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Life lessons from the iliad and odyssey
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“You will never find that life for which you are looking. When the gods created man they allotted him death, but life they retained in their own keeping,” Siduri talking to Gilgamesh. (Gilgamesh 4). The epic of Gilgamesh has an abundance of parallels to the trial and tribulations of any human life. Gilgamesh’s story is humanities story of life, death, and realization. The awaking of Gilgamesh from a childish and secure reality connects my own life experiences to the epic tale.
As a young child everyone is much like Gilgamesh, in the beginning of the story, they are brave and will try new things, but few knew if what they were doing was wrong or right. Gilgamesh ran around with tons of energy and never let anyone slow down. “Gilgamesh sounds the tocsin for his amusement, his arrogance has no bounds by day or night. No son is left with his father, for Gilgamesh takes them all, even the children; yet the king should be a shepherd to his people. His lust leaves no virgin to her lover, neither the warrior’s daughter nor the wife of the noble…” (Gilgamesh 1). He did the most outlandish things in order to please himself and make everything good for himself. Young children often get what they want by throwing fits, taking it, or finding it. They could be in a store and want some candy. In order for them to get the candy, they will throw a huge screaming and kicking fit to try and get it. However, young children have something Gilgamesh did not have at first, parents. Kids h...
The Ancient Aztec government got its structure from units of society that existed long before the Aztec empire was founded. Families didn't individually own land, the land was owned by a group of families, called the calpulli. This structure of local government existed long before the Aztec empire. The head in the calpulli would be responsible for the basic needs of the group. The Inca were able to keep control over their vast empire by using of a number of techniques and practices that assured either cooperation or
In many literary works we see significant transitions in the hero's character as the story is developed. This is also true in the Epic of Gilgamesh with its hero, Gilgamesh. In this narrative poem, we get glimpses of who Gilgamesh is and what his purposes and goals are. We see Gilgamesh act in many different ways -- as an overbearing ruler resented by his people, a courageous and strong fighter, a deflated, depressed man, and finally as a man who seems content with what he's accomplished. Through all of these transitions, we see Gilgamesh's attitude toward life change. The goals he has for his own life alter dramatically, and it is in these goals that we see Gilgamesh's transition from being a shallow, ruthless ruler to being an introspective, content man.
The child that I tested will be referred to as K.L. I tested her on April 14th 2016. K.L. is 2 years old, with her exact age being 2 years 9 months and 14 days. I called and asked her mother if she would mind dropping K.L. off with me for a few hours so I could perform the test, and then pick her back up after the test was complete. This test more accurate when the caregiver is not present. K.L. has a step sister and a baby brother on the way. She has always been in the daycare setting, because her grandmother is a provider. K.L. was delivered full term via planned cesarean section due to her mother’s small pelvis. There was no complications during this pregnancy. K.L. weighted 8 lbs. 4 oz. and was 20 ½ inches long at birth, now weighting in at ...
Perhaps one of the main reasons the Epic of Gilgamesh is so popular and has lasted such a long time, is because it offers insight into the human concerns of people four thousand years ago, many of which are still relevant today. Some of these human concerns found in the book that are still applicable today include: the fear and concerns people have in relation to death, overwhelming desires to be immortal, and the impact a friendship has on a person’s life. It does not take a great deal of insight into The Epic of Gilgamesh for a person to locate these themes in the story, and even less introspection to relate to them.
The Removal Act of 1830 paved the way for the hesitant and generally—journey of ten of thousands of Native Americans to move more westward. The very first removal treaty was signed after the Removal Act of 1830. This treaty made Choctaws in Mississippi ceded land east of the river. The U.S. government would give money in exchange for land in the east of the river for land in the west. The Choctaw chief quoted to Arkansas Gazette that in 1831 Choctaw Removal was a Trail of Tears and downfalls. The treaty signed in 1835 was known as the Treaty of Echota, which resulted in the removal of the Cherokees on “The Trail of Tears.” The Seminoles decided not to leave also as the other tribes left peacefully. The Seminoles resisted leaving their homeland. In winter of 1838-39, fourteen thousand were marched one thousand two hundred miles through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas. Roughly estimated four thousand died from lack of food, exposure and disease. The government soldiers would appear without notice at a Cherokee front door and order the people inside the home, men women and children, to immediately evacuate and take only what each could carry. They were forced marched to thoughtlessly assembled barriers like cattle and le...
Both the Spaniards and Aztecs reinvestigated their religions as a result of their encounter and conquest. Understanding the context of both the Spanish and Aztec cultures before their encounter and conquest is important to understanding the events of the conquest. This also sheds light on how both the Spanish and Aztecs learned about each other. They attempted to reflect frameworks from their own cultures onto the new one;
The beginning of his birth starts the origin of the hero's journey. Because of his unusual birth, it meant that he's still human and will eventually face death. But, Gilgamesh knowing that he can die any moment won’t stop him from going on adventures and completing his quests. Along with Gilgamesh being two-thirds god, it meant that the gods were always on his side. Whether it was making decisions for Uruk or helping Gilgamesh throughout his journey the gods were always there for him. As a result, Gilgamesh's birth is an aspect of him becoming a hero. The text states, “Gilgamesh was the renowned king of the city of Uruk. To his people, Gilgamesh was a tyrant who became a great hero” (175). In other words, Gilgamesh is known to become the king of Uruk. For that reason, the people of Uruk would praise him as a hero. Gilgamesh that was born to be a king was unusual for Gilgamesh
During the late nineteenth century, there were as many as one hundred thousand Native Americans moved westward. The Native Americans from five different tribes were removed when Andrew Jackson signed into law The Indian Removal Act of 1830. The Cherokee tribe was the most devastated by this law. This removal of the Cherokee people is considered one of the most horrific acts in our nation’s history. It was called Nunna daul Tsung (Trail Where They Cried) or Trail of Tears.
