The famous literary works of Gilgamesh, Ramayana, and The Odyssey have been studied, written about, and heralded in the literary world many times over. Each of the literary pieces has been held in the highest esteem for varying different reasons. Some of them have been because of the literary influences that they have produced over the subsequent years and the religious influences they had. The purpose of this writing assignment is to compare and contrast the religious influences found in each of the literary works. The story of Gilgamesh is based on a historical king with the same name who lived in the ancient Sumerian city of Uruk in what is present-day southern Iraq around 2700 BCE. He is described throughout the story as more …show more content…
The Ramayana existed in only the oral tradition as far back as 1,500 BC, but in the fourth century BC is generally accepted as the date of its composition in Sanskrit. The collection of poems recounts the tales of Prince Rama and his wife Sita. These collections of kavya’s, or poems, are said to have laid the ground work for what is now known as Hinduism. The seven poems found in the Ramayana are ones that teach a moral or spiritual lesson. One of the principles of Hinduism is having the unity of existence through love. In this collection, one of the poems tells of a woman named Kaikeyi, who uses her finger in place of the pin in King Dasratha’s, chariot wheel which prevents his chariot from falling and that ultimately ensures a victory. For Kaikeyi valor, she was given a reward. The reward was two boons, of which Kaikeyi can use at her discretion. She chose to use her boon. She used the first boon by demanding her son, Bharata, be given the throne. She used the second boon on her husband. She exiled him to the forest for 14 years. This proves that a mother’s love for her child will surpass all …show more content…
This can also be interpreted as a deep love for her husband as well. According to the virtues of Hinduism as stated before; the unity of two people, assuming the unity is human love not spousal love, exists through love. She had such an unrelenting love for her son that she sacrificed her husband to save her son’s life. The Ramayana is still a very popular topic in India. The Ramayana is extremely popular. “India nearly shut down when a dramatized series of the Ramayana appeared on television in the 1980s. Recitation of the Ramayana earns great merit. Rama and Sita are seen as the ideal married couple. In North India, the Ramayana is acted out in the annual pageant Ram-Lila. It was a favourite subject of Rajasthani and Pahari painters of the 17th and 18th centuries. Gandhi called it the greatest book in the world. Tulsi Das, medieval author of the Hindi translation, said, "Whenever I remember Rama's name, the desert of my heart blooms lush and green.”
Dalley, Stephanie. "Gilgamesh." Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh and Others. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1991. 39-153. Print.
In the beginning, Gilgamesh is a fantastic athlete and warrior. As one would expect from an individual who is two thirds god and one third man, his beauty, strength and courage surpassed all others. He built great walls for his city and temples for the gods. Gilgamesh's flaw, however, is that he is a poor king. He is known for sleeping with virgins before their wedding night, stealing children, and exhausting his men.
Gilgamesh is told in the story of being very strong and basically the strongest man alive. In the epic of Gilgamesh, the narrator starts to narrate, “He walks around in the enclosure of Uruk,like a wild bull he makes himself mighty, head raised.There is no rival who can raise his weapon against him.His fellows stand, attentive to his orders,and the men of Uruk become anxious in … Gilgamesh does not leave a son to his father (p.15).” In this quote Gilgamesh is basically considered a God. “Then Enkidu spoke to the harlot:"Come, Shamhat, take me away with you to the sacred Holy Temple, the residence of Anu and Ishtar,the place of Gilgamesh, who is wise to perfection,but who struts his power over the people like a wild bull. I will challenge
His actions are anything but civilized, yet the people of Uruk can only complain about him. They lament to the gods: “A goddess made him, strong as a savage bull, none can withstand his arms….His lust leaves no virgin to her lover, neither the warrior’s daughter nor the wife of the nobel” (Gilgamesh, 13). Gilgamesh oppresses his own people and yet he is still the king of Uruk. The people of Uruk know that Gilgamesh is part god and they respect that part of him. This can be seen when the people state in the very beginning, “a goddess made him” (Gilgamesh, 13). The fact that this is stated first in their lament emphasizes that they are in disbelief that a creation of god can be flawed. Flawed in the sense that they were secured from the dangers outside of the walls, but were not secure from the dangers within the walls. Oddly enough, they do not blame Gilgamesh’s godly strength. Instead, they blame it on Gilgamesh’s lust. Lust is a very strong sexual desire that is not often portrayed as a god-like characteristic. This aspect emphasizes the human side of Gilgamesh that is not described in the prologue. This accusation subconsciously serves as a tool of propaganda for the gods. It serves to portray that humans are the ones to blame and that the gods are never at fault. This notion portrays the human side of Gilgamesh as the culprit and implies that godly part of him had no effect on his
However, Chris is determined to go to the depths of hell to save his wife. On the other hand, “The Epic of Gilgamesh” is a story about Gilgamesh the king of Uruk who is one-third man and two-thirds god. Gilgamesh is a tyrant who rules his subjects with an iron fist and the oppression of his people for help reach the gods who decide to create a man of equal strength called Enkidu to challenge the king. Later after their first ugly encounter, they fall in love and do most of the things like brothers and companions. Unfortunately the gods strike Enkidu to death after they destroy Humbaba, the god and Gilgamesh is distressed and travels to far country to seek a solution to death (Bausch ). However, after an encounter with Utnapishtim, he is convinced that death is inevitable and goes back to Uruk and later dies a satisfied man. The aim of this essay is to explore on the
