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The Journey Towards Greater Insight and Death
The Babylonian Epic of the valiant hero Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, consists of a series of episodes, which all primarily center on one theme, human attitudes towards death. By focusing on one persons struggle to accept death as one of the fundamental conditions of life. The epic stresses the journey to greater existential insight or coming to terms with human mortality. In its own way, the Gilgamesh epic explores many social issues of life, between the extraordinary and the normal man. But most importantly, the epic is a work of literature, addressing several life’s social issues. As depicted in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the concept of heroism manifests itself through Social, Political, and Religious values, in the Sumerian culture.
Social values are ways to teach and provide explanation and understanding of life, to a society. Social values were an important fundamental part of the Sumerians, in relation to patriotism, respect for human dignity, rationality, sacrifice, individuality, equality, and democracy, in order for their culture to survive.
Gilgamesh’s rules were inspired by the Sumerians, and by his Political deeds, The resolution of the conflict between the virtues of individualistic heroism, public responsibility, and leadership will come when a society recognizes that they must give up the illusion of living on an extraordinary plane, learn to value normality, and assume the role of a normal and effective society.
The Sumerians choose a positive relationship with the divine. To them, Religion is important for survival and success during the human lifespan and even beyond it. According to Abusch, the life of heroism loses its meaning, as seen with Gilgamesh, only immortality as a human seems to remain an acceptable option, but such is unattainable, for only gods are immortal while humans must die( Abusch, 621).
Sumerians are inspired by heroism, which is revealed through faith in mankind. In reality, heroism brings change to the individual, it is expressed daily by our deeds. Gilgamesh is presented to us as an individual who lives on a heroic plane and exists in spiritual isolation, but we know that such a life is unbelievable, for no man is an island. The hero characteristics of Gilgamesh can be seen in many traditional Mesopotamia cultures today, through their heroism of aggressive, courageous, and impetuous behaviors, battling strong enemies in their societies (Kirk, 132-52).
Work Cite
- G. S. Kirk, Myth: It’s Meaning and Functions in Ancient and Other Cultures (Berkeley/Los Angeles, 1973), 132-52;
- T. Abusch, J. Huehnergard, and P. Steinkeller (Atlanta, 1990), 614
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