Relationships In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a well-known literature that portraits the story of the king of Uruk. The story takes place around 2700 B.C. in Mesopotamia where the king of Uruk known as Gilgamesh rules his city with great walls and high ego. Gilgamesh is described as two-thirds god and one-third man with all his power he uses it to cause horror to his kingdom. Gilgamesh ruled his subjects with cruel laws, thus the citizens of Uruk suffered under his oppression. While the citizens of Uruk complained to the Gods above of the horror of Gilgamesh the gods decided they needed to intervene in Gilgamesh’s behavior. “You made him O Aruru now create his equal; let it be as like him as his own reflection, his second self, stormy heart of stormy heart.”

In many mythology literature we get an understanding that humans and gods do not get along as gods are more divine than human. Their relationship seems to be quite rattled, in the epic of Gilgamesh the gods seem to play a huge impact in Gilgamesh’s life as they are the one who watches Gilgamesh’s actions and make decisions upon them. In this literature it should be known that here are more than one god each which holds different powers and strength. Each god plays a role in Gilgamesh’s journey as he travels around and rule his empire. In the literature we get an idea that the gods where not a huge fan of Gilgamesh as he was not the ruler they expected him to be, so they intervene in his life by creating Enkidu as a guidance. Even by doing so the gods where not happy with the outcome these two brought and decided to punish them with the death of

In order to have a good life one must please god and make them happy. Either by doing good deeds, following god’s orders or by worshiping them. By doing these acts the gods will be happy with the humans and protect them. As god is divine and humans are not, humans look up to god as a source of savior and protector of all bad things that can occur. The citizen’s in Uruk looked up to Gilgamesh’s as a god like figure as he is two third god himself, even though he is not a good king. Gilgamesh is seen as a mediator between the divine gods and the humans. As the scared citizens of Uruk they follow the commands of their king and obey his cruel laws as they do not want to be punished by the divine gods as well by Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh’s behavior toward his empire is unhuman and outrageous but the fear to stand up to their holy figure is not