Gilgamesh

I had heard of Gilgamesh in my world history class in high school. I knew it was about a man who sought out the answers to immortality. However this video showed me that there was so much more to this story. This epic is an extremely intricate and detailed work that really resonated with me. I think it resonates with almost everyone, because it depicts human emotions. This video showed me how people thousands of years ago felt and thought the same way we do today. It also shows me how people look for the same answers that people did thousands of years ago. I felt it very interesting how Gilgamesh influences many people today. I was surprised when the speaker talked about how Gilgamesh influenced Sadam Hussein and many others. This epic is also a very meaningful because it shows how even though we cant be immortal we should live our lives happily and with meaning.

Gilgamesh

I wasn't familiar with the epic of Gilgamesh before watching this video, and I found it to be a really cool introduction to both the story and it's importance in human history. I liked seeing the various ways each person interpreted and connected with the text, and it illustrates the power of some truly human emotions and thoughts to transcend time and geography. Like they mentioned in the video, it is fascinating that we are still, after 2000 years of obscurity, able to directly connect and empathize with the characters and situations presented in the epic. I think the struggle to grasp the concept of death, and come to terms with the finite nature of life is the root of all religion and philosophy, both of which have had such a formative influence on history and consequently the present world we live in. It is interesting to have a glimpse at the way these first writers chose to capture and convey this struggle.

Various Floods

After reading about religions of the Near East, Genesis, and selections from the Qur'an, I realize that the story of the flood is by no means original. There are countless tales of some type of flood destroying mankind, only each religion has a different god or reason for a god wreaking this havoc. All these instances of flooding made me question why the idea of a flood that destroys all life on earth is so important to a religious text? Is invoking a huge flood the deciding factor of whether a god is powerful or not? I found the examples from Genesis to be very hard to read because the sentences are so choppy. It is not written well and therefore I find its credibility to be questionable. There are instances when the grammar is incorrect and there is a lack of creativity in the writing, so I did not find it to be inspiring or enlightening. These examples of religious texts make me wonder why so many people are able to believe so strongly in a particular religion when the content is inherently unoriginal. There are many examples of contemporary religions taking significant portions of content from what we now consider to be "mythical" religions, so that makes me wonder whether future generations will one day refer to our current religions as "myths."