Beowulf and Gilgamesh

There are many differences and critical comparisons that can be drawn
between the epics of Beowulf and Gilgamesh. Both are historical poems
which shape their respected culture and both have major social, cultural,
and political impacts on the development of western civilization
literature and writing. Before any analysis is made, it is vital that
some kind of a foundation be established so that a further, in-depth
exploration of the complex nature of both narratives can be accomplished.
The epic of Gilgamesh is an important Middle Eastern literary work,
written in cuneiform on 12 clay tablets about 2000 BC. This heroic poem is
named for its hero, Gilgamesh, a tyrannical Babylonian king who ruled the
city of Uruk, known in the Bible as Erech (now Warka, Iraq). According to
the myth, the gods respond to the prayers of the oppressed citizenry of
Uruk and send a wild, brutish man, Enkidu, to challenge Gilgamesh to a
wrestling match. When the contest ends with neither as a c...