made an effort not to fall for their enticement. In this paper…
The Comparison To The Underworld Many pieces of literature contain many similar characteristics to Greek and Roman mythology as these references illustrate a certain idea or image for the reader. Many authors in the past would draw these comparisons to invoke a deeper meaning to their writing. The Underworld of Roman mythology is the kingdom of Pluto and is where Romans believed the dead went to in afterlife. For one, the house of Trimalchio as well as the contents in it, are directly related to the Underworld are described in a way that mirror the Underworld of Roman mythology. While the the dog can be related to Cerberus from that mythology and the actions of the guests in the bath mirror the punishments in Tartarus.…
Pan’s Labyrinth takes place after the Spanish Civil War. It intertwines the real world of hardship and war, with a mythical world, the labyrinth. Pan’s Labyrinth is a film, which takes on many myths and symbols from Greek mythology and it encompasses everything from the underworld to femininity all while telling an extraordinary story. The myths of the ascent and descent to the underworld are displayed in the film when Ofelia completes her tasks by going to the underworld.…
The River Styx formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld. The word 'stygian' came to refer to anything dark, dismal, and murky. Hades the Underworld consisted of different areas where the souls of dead mortals resided. The souls of mortals who had led good lives were sent to Elysium and the Elysian Fields(Paradise). The souls of mortals who had led both good and evil lives on earth were sent to endless toil in the Asphodel Meadows.…
The Assyrians and Greeks both had heroes that exemplified their cultural values at the time. Oedipus and Gilgamesh both went on journeys leading to immortality; however, the forms of their immortality differed vastly. The Assyrians and Greeks both believed that immortality only came after obtaining certain desirable character traits, usually formed through suffering; however, the Assyrian’s individualistic culture actively strove for individual immortality, whereas the Greek’s collectivistic culture did not. By looking at the Assyrian and Greek cultures through the lenses of their stories, we can better understood their views on life, death, and what happens after.…
In the myth of Orpheus, adapted by an unknown author, a man named Orpheus with an extraordinary talent with the lyre loses his wife to a snake bit and tries to undermine the natural process by influencing the gods to try to let him have her back. Orpheus’s inability to accept his fate leads to his demise. At the beginning of the story, Orpheus has no experience with loss or pain and has a great life. Orpheus is born in a rich country and is the son of Apollo and Calliope.…
The Epic of Gilgamesh, explores the relationship between death and immortalization through the series of stories that Gilgamesh, King of Mesopotamia experiences. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh meets Enkidu, a powerful half man half beast hybrid whom is his equal in strength. Gilgamesh and Enkidu become close friends and one day, Gilgamesh mentions a demon monster named Humbaba whom “dwells in the forest” and suggests to Enkidu “you and I shall kill him and wipe out something evil from the land” (110). By causing Humbaba’s death, Gilgamesh and Enkidu successfully purge evil from the land, and in this case death functions completely as one initially expects it to function; by killing an evil being, its evil influence ends. Later in the…
“Allegory of the Cave” by Plato is a story that contrasts the differences between what is genuine and what is seen. It starts off with a long and dark cave, in the cave there are prisoners who, since birth, are tied around the neck and legs, inside a dark cave. The prisoners also have a limited field of vision, because of their ties they should always look forward. There is a light that illuminates their den, emanating a fiery fire behind them, a considerable and elevated distance. For their part, the prisoners have been able to see only shadows of objects projected by the high fire in the cave and the lack of outside knowledge, believing that those shadows are real objects, pertaining to their own reality.…
The underworld is one of the most interesting and mystifying ideas of Greek literature. There are various myths of the location to this world, what souls experience there, and how to access it. Multiple authors and bards contributed to the creation of the underworld, each adding or tweaking previous portrayals. In particular, Homer and Hesiod spoke of the underworld in many of their works. Hesiod focuses more on describing the creation of the underworld, its roots, and primary rulers.…
On a philosophical level, man has always searched for answers and questioned everything; Sumerians were no exception. From view on divine law, paradise, ethics, and wisdom, parallels can be made between the two societies. Though superficial differences such as religion affect these societies as a whole, similarities are, indeed, comparable. Religion, itself, has served as a…
The fear of death and the search for immortality is a culturally universal theme. The dogma encompassing immortality surpasses the barriers of time and multitudes of cultures; even being able to be applied to present-day life. The theme of immortality appears in stories from ancient texts, such as The Epic of Gilgamesh, written by the ancient Sumerians around 600 B.C., and Homer’s Odysseus, to present day literature in the twenty first century. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh, composed of two-thirds god and one-third human, allows his mortal side to all at once diminish his pride and his power after the death of Enkidu. The death reawakens his own fear of mortality and jumpstarts the demi-god into a journey for the cure.…
Often times in society, people place more importance on aspects of lesser value. Instead of focusing on the impactful matters, certain people allow the mere opinions and objects of physical worth to dictate their lives and actions. This idea can be visualized in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, where those dominated by public opinion are only capable of viewing a far removed, inaccurate version of reality. While this allegorical image acts as a critical reflection of civilization and various socio-political themes, it also displays other features discussed throughout Plato’s Republic, such as philosophical education, one’s movement towards enlightenment, and the “Divided Line”. With the use of numerous key symbols and metaphors, Plato further…