epic of gilgamesh analysis essay

The Epic of Gilgamesh

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Gilgamesh: Introduction

Gilgamesh: plot summary, gilgamesh: detailed summary & analysis, gilgamesh: themes, gilgamesh: quotes, gilgamesh: characters, gilgamesh: symbols, gilgamesh: theme wheel.

Historical Context of The Epic of Gilgamesh

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• Full Title: The Epic of Gilgamesh
• When Written: As far back as the Third Dynasty of Ur (around 2100 BCE), stories were written about the legendary king Gilgamesh. These stories, however, were not unified into a single narrative until the 18th century BCE, in what is now known as the Old Babylonian version of the Epic. This version, however, had major gaps, which were largely filled in by what is now known as the Standard Version. The Standard Version dates from between the 10th and 13th century BCE. Still today, the text is considered incomplete.
• Where Written: Ancient Sumer / Mesopotamia
• When Published: The Epic of Gilgamesh was first discovered in 1853, and the first modern translation was published in the 1870s. Since then, various versions have been published.
• Literary Period: Ancient epic
• Genre: Epic Poem
• Setting: Ancient Sumer (modern-day Iraq)
• Climax: Enkidu’s death
• Antagonist: Though the epic does not have a single clearly-defined antagonist, pride is Gilgamesh’s main obstacle throughout.
• Point of View: Third-person omniscient

Extra Credit for The Epic of Gilgamesh

Old School. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the world’s oldest surviving written poem.

Gilgamesh the Boss. In the Final Fantasy series of videogames, a character known as Gilgamesh frequently features as a boss enemy, along with his sidekick Enkidu.

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The Epic of Gilgamesh

April 30, 2020 | yalepress | Ancient History , Literature

John Carey —

The oldest surviving literary work is The Epic of Gilgamesh . It was composed nearly 4,000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia (roughly equivalent to where Iraq and eastern Syria are now). No one knows who wrote it, or why, or what readership or audience it was intended for. It is preserved on clay tablets in the earliest known alphabet, which is called cuneiform script because the scribes who wrote it formed the letters by making wedge-shaped (cuneiform) dents in wet clay with bits of reed.

For centuries the secret of how to read cuneiform script was lost. Then, in the 1870s, a self-taught, working-class Londoner called George Smith, studying clay tablets in the British Museum, cracked the code and brought The Epic of Gilgamesh to light.

The epic tells the story of a king, Gilgamesh, whose mother is a goddess. He rules the city of Uruk (now Warka in southern Iraq). He is a great warrior and builds a magnificent city using glazed bricks, a new technique. But he is lustful and tyrannical, seizing and violating brides on their wedding day. So the gods create a wild man called Enkidu to stop Gilgamesh oppressing his people.

Enkidu is made from the clay the mother goddess washes from her hands, and he is an animal rather than a human. He is covered in hair and lives with the gazelles, eating grass as they do. However, a votaress of the temple in Uruk seduces him and after seven days and nights of fervent love-making he becomes human. She teaches him to wear clothes and eat human food.

Gilgamesh falls in love with Enkidu, caressing him like a woman. But when Enkidu tries to stop him violating brides, they fight. They turn out to be equally matched, so they kiss and make friends and embark on heroic adventures. Together they go on a quest to the Cedar Forest and kill the monster Humbaba who lives there. This angers the gods, since Humbaba was their monster. While Gilgamesh is washing after the fight the goddess Ishtar sees him, falls in love, and proposes marriage. But she is the goddess of sex and violence and all her lovers come to a bad end, so Gilgamesh rejects her. She is angry, and calls on her father, the sky god, to send another monster, the Bull of Heaven, to kill Gilgamesh. Instead Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the Bull, which angers the gods still more, and they sentence Enkidu to death.

Gilgamesh mourns him bitterly and sets off to discover the secret of eternal life. He is ferried across the waters of death and finds the immortal man Utnapishtim, who survived the great flood, in which all other humans died, by following the gods’ instructions and building a boat. Gilgamesh dives into the ocean to find a plant that is said to make whoever possesses it young again. Though he finds it, and brings it to the surface, it is stolen by a snake, and Utnapishtim tells him that no one can defeat death. So Gilgamesh returns to Uruk, having learned that, though he is mighty and famous, he will be equal in death with all other human beings.

