Long ago, every nation had its own hero, where they would admire and respect their accomplishments that their hero has done to get to the top of the mountain. Gilgamesh was a once in a lifetime warrior in Mesopotamia during that time. The importance of Gilgamesh, the great searches he made, how similar he was to other characters and his association to future sacred writings defines Gilgamesh who held a lot of qualities of an amazing grand hero for having great accomplishments and authority.
Gilgamesh was wise, strong, a ruler of Uruk, a Sumerian ancient city back in the day, and phenomenon. According to Ancient History Encyclopedia, Gilgamesh was known to be half God and half human. In addition, Gilgamesh made a beautiful pyramid-shaped temple that were around his city and had humungous walls. The start of his reign as a ruler saw Gilgamesh fulfilled building his city through people according to the Gilgamesh a Verse Narrative book where it explains how Gilgamesh would not take it easy on his people “As king, Gilgamesh was a tyrant to his people” (Gilgamesh, p. 5 – line 11) and “Sometimes he pushed his people half to death With work rebuilding Uruk’s walls” (Gilgamesh, p.6 – line 3), who were forced to work for him as slaves. Gilgamesh approached a living beast named Enkidu and both creatures become friends. Enkidu got to witness civilizations and journeys that was introduced by Gilgamesh and both enjoy their time together as they go through adventures.
At one point of time, Gilgamesh found out that his friend Enkidu passes away and mourns for the loss of his friend. Afterwards, Gilgamesh moves forward and started to search for immortality. The death of Enkidu drives Gilgamesh into feelings that there was no hope and forces him to recognize his own ability to live forever. Horror, not sadness about death, would be the main idea why Gilgamesh looks to find out about immortality. Gilgamesh was refusing not to leave Enkidu and was afraid of his own death.
This type of vision was important because Gilgamesh had to realize that since Enkidu passed away, he also must face the same unavoidable future. Gilgamesh’s refusal for the passing of Enkidu was part of his feelings of doubt and hesitation to approve his own ability to live forever. Hercules and Goddesses have similarities to one another since Hercules was one of the Ancient Greek heroes and was the son of Zeus. In addition, Hercules was an archer, a ferocious warrior, influence of Athens’s weapons, faithful protection of annihilated the army of King Erginus.
Both Hercules and Gilgamesh have similarities where Gilgamesh was half god and half human. Gilgamesh had to go through all types of obstacles to become enduring. For Hercules, he also had to fight for his life through every challenge that was put in front of him to become God. Odysseus is another example to the way he is similar in Gilgamesh’s strength and power. Odysseus was very smart, wanted fame and victory for himself.
Both similarities that Odysses and Gilgamesh have in common was from their view having victory and acclamation that would last forever and Both creatures offended God and they suffered repercussions where Odysseus had to face Poseidon and Gilgamesh had to face Ishtar. Homer’s Iliad is another example where the word Iliad means a lion. Also, Iliad was a strong and brave warrior. Both characters have similarities where both were mortal, both had good friends and experienced their deaths where Enkidu was a friend of Gilgamesh and Patroclus was a friend of Iliad, and both had to go through war to become phenomenal. Gilgamesh can be related to the future scared writings such as Noah in the Bible where a flood occurred.
The story of the flood in the Bible, in Genesis 6-9, informs us that the flood that was sent by God to command the people. Also, God informed Noah and ordered him to build and ark made from wood and covered by waterproof roofing material. The ark was humungous and had medical samples for all the animals. Noah decided the end of the struggle addressing out the birds. As the residents of the ark were free, God blessed Noah when Noah, who was known as a hero, made a sacrifice to God.
In conclusion, Gilgamesh, who held a lot of qualities of an amazing grand hero for having great accomplishments and authority, showed how important he was in the world of humanities through similarities to other heroic characters of the past, his search for immortality through roadblocks and obstacles and how Gilgamesh was related to the sacred writings such as Noah in the Bible, who went through a lot to become a hero. Gilgamesh was brave, strong, and a phenomenal warrior as he is an important figure in the History of Mesopotamia and in the world of Humanities.
References
- Ancient History Encyclopedia – Gilgamesh
- Ancient Civilizations List – Sumerian Civilization Facts & History
- World History Encyclopedia – Gilgamesh
- British Library – Who Was Gilgamesh?
- New World Encyclopedia – Gilgamesh
- Louvre Museum – The Gilgameš Research Project
- Britannica Kids – Gilgamesh
- Ancient History Encyclopedia – Enkidu