Gilgamesh

Introduction

Strong and powerful, truly a hero having skill, intelligence, courage, heroism, bravery and reverence, Gilgamesh is a magnificent epic of literature. Gilgamesh was an historical king of Uruk in Babylonia, on the River Euphrates in modern Iraq and is said to have reined c. 2750 BCE as the 5th ruler of the first dynasty of Uruk. Gilgamesh is a figure possessing distinct weapons of great size and power, wit and wisdom, nobility of heroic enterprise, the man's responsibilities to his family and proper duties of kingship. To prove that Gilgamesh was truly a hero, we will consider some of the depictions below (Maslow 1-5).

Gilgamesh is an epic about an unusual person endowed with superhuman powers; it talks about the adventures and development of a real king of Uruk, a city of Mesopotamia. The epic is one of the kinds of later epics such as Homer's lliad and Odyseyy in numerous ways (Thackara 2-3). Gilgamesh is bestowed with extraordinary physical abilities and the epic highlights various instances of it throughout the chain of his life. In Gilgamesh and Odyssey, the main characters and their unusual adventures are highlighted; fights with monsters, crossing seas, passing and visiting mysterious lands. All these epics are characterized by mythological Gods but the settings are determined by real lands.

Gilgamesh was a real life king of Uruk, a city-state in Mesopotamia, in 2700 BC. He became famous after his death, numerous authors and storytellers presented his powers and regarded him as two third divine and one third human while greatly exaggerating his powers. Gilgamesh was an impulsive ruler who wishes and opts for challengers and adventures to prove his prowess, abilities and enhance his reputation. He was a human king and was made of flesh and blood, in contrast to God. His divine relationship with the God was through spirituality that resided in his internal spiritual nature i.e. his psyche or soul, and not physically. This divine entity was thus, was poised of both matter and divine essence (Maslow 1-5).

Discussion

The entire epic demonstrates the great skills of Gilgamesh as a warrior and a combatant and fights fearlessly to lead his tribe. The proof of his great strength was fighting with the powerful, strong, sturdy, and robust beast Humbaba. Gilgamesh, a wise and adventurous king, is first identified as a hero when he battles and conquers Humbaba, guardian of the spiritual cedar forest. Fighting with such a monster was not an easy task, even Enkidu was afraid to start a fight with Humbaba. Gilgamesh would not listen to Enkidu and all the Enkidu's tries to convince the hero goes in vain because he was sure of his courage and bravery. To the tribe and the elders of Urk, Gilgamesh declares about his intentions to slash the cedar and win an everlasting and undying name for him. The elders though initially disapprove and reject Gilgamesh's venture and want Enkidu to direct them through the forest, but finally agree due to his staying power, endurance, and immense ...