Recognizing Difference through Dialogue

The relationship, tensenesss and the power kineticss of the Gods or super-natural existences in conformity to the worlds can be studied from different positions when dealt with literatures of the different ancient civilisations. Each ancient civilization had their alone manner of handling the mortal-God relationship and interactions ; owing majorly to its socio-cultural and geographical facets of the specific civilisation. For case both in the Roman and the Grecian mythologies, due to its peninsular nature of the landscape, the God of the sea and that of buoy uping were the most of import and powerful Gods. In the Indian mythology excessively, before the development of the three, the most of import God was Indra, the male monarch of the Gods and the one to command lightning and boom. However, we would take the illustration of two ancient texts, from two different antediluvian heathen civilisations, to analyze the man-god relationship and struggle and the differences that can be perceived among the two societies. The Gilgamesh, which is considered as one of the oldest written epic belonging to the Sumerian civilisation, and The Odyssey, a primary heroic poem composed by Homer of ancient Greece, can cast some visible radiation on the man-God relationship as was perceived in the two civilizations.

In the Gilgamesh, the Gods play a really of import and critical function and are frequently projected as human-like who are non ever perfect. They even have their ain caprices and act consequently to make problem. The Gods of The Odyssey and that of the Greek mythology are besides really of import in the function that they play and are besides non right at all times. In both these ancient heroic poems, we notice that the Gods do non hold a impersonal judgement every clip and they seem to take sides. However there is one chief difference in the function of the Gods that are projected in both the texts. In the Gilgamesh, the Gods themselves interfere in the concern of the persons when they see the prevalence of unfairness ; while on the contrary, the Gods of The Odyssey do non affect themselves in individual to contend unfairness, they help certain human characters to contend their ain conflict, moving as accelerators in the re-establishment of order.The ‘Story of the Flood ‘ is an of import subdivision in the Gilgamesh that can be referred to as something really near to the ‘Flood Episode ‘ from the Book of Genesis. In the above mentioned chapter, the council of the Sumerian Gods, led by Anu decided to convey a great flood on the face of the Earth and destruct all of world. All the Gods including Enlil, Ninurta, Enungi and Ea supported this impression of destructing all that they themselves have created. In the early portion of the chapter it stated, ‘Enlil heard the clamor and he said to the Gods in council, ‘The tumult of world is unbearable and sleep is no longer possible by ground of the Tower of Babel. ‘ So the Gods agreedto exterminate world. ‘ However merely as in the Book of Genesis, God had decided to salvage merely Noah along with a brace of every sort of animal and poultry, Ea directed Utnapishtim with certain instructions to construct a great boat and salvage his household and a brace of every type of animal and poultry. Ea said to Utnapishtim, ‘O adult male of Shurrupak, boy of Ubara-Tutu ; rupture down your house and construct a boat, abandon ownerships and expression for life, contemn worldly goods and salvage your psyche alive. Tear down your house, I say, and construct a boat. ‘ Utnapishtim, a major character in the Gilgamesh attains immortality after the great flood subsided. However this act of the Gods can be seen as an act of fondness, destructing all but Utnapishtim who worshipped them. If we closely study the ‘Story of the Flood ‘ we would detect that the Gods themselves decided to move, conveying in the great flood in order to penalize the people for doing so much wretchedness and heartache.

