Babylonian+Gods+and+Mortals

  Relationships between Gods and Mortals

= Babylonian Gods and Mortals = In Babylonian mythology Gods and mortals play a huge part in making it come together. As you can see from the picture above those are the main gods that make up mythology. In babylonian times there were many different gods and goddesses. ** The Epic of Gilgamesh ** The epic of Gilgamesh is the most significant in the role playing between gods and mortals. Gilgamesh is the kind of Uruk. Gilgamesh is 2/3s god and 1/3 mortal. He is a very appealing man, but he is very mistreating to women. He would pick anyone he wanted to sleep with and accomplish this. The people or Uruk cried to the gods about this problem and they answered by sending them a man named Enkidu. He became best friends with Gilgamesh, they did everything together. They decided to steal from the trees from the distant cedar forest that is forebidden to humans. But once they got there they ran into a problem, a demon named Humbaba. Relationship starts to play a big role when people are devoted to certain gods. Such as Humbaba he is devoted to Enil, the god of earth. Gilgamesh and Enkidu come together to overcome and kill Humbaba. Then they are faced with another problem when returning to Uruk. The goddess of love named Ishatar falls for Gilgamesh, when he rejects her she decides to turn to her father, the god of the sky named Anu. He then sends a bull down from the sky to kill them. But they come together again and defeat the beast. By this point the gods are distraught with their behavior. They met up and all decided to punish them that they would kill Enkidu. Once he became sick and died Gilgamesh became depressed. He could not get over the death of his best friend. After this Gilgamesh wanted to look for a way he could be granted with external life. He went to Utnapishtim who was granted with external life and asked him how he could be granted with the same thing. He told Utnapishtim he was granted with the same thing so Utnapishtim tested him and told him to stay up for a week straight. Once Gilgamesh failed, he then knew he was not going to be granted this life. He was depressed and a different king when he returned home. Relationships between the gods and mortals is a key part in the story. They interact a lot and the gods decide your fate.

http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/
 * Sources

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/GILG.HTM**