The fictional queen of Ithaca and and a woman in 1930’s Mississippi having anything in common might seem like a stretch but in fact, they are more similar than they seem at first glance. Penelope of The Odyssey and Penny of O Brother, Where Art Thou have much in common along with characteristics that set them apart from each other. Penelope is presented as loyal, distraught. Penny is presented as unapologetic and a more independent, strong woman when being compared to Penelope. The two women are similar in that they are both cunning and cautious. Many of these changes are made in order to allow the character to blend into the time period and, in the case of Penny, to create a stronger, more realistic female character.…
Two ancient renowned protagonists: Spartacus and Gilgamesh. They both lived in the before christ era, Gilgamesh lived in the 2700 B.C (Sarah). However, Spartacus lived from 109-71 B.C (Czech). Both of which have different stories from one another. One being a gladiator turned slave turned rebellion leader. The other being a demigod and king of Uruk. They both have traits that would make them well admired by modern society. However, Spartacus would more than likely be more adored. This is because he is a gladiator, a rebellion leader and he is very convincing and promising.…
Gilgamesh is told to be the oldest existing story in the history of humankind, imminently, the story has many similarities to the bible. Bible is a text oof belief based lessons and the base of the religion of Christianity which has many similarities to Gilgamesh as in they both include the tales of worldly destruction with the reasons, destroyer and the saving. All similarities aside, the two texts can be contrasted as the bible is the root of world’s biggest universalizing religion and the Gilgamesh was not extracted as a manuscript and if man made errors are factored in, it may not have been comprehended as it was supposed to be. Gilgamesh and the bible can be compared and contrasted based on the stories, lessons and the effects on the evolution…
The parallels between The Epic of Gilgamesh, translated by Benjamin R. Foster, and the Genesis stories, from The Hebrew Bible, are uncanny. The overall theme of these stories talks about divine intervention and questions the human condition of mortality. Both of these infamous literary works address the fact that humans are the only known species capable of abstract thinking, moral judgment, and meta-cognition. While continuous belief compares this ability with the divine, the human life is limited whereas the supernatural is not. Theodore Hiebert raises this same awareness in “The Eden Narrative: A Literary and Religio-historical Study of Genesis 2-3” by saying, “wisdom and immortality are a stable pair in the ancient Near East, and that they are used both in Mesopotamian myths and in Genesis to explain the human condition and to mark the line between human and divine” (p. 2). The literal and metaphoric resemblances will force critical readers to wonder if the antecedent Gilgamesh story influenced the stories in Genesis.…
Deep in the region in the Arabian Desert is where two of the earliest civilizations resided. Their names are Egypt and Mesopotamia. These two societies resided near major rivers as their source of water for agriculture. Egypt developed into a self sufficient empire that entailed agriculture, social hierarchy, and religion. Mesopotamia used irrigation and developed cities with governments and formed new religious thoughts based off of the unknown. Their polytheistic religious beliefs became established around the period 3,000 B.C.E. Both Egypt and Mesopotamia believed in polytheism and ruled with theocracy; however their behavior towards the gods varied.…
Being a man of religious background, specifically Roman Catholic, I began read the tablets of Gilgamesh skeptically. However I did notice a significant difference between the Genesis chapters 6 through 9 and the Epic of Gilgamesh. The story of Noah as written in the Holy Bible, under Genesis was written as I believe within a society that carried very strong morals. A belief in something bigger than themselves; and their belief in that one thing was called God. A God that was merciful and compassionate, yet vengeful, in regards to his creation known as mankind. In regards to Noah’s story, God was to banish the word of all creatures including man for the violence state that they had become. In the essence of gender relations, it’s stated in Genesis that God saw how beautiful women were created as the daughters of men. It also mentions how God saved the life of one man and his family from a flood that was to be the end of one Generation, the original generation that got out of control in God’s eyes and the beginning of a fresh start. I also feel that the society, in which the accounts of the bible were written, was one of insecurity and redemption. Maybe the bible was like a code of conduct, with examples in which one at the time could refer too. That there were consequences, to ones actions, however through the act of redemption one could be saved, and forgiven by a merciful God. I don’t see vast examples of gender relations in this story for it speaks between man and God directly.…
