Literary Characteristics In The Epic Of Gilgamesh And The Iliad

The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Iliad share some unifying features’ in their literary traits in its’ genre. These literary features are seen in the, religion, fictitious historic events, style it was written and heroes’ character. Even though, these two poems were made in different time periods, they have a certain parallel feature in the way that both poems talked about human emotions mixed with divine intuition. In both poems both heroes are the product of divine sovereignty. Both heroes were born from Goddess’, yet their fathers were mortal. Gilgamesh was born from Ninsun, a Goddess with the shape of a cow, while Achilles was born from Thetis the sea nymph Goddess. As the product of divine power, both heroes were superior in strength …show more content…
In both poems the Gods Intervene with mortal’s affairs for example, In the Iliad, Achilles mother intervene persuading Zeus to side with the Trojans as per her son’s Achilles request. Zeus is influenced by Thelis and as a result Hector takes the advantage by killing the Greeks between the fleet and the sea. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, when the gods of heaven complaint to Anu, the sky god, about enough of Gilgamesh reckless behavior. He was harassing the young man of Uruk by fighting and beating, taking the young women as well as annoying the people of Uruk with his arrogance. You created this headstrong wild bull in ramparted Uruk,” (The Epic of Gilgamesh) The gods told Anu, thus Anu intervene by ordering the summon of Aruru, Goddess of birth. The gods of heaven told Aruru, “You created the boundless human race, now create what Anu commanded, to his stormy heart, let that one be equal, let them contend with each other, that Uruk may have peace”. So Uruk created Enkidu out of clay to stand up to Gilgamesh and have balance in …show more content…
Both stories, embellish both heroes by complementing their astonishing physical attributes. For example, in the Epic of Gilgamesh the narrator describes the epic hero “The Lady of Birth drew his body’s image, the God of Wisdom brought his stature top perfection”. He was perfection in height, ideally handsome”. In the Iliad for example, in book I, when Agamemnon complained about giving his prize away and Achilles intervenes, Homer describes Achilles “And Achilles, strong, swift, and godlike” right before he snapped back at the warlord