Gilgamesh and the Iliad: comparative analysis of ancient epics

deities -- Gilgamesh -- iliad

A Comaprison Of The Deities In

the epic of gilgamesh and the iliad

In what is now the country of Iraq, part of the great "Fertile Crescent" between the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates, and where Hammurabi created his famous legal codes, ancient Babylon was the home of the epic story of Gilgamesh, written circa 1700 B.C.E and the oldest known story in the world which predates Homer's Iliad and Odyssey by a thousand years. The hero in The Epic of Gilgamesh was an historical king who reigned supreme in the Mesopotamian city of Uruk sometime around 2750 B.C.E. In this tale, the king of Uruk encounters a man named Enkidu who has been civilized by the art and magic of temple priestess. But when Enkidu dies, the king is overwrought with emotion and sadness and then sets out to on a long journey of discovery to find the only person in the known world who knows the secrets of life and death.

Of course, The Epic of Gilgamesh contains many references to various gods and goddesses, all of whom play major roles in the epic. Gilgamesh himself, described as a warrior and of gigantic proportions, is at first a tyrant, a human monster filled with great loathing and selfishness. He oppresses everyone in his orbit, both men and women, which prompts the people of Babylonia to pray to heaven. The main god Anu, the father of the Babylonian gods, hears their cries for help, but he does not assist them right away, a sign of his great ego and inability to lower himself to the status of a mere mortal. What he does instead is summon the great mother goddess Aruru to create another human being like Gilgamesh, but this time it is his double, his doppleganger; it is Enkidu: "Now go and create/A double for Gilgamesh, his second self/A man who equals his strength and courage/A man who equals his stormy heart/Create a new hero, let them balance each other/Perfectly, so that Uruk has peace" (Book I, pg. )

When Gilgamesh is sent on a long adventure to kill the monster known as Humbaba, he receives a great deal of motivation from Shamash, the god of the sun and the god of justice and the protector of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh's mother, the goddess Ninsun, makes a prayer to Shamash: "You have granted my son/Beauty and strength and courage -- why/Have you burdened him with a restless heart?" (Book III, pg. ). In this passage, Ninsun is portrayed as almost human in nature, for although she too is a god, she prays to another god for answers to her questions concerning Gilgamesh. Shamash, as the god of justice, is clearly in control and obviously must be summoned in order to bring about justice, even for the son of a god.

In Book IV of The Epic of Gilgamesh, another goddess, namely Ishtar, the goddess of love and the patron deity of Uruk, is not described with such honorable prestige as is Ninsun or Aruru, for she is utterly rejected by Gilgamesh and Enkidu, despite the fact that her temple is viewed as full of reverence and awe. Also, the fact that Ishtar was known as Inanna, the Queen of Heaven, in ancient Sumerian culture, makes this even more surprising, for in the mythic tales of Babylonia, Inanna was greatly honored, almost more than any other Babylonian deity.

In Homer's Iliad, considered as one of the greatest masterpieces of Western Civilization, the roles performed by the various gods and goddesses are quite similar to those found in The Epic of Gilgamesh. In this epic poem, the heroes of Greece sail far from their homes to attack the citadel, the city of Troy, in western Anatolia, now modern-day Turkey (Hissarlik). Their mission is to rescue Helen, the Greek Queen whom the son of the king of Troy has kidnapped from her husband. The ensuing battle between the Greeks and the Trojans brings about chaos and much death and at times the fates of the survivors all depend on the will and whims of the Gods on Mount Olympus.

In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Anu, the father of the Babylonian gods, is comparable to that of Zeus, the father of the Greek gods, all powerful and lord of all dominions on earth and in the sky. In the Iliad, Zeus is the omnipotent/omniscient god who sees all and knows all far in advance; he also controls the fates of many of the Greek warriors and prevents the city of Troy from becoming a spoil of war for the Greeks. In some respects, Zeus is Anu, for both are immortal and full of arrogance and selfishness.

Hera, the wife of Zeus, is akin to that of Aruru, the mother goddess in Gilgamesh. Hera is a great supporter of the Greeks in the Iliad and at times is called upon to perform miraculous events, much like Aruru when summoned by Anu to make a duplicate of Gilgamesh. Hera is also a very jealous goddess, similar to Ninsun, especially when she jealously asks Shamash why Gilgamesh has been burdened with a restless heart.