“I instructed my land to keep the god’s rites. And provoked my people to value the goddess’s name.” This is one of the saying of Sumerian agonies towards the God. Despite his strict commitment towards religion and God, he endured an enormous loss of wealth and property. This illustrates that to live during that period, one must be strictly faithful, dedicated and must please their gods. At the same time, due to presence of strict monarchy where dictators’ aka “King” cruelly ruled over the common people, human lives in that period had to undergo extreme pain just to please their rulers. Sumerians believed their kings as their gods. Additionally, if any misfortune befell any person, they were made to think by their kings aka gods that it was …show more content…
Being the earliest civilization, Mesopotamians had little knowledge about life and future. They always believed gods are the creator of human being, and they will always protect them. In other words, Mesopotamians were entirely dedicated towards their gods. Sumerians were the considered as the first to establish civilization in Mesopotamia. It is said Sumerian were very religious. The Sumerians believed that their deities commanded the force of nature; while the gods were benevolent, they could nevertheless act capriciously were easily roused to anger (pg.13). They believed this nature is the gift of God for them, and God will be there to help them in every circumstance. It turned out to be true when Sumerians began to produce crops at that hot temperature of 110 °F. Despite the unpredictable weather condition and dry soil, they produce an abundant amount of summer grains for themselves and prairie grasses for their herds (pg.4). They thought became possible only because of the god. They had done everything they could and showed their full effort to make God happy. “You care for all the people of the lands. And everything that Ea [god of wisdom], king of the counselors had entrusted you.” Shamash Hymn has portrayed the relationship between God and his devotees, and how God has shown concerned towards his devotees. Shamash, the sun god of justice, has fulfilled his devotee’s wish and blessed them. But, it was …show more content…
Being the creator of humans, God had full power and privilege to rule over the people. But, during that civilization, gods has treated their devotees in a wrong manner. Instead of protecting them, they used people for their benefit. Sumerians believed in and sacrificed to hosts of deities (pg. 13). They thought their foremost duty is to make gods happy. Otherwise, they have to face severe consequences. They were afraid if an unhappy God could ruin their lives. They did not have a perfect place for them to live but worked hard to make palaces and temples for their gods. They spent their entire life to make attractive and decorative temples. They built Ziggurats, an atop which stood lavishly decorated temples that served as the earthly home of the god or goddess. Sumerians were obliged to build that pyramid in that hot temperature of 110 F. The Sumerians always had a feeling this nature exists only because of the blessing of the God. However, these beliefs of suffering for the God always proved wrong as Sumerian people continued suffering even after their right and honest deeds. Indeed, people started questioning the gods but they would not raise a voice to
The gods are beings capable of bringing misfortune or greatness which is why mortals tend to perform sacrifices in honor of the gods due
Again, I feel as though this reflects on the Sumerian view that humans are limited and the world is, at any time, capable of falling back into chaos. The Sumerian gods were careless and reckless regarding the humans, whereas the Israeli God specifically chose a family that he had deemed worthy to create a new
Thesis Statement: Mesopotamians and Hebrews are depicted as very different when it comes to religious beliefs, but actually seem to have many similarities in many ways and has led to many of their laws and social stratification correlating. Topic Sentence 1: Since the ancient Hebrews were Monotheistic and the Mesopotamians were Polytheistic, they are naturally assumed to be completely unlike each other; that is simply not the case with these specific civilizations. Topic Sentence 2: The Gods or God in both the Polytheistic and Monotheistic religions have similar traits, but the beliefs of the civilians in both cultures can be viewed as different.
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).
Honors Assignment 3 Rylea Nesmith 1. Could anyone have predicted how the economy of the North American colonies would have developed? Be sure to use specific examples such as reasons, crops, systems, competition, etc... No, no one knew what they could produce that Europe would value.
People of Uruk complain about the nature of Gilgamesh’ tyranny to gods as they can no longer tolerate the king’s unjust behaviors: “His companions are kept on their feet by his contests, [the young men of Uruk] he harries without warrant. Gilgamesh lets no son go free to his father, by day and by [night his tyranny grows] harsher. (Gilgamesh, I.166-170)” People rely on the king to protect their rights and the country, but Gilgamesh does the opposite by taking away their sons and daughters for his personal needs. The people of Uruk feel oppressed under Gilgamesh’s rule as Gilgamesh gives himself the right to sleep with women on the first night of marriage and to take away sons from the household to appease his appetite for war games.
The rivers that these civilizations were built around directly impacted the way they viewed their gods. The Nile was a very strong and reliable river. It flooded annually blessing the Ancient Egyptians with a richer agriculture then Ancient Mesopotamians. (pg 17) Because of this the Egyptians viewed their gods as reliable beings who wanted to help them.
The relationships between the Greek gods and mortals have always been complicated. The gods can be generous and supportive, but also harsh and destructive towards the humans. They claim to be all powerful beings with unlimited power and influence, but in truth, they are far more human than they are perceived. They meddle with human lives, not because they are wise, but because of their own selfish reasons. In Homer’s
There were also gods of lesser things such as love and scribal arts. Looking at Mesopotamia’s geography, you can see how it might have served as inspiration for deities. The Euphrates and Tigris rivers surrounding Babylon could’ve been inspirations for the many water gods like Apsu, Enki, and Tiamat, as could the Persian Gulf located nearby. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the gods are depicted as harsh and wrathful because they decide to wipe out the human race with a flood just because they make too much noise (Ward p.20). The gods’ destructive nature is likely based off the chaos caused by flooding from the Tigris and Euphrates.
Cultural Values A demigod named Gilgamesh, tragically loses his best friend, then he goes on a journey to find the secret of immortality. One could say that these specific cultural values work effectively for the Gods and the people of Uruk, such as rituals, war, and making sacrifices to make this culture successful. Commonly this culture mostly performs rituals for everlasting life or immortality. Gods are afraid of mortality and death itself.
People Change People The Epic of Gilgamesh is a tale read throughout time about the ancient King of Uruk, Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is a selfish king who is stronger than any man because he is two parts God and one part human. With his strength, Gilgamesh abuses his power causing the people of Uruk to lament. Hearing these laments, the Gods created Enkidu for Gilgamesh, to be his equal in all aspects.
The Epic of Gilgamesh: Relevant Truth for Today’s Society The Epic of Gilgamesh is set in Uruk, an ancient city of the ancient Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer, now modern-day Iraq. The epic was said to be written by Sin-liqe-unninni, but it is based on five earlier Sumerian poems with no known author. The piece was difficult to translate, and there are two main version for the Epic of Gilgamesh. This is the result of the environment during the time the piece was being written.
The Egyptian Middle Kingdom and Babylonia had many similarities related in geography. Despite this they also had numerous distinct differences. Fundamental similarities manifested as care for the people by the rulers which had recently developed in both societies. As the rulers were no longer concerned with only themselves, but the citizens as well. Both societies had military protection although Babylon organized and conquered the Fertile Crescent and later Egypt.
Human suffering is one of the major themes in The Epic of Gilgamesh. When confronting with painful circumstances in our lives, we often ask ourselves why is life so difficult and wonder if suffering is necessary. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the two heroes, Gilgamesh and Enkidu both go through suffering either physically or mentally. There are many beliefs to the reason why suffering is inevitable. In this epic, it is portrayed that the two heroes’ sufferings are the results of their fundamental flaws, such as their hubris and their attachments of to be remembered.
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).