How Did Gilgamesh Influence Ancient Greek Culture

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a poem dating all the way back to ancient Mesopotamia, 2700-2500 B.C.E., and is considered to be one of the first literary writings. The Mesopotamians lived in a way that, at first glance can remind one of the Ancient Greeks. The two cultures seemed to share similar characteristics, like their interaction with the gods, comparable hierarchy, kingship, and religious class being the social order, and the acceptance of combat and violence, all of which can be witnessed in the epic. So it can be assumed that the Epic of Gilgamesh exerted a profound influence on ancient Greek culture, and many other cultures throughout history.

From the epic we can see that a strong male leader, supported by the city elders, was the traditional

There is the same communication with a large amount of gods who guide men, but the gods often remain unsympathetic to them. Throughout the epic we are introduced to various different gods that are attached to natural phenomena and/or occurrences, Shamash the Sun God, Ishtar the principal goddess of love and war of Uruk, Ea the god of water and the god of water, etc. In general, the gods live with some sort of attitude to humanity in the story, by ruling palace-like temples and being treated as royalty. The gods, also, seem to be personified, because the gods are seen holding relationships, picking favorites, and fighting among themselves. For example, when Enlil decides to destroy humanity with the flood, Enlil is safe within his palace, while the other gods are soaked and struggling because of the flood. Having said that though, the gods seem to play less of a role in this epic than they would in Greek myths, for example. In this particular epic, they seem more like spectators than central figures. Also, interestingly, it is unclear from the epic what role the gods play in ancient Mesopotamian