The Epic of Gilgamesh follows the trek of Gilgamesh the king of Uruk during Sumerian rule. He meets his almost equal, Enkidu, this event gets him away from his erroneous ways. They enter the supernatural world together to defeat monsters terrorizing his city. And, somehow they defeat both monsters they were in conflict with. Then, Enkidu dies and Gilgamesh takes a journey of grief, where he meets a wise old man by the name of
In this tale, a godly man, Gilgamesh, develops a friendship with beast-turned-man, Enkidu, who begins to teach Gilgamesh about the world and helps him to grapple with challenges. After one challenge in particular, a battle with the giant Humbaba, Enkidu dies abruptly, leaving Gilgamesh alone again, and forcing him to overcome adversities by himself. Gilgamesh is initially despondent, but these adversities eventually give him the strength to grow in wisdom and appreciation. Gilgamesh flourishes from his failures because he can finally understand the meanings of life and death, accept
Gilgamesh decided to go back to Uruk and he devoted his life to be a great leader of his beloved city and rejoiced in the work of his hand. Despite of his grief and his tiresome journey, Gilgamesh proved himself to be a great hero for giving up his own desire for a greater cause. As Campbell said, “When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness.” It is revealed to me that the whole quest of Gilgamesh for immortality is not pointless because he became successful in obtaining everlasting life in a sense that his legacy continues to live on. The kingship that the gods bestowed upon him is fulfilled as the people today still remembers and looks up to his unexampled
Gilgamesh search for immortality was beyond the initiation stage he searched for it through every quest and journey he encountered. In the second initiation stage, Gilgamesh went through a significant amount of problems and hardships. The return stage occurred when Gilgamesh leaves his fantasy world and return to people back home with new knowledge and teachings. Utanapishtim's tale in (Tablet 11) of the great flood
Many cultures have certain archetypes that their literature follows, and in Sumerian culture, the major archetype is the hero’s journey and its different stages. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, translated by N.K. Sandars and based on Sumerian culture, the Sumerian hero Gilgamesh encounters many stages of the hero’s journey when he goes on his quest for immortality. Gilgamesh completes the Sumerians’ archetype of the hero’s journey when he is helped by the threshold guardian and supernatural aid, faces several challenges in unknown lands, and undergoes a transformation before returning to Uruk. Gilgamesh begins the hero’s journey by receiving help from the threshold guardian and from supernatural forces.
Gilgamesh and Pi were both strong, and courageous. They were heroes who faced difficulties throughout their journeys but managed to keep strength.Not only did they both hit a few bumps in the road they also climbed the ladder a few times. Gilgamesh was saved by Shamash because she sends the 7 winds, Pi was saved because God sent him to the island and places the tooth there. They also face a storm, Pi faces the storm in the ocean and Gilgamesh faces the flood. Pi is shown religion through his hardships.” A germ of religious exaltation, no bigger than a mustard seed, was sown in me and left to germinate.
Even before this, Utnapishtim offers Gilgamesh any reward he wants for making the long and perilous journey for immortality. Gilgamesh chose to get the sacred “How-the-Old-Man-Once-Becomes-a-Young-Man” plant but instead
While Gilgamesh was a hero and the ruler of Uruk we were told that his was even more handsome, self centered, courageous and terrifying than all of the people in the land. Even though these were his attributes, Gilgamesh
Throughout history, stories and epics from long ago and even today have acted as a form of rich culture to depict various characters within each story and attempt to explain occurrences in history such as the Odyssey, Gilgamesh, and The Ramayana. Although each of the heroes depicted in these tales embark on different journeys with different aims at what they hope to achieve, they all display a variety of fundamentals that make them similar to one another. It also becomes transparent that throughout each journey these hero’s must take that each of them also embarks on a transformative journey that many people of today can relate to. The Epic of Gilgamesh centers in on an ancient king of Uruk in present day Iraq. When we are first introduced to Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk, we see that he is a tyrant ruler that is one-third human, two-thirds divine and is endowed with immense strength.
Gilgamesh is a lonely, evil, self-centered ruler who has no humility for man-kind. The people, being fed-up with Gilgamesh and his harsh treatments asked the Gods for help. Enkidu was created and sent down by the Gods to put Gilgamesh in his place and that's what he did, but not in the way the Gods had intended it to happen. Enkidu and Gilgamesh had an altercation during their first meeting, but later bonding becoming inseparable friends recognizing each other as brothers. Through Enkidu's nurturing, Gilgamesh became a good ruler and hero.