Gilgamesh's Heroism

A hero is someone who tries the best to help everyone and will do everything in his or her power to help out another person. The term hero means different things to different people. Today many people believe that a hero is a person who can accomplish what others can not or a person who puts themselves on the line for the other people. Men, women and children can all be heroes if they truly feel in their hearts the need to help others in even the smallest ways. In our modern world heroes are defined in so many ways. Anyone can be a hero, a best friend, a devoted mother/father, a teacher, etc. On the other hand, in the older days, before laws and technology, heroes were the men who fought against evil things, who rescue damsels in distress; they were the manly men, the king's knights, god like creatures, brave warriors. As criteria for any epic story a hero must be involved in the story. Furthermore, these heroes had to meet also specific criteria. The definition of an ancient time hero is very different than a hero today. Above all, he should be a skilled warrior, who had to respect authority, both governmental and religious. Around the time that the epic called "Gilgamesh" was written heroes were considered to be the men who helped or did virtuous deeds for many people. The Mesopotamians thought a hero was someone with courage and bravery, who rise above all of the normal people. They were considered to be the part of God.

The Epic of Gilgamesh centers on Gilgamesh, a man with superhuman qualities who struggles and searches for immortality and knowledge. Moreover the epic is about his grown to full maturity through this quest. Therefore who exactly is a hero and what is the role of the hero? In this paper the term "Heroism...

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...mes a better individual, and it is all of the work he did after that moment that has made him be recognized as a hero. Gilgamesh is more of a hero because once he realizes that he could be doing better things for other people he changes his actions. Enkidu is a hero but not on purpose. He is created as a hero on the other hand, his own conscious, his own choices make him more humane, and he has changed his primitive way of living.

In conclusion, "The Epic of Gilgamesh" is a story about the meaning of being a human. Like most people of today Gilgamesh is not discover that meaning until the later part of his life. It is sad to think that most of the people in our contemporary world are to caught up being "successful" that they stop searching for a purpose in life aside from themselves. Gilgamesh is a hero because he saw the flaws and decides to eliminate them.