Gilgamesh: Escaping his Destiny

Gilgamesh was the first surviving epic poem which was originally written on twelve clay tablets, in a set of symbols called cuneiform near or around 2000 BC. This heroic poem was named after the hero, King Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh was a tyrannical Babylonian king who ruled the city of Uruk. His father was mortal and his mother was a goddess making him 2/3 god and 1/3 man. He had special powers of a god but was also mortal and …

…to die. Part of Enkidu and Gilgamesh's friendship was for enkidu to teach Gilgamesh what it means to be human. He teaches him the meaning of love and compassion, the meaning of loss and of growing older and most importantly, the meaning of mortality. The epic of Gilgamesh touches people because it is about issues of everyday life that happen all the time. It is the agony of loss and death for all human beings.