5. Mesopotamian deities required humanity to worship and praise them. Basically, they were to be their servants.
In both Egypt and Mesopotamia, they both have ideas about the afterlife. The two have some similarities and differences about the afterlife in which whether they come back as another person, or they come back as another soul, or they go to another world. In Egypt and Mesopotamia there are different meanings of the afterlife through the similarities, difference, and the different civilizations.
A group called the Sumerians dominated majority of Mesopotamia and left their legacy on the land. They created writing, built monuments, and developed a social structure. They established how the economy and how the government works. There was independent city-state, and each state had its own king. In these times, the people were very focused on religion and so in the center of every town was a temple dedicated to the chief god/goddess of the city.
Religious beliefs and practices differed greatly from country to country; however each religion inquired of the purpose of life through gods or deities. The Egyptian’s religion revolved around the rite of passage. The Egyptians would receive favorable conditions after death only if they pleased the Gods, and their descendant Pharaoh. The purpose of the Egyptians life was solely to keep Pharaoh and the Gods happy something that could only be accomplished through strict worship and unrelenting obedience. In contrast, the Sumerians beliefs were an entangled webs of stories about the gods they worshipped that related back to a single principle “people...were the servants of gods in the most literal sense.” (Backman 16) Their belief provided very little rewards as it was thought that the outcome of all dead was to be “cosigned equally to spending eternity wandering naked and exposed through an endless expanse of darkness, dust, and heat.” (Backman
Most of Egyptians stories about their gods and their poems usually have an happy ending, while on the other side the Mesopotamians stories were bitter, dull, and didn 't have happy endings. Mesopotamians after life differed from Egypt, it wasn 't any heaven or hell no matter if you did good or bad. This belief was the complete opposite in the Egyptian civilization, they believed in a heaven and hell and that if you did wrong you would go to hell, and if you did good in your after life you will go to heaven and be with the gods and have an amazing after life. Their religions were polytheistic because Mesopotamians and Egyptians could not explain many things in that occurred in their lives. Mesopotamians lack of care for the after life and disbelief that if you do good the gods will bless you with a amazing after life was one of the reasons why they didn’t have great pyramids and tombs like Egypt, because it wasn 't anything to motivate them to build such great and difficult
There are multiple views on death and the afterlife and each view is different depending on the religion or belief that someone practices. Some religions believe in a heaven but not a hell, some believe in both and others do not believe in either. The religions that are practiced today were created by our ancient ancestors who had the ability to think beyond themselves. Practicing a religion and having an idea of death and an afterlife back in ancient times laid a foundation on how religion is seen and practiced today. Mesopotamians, Egyptians and Hindu’s created the concept of death and life after death through what they believed and practiced in ancient times.
Ancient world literature and early civilization stories are mostly centered on human’s relationship with higher beings. Ancient civilizations were extremely religious, holding the belief that their very lives were in the hands of their almighty god or goddess. This holds true for both the people of biblical times as well as those of the epic era. However, their stories have some differences according to cultural variation but the main structure, ideas, and themes are generally found correlative. It is hard to believe that one work did not affect the others. The first great heroic epic poem of Gilgamesh and the Old Testament are parts of two cultures that are hundreds of years apart. Whereas Gilgamesh is a myth and the book of Genesis is the basis of many religions, they both have notably similar accounts of symbols, motifs, meaningful events according to the relationship between the divine and humans in literature.
The relationship between the gods and humanity in The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey are the same. In each saga, the gods seem to live nearby and are always present. Both epic poems portray humans as simply at the mercy of the gods. The gods feel that it is their duty to intervene if they feel that man is traveling off course from his destiny. However, the gods are not all powerful.
A common question many civilizations shared and strived to answer was about death and the afterlife. In Ancient Egypt, the lives of many citizens centered around a prosperous future in death. In fact, Ancient Egyptians believed life continued on in death. For this reason, they yearned to live justly as citizens of Egypt. If not, then the gods would deem them unworthy of entering heaven, or paradise. This was Ancient Egypt, a society seemingly obsessed with the afterlife and enriched with funeral practices. Their worship of pharaohs and gods, detailed inscriptions about mummification, and elaborate tombs influenced their constant strive towards achieving everlasting peace in the afterlife.
The people thought of all the gods to be wise and would seek their guidance in certain situations. Their religious beliefs brought this respect, and in some ways fear, to honor the gods so they would be gracious in return. “Religious beliefs instilled fear of the gods, who could alter the landscape, and desire to appease them” (Bulliet, 19). The Mesopotamians believed that the gods were human like in form, but that if they were to be unhappy by something the people did, they could alter anything in their lives, and in some cases even kill
The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem of a hero named Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is seventy- five percent god and twenty- five percent human. Gilgamesh is a fierce warrior and is used to getting what he pleases whenever he wants, but he is not satisfied with all the things he has. Gilgamesh is lonely and wishes for a companion of some sort. The gods notice that Gilgamesh is starting to become too powerful for his own good and decide to create another being somewhat similar to Gilgamesh, but more powerful so that he is able to defeat Gilgamesh and bring him to his knees. They create a similar being named Enkidu. Enkidu starts off as just a very powerful being wondering the wilderness by himself. He, like Gilgamesh is lonely and wishes to find someone
Throughout time, people of all cultures have told stories of heroes and kings. The most ancient story we have on record is the tale of King Gilgamesh. This story is an account of the King's journeys and accomplishments. Although it was written over four thousand years ago, many comparisons can be made between the society in which the story was written and our own modern society. In this essay, differences and similarities between the two societies will be examined.
Sumerians praised their gods and goddesses by building temples for them known as Ziggurats. Sumerians were constantly trying to praise the gods due to the fact that their climate was erratic. They believed that the gods and goddesses were in full control therefore they must pay them homage for future wealth and good weather. Yet they could not comprehend why such disasters would happen after such praise. According to the Mesopotamian Prayer, one can view the attitudes of the Sumerians towards the gods and goddesses. This prayer is very grim and pessimistic. It portrays the gods as “hostile, demanding and inscrutable...
Many themes are incorporated into the story line of Gilgamesh. These include three very important concepts: death is inevitable, immortality is unachievable, and friendship is a necessity.
Civilizations is identified by institutions whether is it governmental or cultural institutions. Mesopotamia is just one of the civilizations arouse about 3500- 3000 BCE, and influenced Homer on his literature about Iliad and Odyssey, where in this era Sumerian writings has thousands of clay tablets inscribed with wedge- shaped symbols of Sumerian script indicating that form of writing is developed around 3000 BCE. Then religiosity among Sumerian as well as Akkadian and Babylonian shared many basic attitudes and concepts that became the foundation for other Near Eastern beliefs system. Mesopotamian religion held that gods had created human beings to serve powerless mortals had no choice but to obey and worship these deities. Mesopotamian are polytheistic they believed in many gods and goddesses existed and often competed with one another. Believing that their gods is in human form as well with a strengths and weaknesses of mortals, believed their deities lived in the same way as people did, and when it comes in approaching the supernatural powers they are so practical, deities are there gods and have their own duties and responsibilities, there’s a sky of god and earth gods like for instance Anu, the sky of god; Enlil, the air god; Utu, the sun god; Enki the god of earth and the freshwater god; Nanna, the moon goddess; Inanna (or Ishatar), the goddess of love and war; and Ninhursag, the mother goddess. When it comes in their literature, The Epic of Gilgamesh focuses on fundamental themes that concern warriors in an aristocratic society; the need to be brave in the face of danger, the choice of death before dishonor, the conflict between companionship and sexual pleasure, the power of the gods over weak mortals, and the finality ...