Both Gilgamesh and Odysseus stories do provides some insights with regard to what the society viewed as heroic qualities within the ancient Mesopotamia and Greek cultures. The way this two characters are developed in each of this epic stories do provide remarkable similarities at the same time differences that can be used to make inferences as to what the society understood about heroic qualities (Cregan-Reid, 2009) . In light of the above, this paper makes a comparison between Gilgamesh and Odysseus at the same time to show the differences between the Mesopotamian and Greek culture in terms of their ideas and expectations.
In the Odyssey the story concentrate on one of the great warriors Odysseus who is trying to return back to his home and meet his fiancé after greats fighting for the community. On its part, T he Epic of Gilgamesh provides an encounter where a demigod, Gilgamesh was at point of facing retribution from his people for poor leadership and the story shows how he tries to redeem himself. The first similarity for these two main characters is that they both act as a link between God and the mortals. First, Gilgamesh was born of a god therefore he is always involved in the god’s affairs at the same time he is the ruler of the people, On his part Odysseus is highly involved to fulfill the wrath of gods when fighting Troy and he had to lead a voyage that was brought on them by Poseidon the god as a result of the killing Cyclops who was his son (Gange, 2009). The circumstance may be different but the above two characters are representatives of the gods to the people, as well the representatives of humans to the gods/ they are highly influential within their society by the virtue that they do poses some divine powers.
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Both Odysseus and Gilgamesh are great warriors and they were able to effectively defeat various enemies that were affecting their worlds and people. Odysseus was successful in killing Cyclops and he was able to use his divine powers where he made Poseidon the god take some action that was to protect the community. Gilgamesh was successful in killing the bull of heaven that had been sent by the gods to kill him because of the mistakes that he had done in the past. As a result of their fights sometime the gods have to intervene so that they can be able to save their worlds and to a large extent their people (Attinger, 2015) .
It is evident there are a number of similarities between this two characters. All the same, their accounts do have some remarkable differences. Odysseus comes out as a cocky person wherever he encounters various individuals. He is also somebody who can be viewed as cunning tactical able to bypass situation by some tactics that at times seem to be unconventional but they served the purpose. Gilgamesh does not like to use tactics rather relies more on brute force. Throughout the two stories everything that befalls Gilgamesh is as results of what one can say own making or his fault. On the side of Odysseus he takes his actions with outmost care and all that tends to happen in his life is just as a result of some bad luck. Other differences is in terms of time where Gilgamesh was developed based on accounts of the early Mesopotamia while the Odyssey represents the early Greece
Turning on to the summary of what the two characters indicate about the differences between the ancient Mesopotamian and Greek cultures, for the Greece the Odyssey shows that they tried to solve things that were facing them in their day to day lives using the most scientific and practical means possible. However, it shows how the Greece always turned to mythology so as to explain any phenomena that they had no scientific explanation to offer for it. On his part, Gilgamesh shows that the society believed in many gods in other words it was a polytheist society and also they valued they warriors and leaders whereby they believed they could communicate top their various gods (Gange, 2009) .
Concerning ways that current cultural ideals and expectations and how they shape the modern notions about role models and heroes it is explicitly on the belief of what is right within any cultural context. For instance if one is brought up in a culture where they strongly beliefs on the pop music culture that the hero for such an individual is somebody who produces the best music in that genre. However, the case is different in a secular society where Pop music is regarded as a worldly affair. By that, an individual singing pop music will not be taken as an appropriate role model and never can he be a role model of the community as it was the case in the other encounter.
In conclusion, both the Odyssey and Gilgamesh provide heroic accounts of their times and clearly shows what the society valued as heroic qualities. They were created so as to represent the day to day interaction of the societies they lived in an aspect that shows how their cultures were shaped by then. Though both of them come out as heroes they do have remarkable differences and similarities that have been explained here. The above differences and similarities have been used to make inferences about the Mesopotamian and the Greece Culture.
References
Attinger, P. (2015). Alhena Gadotti: ‘Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld’ and the Sumerian Gilgamesh Cycle. Zeitschrift Für Assyriologie Und Vorderasiatische Archäologie, 105(2).
Cregan-Reid, V. (2009). The Gilgamesh Controversy: The Ancient Epic and Late-Victorian Geology. Journal Of Victorian Culture, 14(2), 224-237.
Gange, D. (2009). Odysseus in Eden: Gladstone's Homer and the Idea of Universal Epic, 1850–1880. Journal Of Victorian Culture, 14(2), 190-206.
