How Did Gilgamesh Influence Ancient Greek Culture

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a poem dating all the way back to ancient Mesopotamia, 2700-2500 B.C.E., and is considered to be one of the first literary writings. The Mesopotamians lived in a way that, at first glance can remind one of the Ancient Greeks. The two cultures seemed to share similar characteristics, like their interaction with the gods, comparable hierarchy, kingship, and religious class being the social order, and the acceptance of combat and violence, all of which can be witnessed in the epic. So it can be assumed that the Epic of Gilgamesh exerted a profound influence on ancient Greek culture, and many other cultures throughout history.

From the epic we can see that a strong male leader, supported by the city elders, was the traditional

form of government. The world order also seems both naively straightforward and surprisingly cruel. Gilgamesh was the strong male leader, the King of the city-state of Uruk. Gilgamesh was two-thirds god and one-third human, and was a strong, beautiful, and courageous warrior. However, he had been known to abuse his powers, which didn’t sit well with the elders and the gods. The outrage from the public led to the creation of Enkidu, who was a wild animal; created by the gods to rival the arrogant Gilgamesh. Enkidu and Gilgamesh don’t exactly get along at first. Enkidu, created by goddess Aruru, is shocked to hear that Gilgamesh has been going to the wedding parties of the citizens of Uruk, to take advantage of his right as king sleeping with the bride before the groom, and Enkidu makes up his mind to go fight Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh and Enkidu end up clashing, but once its clear that Gilgamesh is the alpha-male, the two become buddies.
The two then take an adventure to the cedar woods, where they confront a demon, Humbaba. In their battle the demon curses Enkidu, and predicts that his life will be short. At the end of the battle, Gilgamesh and Enkidu defeat the demon and celebrate their victory. The two then return to Uruk, where Gilgamesh rejects the sexual advances of the goddess Ishtar, who has her father send the “Bull of Heaven” to avenge Gilgamesh’s rejection. Gilgamesh and Enkidu end up killing the Bull, and as a result the gods take Endiku’s life. Gilgamesh is devastated, and orders statues of Endiku. Then decides to go on a journey to the underworld to avoid the fate of Endiku, and also to discover the meaning of life and death.
Speaking of gods, the Mesopotamian culture was a polytheistic society, meaning they believed in more than one god; which again is similar to Greek culture.

There is the same communication with a large amount of gods who guide men, but the gods often remain unsympathetic to them. Throughout the epic we are introduced to various different gods that are attached to natural phenomena and/or occurrences, Shamash the Sun God, Ishtar the principal goddess of love and war of Uruk, Ea the god of water and the god of water, etc. In general, the gods live with some sort of attitude to humanity in the story, by ruling palace-like temples and being treated as royalty. The gods, also, seem to be personified, because the gods are seen holding relationships, picking favorites, and fighting among themselves. For example, when Enlil decides to destroy humanity with the flood, Enlil is safe within his palace, while the other gods are soaked and struggling because of the flood. Having said that though, the gods seem to play less of a role in this epic than they would in Greek myths, for example. In this particular epic, they seem more like spectators than central figures. Also, interestingly, it is unclear from the epic what role the gods play in ancient Mesopotamian

afterlife.