The flood in Gilgamesh had many similarities to the story of Noah ark in Genesis of the Bible. When Gilgamesh was trying to find everlasting life, he went to Utanapishtim to learn how to get everlasting life. Utanapishtim told the story of the great flood and how the people had overwhelmed the earth and upset the gods. In Noah ark, God needed to cleanse the earth because the people had become to corrupted. I feel like the reasons why they flooded the earth was different in both stories because the Gods want to flood Earth because it was to crowed and in Genesis God want to save the people but cleanse the earth from the evil. They both had similar story line. The Gods came to one person to save men kind. In the story of Utanapishtim the god…
Mythology is the study of myths in sacred stories that connect humans, Gods, life, death, and afterlife. Gilgamesh has many different connections between Gods and humans. It is the oldest surviving piece of literature, but is incomplete, written only on clay tablets in cuneiform ("Notes on Gilgamesh."). The mythology from the stories is talked highly about amongst historians. Many have translated the text and tried to analyze it. There is one idea that the Gods played a big role in what the Uruk people did in their everyday lives. Since the Gods were connected to them so closely, it must have an effect on their society. The question is, did mythology have a big influence on the Uruk civilization?…
Compare and contrast at least two of the epic heroes that we have studied so far: Gilgamesh, Rama (or Sita), and Achilles (or another heroic figure from the Iliad). What makes these figures heroic in the eyes of their cultures, and what does does their heroic character reveal about the priorities or values of their cultures?…
“The Epic of Gilgamesh” is an ancient story by William Ellery Leonard that we have a written record and was recited for generation before it was inscribed on clay table in cuneiform script(6). Leonard presents challenges and experiences encountered by the powerful man Gilgamesh who ruled the city of Uruk in ancient Sumer, between 2700 and 2600 B.C (6). His power and strength lead the entire society to call upon the gods to make them another man who can take over form Gilgamesh (7). Engidu was chosen to be the person to overcome Gilgamesh but Gilgamesh challenged him to a fight and worn (9). By reading this epic, we can learn more about: its content as well as citation, its communication in addition to context, and its…
The Epic of Gilgamesh has many similarities with stories that come after its creation which leads us to believe it inspired those stories. One example of a story similar is the story of the great flood located in the Bible.…
URruk in her days of glory under the rein of King Gilgamash. Three forth God and one third beast he boosted "Who could have been a man more suited than me" He said. The last of his kind Gilgamash emerged supreme among the folk of URuk, His head high in the sky as proud Bull. Son of Ninsun Perfected by Aruru the Goddess of creation .Eyes as deep as the sea , Hair as wise as light, his armor shinning as a furnace of fire, fairer then the fairest ,his might unreasonable and unmatched.…
The Lord of the Rings and Odyssey are two very weird stories in my opinion. The two stories include several similarities. The most noteworthy similarity of the two that were in common was the use of themes. Both included similar themes such as, life, death,power, brotherly love, myth, temptation, and journey.…
Not only was the point of view of the story teller important in reading both The Odyssey and The Penelopiad, but the perspective regarding the time period in which the stories were written also provides much insight regarding the credibility of the events. The Penelopiad portray opposing views of the events that took place between Odysseus and Penelope. The Odyssey is told from a perspective consistent with the mindsets of that time period regarding a woman’s place in society. While in The Penelopiad, the novella is told from Penelope’s point of view, and includes more modern perspective and feminist ideals regarding roles of women. Atwood takes the modern perspective head on as “The novel unravels the influence of society, including family,…
Stories have been around since the beginning of time as a way to communicate ideas, past experiences and history passed down from generation to generation. According to the presentation in class a hero story deals with adventures, a fight/quest and a transformation. In the stories of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey both characters possess different and similar qualities involving the characteristic of a traditional hero story.…