Brutality and kindness offer an interesting mixture of responses in many ancient texts such as The Epic of Gilgamesh or The Iliad by Homer. Revenge is a strong motivating force in a wide variety of ancient texts from widely separated sources. Indeed, revenge is one of the prime motivations for heroes and villains alike, and many of the heroic figures in the ancient texts pursue vengeance with an obsessive fervor that amounts to the act of revenge being a form of religious devotion, an act of patriotism, and a proof of virtue. There is little agonizing over the righteousness of revenge, which usually stands as a given, and accomplishing the act of revenge is often seen as a matter of fate--the hero is destined to accomplish this deed in service of the higher powers and for the glory and security of his people. The primary difference between the revenge sought by the villain and the revenge sought by the hero is that the hero represents good and therefore has an excuse or a righteous reason for his revenge. Yet, revenge motivates both good and evil in these stories. The role of revenge often occurs in a worldview that mixes brutality and kindness, and the revenge itself can sometimes be seen as a kindness to the person being revenged and brutality toward the person on whom this revenge is taken.
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 a...