Epic Heroes - A Comparison

Epic Heroes - a Comparison of Odysseus, Rama, and Gilgamesh

The ancient Greek warrior and king of Ithaca Odysseus, the Indian deity and prince Rama, and the ancient Mesopotamian demigod Gilgamesh are all heroes involved in epic 'quests.' Odysseus embarks upon a quest for his home, Ithaca. Rama goes in search of his wife Sita while he is banished to the forest to wander for fourteen years because of the vow his father made to one of his other queens. Gilgamesh goes in search of eternal life while he is in mourning for the death of his friend, Enkidu. Odysseus' quest illustrates the value and importance of home in ancient Greek society, while Rama's willingness to leave his kingdom for his father indicates the value of submission and honor. Gilgamesh's tale is a spiritual quest, and while Gilgamesh never finds eternal life, when the plant that grants this gift is eaten by a serpent the hero gains a kind of eternal insight he can bring back to his people: "it is enough that the snake recalls for us, in its sloughing of its skin, nature's pattern of regeneration" (Brown 1996).

Although favored by his patron goddess Athena, Odysseus must leave his home to fight in the Trojan War. He is condemned to further years of wandering because he blinds Poseidon's son the Cyclops. As a wanderer, he is forever a strange man in a strange place, always looking for home. The Greeks greatly valued home as a physical place and home as an existential concept -- the Greeks were known for calling all non-Greeks barbarians, by virtue of not being Greeks, and within Greece there were frequent civil wars between different city-states because of local pride. However, hospitality towards strangers was demanded by the Greek sense of fear of being placeless. "Xenia is the Greek relationship between two people from different regions. This [value] allowed for the members of the relationship to safely travel into the other member's territory and receive a place to stay and something to eat" (Biggs et al. 2009). This is one reason why Penelope's suitors in the "Odyssey" are seen as especially brutal, because they violate the principles of being a good guest to a hospitable host.