From A Little History of Poetry by John Carey. Published by Yale University Press in 2020. Reproduced with permission.

John Carey  is emeritus professor at Oxford. His books include  The Essential  “Paradise Lost,”  What Good Are the Arts?,  studies of Donne and Dickens, and a biography of William Golding.  The Unexpected Professor,  his memoir, was a  Sunday Times  best-seller.

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Epic of Gilgamesh

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The Epic of Gilgamesh

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Analysis: “The Epic of Gilgamesh”

"The Epic of Gilgamesh" illustrates the transformative experience of human companionship with themes that remain as relevant in the modern day as they were in ancient Babylon. Gilgamesh, the protagonist , is a powerful king who has a transformative relationship with Enkidu, a man crafted by the gods to mirror Gilgamesh’s strength and to push back on his unfettered power. After a brief challenge for superiority, which Gilgamesh wins, the two become inseparable friends and are each influenced by the other: Enkidu changes from wild man to companion and Gilgamesh changes from a brutal and feared king to an equally loyal friend. Together, the two face fears together, resist temptations, battle the unknown, and triumph. At the same time, these celebrated victories are undercut by the inevitability of death, the crippling pain of mourning, and Gilgamesh’s struggle to find meaning in the face of his mortality. Gilgamesh’s story encompasses the spectrum of human experience and is largely shaped by the acquisition and loss of intimate friendship.

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Epic Of Gilgamesh Analysis

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a five-thousand-year-old story that is considered the first great piece of epic literature from Mesopotamia. The epic also holds a special place in history as it contains one of the earliest flood myths, which would later inspire The Bible’s Old Testament flood account and The Qur’an’s account of Noah. The Epic of Gilgamesh was discovered in 1849 when The Royal Library of Nineveh was uncovered in the ruins of ? Amra on the Gabal ? Assur ridge.

The tablet containing The Epic of Gilgamesh was found in what is believed to have been a private library, with other tablets holding The Sumerian King List and The Descent of Inanna among others. The epic itself is inscribed in cuneiform script, one of several scripts used by Mesopotamian cultures for their writing systems, onto clay tablets that were then baked to preserve them. Despite its age, The Epic of Gilgamesh has had a profound impact on literature through its influence on both The Bible’s Old Testament and The Qur’an’s stories of The Flood.

The Epic of Gilgamesh also has many similarities with The Odyssey in that both epics concern heroes who must overcome insurmountable obstacles in order to return home safely. Furthermore, The Epic of Gilgamesh is widely considered one of the most important early works on ethics and religion written in The Ancient Near East due to its impact on every major mythological story from The Bible onwards. Tablet I opens with a prologue in which Gilgamesh, king of Uruk (or Erech), is described as an immense man who at twelve feet stands taller than any other citizen or neighboring ruler.

He laments his fate for having no equal with whom to share his burdens. The people of Uruk complain to the gods in heaven, and Aruru, goddess of creation, creates a wild-man Enkidu from water and clay tablets. Enkidu lives among animals at first, but a trapper discovers him and reports his presence to Gilgamesh. The two fight each other until stopped by Shamhat (the harlot), who convinces Enkidu to come with her into Uruk that he might give Gilgamesh a challenge.

The two men wrestle naked together in public view; afterwards they go drinking from the city’s taverns all night long where for many days they talk about their dreams. The king is openly beloved by the citizenry through this time until a massive wild bull charges through the streets and disrupts a ceremony in honor of The Goddess Ishtar. The two warriors defeat the bull together and offer it up as a sacrifice to The Gods, but The Goddess Ishtar demands that Enkidu must die as punishment for The Bull incident.

Enkidu is stricken with illness and lingers on his deathbed as the citizens of Uruk mourn his impending death, often sobbing loudly at night. Enkidu’s best friend Gilgamesh refuses to leave Enkidu’s side because he knows that he too will soon die without his friend by his side. Before dying, Enkidu predicts a series of unfortunate events that will befall Gilgamesh after he dies from an unknown cause. The events foretold come true, and Gilgamesh gives all of his worldly possessions to The Goddess Inanna in exchange for a way to avoid death.

