Examination of Selected Classical Texts

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a cycle of poems preserved on 12 incomplete Akkadian-language tablets found at Nineveh in the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, with the tablets being found in the nineteenth century. The tablets date from the seventh century B.C. The time of the tale is one in which human beings felt close to the gods and felt that the gods intervened in their lives. Gilgamesh is a ruler who is seen as too devoted to war, and the gods hear the lament of the people and send their own created hero, Enkidu, to do battle with Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh defeats Enkidu, after which they are friends. They set out together against Humbaba to do battle. When Gilgamesh refuses the marriage proposal of the goddess of love, Ishtar, she sends a divine bull against him, and he and Enkidu kill it. Enkidu dreams that he must die for his role in killing the bull, and he does die. Gilgamesh seeks a way to see that his friend is granted eternal life and sets out on a journey to meet the one man who survived the Great

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The poet describes how he comes to rescue the lordless Danes from anarchy and to establish for them the Scylding dynasty. He gains his position through force against neighboring tribes until he obtains their submission and tribute, and this is the way a king should behave. Generosity on the part of the ruler is essential in this society. What emerges in the poem is that there is more between the king and his subjects than gifts and loyalty--there is also a great love that has been built over time. The king is surrounded by a group of warriors, hand-picked men specially charged with protecting the king. Many of the members of this inner circle are related to the king by blood. These warriors lived by a code of honor and loyalty that defined their place in their society and also created an ideal for others to emulate. For both Gilgamesh and Beowulf, and their respective societies, war was a way of life, and the values of their society were such as would contribute to success in battle--loyalty, strength, honor, and so on. Antigone also takes place in a time of war, but this play was written in a more philosophical age. Sophocles explores the relationship between the gods and their human followers. Antigone is the third p
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Approximate Word count = 1970
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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