Odyssey And Gilgamesh Similarities

The Epic of Gilgamesh shows and describe the journey of a successful hero. Throughout his quest, Gilgamesh goes through a departure, initiation, and a return stage. When Gilgamesh and Enkidu sets out to go on the heroic journey to defeat Humbaba he experiences the first departure stage. The initiation stage occurred when Enkidu died and Gilgamesh started the second heroic journey searching for immortality. 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

The Epic of Gilgamesh and In the Beginning have many similarities. Both incorporate the Hero’s Journey and three archetypes: character, situational, and symbolic. Both are about man's relationship with God(s), including man’s struggle with temptation, and the serpent as a symbol. Likewise, they share a common theme that man should not disobey the gods. The outcome when man disobeys the gods is always bad. Man should not try to be like the gods by disobeying them.

Man cannot live for ever this is an indisputable fact; however, long after our mortal bodies decay, we can live on through our children and our children's children. David Ferry’s version of the poem “Gilgamesh” support this idea and synthesises it with other points to support the following theme: no matter how great a man is in living his glory is only valuable if he lives on in his offspring. I believe Gilgamesh’s journey and failure to find immortality supports this, revealing values that early Mesopotamian culture held.

“Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception (Carl Sargon)”. According to The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis, unprecedented floods occurred in both stories. The exception fell on the kind men, Utnapishtim and Noah: they survived the powerful event of destruction. However, in the same theme of the stories, there are sources of similarity and differences. Even though both The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis are similar in that they all use the floods for a destruction, both the stories are different from each other in the distribution of roles within the gods and a way to warn the extermination from the gods.

While in all three of the ancient civilizations death is the final barrier that characters must overcome, the heroes in all three of these myths use different strategies in order to conquer this obstacle. While the heroes in the Popol Vuh use the trickery of resurrection in order to save themselves, resurrection in both Gilgamesh and Isis and Osiris is a capable ability that these heroes are either capable of achieving, or almost capable. Describing resurrection as not only a trait that are heroes are capable of using, and magical ability that only the most powerful can attain places the heroes of these myths on a high pedestal.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest story known to mankind, being written on Sumerian clay almost five thousand years ago (Garone). Since the story was originally known orally, the culture and themes from The Epic of Gilgamesh must have existed long before it was finally inscribed (Mark 4). Having known this, the cultures and themes can be compared to today’s society, discovering about how they have shifted and evolved, and also observe how they are similar. The ancient days of Gilgamesh has brought culture that has greatly influenced today’s society. Because Gilgamesh was set around the time of late Babylonian or early Sumerian society, the Babylonian and Sumerian cultures also play a role in shaping the world into what is is today (Mark). These societies have developed inventions and ideas that have significantly affected today’s world such as, government, art, wheels mathematics, and many more (Garone). The cultures and themes from the story are displayed all across the text, and after studying Gilgamesh’s culture and story, it is evident that there are numerous cultural contribution to modern day society, such as gods, seeking revenge or love, and destroying enemies. More importantly, throughout the text, Gilgamesh was in a predicament trying to figure out the meaning of life and the value of human accomplishment (Mark). The culture of mankind has always been to seek the meaning of life, no matter the time period, religion, or community. From the times of Gilgamesh to

Death. Human birds. Deadly rocks. And naked men is all stated In Homer's The Odyssey and the vast time period between the Attic vase and the Water House. These are only some of the similarities and differences stated. Having similarities is one of the best things; but having differences is one of the worst.

In essence, many of Mesopotamia’s tales focus on Gilgamesh’s epic. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a poem that portrays Gilgamesh’s journey, and ultimate aspiration for immortality despite the inevitability of death. The poem reveals his quest for a purpose and identity, which in turn can be perceived from many different aspects, ultimately molding his character in the epic. He perceives himself as two-thirds divine and one third man at the start of the tale, and progressively gains wisdom on his quest to conquer his aspirations of immortality, until he comes face to face with reality. His state of mind at the beginning of the epic, along with how it changes and matures, reveals the true heroes and villains of the story.

The two stories that are being compared are “The Odyssey” and “The Epic of Gilgamesh”. The Odyssey is written by Homer and The Epic of Gilgamesh is written by Sumerian. The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey are both epic poems. The Odyssey’s temptation is greater because it has multiple instead of just one like The Epic of Gilgamesh. The temptations in The Epic of Gilgamesh are his wife, his kids, Calypso and Circes’. Finally, the temptation in The Epic of Gilgamesh is everlasting life and becoming immortal.

In conclusion, Gilgamesh and Achilles are considered some of the greatest of warriors. There are many similarities and differences between Achilles and Gilgamesh. As discussed before both Gilgamesh and Achilles had a quest that they desired.  The only difference between the two is the certain desire they wanted to obtain. Gilgamesh was looking for immortality while Achilles wanted glory and fame. Although they both went  through similar ordeals they dealt  with in different ways. Each man was considered a heroic to their cultures for different reason.    We can tell a lot about the priorities and values of Gilgamesh’s and Achilles’ cultures through their heroic actions. It somewhat proved an answer to the way they did things and why

The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible have a few similar events and historians think that they may refer to the same event. The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible share a similar event, the flood, and a similar character, the serpent. Though there are still several distinctions between the two stories.

In Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh and Enkidu show a bond becoming stronger as friends. They both vowed that they'd stay together always no matter what the obstacle (p.27). This is basically saying they'll stay strong with each other through thick and thin. Gilgamesh says “Don't be afraid. We are together. There is

Homer’s The Odyssey and The Epic of Gilgamesh are similar in a numerous manner because they are both epic poems. Also, they display temptation consistently leads to negative consequences. In addition, these historical texts include the complications each courageous hero must face due to not being able to fight off temptation.

In comparison, it’s always observed on how different scholars find the similarity of especially marital settings, characters, and as well as the wanderings of the mythological world. Different events within the life of these characters cover broadly a huge range of epic encounters that are heroic. The character, emotional and psychological development of Gilgamesh can be borrowed especially from the ancient heroic perspectives of mortality and death while comparing with Achilles. Mesopotamian civilization has had several phases in which hero Gilgamesh has been in existence, however having similar attributes. One of the earliest stories of Gilgamesh is developed from Sumerian texts, one of the most influential and well-known poems (Michelakis & Pantelis 2007).

Some of the major differences can be seen in the ideas of origin and the meaning of life. In today’s society, as a whole, most do not believe that the world was created because various gods were fighting or because a monster of chaos was destroyed. In a modern, Christian worldview, we believe God created us and the earth and that He genuinely cares for us. For us, the meaning of life is similar in the idea that happiness is a goal; however, we find meaning in what we do and how we impact others. The Mesopotamians on the other hand never gave much evidence to support the idea that they were invested in the people around them and making their lives better along with their own. Learning about ancient worldviews has significance in the fact that it allows us to better understand literature from that period as well as allowing us to explore our own