Mesopotamian Epic, Term Paper Example

Gilgamesh is a Mesopotamian epic that exemplifies the culture of the hero. Gilgamesh is a super-human man that consists of being two-thirds a god, and the rest of him is human. This is because Gilgamesh’s mother had sex with a god. Gilgamesh’s archetypes and symbols are best exemplified with that of a lion; or rather, a lion that has human qualities or traits such as being super-human as well as having animal-like traits. Gilgamesh is a translated text (Gilgamesh was originally only found in stone tablets) the protagonist Gilgamesh is king of Uruk (in Babylonia). This is commonly known as modern day Iraq (thus, a lot of the story still has cultural ties in that country). The story, from a historical perspective, takes place circa 2700 B.C. Gilgamesh, however, is a story that was based down through oral tradition so the story was in circulation, as it were, for an undocumented amount of time before it was written, or transcribed onto the stone tablets. Since the text of this epic poem dates to prehistory, it is no wonder that gods are so prevalent in it. Gods ruined the ancient world as a way for people to attribute natural phenomenon.

In Gilgamesh the role of gods abound everywhere in the text. One such example of this is when Gilgamesh’s people begin to complain about him as a king (the people complain about Gilgamesh because they feel they are being treated poorly by him). The people not only complain about Gilgamesh but they also pray for retribution against crimes they feel their king has committed against them; when they pray the goddess of creation in Mesopotamian culture, Aruru, answers their prayers by creating Enkidu. Enkidu is said to be Gilgamesh’s equal or even doppleganger in the epic poem. This is one instance of the gods interfering and changing or creating the plot line. Later on in the poem, it’s interesting to note that Enkidu teams up Gilgamesh in order to fight the monster Humbaba. When the two “enemies” fight the monster together the plot is further tampered with by the god Shamash, who helps the two kill the Humbaba.

The gods in Gilgamesh are typical of that era and that culture; they were constantly meddling in the lives of humans, either changing them into elements or creatures, having sex with women or men and creating demi-gods, or even aiding in humans destruction of themselves or else helping to defend them by killing monsters. In most ways the gods are depicted as having very human feelings or reactions to things and reacting in very childish manners (their tempers get the best of them).

Gods are prevalent in other ancient texts; for instance, the Bible. In the book of Genesis it states that God (Christian God) created the heavens and the earth. There is no reason given to this creation, it is simply accepted that God did this. Once God created these things he then created Adam; a human man. After that, God created Eve, a human female. Then the fun begins. God creates a tree (the tree of knowledge) and says that neither of them should eat from it. But God also created humans and the range of emotions that comprise the psyche of humans: mainly, curiosity. Eve was curious and so ate from the tree of knowledge and gained the knowledge that she was naked and should therefore be ashamed. There’s a two-fold message here: first, that nudity requires shame (something that God obviously created since God created Eve, and therefore centuries worth of repression about the nude human form as being something to be ashamed about), and Eve’s being blamed for having taken the fruit first. Eve’s curiosity, however, was put there by God but she does not get blamed for this. God is meddlesome in this story because God creates all of these things, (curiosity, shame, nudity, the tree of knowledge, and laws not to eat from it) then, when the humans follow these innate instincts, they are banned from paradise.

God is further meddlesome in the Story of Joseph. When Joseph is sold by his brothers after their jealousy of their father’s affection for his favorite son, Joseph ends up speaking with Pharaoh as a dream-interpreter. God gives him dreams later on when Joseph becomes Pharaoh. Essentially, Joseph is ruled by these dreams. His entire life is predicted for him by God, leaving out any mystery. Indeed, there is free will, but when God is so involved in a person’s life, it seems that free will is nonexistent.

In each of these stories God or gods meddled in the protagonists’ lives. They did this through jealousy, desire, and a feeling of loyalty. In each instance however, it’s interesting to note the vast degree by which the deities played a hand in the overall plot points of the story. If it hadn’t been for the deities’ intervention, the protagonists would have had completely different outcomes. Ancient texts are ruled by stories in which the main characters are introduced to gods in order for them to be changed by the god or for the hero to battle against the god in order to save someone (usually family). Also, gods are well into the plot point from early on because Gilgamesh was a demigod (half god) meaning that a god had to have sex with his mother in order for him to be born. Thus, even before his existence, a god was ruling Gilgamesh’ life. This is true for most stories involving gods and goddess.

Works Cited

Puchner, Martin, gen. ed. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3rd ed. Vol. F. ? New York: Norton, 2012. Print.