The Divine in Gilgamesh, The Old Testament, and Metamorphoses
Along with different languages, customs and traditions, ancient Hebrews, Middle-easterners and Romans had very different beliefs about the divine. For example, Hebrews are monotheistic, while Middle-easterners and Greco-Romans of early time periods believe in many gods. Writings from the ancient time period sketch these differences, as well as the many similarities between religious beliefs. The Old Testament is an excellent reference depicting Hebrew beliefs, while Gilgamesh outlines many Middle-eastern beliefs, and The Metamorphoses shows readers many ancient Greco-Roman beliefs about the divine.
The Hebrew God as depicted in the Old Testament is omnipotent and omniscient. He creates perfect and harmonious order in the universe, as depicted in Genesis 1, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the Earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters," (51) which was created by Him in six days (47), "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made" (52).
Though the Hebrew God is all-powerful, He creates human kind to have free will (47). This free will can be seen in the story of Adam and Eve. Gods warns both Adam and Eve that they can eat anywhere they want, except from the Tree of Knowledge, and they do anyway (53). Along with free will came disobedience (47). The story of Jonah shows this disobedience when the Lord told Jonah to go to Ninevah to tell its inhabitants that they would be punished for their wickedness. Instead, Jonah decides to flee from th...
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...rough inspection, because there are also many differences in the religions, such as how many gods citizens may believe in and what their powers are. However similar or different, these texts provide readers with insight into the different cultures throughout the world and offer a basis for the religions that are popular throughout the world today.
Works Cited
The Bible: The Old Testament. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Sarah
Lawall et al. Vol 1. 7th ed. New York: Norton, 1999. 47-97.
Gilgamesh. Trans. N.K. Sandars. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed.
Sarah Lawall et al. Vol 1. 7th ed. New York: Norton, 1999. 16-47.
Ovid. Metamorphoses. Trans. J.P. Sullivan. The Norton Anthology of World
Masterpieces. Ed Sarah Lawall et al. Vol 1. 7th ed. New York: Norton, 1999. 895-943.
Lawall, Sarah and Maynard Mack, Eds. _The Norton Anthology of world masterpieces: The Western Traditions_. New York. 1999.
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Poe lived in poverty all of his life, never seeing enough money from his writings to allow him to live comfortably, and never seeing his writing arrive at the famed status that it has today. Poe drank heavily throughout his life due to all of the downfalls he suffered. In between these drinking binges Poe had spurts of creativity, this is when he wrote his best material (E. A. Poe Society of Baltimore Inc. "Poe, Drugs and Alcohol" 1). Poe's sad and troubled life gave him the material he needed to create stories and poems that would capture his audience. Though Poe lived a hard life and was criticized by many for being evil and demonic, his stories and poems are still with us today as some of the greatest American literature ever published. Edgar Allan Poe's life experiences including the untimely death of his parents, his use of drugs and alcohol, the many other deaths in his life, and his unhealthy relationships with women influenced his tales and poems now famed for being dark and horrific in tone.
In Judaism, God is seen as having a contractual relationship with the Jewish people where they must obey his holy laws in return for their status of the chosen people. God rewards or punishes Jewish people based on whether they obey or disobey his will. In parts of the Old Testament, however, God does show mercy or forgiveness, and in later interpretations God’s laws such as the Ten Commandments are followed
In conclusion, voting is an opportunity to express oneself. Voting has a background that is long and drawn out. People in the colonial times went through a significant amount of laws and regulations about who could not vote, and who could. It led to Americans receiving our voting rights, still today. However, many people may not vote, it is important to know the background, the reasons for voting, and the reasons why people choose not to vote.
He was born in Boston on January 19, 1809, his parents, regular members of Federal street theater, named him Edgar Poe. Shortly before his mother's death in Richmond, Virginia on December 8, 1811, his father abandoned the family. John Allen, a wealthy tobacco merchant in Richmond, brought Poe into the family (at his wife's request), and gave him the middle name Allen as a baptismal name, though he never formally adopted him. Even though Allen´s treatment toward Poe is not exactly known, we know that Allen never treated Poe with sensitivity. In 1815, the Allen family moved to England on business. There, Poe entered the Manor-House School in Stoke-Newington, a London suburb. This school taught him the gothic architecture and historical landscape of the region made a deep imprint on his youthful imagination, which would effect his adult writings (Levin, 14). The Allens left England in June 1820, and arrived in Richmond on August 2. Here, Poe entered the English and Classical School of Joseph H. Clarke, a graduate of Trinity College in Dublin. On February 14, 1826, Poe entered the University of Virginia. Though he spent more time gambling and drinking than studying, he won top honors in French and Latin.
Edgar Allan Poe was a man considered by many to be the personification of Death. He is regarded as a true American Genius whose works seized and frightened the minds of millions. However, Poe greatly differed from other acclaimed authors of his time. He had a unique writing style that completely altered the reality surrounding his readers. Rather than touch their hearts with lovable fictional characters he found a way of expressing himself that no other author had at the time. Poe’s combination of demented genius and difficult past experiences led him to become one of the greatest writers of all time.
The idea of gods and goddesses began as far back as the ancient Egyptians, but the ancient Greeks were the first group to form a religion based on gods and goddesses. They believed that the gods and goddesses were not different from humans. Some of the few ways humans were different from gods were that the gods were stronger and lived forever. Since the Greeks believe in many gods, they are Polytheists.
...f the divine world but the kings were in charge of vocalizing god’s wishes on earth. The most famous of these law codes was Hammurabi’s law code. The Hebrews tried to establish order by using Yahweh’s Ten Commandments and the Torah. Mesopotamian deities were hard to please and easily angered. The Mesopotamians constantly felt they were letting their gods down and usually didn’t even know the reason behind it. Hebrews had a much more forgiving god. Through texts like “The Book of Job”, it is apparent that Yahweh was a tough god but always forgiving and fair in the end. He had few demands of his people and all of them were ethical and easy to adhere to. As long as his devotees followed Yahweh’s laws, they were all capable of receiving his blessings. Through it all, it seemed that God and religion was at the center of every aspect of life in the ancient civilization.
that personnel’s action concerning any employee or applicant for hiring will be taken on the
Ancient Greek religion was a polytheistic religion that believed in many gods and goddesses. To Greeks, these gods and goddesses would be able to control everything. Each god or goddess had his or her own distinct personality and territory. “Greek myths explained the origins of the gods and their individual relations with mankind” (Hemingway). Unlike current religions, like Christianity and Judaism, Greek gods were not known for being moral or being truly good or evil. Many of the Greek gods and goddesses were disorganized and self-contradicting. Although this was apparent to the Greeks, the Greeks believed that their religion was to brighten their own lives, rather than give them godlike guidance. The best example of a self-contradicting Greek god is Zeus – father of all gods and humans (Cunningham and Reich 32-33).
The Epic of Gilgamesh has many similarities to the Bible, especially in Genesis and it’s not just that the both begin with the letter “g”’! One major similarity being the flood story that is told in both works. The two stories are very similar but also very different. Another being the use of serpents in both works and how they represent the same thing. A third similarity being the power of God or gods and the influence they have on the people of the stories. Within these similarities there are also differences that need to be pointed out as well.