Similarities Between Gilgamesh And The Odyssey

Gilgamesh and The Odyssey are both considered epics because they have a hero who has imposing stature and great historical or legendary significance. The actions of these two heroes also involve deeds of great valor that requires superhuman courage. (Warren, 2015). Some characteristics of a hero may include cleverness, tenaciousness, altruistic, and containing strong leadership qualities. (What is a Hero, n.d.). Gilgamesh is heroic in the eyes of his culture because he is more than any man yet he is not quite immortal. Odysseus is heroic because of his long adventures and the cleverness he exhibited along the way. Analyzing these two characters will demonstrate their beginning similarities as poor leaders and their differences that ended them

Gilgamesh has only acquired two characteristics specific to heroes, he was still part man part god, went on a long journey, and defeated monsters that required superhuman courage. Overall, Gilgamesh demonstrated poor leadership qualities and did nothing altruistic. However he was still considered an epic hero because of his great feats, cleverness, tenaciousness, his historical significance as a king, and his superhuman courage. Odysseus varied as a leader. Unlike Gilgamesh, who stayed a horrid leader, Odysseus was able to grow and become better. Odysseus constantly battled himself for the title of a hero. He would do one excellent thing, only to do one horrible thing to cancel that out. Odysseus was in search for and expecting of far too much glory and praise, a good leader should not expect these things. Odysseus was also a poor leader in that many of his men died, and like Gilgamesh he seemed not to care. In the beginning Odysseus’ communication skills were poor. He did not tell his men the content of his bag from Aeolus, making them curious and causing problems for the group. Later however, Odysseus did communicate the dangers of eating cattle, only to have his men ignore this warning. (Lawall, 385-488). Odyssues’ cleverness is shown many times. In book IX Odysseus displayed an extraordinary amount of cleverness when he found himself and his crew upon a Cyclops. He did so by using