Enlil Essays

Martin Luther King Junior once said “Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave”. The importance of home is an universally applicable subject from Odyssey that has a meaning that can be applicable to our lives. Home was a very important part in Greek culture and is also important to us in western society. In The Odyssey by Homer, xenia, nostos, and hubris is used to show the importance of home. Xenia is used in the Odyssey to show the importance of

the world around him [Gil., Tablet XI. 83-84]. Enlil, a valiant god, has the need to destroy all mankind for the wrongdoers and transgressions, the same wish of the God of the Hebrews as well. The gods call the flood to come and destroy the entity of the world. Enlil destroys every living entity and leaves the land as bare of life. He sees Utanapishtim, and feels anger at the gods for sparing Utanapishtim’s life and the lives of his kin. Ea scolds Enlil for the irrational flood, for he could’ve sent

The ancient Mesopotamians believed that the primary function of their existence on the Earth was to serve the ruling Gods. It is for this reason that ancient Mesopotamian ritual was aimed primarily at keeping the Gods happy and content. The ancient Mesopotamians believed that the satisfaction of the Gods was of utmost importance to the welfare of Mesopotamian civilization. They believed that if the Gods were happy, humankind would thrive and be protected. Alternatively, if the Gods were unhappy,

flesh-eating vulture, a long, powerful tail, and a body covered in poisonous scaled plates. With seven impenetrable auras of mythical power and strength, Humbaba was virtually immortal. Even with the horrifying semblance, the beast was appointed by Enlil, the powerful Sumerian God of wind, to protect the sacred Cedar Forest of the Amanus. Humbaba was granted the Cedar Forest as his territorial domain; the fearful monster would protect

However, the most important opposing detail between the stories is the motivation behind the flood itself. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the assembly of the gods comes together to evoke a flood that is to destroy all of mankind. While it is clear that Enlil is the central drive behind the deluge, it is not evident of his full intentions behind the catastrophe. The

sign that Shamash is traveling with them as a father and protector. The vision of a wild bull foreshadows the future battle against the Bull of Heaven. In the second chapter, “The Forest Journey”, Gilgamesh’s destiny is revealed to him in a dream by Enlil. Enkidu explains that the dream means Gilgamesh will not live forever but while he lives he will be powerful. At this point forward Gilgamesh, again and again, clashes with his mortality. From denying the reality of it and his determination to evade

Gilgamesh had the Gods who are Anu, Enlil, Ninurta, Ennugi, and Ea (line 2-3, p.20). In contrast to The Epic of Gilgamesh, Genesis had the only God according to the whole story. As the omniscient God existed over the world, the God in Genesis naturally controls every field of the world without distributing roles. On the other hand, a number of the Gods in The Epic of Gilgamesh can split the roles into parts. For example, Anu is the lord of the firmament, warrior Enlil is the counselor of the city Shurrupak

ask that man be created to take the work load off their backs. The womb goddess is then instructed to create mankind from clay. Turns out mankind for the gods ends up being something unexpected so Enlil orders a drought at first and figures that his ideas to lessen the population is not working. So Enlil has no choice to send a flood in hope to depopulate the society but he first sends Atrahasis to build a boat and gather two of each kind. In contrast to the flood in Atrahasis, the story in Gilgamesh

The story of Gilgamesh and the book of Genesis from the Hebrew Bible, are two historical religious stories in which tell the tales of the destruction of mankind that was made by the Gods/God. This destruction was caused by a massive flood in which both higher powers from both stories send to erase all human life form from the earth. In both stories a higher powers save an individual from the flood to continue humanities existence for a "fresh start." But some may question, But why? Did they hate

Bible, there exist both similarities and differences. One commonality is the destruction of mankind. In Gilgamesh, the gods unite to attempt and terminate mankind. Enlil ordered a flood to come and swipe all of mankind. Consequently, Ea betrays the gods and told Utnapishtim their scheme. Ea informs Utnapishtim of the oncoming flood Enlil has sent. Ea instructs Utnapishtim to construct a boat and to load all living beings, relatives, craftsmen, and all beasts and animals of the field onto it. In the

