Introduction
All ethnic groups, especially in ancient times, had their heroes and iconized characters. In ancient Mesopotamia, such a hero was Gilgamesh- a warlike and wise king bent on immortality. The found tablets with the story of his life can be identified as the first memorial of literary skill. It can even be named the religious dedicatory empowered in literal form. The Epic of Gilgamesh demonstrates the powerful influence of people’s religious beliefs on the central message of the story and the characters’ behavior and decisions.
The Role of Religion in The Epic of Gilgamesh
George Smith found the poem in the Babylonian version during the excavation of the Ashurbanipal’s Palace in 1872. When these tablets were translated and published, everyone noted the unbelievable resemblance with the Bible, especially with the description of the flood. Gilgamesh was the priest and the king of Uruk, the city where gods began creating the cultural world, one of the first cities in Mesopotamia. According to the different myths and legends, Gilgamesh was two-thirds of god and one-third a man, which is significant. If it is noted that every person has something divine, Gilgamesh somehow expresses divine essence in every person.
Ancient Mesopotamian Religion
Mesopotamian religion was formed concurrently with the Egyptians but turned to become a lot more complex structure in case several nations combined their gods, beliefs, and values. Finally, in the Mesopotamian religion, there were about 3500 gods with various names and treatments. However, the point of the agreement was that gods were not kind-hearted and lovely characters; they were cruel and demanding. Gods used people as tools to stay full and relaxed. Mesopotamians also have heroes; they were illustrated as people with godlike powers. Mesopotamians transferred their experience of life and reality through epics, myths, and legends, and even now, it is still thought-provoking and essential knowledge for people.
The Godly Behavior of the Characters in The Epic of Gilgamesh
This epic nominally told the readers about the legendary accomplishments of Gilgamesh, using several epos and mythological storylines. Still, The Epic of Gilgamesh is devoted not to the historical stories of one particular nationality, but to the leads of personality, the human’ s fate in this world, from the perspective of the religion among them. Even though Gilgamesh was identified as a hero for Mesopotamians, it is important to see as he had two-thirds of the god, Gilgamesh in The Epic of Gilgamesh was described as a somewhat ambiguous character. People were suffering from his acts, while he, like gods, stayed cynical and even bloodthirsty. This abstract demonstrates his crazy behavior (Gilgamesh, 2):
“Gilgamesh does not leave a son to his father,
“day and night, he arrogantly…
“Is he the shepherd of Uruk-‐Haven,
“is he their shepherd…
“bold, eminent, knowing, and wise,
“Gilgamesh does not leave a girl to her mother(?)!”
It was instead a strange hero prototype for epos. Still, it is notable that human behavior was a part of Gilgamesh too. While gods tended to take everything, they wanted to use power. Although the primary concern of the story lies in the desire of |Gilgamesh to fully align himself with gods and became immortal (Gilgamesh, 10):
“It is I who will establish fame for eternity! “
However, in the beginning, it was the immature desire, the indicator of power and strength; by the end, after Enkidu’s death, it turned out to be a shout-out for help and a sigh of fear and despair.
As it was prohibited for gods to invade human life, gods decided to placate Gilgamesh with the help of another influential person – Enkidu (Gilgamesh, 3), as it is notable as strong as Gilgamesh.
“In the wildness(?) she created valiant Enkidu,
born of Silence, endowed with strength by Ninurta. “
Enkidu forfeited his wildness and went native after the reunion with the woman, this unity Enkidu to step into the culture. As Enkidu became the brother and the friend of Gilgamesh, he encouraged him to develop himself as a true leader. He implemented his purpose, reducing his dangerous temper of Gilgamesh by his friendship. Enkidu’s behavior and following fate illustrated the fear of people while confronting the power they could not defeat, Enkidu had to become the opponent and protector of humans. Still, he had become the ally enhancing his capacity of Gilgamesh.
Conclusion
The Epic of Gilgamesh affected and confronted practically all values, beliefs, and religious dissents in Mesopotamia. In my opinion, this definition of strength in its possible and impossible variants turned out to be the symbol of religion’s revelations above all human forces. Even incredible power did not help Gilgamesh to reach immortality. The Epic showed the complicity of death and life in spiritual aspects and demonstrated the lowland of human abilities in confrontation with the disposition of God.
Work Cited
The Epic of Gilgamesh. Translated by Maureen G. Kovacs, Electronic Edition by Wolf Carnahan, 1998.