Women In Ancient Sumerian

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Women’s roles to Ancient Sumerian’s It has been shown throughout history that women have played a variety of roles whether it was ranging from being a piece of property to being the queen. As showed in The Epic of Gilgamesh women played many different roles some were concubines and others were said to be goddesses. As said women played a very significant role in this era due to: being very fertile, having roles of goddesses, and even a woman was the one who showed Enkidu here ways. However at times you have to look past the exterior and look at the interior of the woman to find the real significance she played. When looking at woman roles in the book the most apparent showing of the significance of women is when Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, …show more content…

Ancient Sumerians general thoughts of women varied based on where you were looking. For example: if you looked in Egypt women held many rights and were pretty close to equal to men, but if you looked in Mesopotamia, where the book was held, you know that women were thought of as property. In Ancient Sumerian time the women were thought to be very fertile not just in the sense that they could create life but also in the since that women could do more than that. For example: one of the goddesses that they talked about in the Epic of Gilgamesh is called by the name Aruru the goddess of creation. The book says the gods cried to Aruru,” You made him, O Aruru, now create his equal; let it be as like him as his own reflection, his second self, stormy heart for stormy heart. Let them contend together and leave Uruk in quiet.” As said in the book the Gods did not cry to a God they Cried to a Goddess meaning she was the one and only one who created life in the way that the Gods wished. When it comes to Mesopotamia and the time of the Ancient Sumerian people the women were mostly thought of a property but it was not really portrayed that way in the Epic of Gilgamesh. There was no middle class for the women; they were either very important in the book or they were thought of as …show more content…

Anyways Gilgamesh was the one who called her a Harlot at that point. Although yes that is true he called her a Harlot but it is found out later in the book that she was the one and only one who could make Enkidu fall as a man would so the animals and wild beasts would run away. The Epic of Gilgamesh also talks of a goddess by the name of Ishtar. Ishtar is the goddess of love and war as well rules as the queen of heaven. She as well played a prominent role in the story; she asks Gilgamesh to be her “bridegroom” but he refuses making her mad and convincing the other Gods to send down the Bull of Heaven to kill Gilgamesh Showing again that the Gods listened to a Goddess and sent down the Bull of Heaven. Which in fact means that the goddesses have some sort of power over the Gods. Showing that the woman in Gilgamesh’s life were very important to him as well as the people of his

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