You see, in Gilgamesh the Hero, a god by the name of Enlil was already on edge because of humans. Enlil grew annoyed by humans because they made too much noise for his liking. To get rid of the noise, Enlil ordered another god by the name of Ea to “send plague to prune the noisiest.” The plague worked for a little while but as time went on humans got louder and louder and Enlil only grew more annoyed which eventually drove him to wanting every single human dead. After

This can be seen in the Sumerian version when the flood waters have receded and Enlil sees the surviving Utnapishtim and cries, “Has any of these mortals escaped? Not one was to have survived the destruction.” The contrary can be seen in the Israeli version, when the passage reads, “The Lord then said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you

knows this act will displease Enlil, the god that put Humbaba in the forest. After walking through the forest and finding Humbaba, the duo begins to use their weapons to lash out at the forest beast. During combat, Humbaba begins to plead for his life. This prompts Enkidu to tell Gilgamesh to have no mercy and to kill the beast because the god, Shamash, approves and is helping them. Shamash’s help is given despite the fact that the killing of the beast will enrage Enlil. While Enkidu does display that

Gilgamesh had the gods who are Anu, Enlil, Ninurta, Ennugi, Ea (line 2-3, p.20). In contrast to The Epic of Gilgamesh, Genesis had the only God according to the whole story. As the omniscient God existed over the world, the God in Genesis naturally controls every field of the world without distributing roles. On the other hand, a number of the gods in The Epic of Gilgamesh can split the roles into parts. For example, Anu is the lord of the firmament, warrior Enlil is the counselor of the city Shurrupak

he changes his opinion of Enkidu and Gilgamesh and he decides that one of them must die. Shamash the god who originally sent the two to slay Humbaba which ultimately resulted in Ishtar wanting to be with Gilgamesh defends the pair and is accused by Enlil of being their friend and not a

The position of humans in relation to the gods in The Epic of Gilgamesh is a direct reflection of Mesopotamian society’s view in which humans are subservient to the gods’ will. To be more specific, humans are expected to be obedient to the god’s will in their actions and are punished for disobeying. In this manner, even Gilgamesh who is 2/3’s divine, is still subjected to the other positions of humans yet, his defiant nature shows the emotions of the gods when people are disobedient. One of the

“The Lord saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth, and how every plan devised by his mind was nothing but evil all the time.” (Noah 171). On the other hand, the gods in “The Story of the Flood” claimed that the humans were making too much noise. “Enlil heard the clamor and he said to the gods in council ‘The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of babel’” (Story of the Flood 146). After the God or gods made their decision, somebody on earth was notified of the

was pure. Enlil was the one who destroyed mankind, but Ea warned Utnapishtim behind Enlil’s back. The flood lasted six days and six nights in “The Epic of Gilgamesh.” “When the seventh day dawned the storm from the south subsided, the sea grew calm, the flood was stilled.” (Gilgamesh 147) For Noah “the rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights.” (Noah 173) Noah dies 350 years after the flood when he is 950 years old. Utnapishtim, however, is granted immortal life after Enlil gets angry

Gilgamesh vs. Enkidu Gilgamesh is the great king of Uruk, who was two-thirds god and one-third human. He was physically beautiful, immensely strong, and very wise. He probably ruled around 2700 B.C.E. and was remembered for the building of Uruk’s monumental city walls, which were ten kilometers long and fitted with nine hundred towers. He is the greatest of all men, and both his virtues and his flaws are outsized. He is the fiercest of warriors and the most ambitious of builders. The Gilgamesh

Ea has an oath with mankind. Ea warns a man, named Utnapishtim, of the oncoming flood and instructs him to tear down his house and to build a ship out of it. He also urges Utnapishtim to let go of his worldly possessions and save his soul instead. Enlil brings strong winds and a flood for six days and six nights hoping that no one can survive his wrath, but he is not aware that Utnapishtim and his wife are safe in a ship. A humble and worthy man is chosen in both stories, but most importantly it seems