The Goddess Inanna directs him to Urshanabi the ferryman who will take Gilgamesh to The Faraway Nearby where The God Utnapishtim lives with The Plant of Immortality that is guarded by a type of snake called a nahash. The two men travel across a great expanse on the boat but when they reach their destination they discover that The Plant of Immortality has been stolen by a snake which is quickly descending into the water ahead of them.

The snake escapes into The Euphrates River so Utnapishtim can not retrieve The Plant of Immortality. The two men turn back and arrive at Uruk where The Goddess Inanna decrees that The Bull of Heaven will be sacrificed instead, although The God Enlil objects because The Bull is property of Uruk’s citizens. The Goddess Ishtar, who created The Bull in the first place, demands it to ascend into heaven or else she would unleash all manner of evil upon the people of Sumer.

Tablet II begins with an introduction about how Gilgamesh and Enkidu grew up together and became great friends despite their different backgrounds: Gilgamesh was a demigod son of The Goddess Ninsun while Enkidu was a wild-man created from clay by The Gods to end Gilgamesh’s reign over The People. The people of Uruk were afraid and outraged until The Goddess Ishtar offered one of her many temples as a compromise; the two kings eventually decided upon The Sacred Precinct which is now protected and maintained by The People and The Gods (11-19).

Gilgamesh dreams about his mortality and has a nightmare where he sees Enkidu in front of him, but an axe comes down between them to hold them apart; then the axe is broken by Shamash (20-29). He wakes up screaming in terror, then summons all The People into assembly. They resolve that they will seek out The Faraway Nearby where Utnapishtim lives with The Plant of Immortality in The Faraway Nearby. The Goddess Ishtar is angered by this decision because The Bull of Heaven will not be sacrificed to her but they order The Gatekeeper to open The Great Gates of Uruk for them anyway (30-33).

The People have trouble loading the boats with supplies at first, so The God Shamash sends a heavy rainstorm to help them. The storm floods The Euphrates River and damages both The Sacred Precinct and Enkidu’s tomb that he built for his childhood friend before he died. Gilgamesh prays to The Gods again asking them for immortality since his friend cannot have it, but he is refused by all save The God Shamash who offers him eternal fame instead (34-39). The Goddess Aruru creates The Wild Ox (40-42). The Gatekeeper releases The Bull of Heaven to Ishtar, but it is killed by Enkidu before The Bull’s hooves touches the ground (43-47).

The People make sacrifices to The Gods for seven days and seven nights until they are exhausted. They decide to return home but Gilgamesh spends another day making a sacrifice of his own to The God Shamash. He dresses in animal skins and heads toward The Cedar Mountains where he hopes to find The Plant of Immortality that will give him eternal life just like it did for Utnapishtim (48-58). The people mourn his departure because they think he is dead by now after leaving The City of The Gods without permission.

The Goddess Inanna encourages The People to give offerings of clothing, food, and drink so they can placate The Angry Ones that might try to attack them then (59-68). Gilgamesh finds The Cedar Forest where The God Humbaba lives but Enkidu confronts him there instead. They have a physical fight where Gilgamesh wins after a long battle because The God Shamash helped him out by blinding The Angry One with a great light from his headdress. He chops The God’s seven layers of branches down and breaks the trees into firewood while The God curses him for it (69-88).

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Epic of Gilgamesh — Reflection on the Epic of Gilgamesh

Reflection on The Epic of Gilgamesh

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The Epic of Gilgamesh Analysis Essay

Introduction.

The epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest poems written from Mesopotamia, a country that is present day Iraq. It is a story of two legends, Gilgamesh and Enkidu who were the greatest of friends. In the story, Enkidu who was created to be wild is meant to counteract the oppression of King Gilgamesh on the inhabitants of the Uruk territory.

