Essay On Gilgamesh And Death

What were Ancient Mesopotamians views about death? The story “Epic of Gilgamesh” provides us with an insight on how these people thought about this topic. Ancient Mesopotamians were greatly influenced by this story and was sacred to their culture. The topic of death was a concern for these people based on the consciences that the divine warrior Gilgamesh encountered. In the story, the character Gilgamesh was a warrior who believed he was immortal and indestructible. The sudden shifts in his character he experienced on the topic of death effected the thinking of the Ancient Mesopotamians also. With all of Gilgamesh’s efforts, he found there was no easy way to reach immortality. This story was one of the main influences toward the Mesopotamians beliefs that death is inevitable. Using the evidence from the source “Epic of Gilgamesh”, this essay will attempt to solve the problem of death that the Ancient Mesopotamians endured through the character development of

Gilgamesh’s views on death were related to the events that transpired in his life. The first time he started to panic about death being a possibility was when his friend Enkidu died. This lead to Gilgamesh’s search for eternal life which lead him to understand that death will always follow life. The “Epic of Gilgamesh” guided the Mesopotamians to this conclusion that people aren’t suppose to live forever because their divine hero can die too. Gilgamesh was their own hero, sort of like Superman. Like the 21st Century, authors know if the hero is invincible, then the story would be boring. The difference between 21st Century and the Ancient Mesopotamians is that they didn’t believe this was fiction which shaped their views about death. It’s seen as a Bible to these people which is why they were so attached to this story. The moral of the story is to live your life because tomorrow is never