Gilgamesh And Odysseus
Both Gilgamesh and Odysseus are epic heroes whose deeds have inspired millions of people throughout history. But not all heroes are created equal. In both the Odyssey and the Iliad, Homer paints a much more vivid picture of the ingenious Odysseus. His exploits are much more significant than those of Gilgamesh who in the end is not an especially interesting character in what remains of the texts about him. Odysseus is much more an embodiment of heroic ideals than Gilgamesh.
Many people believe that both the Iliad and Odyssey are the two great sources for all other Western literature. Even in his own day, Homer was seen as a hero admired long after his death in many Greek cities. The fact that his stories have had such a long life and have been classics for so many centuries is a testament to how they evoke an amazing time and place. It is an interesting statement about history that there are sometimes intermediaries who bring to life whole eras from the past to the people of the future, without themselves having lived through the period. To begin with, both the Iliad and the Odyssey are full of heroes. Indeed even as Homer tells the story of both the Greeks and the Trojans, it is clear that the Iliad is more a tableaux about heroism than a morality play involving good guys and bad guys. Both sides of the conflict have their villains and heroes and indeed some heroes are more heroic than others. The two most immediate heroic figures that leap from the pages are Achilles, on the Greek side, and Hector, on the Trojan side. However, there is someone in the story of the Iliad who is more heroic if less prominent: Odysseus. He is the person who is inspired enough to come up with the idea of the Trojan Horse, which effectively ends the Trojan war, saving many lives and bringing victory to the Greeks. In the Odyssey, his genius is even more in evidence. He is a leader. He is imaginative. He is willing to sacrifice. Throughout both of these stories, the great man saves lies, slays monsters (like the Cyclops), and seeks out his heroine. Indeed, in all of the work of Homer, Odysseus is beyond reproach.
He faces his greatest challenge on the voyage back from Troy to Ithaca. This is the sacrifice test that all true heroes must endure. For fifteen years, beset by troubles he seeks a way home. He is imprisoned, he is attacked, he watches many of his men die. Part of his challenge is restoring his fortunes. This is an important aspect of heroism—and one that Achilles, for example, might have learnt—that misfortune should make you more noble and that in trying to regain your good luck and possessions after a defeat you should do so honorably and not through trickery. In many ways this is an important question for heroes as they rarely go from one victory to another. That wouldn’t be very interesting.
Gilgamesh on the other hand never really comes to life on the page. He appears as a cardboard cut out. He definitely has strong physical stamina and courageous—that is proven by the arduousness of his journey, the fact he built to walls of his city, and that so many people respect him. However, in the course of his story, it seems he is often overshadowed Enkidu, who comes across as a much kinder and more interesting person. Gilgamesh’s ego is unpleasant and uninteresting. He lacks the canniness and brains of Odysseus who is always looking to escape from the situation and is not afraid to be ruthless in order to do so. One imagines that if the two men ever met, Odysseus would be able to easily win in a fight by outsmarting the much slower and vainer Gilgamesh. While he may possess many of the essential qualities of a hero such as courage and strength, these are not vividly portrayed to the reader. Gilgamesh in the end remains a bit of a mystery. Odysseus, however, in his full heroism is very colourfully portrayed by the poet Homer.
The greatest question that faces all heroes is mortality. Although they are the strongest in their class they are not invincible (even if they are part God, like Achilles or Gilgamesh). They are tempted to use their great strength to do good for themselves or their cause, but they have limitations that they may not know. In this way the heroes of epic stories tell us something about ourselves: although human beings are the strongest species on the planet we can often harm ourselves through our hubris. Hubris and Nemesis are issues that all heroes must face often on a huge and dramatic scale.
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