They become legends while working together and the number of dangerous encounters they conquer causes the gods to be unhappy with them. Together they make a sojourn to the wild mountains of Cedar and concertedly kill Humbaba who was the monster guarding the mountains. The wrath of the gods becomes evident when the two comrades put the Bull of Heaven to death; goddess Ishtar had sent this bull to check the excesses of Gilgamesh. It was an abomination to kill the messenger of the gods.

Displeased by their actions the gods in turn kill Enkidu and this incident marks a turning point in the life of Gilgamesh. The death of his close confidant sends him to embark on a quest to discover immortality. The remaining part of his life, he spends trying to seek the solution to cheat death.

The concept of immortality comes out more clearly when he sets out to meet Utnapishti who is considered an immortal hero but he breaks his heart when he announces that the gods during creation give only death but retain with them eternal life. This ideally ends his perilous search for eternity and indeed justifies the preposition that it would have been difficult for Gilgamesh to change if Enkidu would have remained alive. Enkidu’s death therefore changed the life of Gilgamesh.

The entire epic can be rightly divided in two halves, the beginning essentially exploring the exploits of the two legends working together. Heroism is explicated from their conquests of the giant Humbaba and the messenger of the gods (the Bull of Heaven).

Their friendship and togetherness (unity of purpose) is fundamental as they support each other to destroy a common enemy (Humbaba and the Bull). In this except “Hurry up, step up to him, do not let him go. Climb to the woods, do not be afraid.” (Tablet IV, Column V, 43-44). We see how the two collaborate and “They cut off the head of Humbaba” (Sandars, 47).

This death infuriates the gods who now vow to destroy Enkidu. Enkidu finally dies and this marks the turning point in the life of Gilgamesh, he is worried and is forced to change his antics, his lifestyle and convictions, he now realizes that he was mistaken to imagine that he would live forever.

The gods intentionally decide to take away his closest companion in order to warn him that one day soon, he too shall die. Confused and worried by the truth, Gilgamesh is in a state of denial. With the corpse of his colleague before him as per (Tablet VIII, Column II, 15-16) it says, “I touched his heart, it does not beat”

He embarks on a quest to find immortality and reverse death, “me! Will I too not die like Enkidu? Sorrow was come into my belly. I fear death; I roam over the hills. I will seize the road; quickly I will go to the house of Utnapishiti offspring of Ubaratutu. I approach the entrance of the mountain at night. Lions I see, and am terrified. I lift my head to pray to the mood god sin: For a dream I go to the gods in prayer… preserve me!” (Tablet IX, Column I, 3-12).

Death is permanently inevitable and man can never attain eternity. Gilgamesh finally realizes this though late in the epic. A legend previously portrayed as a hero and conqueror of many now cannot conquer immortality, his entire lifestyle changes from a brave and confident warrior to a fearful personality in complete denial of the facts of life.

His initial life of bravery was useless as he finally discovers in the final sections of the text. The response he receives from Utnapishitim deflates his ambition and brings him back to earth. “Never has a mortal man done that Gilgamesh” (Tablet IX Column III, 8).

The death of his colleague humbles him as he had initially placed himself on the same status with the gods not knowing that he was a mortal man. “The fate of mankind overtook him… in fear of death I roam the wilderness…. Me shall not lie down like him, never to move?” (Tablet X Column II, 3, 8, 13-14) it finally dawns on him that “From the beginning, there is no permanence” (Tablet X, Column VII, 32).

In the beginning, the great warrior king Gilgamesh had acquired great amount of wisdom and experience s in combat. In the end however, he is unable to translate his prowess in war and battle to conquer immortality, this indicates a significant shift in his life from a hero to a defeated warrior, it illustrates that however strong, one cannot conquer himself

In the beginning also Gilgamesh was seen as a king who put his subjects under an oppressive regime, that is the reason the gods sent Enkidu to help counter his oppressive regime but instead they collaborate with Enkidu to destroy and kill the messenger of the gods, the gods are unhappy and want to communicate to him that he cannot conquer immortality; they however do this indirectly by killing Enkidu and this manages to instill fear in his life. Thus his oppressive regime on the outset finally comes to haunt him in his latter years.