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Now allow us take an illustration from The Odyssey to analyze the function of the ace human existences. Though the Gods populating in the Mount Olympus do interfere with the worlds yet they seldom go into a direct confrontation with them. For case in the beginning chapters of The Odyssey when Odysseus ‘ castle was crowded by the suers of Penelope, Odysseus ‘ married woman, who took advantage of Odysseus ‘ absence and making jobs for Penelope and Telemachos, Odysseus ‘ boy. Athena, the goddess of art, in order to give moral support to Telemachos ; she arrived at the Gatess of Odysseus ‘ castle and says to his boy, ‘ I declare I am Mentes, boy of adept Anchialos, / And I rule over the Taphians.. We declare we are guest friends of one another through our male parents. Your male parent The godly Odysseus has non died on the Earth, / But he is still alive someplace. ‘ By saying that she was a friend of Odysseus, she really wins over Telemachos ‘ assurance and on saying that his male parent was still alive and in problem, gives him the bravery that he needed. She, herself could ‘ve driven away the suers from the castle but in order to maintain secret of her individuality, she suggested him to take duty of governing the province in the absence of his male parent. She suggested him by saying, ‘Tomorrow name the Achian warriors to assembly ; / Make a declaration to all. Let the Gods witness it. / Order the suers to scatter to their ain personal businesss.. ‘ There are even further illustrations to propose that the Grecian Gods did non move themselves until it was vitally of import or out of retribution, which Poseidon does to Odysseus, it is learnt from Zeus ‘ cognition when he says, ‘But Poseidon, who holds up the Earth, remains stubbornly / Enraged about the Cyclops whom he ( Odysseus ) blinded in the oculus, / Godlike Polyphemos, who possesses the greatest strength / Of all the Cyclops. ‘ Hence unlike the Sumerian Gods in the Gilgamesh, the Grecian Gods in The Odyssey do non normally move straight to interfere with the persons. They merely help certain human characters with moral strength and by giving them certain powers in order to suppress their jobs.

However, it can be said that both texts do hold some similarities and some differences, when it comes to the intervention of the super-human existences ‘ relation, confrontation, interaction and exercise of power over the worlds. Another characteristic that we notice in both the heroic poems is the confrontations that the Gods enter into over back uping or opposing a mortal character. In The Odyssey, we can see that the Gods led by Zeus, their male monarch and the accountant of lightning and boom, wanted to assist Odysseus to return to Ithaca, but Poseidon, the God of the seas, would make jobs for him in his return from the conflict of Troy. It was stated early in the Book I of The Odyssey, ‘ .All the Gods pitied him ( Odysseus ) , / Except Poseidon. ‘ Subsequently Zeus attempts to work out it and he says to rest of the Gods, ‘Well, come now, allow all of us here carefully invent / His ( Odysseus ‘ ) return, so he may get ; and Poseidon will slow / His fury, for counter to all the immortals he can non / Carry on discord entirely against the will of the Gods. ‘ Similarly, in instance of Utnapishtim, in the Gilgamesh, Ea wanted him to maintain alive the human civilisation along with the societies of the animals and the birds and therefore instructed him consequently to last the flood, when all the other Gods wanted the devastation of world, but it was solved one time Utnapishtim was proved to be a believer who every bit deified all the immortal Gods. Ea asks Enlil, the male monarch of the Gods, ‘Wisest of Gods, hero Enlil, how could you so senselessly conveying down the inundation?

Finally allow us see the power of the Gods in the two civilizations. In the Grecian civilization, from the survey of Homer ‘s The Odyssey, we can state that the Gods are all-knowing and almighty but are non ubiquitous, rather unlike Christianity. There are several descriptions of the Gods sing topographic points, merely like Poseidon is said to hold ‘ .gone to the faraway Ethiopians ‘ They can non remain in all topographic points at the same minute and besides can non comprehend about all that is taking topographic point in the other topographic points. However in the Sumerian civilization, through a survey of the Gilgamesh we can state that the Gods are almighty but are non all-knowing or ubiquitous, therefore they did non understand ab initio that Utnapishtim has been able to last the flood and on detecting it Enlil, the male monarch of the Gods said in choler, ‘Has any of these persons escaped? Not one was to hold survived the devastation.

Though we do happen tonss of similarities between different Pagan cultures yet there are blunt differences between them when it comes to the intervention of Gods or ace human existences in contact with the persons.

Mentions

Gilgamesh. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Beginings to 1650, 2nd Ed. Vol.A. Ed. Lawall, Sarah, et al. New York: W. W. Norton & A ; Company.

Homer. The Odyssey. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Beginnings to 1650.2nd erectile dysfunction. Vol.A. Ed. Lawall, Sarah, et al. New York: W. W. Norton & A ; Company.

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