The Epic of Gilgamesh has been of interest to Christians ever since its discovery in the mid-nineteenth century in the ruins of the great library at Nineveh, with its account of a universal flood with significant parallels to the Flood of Noah's day.1, 2 The rest of the Epic, which dates back to possibly third millennium B.C., contains little of value for Christians, since it concerns typical polytheistic myths associated with the pagan peoples of the time. However, some Christians have studied the ideas of creation and the afterlife presented in the Epic. Even secular scholars have recognized the parallels between the Babylonian, Phoenician, and Hebrew accounts, although not all are willing to label the connections as anything more than shared mythology.3
In order to have a good life one must please god and make them happy. Either by doing good deeds, following god’s orders or by worshiping them. By doing these acts the gods will be happy with the humans and protect them. As god is divine and humans are not, humans look up to god as a source of savior and protector of all bad things that can occur. The citizen’s in Uruk looked up to Gilgamesh’s as a god like figure as he is two third god himself, even though he is not a good king. Gilgamesh is seen as a mediator between the divine gods and the humans. As the scared citizens of Uruk they follow the commands of their king and obey his cruel laws as they do not want to be punished by the divine gods as well by Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh’s behavior toward his empire is unhuman and outrageous but the fear to stand up to their holy figure is not
In the ancient Mesopotamian world, the realm of civilization was viewed to be highly illustrious. At the same time, this state of advancement of great antiquity was also an attribute of divinity. The elements of civilization were intimately associated to the highly esteemed divine mediation. Despite the prominent theology culture in The Epic of Gilgamesh, divine intervention is not the only element that could transform the crude heroic figures into sagacious men. Strength and power are definitely not the only possessions that could advance one in life even though they clearly distinguish the heroes from ordinary men. It is rather, more significantly, the process of internalization. No civilization emerges directly and independently – it is through the very concerns and actions of a man that one begins to assimilate as he or she encounters and surmounts them. In this epic poem, through the actions and larger than life experiences, emerged a very human concern with mortality, the quest for knowledge and also an escape from the common lot of men – death. For Gilgamesh, the most predominant heroic figure, the desires for divinity and destiny as a mortal man in this regard have become the gateway for the internalization of humanity through the following intertwining aspects: the meaning of love and compassion, the meaning of loss and of growing older as well as the meaning of mortality.
Gilgamesh, was the king of Uruk in Babylonia. Babylonia was on the river of Euphrates
Initially in the story, Gilgamesh is living the life as a God. He is famous among the people for being powerful and no one could ever stand up to him. The people are also grateful that Gilgamesh is the one "who opened passes through mountains; and who dug deep walls
The book of Genesis and The Epic of Gilgamesh have come a long way. They were both passed down from generation to generation through oral presentation and eventually made its way onto scripts. Today, these two iconic literary pieces have spread its way into the knowledge base of many nations. As a result, when discussing ancient texts like the Epic of Gilgamesh and the book of Genesis from the bible and the term ‘heroes’ is used, most readers can name some characters, like Gilgamesh, Enkidu, Abraham, and Jacob, but what many fail to discern is the differences amongst the heroes from the two different cultures.
In the article I chose it is comparing the epic of Gilgamesh and the Odyssey in this article there are small and large comparisons to how these two stories are similar and I will be providing examples to show why I agree with Gerald K. Gresseth. In this article it is said that “The Epic of Gilgamesh is the Odyssey of the Babylonians” (Gresseth, “The Classical Journal”). Later in this article they then compare the walking test that Gilgamesh to Odysseus and his crew sailing for nine days, and “this motif reflects a stage where the hero won immortality not by special fiat of deity but by his own efforts” (Gresseth “The Classical Journal”). Then further in this article Gresseth begins to explain that Gilgamesh indeed did fail on his quest for
Gilgamesh, The Epic of. Vol. A. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner, et al. 3rd ed. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2012. 95-150. Print.
N.K. Sandars, is a story about a classic hero named Gilgamesh. Sandars shows how Gilgamesh goes through the three stages of departure, initiation, and the return. For example, according to an American mythologist named Joseph Campbell, “A hero is someone who has given his life to something bigger than himself, or other than himself.” Throughout these three stages, Gilgamesh fights his way through many different obstacles, learns new things about himself, and makes new unexpected friends to make a name for himself.
Gardner, John, John R. Maier, and Richard A. Henshaw. Gilgamesh: Translated from the Sîn-leqi-unninnī Version. New York: Knopf, 1984. Print.