Uruk

where he can not accept his mortal fate, and this fear of death translates into hubris. Even when the g-ds tell him that death is inescapable, he continues on his journey, forced by his pride to prove himself above fate. When he finally returns to Uruk, still one-third human and fully mortal, Gilgamesh is bitter, saying “had I only turned back, left my boat on the shore” (11.319). He regrets not reaching his goal, but has not learned from his mistakes. Immediately he continues work on his…

prepare for the flood. The gods are notorious for taking favor with a person and then casting it away. Gilgamesh spends much of his life blessed by the gods, however, they grow weary of him and create Enkidu: “Let them contend with each other, that Uruk may have peace. (1.85)” Without the gods to depend on, the people struggle to hold anything but fear for…

Gilgamesh is an epic poem about the struggles of a tyrant. Gilgamesh, a two third god, one third human that is a tyrant over his civilization in Uruk. Gilgamesh was so harsh that his people cried out to the gods for help. The gods responded quickly, sending the goddess of creation, Aruru, to create a double of Gilgamesh to balance out the tyrant. The double, named Enkidu, does not do his job, but instead encourages Gilgamesh to be brave and try to control nature. He boosts Gilgamesh’s ego enough…

The Hero Epic is thought of to be one of the worlds first if not the first ever written form of a story. Filled with excitement, war, terror and extreme character change these stories have everything needed for a successfully plot even on todays standards. The Two famous stories The Epic of Gilgamesh and the story of Achilles in Homer’s Iliad will be compared mainly in terms of their main characters; Gilgamesh and Achilles. Initially giving background information on the texts themselves and then…

Heroes typically have the characteristics of being strong and fearless. The ancient hero Gilgamesh had these ideals in the story the Epic of Gilgamesh, written in Western Asia in 2000 B.C.E. Even though these ideals are present, they are not as evident in the hero Harry Potter from J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter series written in the 21st century. However, in almost every book, no matter what the culture or time period are, the same basic themes of character traits, power and death recur. Even…

The Lesson of Life The Sumerians were no more pessimistic about their lives and their gods than contemporary humanity. The environment was different, the known and unknowns vastly more vague, but the Sumerians struggled with same internal woes that we do now. What is our place in this vast expanse of time? What purpose do we serve or are suppose to serve? Is there a creator? Are there multiple creators that convene together to decide all of humanities fate? Why do terrible tragedies occur? Is…

Stories of old and new continuously bring forth new ideas and thoughts that may have never crossed one’s mind. The continuous barrage of new information must be filtered through so that the reader can know what information is true or made-up. In Stanley Lombardo’s translation of Metamorphoses, a story is being told of mythical origins that are pasted together. In Robin Waterfield’s translation of Symposium, we read about an actual conversation that took place many years ago between a few wise…

there many similarities and differences that exist between the two accounts based on the heroes, their journeys throughout the flood, and their actions after the flood. In The Epic of Gilgamesh readers are introduced to the king of the city-state of Uruk, Gilgamesh. He is a righteous man who is “two-thirds man, is handsome, courageous and powerful” (“Epic…”139). After a close friend died, Gilgamesh feared death and went on a lengthy journey in hopes to find an answer to eternal life. He then…

The Odyssey and The Epic of Gilgamesh are windows through which we are offered a glimpse of the ancient Greek and Sumerian views on life, its meaning, and how to live your own. Within each of these epic poems lie many lessons that transcend the ages, and most are still relevant to how we live out our lives today. One might expect the two to take completely different approaches to how they teach their lessons since they were written almost 2000 years apart. On the contrary, they display a…

on two journeys was because he was for one to get to cedar forest to kill Humbaba, second was a personal journey which he seeks out to talk to Utnapishtim to figure out the secret of immortality. Once he figured out what he needed he headed back to Uruk. Odysseus on other hand it started out him coming back from troy fighting In the Trojan war. But for him it took 20 years to get back home because he had a lot of extra stops…