Gilgamesh Essay

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of civilization’s first (still known) pieces of literature, and yet it’s themes over reach any ancient context and stretch toward the modern day. The plight of Gilgamesh to find someone who understands him, to find glory, to find immortality, reverberates across the boundaries of centuries into the minds of readers of any class and culture. Even more haunting is Enkidu, the character born of the wild who civilizes the brutish Gilgamesh and makes one wonder what it is…

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a tale of the grand adventures that Gilgamesh experiences during a period of his life. The tale enraptures its audience with its portrayal of Mesopotamian theology and its themes of love, morality, death, and gods. There are many lessons and concepts that can be drawn from the Epic of Gilgamesh. However, an intriguing topic to be discussed is the risky relations between mankind and the gods in Gilgamesh. The story shows that gods are beings not to be trifled with despite…

Gilgamesh, the one who is two thirds god and one third man, is king of the ancient Sumerian city-state of Uruk. The gods made him perfect. They gave him a perfect body, beauty, courage, and strong. Creating such a creature does have negative side effects. Gilgamesh became extremely cocky, he’d spend all his time wearing out the young men of the city with endless athletic contests and sexually exploiting the young women. The people became scared of him and eventually started crying out to the…

the Sumerian epic of “Gilgamesh”, but it does so in a different fashion than in other heroic epics. The Sumerians present the hero Gilgamesh…

The Epic Gilgamesh and its Effects on Modern Heros The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest surviving written pieces of literature, there are various versions of the epic but one of the most widely read, and the one I will be using for reference, is the modern english one translated by N. K. Sandars. The Epic of Gilgamesh is about the tyrannical King of Uruk, Gilgamesh, who is part man, part god and follows his journey and transformation as he becomes a true hero. Though the story is…

The Epic of Gilgamesh has been of interest to many scholarly groups since it’s discovery in the mid-nineteenth century, particularly scholars of the Christian faith. Christians find the account of a flood in The Epic of Gilgamesh interesting, as it directly parallel’s the same flood recorded in Genesis. The epic follows the deeds of Gilgamesh, a ruler of great knowledge. He is considered an “oppressive ruler,” which causes his subjects to cry out to the gods to create a nemesis that will cause…

the Epic of Gilgamesh. Women provide guidance in shaping the character of Gilgamesh. Throughout his journey, Gilgamesh is influenced by three important women: Shamhat, a seductive love priestess, Ninsun, Gilgamesh's mother, and Shiduri, the goddess of brewing and wisdom. Commencing with the threat that Enkidu posed to the trappers livelihood he seeked help from Gilgamesh later to receive assistance from Shamhat. This became the beginning of shaping Gilgamesh’s character. Later Gilgamesh…

The Epic of Gilgamesh was written over 4100 years ago and is an epic that is still relevant to life in the 21st Century. There are multiple reasons for this, such as the characters, the topics, and the themes addressed in the story. The main theme at this point of the story was: your worst enemies can one day be your best friends. This is very true because, in real life, many of our best friends were once our worst enemies, and the hate that once tied us together slowly morphs into mutual…

Epic of Gilgamesh Essay Throughout his career, Gilgamesh changes in some ways after meeting Enkidu. On the one hand even with his soul mate, he does nothing to alleviate his terrible behavior towards people. His prideful disposition and sociopathic tendencies lead him to his downfall. On the other hand, his love and compassion towards Enkidu redeems only a part of the king’s personality. Even after meeting his other half Enkidu, Gilgamesh continues with his arrogant behavior. He views himself as…

The Epic of Gilgamesh, rendered by David Ferry, is a story that manages to both transcends and very much be fixated in time with its with it themes. Some themes I find familiar and relatable in the work are that of friendship and loss, and then comes along the idea of how a king should rule that is extremely foreign and baffles me. Breaking down the themes and ideas allows us as historians to better learn of our own selves and the people of our past. Friendship can easily be seen with the…