Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh

Different religions have very opposing views on how a god relates to a human. In Christianity, of course, God is all powerful, but the religion such as in The Epic of Gilgamesh is quite different. Not only are there more than one god, but each of the gods play separate roles to humans.

In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the king is described at the beginning as having king-like features. “To Gilgamesh’s beauty, Ishtar lifted her eyes. ‘Come, Gilgamesh, be my lover!’ ”(column 1). Ishtar is a goddess but looks upon Gilgamesh as someone beautiful enough to sleep with her. When he refuses, she goes to the heavens and complains to her father that Gilgamesh has wronged her. This shows that the gods are not above all. Ishtar shows a temper and wants revenge on Gilgamesh, but she doesn’t have the power to do that.

Each god has a different role to the society of humans. They all have specific things that they can control and they cannot step into the ruling of another god’s area. Gilgamesh seems to have the idea that the gods are all-powerful, but he is wrong. Ishtar must get permission from her father to take her revenge. She must ask