He was oppressive to his subjects but now the thought that he too shall finally die oppresses him too and puts him at the same level with the people he ruled. No one is special in life; death is for everyone and makes all people equal, king or servant, warrior or subject.

From the beginning, the warrior king is seen as being adventurous, self righteous and one who is motivated by fame. Had the partnership between him and his comrade Enkidu persisted, he would never have changed his lifestyle and convictions; however the death of his accomplice makes to seriously contemplate his purpose for living.

He begins to ask questions about his own morality, he fails to accept the truth and tries to disapprove it but realizes that his efforts to justify himself are futile, this is what caused the king’s wander dangerously in search for morality and personal growth (Sparknotes, 45).

In essence the epic of Gilgamesh emphasizes the significance of a simple life. It is important for one to live within their means without struggling to achieve what is impossible or unachievable. Life itself is limited to mortality and an understanding of this fact shall lead to living it honestly and morally.

It teaches us the importance of humility and demonstrates how difficult it is for one to achieve greatness and fame with humility. Human beings are encouraged to strike a balance between greatness and humility in as much the two are in opposition to each other. King Gilgamesh by being a great legend in battle lost his human perspective of morality and humility. He was too full of himself and wanted to place himself next to the gods because he had forgotten that he was a mortal being.

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In many cultures, wind has taken on its own personal identity. Through story telling wind has been given power of the supernatural in order to be used by the gods to influence or punish the heroes of Earth. The supernatural power of wind can be...

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The famous Italian priest Thomas Aquinas once said: “There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.” How does the loss of a friend affect a human being? In Herbert Mason’s retelling book Gilgamesh: A verse narrative, the...

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The epic poem of Gilgamesh is recognized as one of the earliest works in literature, originating back to the existence of ancient Mesopotamia. Since then, numerous versions of the story have been published, including one by David Ferry, called...

Immaturity in The Epic of Gilgamesh: A Critique of the Protagonist Anonymous College

The most dreaded lesson in the eyes of a child is the concept of “no.” While most children eventually realize that not everything in the world is available for their taking, the select few who neglect to recognize their limitations inevitably grow...

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What is the meaning of life? Is life not a constant journey to finding the meaning of our existence? Is life about finding this meaning of existence or is it all about searching? One of the oldest epics in the world, “The Epic of Gilgamesh”,...

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Although the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Myth of Inanna were written around the same time period and in the same civilization, the characters portrayed and their viewpoints on death, life, self, identity, and nature couldn’t be more different....

A Comparison of Cultures: The Worlds of 'Popol Vuh' and 'The Epic of Gilgamesh' Anonymous College

The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Popol Vuh are two fictional and religious texts from the ancient world. The Epic of Gilgamesh is regarded as the earliest great literature, written in 2100 BC, while the Popol Vuh was written in approximately 1550...

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The Epic of Gilgamesh focuses on the inevitability of death and the ways mortals can come to terms with their mortality. In the classical Babylonian epic, He Who Saw the Deep, Gilgamesh is a mighty king who longs to achieve fame and glory,...

The Virtues of Friendship Thang Minh Bui College

Despite the passage of time, core values have prevailed as timeless and defining characteristics of human beings. Among them, friendship plays a pivotal part in the development of a person, making it stand out as one of the most valued. Friendship...

Leaving a Legacy Fiona Lu College

In The Epic of Gilgamesh , characters are driven by a desire to immortalize their legacies through a noble monument or deed. The epic highlights the Mesopotamian belief that death is inevitable, but beyond this surface fear of death itself, there...

The Role of Women in the Epic of Gilgamesh Anonymous 11th Grade

The Epic of Gilgamesh took place in ancient Mesopotamia, during a time where people were transitioning from a nomadic lifestyle to one where people were settled. Although this was a huge leap in the development of civilizations, women’s roles in...

Home / Essay Samples / History / Gilgamesh / Critical Analysis Of The Epic Of Gilgamesh

Critical Analysis Of The Epic Of Gilgamesh

• Category: History
• Topic: Epic of Gilgamesh , Gilgamesh

Pages: 3 (1274 words)

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