The Epic of Gilgamesh on Immortality and Its Ramifications

As long as humans have lived and died, we have strived to know the meaning of life. We assume that there is a meaning or importance to life, and in doing so try to provide some permanence to our existence so that a greater machine might continue to function. It is only natural, then, for us to be interested in the concept of immortality. If there is purpose to an ending life, a life that does not end must be supremely important. This idea is exemplified throughout time in stories both historical and fictional. The Epic of Gilgamesh is one such story. Gilgamesh deals with immortality on nearly every level, and at the same time points back to mortality, trying to extract a reason for living and dying.

Ostensively, The Epic of Gilgamesh entertains the idea of immortality on a physical plane. The struggle for earthly immortality is meant to seem futile in Gilgamesh because in the story, as in life, all humans die. At first, Gilgamesh shrugs off the fate of living by going to battle Humbaba, saying