Stone Vs Gilgamesh

“The Epic of Gilgamesh” is a timeless, mythical tale that provides a sense of adventure. It takes the reader on a whimsical journey through the exploits of Gilgamesh and his sidekick Enkidu. “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” can be seen as the modern version of this epic. Ron and Hermione accompany Harry through daring tasks that take the reader’s breath away. Through the theme of adventure, these texts provide similarities to each other. Both the main characters think they live in an ordinary world until their call of adventure, both face danger throughout their journey, and both end up overcoming that danger thanks to the help of their wise elders and friends.

Both Gilgamesh and Harry live in an ordinary world, with their ordinary

lives, until their call to adventure. Gilgamesh is an arrogant and uncontrollable king of Uruk. For example, he is engaging in destructive behavior by sleeping with countless women in his city. This may not be seen as ordinary, but it is ordinary to Gilgamesh. He becomes best friends with Enkidu and as they develop their friendship, Gilgamesh proposes a trip to the pine forest to kill Humbaba by saying, “Listen to me, young men. Young men of Uruk who know I am adamant: I shall take the road to Humbaba. I shall face unknown opposition, I shall ride along an unknown road.” Enkidu does not approve of his friends plans at first because it is a difficult and dangerous journey, but eventually he ends up going through with it. Ninsun is also worried Gilgamesh will not be able to conquer Humbaba, so she ends up asking Shamash to watch over him and provide guidance. This is similar to Harry because Harry is an average 11-year-old boy, except for the fact that he lives underneath his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon’s stairs in their cupboard. Harry’s Aunt and Uncle have been keeping it a secret that Harry is connected to the wizarding world, so when letters from Hogwarts started arriving for Harry, they would not have it. They relocated the family to a remote shack in the middle of the ocean where they thought they would not be found. To Uncle Vernon’s surprise, a huge giant known as Hagrid comes stumbling into the shack and tells Harry that he is a wizard. Little does Harry know that his whole world is about to drastically change. The first big change to Harry Potter’s world is when he goes to Diagon Alley with Hagrid to invest in school supplies for the upcoming year. His list of supplies includes cauldrons, an owl, and textbooks that come alive. Harry eventually goes on to enroll at the school of Hogwarts Witchcraft and Wizardry where he meets his two best friends, Ron and Hermione. All three of them find out that their school is hiding the very important and rare Sorcerer’s Stone in the basement, so naturally they go on a quest to find it. Harry and Gilgamesh’s lives as they knew them are both over at this point, and they are going to become much more important and culturally important to the societies they reside in.
While on their journeys, both Gilgamesh and Harry face danger but eventually they end up overcoming it.

Ishtar, the goddess of sexual desire, expresses interest in Gilgamesh but he ends up declining her. The fact that she is high maintenance and her previous lovers die does not really appeal to Gilgamesh. Obviously, this angers Ishtar and she begs her father, Anu, to unleash the Bull of Heaven. Anu makes sure Ishtar knows the consequences of that decision and decides to give Ishtar the bull. The bull is not good for humanity because each time the bull stamps its feet, it forms a crevice in the land that multiple warriors fall into. For example, the first time 100 warriors fell in, and the second time 200 warriors fell in. The third time, Enkidu falls in but he thinks quickly and calls out to Gilgamesh who stabs the bull in the neck and kills it. Gilgamesh also had to overcome an enemy; in his case, it was Humbaba. Humbaba begs Gilgamesh again and again to spare his life, but Gilgamesh refuses so Humbaba curses Gilgamesh by saying, “Neither one of them shall outlive his friend! Gilgamesh and Enkidu shall never become old men.” This curse makes Gilgamesh think twice about killing Humbaba, but Enkidu urges him to still go along with it, so Gilgamesh does. Gilgamesh and Enkidu finish off Humbaba by cutting out his tongue and pulling out his intestines. Harry is no stranger to danger, and he faces it on his journey also. Before Harry reaches the Sorcerer’s Stone, he encounters

