Gilgamesh Greed Quotes

“Knowledge is power. Power to do evil...or power to do good. Power itself is not evil. So knowledge itself is not evil.” - Veronica Roth, Allegiant

This quote references the age old theme of power versus knowledge. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, a young king named Gilgamesh strives for immortality. Gilgamesh acted for his own glory, and was a tyrant over his own people. This made him act less like a person, and his greed was his hubris. Gilgamesh was power hungry, never straying from his hoarding habits, even in the wake of a friend’s death. Gilgamesh was an example of human corruption through power. some texts from ancient times, such as the Bible, have many common themes, such as how to rule, and what kind of choices one should make. Like Ebeneezer

Scrooge in Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Gilgamesh gets a glimpse at his present and future and has an opportunity to change his ways. However, Gilgamesh's journey to improve himself does not finish so lightheartedly, and he ends in is the same state as before, still on track to his original fate.
In the beginning of the epic, Gilgamesh is antagonistic in the way he runs the city of Uruk.

This early Gilgamesh is the example of his poor past actions, and how his greed turned him into a monster. “The young men of Uruk he harries without warrant, / Gilgamesh lets no son go free to his father. / By day and by night his tyranny grows harsher, / Gilgamesh, [the guide of the teeming people!] / It is he who is shepherd of Uruk-the-Sheepfold, / [but Gilgamesh] lets no [daughter go free to her] mother.” (67-72, Gilgamesh) Gilgamesh is a warrior of his people. He uses threats and brutality to control his citizens. He rapes the young women of the town, and abuses the boys. This king is abusively powerful and greedy, a hoarder of power. His form of ruling is very similar to the type of tyrants warned about in Proverbs 29:4. "By justice a king gives a country stability, /but those who are greedy for[a] bribes tear it down." Even in ancient times people knew how a malicious king rules, and that people like Gilgamesh define that with their ideas of power. Sumerian society was power centric with a definite hierarchy, and the leaders at the time did have a familiar relationship with the gods. This did not guarantee, however, the common people had no pull with the gods. Gilgamesh may be related to figures in their religion, but gods still worked with the

people.
Gilgamesh is in mourning in the second half of the story for his friend Enkidu. With his freind's death, Gilgamesh realizes he is mortal, and will eventually die. He fears this, and consults the wise man Uta-Napishti, for he was the only man to ever gain immortality. Uta-Napishti is an example of the the positive life Gilgamesh could leave if he made the correct choices. Uta-Napishti is a god who earned his immortality by surviving a great flood. He tells Gilgamesh of the failures the greedy King has made so far, and ridicules Gilgamesh for not helping others. He called Gilgamesh a fool. "Said Uta-napishti to him, to [Gilgamesh:] / 'Why, Gilgamesh, do you ever [chase] sorrow? / You, who are [built] from / gods' flesh and human, / who the [gods did fashion] like your father and mother? / 'Did you ever, Gilgamesh, [compare your lot] with the fool? / They placed a throne in the assembly, and [told you,] "Sit!" / The fool gets left-over yeast instead of [fresh] ghee, / bran and gist instead of [best flour] / he is clad in a rag, instead of [fine garments,] / instead of a belt, he is girt [with old rope,] / Because he has no advisers [to guide him,] / his affairs lack counsel . . . . . ." (lines 270-277) Gilgamesh's idol calls him a fool for not making better choices. Gilgamesh's seeking power made him a pawn that could be easily used. This focus on choice references the idea of a path to wickedness that will cause evil. It indicates that Gilgamesh is stuck on a path to tragedy, a fall from grace that is destined. This theme of fate is present in parts of the Bible, specifically Romans 6: 19 - 20, "(19) I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. (20) When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.” Here an idea of moral balance is presented, where people eventually fall to fate. This shows the destiny centric beliefs in ancient cultures, and presents the idea that all are destined for certain fates. Gilgamesh is admonished, so he chooses to not follow the "righteous" path and gain honor. He is a slave for the power he craves.
Gilgamesh likened himself to a god, even when many gods of the time were greedy and spiteful.

His idea of a god is akin to the character or Ishtar, a goddess who takes whatever she wants from others. “You loved the speckled allallu-bird, but struck him down and broke his wing: / now he stands in the woods crying, "My wing!" / You loved the lion, perfect in strength, / but for him dug seven pits and seven / You loved the horse, so famed in battle, / but you made his destiny whip, spur, and lash. / You made his destiny a seven league gallop, / you made his destiny to drink muddy water, / and doomed Silili his mother to perpetual weeping." Ishtar was a homewrecker of a goddess; finding love and then crushing that person she adores. Like Gilgamesh and his narcissism, Ishtar only cares about her needs and takes pleasure in other's suffering. Ishtar makes the mothers of the men she loves weep as much as the mothers of the brides Gilgamesh defiles. The only difference between those two events is how the woman in Gilgmesh’s town still had enough ability to call on the gods for help. The men Ishtar woos are doomed to their fate the moment Ishtar sees them. In their time together, Gilgamesh sees his own future in the best way possible; someone who has already headed too far down the same road he’s on. He does not realize that in its own way, Ishtar's appearance was a warning that he did not heed. Ishtar gained more greed and evil by being immortal and not choosing to help

humanity with her abilities. This shows the downfalls of immortality. For every bit of humanity that someone loses, the person tends to lose their love as well. Much like James 1:23. "(21) Very similar to the foreshadowing that one's actions tend to have when looking back. (22) Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (23) Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror (24) and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like." This shows just how Gilgamesh defeated a person who was very much like himself, but did not realize she was his future if he continued on this path to godhood. It also gives away how dense humanity can be. Ignorance is a human trait now as much as then. We see warnings all around us, but think that could never happen to us. Ancient Sumerians believed it was all up to fate, no matter what happened.
In summary, The Epic of Gilgamesh is a tragic story about the manifestation of one man's greed. He goes a deranged quest to find immortality, a gift that was warned against finding. He encounters people akin to his possible futures, and both heed of what kind of life he has to choose from. His failures ultimately describe humanity's compulsion to turn a blind eye on very real problems, no matter how many warning signs there may be. Gilgamesh's story follows proves ignorance can really be bliss.