Gilgamesh

5 Pages 1204 Words

The Babylonian author of The Epic of Gilgamesh reveals very much about the Sumerian culture especially through the use of the intervention of the gods is his tale of a hero and king fearing the inevitable stage of life; death. The gods and goddesses in the epic are written in their Akkadian forms, yet they did originate in the Sumerian language. The tale of Gilgamesh is based on King Gilgamesh of Uruk whose legendary adventure lies in the hands of the gods and goddesses from above and below.
Gilgamesh himself is depicted as two-thirds god and one-third man which was definitely connected to the way the Sumerian culture thought of their kings in c. 3600 BCE. Their king was thought of as semi-divine being. Gilgamesh’s mother is a goddess named Ninsun and his father is Lugalbanda. The Sumerians put forth so much of their time worshipping and paying sacrifice to the gods by the way of temples, offerings, burial sacrifices, worship and belief in the Netherworld. That shows us that the people of the Sumerian civilization and the people portrayed in Uruk very much believed in the gods’ powers. Even Gilgamesh, part god, exhibited every person’s belief in the gods. In the Late Uruk Period the people saw themselves as humans put on this earth to serve the gods and while doing so have the chance to live a righteous life, live by me(the laws of the universe) and when you die(since the gods only retained immortality for themselves) hopefully there are enough gifts and sacrifices for you that make your stay more pleasurable in the Netherworld.
In Sumerian culture An is the patron god of Uruk, god of the sky and earlier known as the father and ruler of all gods. This god is represented in Akkadian in the Babylonian story as Anu with the same characteristics. Enlil, the patron god of the holy city, Nippur; god of air and even thought of as the diety who chose and gave power to all the earthly rulers. Shamash is god of the sun and ...