Skip to main content

How does the Epic of Gilgamesh represent society?

Although many elements of the Epic of Gilgamesh are mythical or fictional, the protagonist Gilgamesh was an historical king of Uruk whose rulership is attested by ancient king lists. Many aspects of the epic are consistent with information obtained from archaeological and other non-literary sources. 


The epic represents the society of Uruk as one in which the monarch has absolute power. Even when subjects disapprove of his actions or he acts in a manner that violates social norms, there is no mechanism by which ordinary people can prevent him from doing as he pleases. 


Religion is an important element in Gilgamesh's society, which is ordered as a theocracy, with there being no clear distinction between secular and religious authority. The portrait of the constant intervention of the gods in human affairs reflects the actual importance of temples in the administration of Uruk.


The society is represented as having very distinct gender roles and strong social stratification. The society is extremely hierarchical. As well as class distinctions, the society is highly urbanized with a strong division between city and countryside. The society is also strongly militaristic, and in a constant state of potential conflict with neighboring kingdoms.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more