many obstacles along the way. After him, Ron, and Hermione get through the trapdoor, they fall into plants called Devil’s Snare that trap them and pull them in by its tentacles. Luckily, Hermione knows a spell to help them and they escape. Next, they have to fly on broomsticks around a room full of multiple whizzing keys and they have to try and catch the right one to unlock the door in front of them. Harry is an amazing seeker on the Quidditch team so this is not a difficult task for him at all. They reach a life size chess game that can only be solved by Ron sacrificing himself. Of course this is not ideal, but in order to reach the Sorcerer’s Stone it must be done. Hermione and Harry reach a fire that they must cross, and multiple bottles of potions but only one will help them out. Hermione is a genius and incredible at potions, so she instructs Harry which potion to take and he crosses the fire safely, only to find his archenemy Voldemort. Harry and Voldemort come face to face in a battle that Harry ends up winning. Harry and Gilgamesh were both challenged on their lengthy journeys in many ways. While they were harmed on the course of these journeys, they managed to overcome the challenges and finish the task at hand.
Throughout their journey, both Gilgamesh and Harry end up receiving help from wise elders and friends.

Friendship is something that the cultures of Gilgamesh and Harry Potter both value – friends should do anything for their friends. Gilgamesh’s best friend in the entire world is Enkidu, and the two are inseparable. Even though Enkidu disapproves of Gilgamesh’s plan to kill Humbaba, he still accompanies him because he does not want to leave his side. Enkidu even tells Gilgamesh that it is a terrible idea and Humbaba’s purpose is to stop humans from going into the pine forest. He even attempts to get the wise men of Uruk to talk Gilgamesh out of carrying out the journey. Gilgamesh is too stubborn though and he does not take their advice. Once Enkidu realizes Gilgamesh will not change his mind, he leads him into the forest where they encounter Humbaba. Humbaba does not take his defeat lightly, and fights back towards Gilgamesh and Enkidu. As Gilgamesh is in battle with Humbaba, he receives help from Shamash. She sends thirteen powerful winds from all directions to stop Humbaba from moving, and to help Gilgamesh and Enkidu conquer him. This is evident when the author of the Epic of Gilgamesh says, “Shamash summoned up great tempests against Humbaba, South Wind, North Wind, East Wind, West Wind….Thirteen winds rose up at him and Humbaba’s face grew dark.” Thanks to the help of their elder, the goddess Shamash, Gilgamesh is able to successfully defeat Humbaba. Ron and Hermione

are equally as loyal to Harry as Enkidu is to Gilgamesh. Harry wants them to accompany him down into the dungeon to try and receive the rare and valuable Sorcerer’s Stone. However, in order to get into the dungeon they need to pass a three headed beast. They know this is risky and that there will be other obstacles before they reach the stone – but of course they will help out their friend. Harry’s friends stay with him on the quest to get the stone for as long as they can, but eventually it is just Harry. He finds himself face to face with Professor Quirrell, his Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Of course, Quirrell is also on the hunt to get the Sorcerer’s Stone. Once Harry looks in the Mirror of Erised and realizes that the stone is in his pocket, he tries to lie to Quirell about what he sees but Quirrell is not buying it. At this point, Voldemort is revealed on the other side of Quirrell’s head. Voldemort is the most evil wizard in the wizarding world; he attempted to kill Harry Potter when Harry was a baby. He speaks to Harry saying that he knows Harry has the stone, and will kill him if he doesn’t give him it. Being the brave hero that he is, Harry refuses and tries to fight off Quirrell/Voldemort but eventually ends up blacking out. It is revealed later on that his elder, Dumbledore, came to his rescue and fought off Quirrell. Dumbledore is the headmaster at Hogwarts and offers help o Harry multiple times over the years. Apparently he got there right on time, or else Harry would have died. Our heroes most likely would not have been able to accomplish their tasks if it was not for the help of their closest friends, and elders whom they look up to and receive guidance from.

From “The Epic of Gilgamesh”, the reader can see that the ancient culture of Uruk was polytheistic. The Uruk people believed in many gods and they valued the strength that those gods gave them. From “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” we learn that our modern society values friendship, knowledge, and character. Many adolescents who read the Harry Potter series aspire to be like Harry, Ron, or Hermione. While each tale has its own moral, the ancient and modern cultures merge together to provide universal lessons. One of these lessons that can be taken out of both literary works is that societies from the past and societies in the future have valued and will continue to value adventure and the friends that make that adventure possible.