The Epic Of Gilgamesh - 1523 Words

Mohammad El-haj Mid-Term Humanities Question #1: The Epic of Gilgamesh The story focuses on Gilgamesh who is a king, goddess and man in the ancient Sumerian City state of Uruk. Gilgamesh is presented as the strongest and handsome man in the world but this makes the king feel superior to his subjects.’ Gilgamesh exploits young men through tiresome activities. In addition, Gilgamesh sexually exploits young women in his Kingdom until the residents of Urk cannot take any more and prays to gods for deliverance. The god Adu hears the residents’ travails and commands the goddess Aruru to revenge by creating another man with same supernatural powers as Gilgamesh. Aruru creates Ekindu, a man who exhibits uncivilized character and lives in the wood†¦show more content†¦Later, Gilgamesh survives the great flood after heeding the advice of Siduri and the immortal man Utnapishtim. The epic of Gilgamesh is important in the study of early civilizations especially the Sumerian society in regard to culture and religion. The story depicts a religious society that believed in supernatural powers that punishes people for been sinners. The story is also significant in understanding the values, norms and beliefs of the Sumerians. In particular, we learn that the Sumerians valued morality, loathed beastly acts and believed in just leadership. The main themes in this epic of Gilgamesh are death, friendship, sex, man and the natural world among others. Other themes that have been well capture by the story are fear, pride, religion and perseverance. The story depicts the importance of friendship in the society, the need to avoid pride, the need to have perseverance of the face of problems and the importance of chastity or good morals (Cunningham and Reich 156). Question #2: The Concept of Pre-Socratic Philosophy The concept of Pre-Socratic philosophy refers to Greek philosophy before Socrates philosophy. Aristotle called the pre-Socrates philosophers as physicists since they used natural explanations in their phenomena unlike the theologians who explained phenomena based on supernatural aspects. The pre-Socrates rejected the mythological explanations of phenomena and instead applied the rational explanations. Others focused on explaining a