Gilgamesh and Odysseus Visit Underworld Comparison

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Main text
Summary
Works Cited

Introduction

While studying literature of the first world civilizations, such as the civilization of the Tigris-Euphrates area, and Ancient Greece civilization, I was interested in two epic books: The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Wanderings of Odysseus. I was really impressed with the two main characters of these books: superhuman Gilgamesh from the Epic of Gilgamesh and the ruler of Ithaca Odysseus. So I asked myself, if there is anything common between them. So, I was challenged with the question of comparison and contrasting them.

Main text

These two characters have a lot in common. They are both striving for the aim, they are smart, strong, courageous and they are both people of great endurance. If we are talking about Gilgamesh, who can be described as:

The one who saw all [Sha nagba imuru ]I will declare to the world,

The one who knew all I will tell about

He saw the great Mystery, he knew the Hidden:

He recovered the knowledge of all the times before the Flood.

He journeyed beyond the distant, he journeyed beyond exhaustion,

And then carved his story on stone. [naru : stone tablets ] (Kovacs 12)

He goes to the futile and indeed fraught with dangers journey in order to find out the secret of eternal life. He meets a lot of troubles on his way: he speaks to the giant scorpion Siduri, then he has some problems with the ferryman Urshanabi, who works for the legendary Utnapishtim, he destroys stone things, which could help him in his search of Utnapishtim. An ordinary human in such situations would probably be desperate, but not Gilgamesh. He makes punting poles in order to cross the Water of Death. But we should remember that it is so dangerous! If a mortal being was to touch these waters, then he would instantly die. But such things cannot stop such a hero as Gilgamesh, so eventually he meets Utnapihtim, who tells Gilgamesh an important story about the Flood and how he managed to survive, and release the creatures: birds, animals. Then Utnapihtim tells him a story about how he became immortal, when the god Entil blessed him and his family:

At one time Utnapishtim was mortal.

At this time let him be a god and immortal;

Let him live in the far away as the source of all the rivers (Kovacs 34).

And finally Gilgamesh is offered to become immortal. The condition that must be fulfilled is no sleep for six days and seven nights. But he makes a trick on the immortal man with the bread that his wife had been laying down every day by his feet. And then, when Utnapishtim finds him asleep, the hero is distraught:

O woe! What do I do now, where do I go now?

Death has devoured my body,

Where I go, wherever I look, there Stands Death! (Kovacs 41)

He cannot get the secret of immortality from Utnapishtim, but he gets instructions from him about the location of the magic plant, which can make him young again. He travels a lot with Utnapishtim, finds a special magic plant that he desired so much, but snake eats it. He thinks that it is a disaster for him:

For whom have I labored?

For whom have I journeyed?

For whom have I suffered?

I have gained absolutely nothing for myself,

I have only profited the snake, the ground lion! (Kovacs 45).

But I think that the case with the flower helped Gilgamesh to understand that the most important thing in his life was his motherland. He ends his journey near the gates to Uruk, his native city. I think that by inviting Urshanabi to look at the greatness of his city, Gilgamesh understands that he is already immortal and he will be immortal forever. The immortality is this city, in which the spirit of Gilgamesh will live forever on the stone of plapis lauzil, where is carved the account of his own exploits.

The similar adventure happens to Odysseus from The Wanderings of Odysseus. The only difference is that Odysseus actually seeks not for the immortality, but for the way to come back to his home, to Ithaca. The visit to Hades through the river Acheron helps him to reach his aim. When Odysseus gets to the Underworld, he speaks to Circe, to dead people. He meets Tiresias on his way, who gives him advice about oar and about how to make the sacrifice to Poseidon, also he meets Achilles. On his journey, he also gets to see his mother and she awakes memories from the depths of his soul.

Summary

Odysseus tries in every way possible to get back home. And I think that is the main difference between him and Gilgamesh, Odysseus knew the value and the forth of his native land. They have something in common and some circumstances in their life are different. They are both worthy characters, and it is impossible to say that the life search of one of them was wrong, because every human reaches his own understanding of the world in his own way which is unique. So I think we just have to look for something good in them in order to use it to become, maybe, a little bit better.

Works Cited

Maureen Gallery Kovacs. The Epic of Gilgamesh. Stanford University Press, 1989.

Rosemary Sutcliff, Homer, Alan Lee. The Wanderings of Odysseus: The Story of the Odyssey. Frances Lincoln Ltd, 2002.

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Gilgamesh and Odysseus Visit Underworld Comparison

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