Being an agriculturally dependant empire, the Aztec’s religion was based highly on the forces of nature and worshipped them as gods. The god of war, Huitzilopochtli, was the most important deity. They had many other important gods, such as Tlaloc, the god of rain, Quetzalcoatl, the god of wind and of learning, and Tenochtitlan, the sun god. The Aztecs believed in order to appease these and many other gods that they needed to perform human sacrifices. The main purpose of the great Aztec pyramids was, in fact, human sacrifices. They also believed that there were “lucky'; and “unlucky'; days for baptism and to declare war on, which were decided by a priest.
He feels that he is superior to others, due to the fact that he is two-thirds god, and one-third man. This arrogance leads to his being cruel at the beginning of the story. Gilgamesh is described as, two-thirds of him divine, one-third human. Gilgamesh does not allow the son to go with his father; day and night he oppresses the weak. Gilgamesh does not let the young woman go to her mother, the girl to the warrior, the bride to the young groomä (tablet I, column ii, 1, 12-13, 27-28).
Gilgamesh, feeling the fear of his own mortality, sets out on a journey to search for a way to preserve himself. Although the journey that he endures is much larger than life, Gilgamesh comes to realize that he can never achieve immortality. Before the creation of Enkidu, Gilgamesh is a man without an equal match. He is an individual with overwhelming power, and it is because of this that makes Gilgamesh a very arrogant person.
Freedom in any society is a condition that is directly correlated to the compliance of society’s rules, regulations, and laws. This right afforded to citizens under the constitution is surrendered by those who choose to disregard and trample on the set of standards and behavior needed for a society to maintain order and avoid anarchy. When loss of freedom is the tool used to punish this segment of society, prisons become the instrumentality used to carry out the various freedom restrictions under the law for each individual. Citizens who find themselves incarcerated in prison will be exposed to an entirely different environment than those in free society. In addition, there is a psychological impact on those being reintroduced into society after having completed long-term sentences, an impact many believe contribute to the high recidivism rates in the United States. The criminal justice system with all of its connected inner workings may not address all of the concerns inside and out of our current prison system, but just as we have improved on our prisons from the past, we will continue to improve and implement new techniques and design precise programs in our future prisons.
Nietzsche cringes before the civilization of Europe and seeks a man unencumbered by moral principles, principles that he believes form from the stifling existence of being surrounded by weaker beings. Nietzsche’s cry for a superman is realized in the quest of Marlow in Joseph Conrad’s novella, Heart of Darkness. Marlow travels up the Congo River of Central Africa, driven by curiosity that morphs into raving monomania to find the premier Belgian ivory trader, Kurtz, a man seemingly distinguished from the hollow men of the Company, a
The story itself reflects an image of the cultural situation in which it was conceived. One major difference between this ancient society and our own is the way in which we sustain our leaders. Gilgamesh's character, whether based on an actual person or not, is portrayed as a very powerful and proud person. He was created to be better and stronger than common man and he is favored by the gods. This portrayal of a super-human king indicates a deep respect for leadership by those who told this story. Likely, these people lived under the rule of a monarchy in which the King was the all powerful leader and lawmaker. In today's society though, it is not common for one person to have unlimited power. Our governments are designed to divide ruling power between numerous parties; in order to keep any one person from becoming all powerful. Today's society would not tolerate a king who could do as he pleases, even if he were a noble and just man. In the story, Gilgamesh's super-human strength and power are not always convenient to his subjects. "His arrogance has no bounds", and "his lust leaves no virgin to her lover," yet the people respect his authority. The supremacy of Gilgamesh in the story reflects the feelings toward leadership held by that society which created the story. The respect they had for an all powerful monarch is hard for us to understand today. Our society looks down on those who rule as dictators and labels them tyrants and enemies. It is odd to imagine living in a society where a king is to be respected.
Incarceration has not always been the main form of “punishment” when it comes to doing an injustice to society. In fact, in the early 1600’s common forms of punishments for doing wrong in society included social rejection, corporal punishment, forced labor etc. (“Prison History.”). It had not been until the 18th century where it had been determined that incarceration could actually be a form of punishment correlating with a set amount of time in which an individual had to serve dependent on the severity of his actions. The logic behind incarceration is to restrict a person of his liberty as retribution for the crime he has committed (Prison History.”) Prisons that were created in the 18th century gained their recognition because of their high goals in perfecting society. But, the truth is as people were focusing on perfecting society prisons soon became overcrowded, dirty, and most of all dangerous. By the late 19th century many more people had become aware of the poor prison conditions which had led to a “reformatory” movement. The reformatory movement was put into place as a means of rehabilitation for inmates (“Prison History.”) Prisons would now offer programs to reform inmates into model citizens by offering counseling, education, and opportunities to gain skills needed for working in a civilian world. However, with the growing amount of inmates each year prisons are still becoming overcrowded. Because prisons are so overcrowded there are not enough resources being spent on achieving the rehabilitation of inmates and reintegrating them into society in order for them to survive in the civilian world once released from prison (“Prison History.”)