Book contents
- Achilles beside Gilgamesh
- Achilles beside Gilgamesh
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Additional material
- Preface
- Diagrams
- Figures
- Abbreviations
- Sources for primary texts
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Divinity, humanity and wisdom
- 3 Gilgamesh and glory
- 4 Gilgamesh confronts death
- 5 Interlude on Homer and the Muse
- 6 The race of half-gods
- 7 The plan of Zeus
- 8 The coming of Achilles
- 9 The strife of the Iliad
- 10 Achilles looks inward
- 11 The death of the friend
- 12 Achilles responds
- 13 From lamentation to vengeance
- 14 Achilles like a lion
- 15 Mortality and wisdom
- 16 The truths of lamentation
- Conclusion The slender-winged fly
- Bibliography
- Index of Passages Cited
- General Index
13 - From lamentation to vengeance
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 November 2019
- Achilles beside Gilgamesh
- Achilles beside Gilgamesh
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Additional material
- Preface
- Diagrams
- Figures
- Abbreviations
- Sources for primary texts
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Divinity, humanity and wisdom
- 3 Gilgamesh and glory
- 4 Gilgamesh confronts death
- 5 Interlude on Homer and the Muse
- 6 The race of half-gods
- 7 The plan of Zeus
- 8 The coming of Achilles
- 9 The strife of the Iliad
- 10 Achilles looks inward
- 11 The death of the friend
- 12 Achilles responds
- 13 From lamentation to vengeance
- 14 Achilles like a lion
- 15 Mortality and wisdom
- 16 The truths of lamentation
- Conclusion The slender-winged fly
- Bibliography
- Index of Passages Cited
- General Index
Summary
Gilgamesh turns from the life of action and achievement to a quest that moves first towards escape from mortality, and then towards wisdom, but Achilles’ awareness of his coming death is inextricably bound up with his urge to revenge, and he will be impelled not to inward reflection but to outward violence. Though both are moving towards confrontation with their own deaths, they are doing so along utterly different paths; nonetheless, we will see that at the moment of the initial response to the companion’s death their depictions coalesce, right down to the details of the imagery that expresses their grief and turmoil.
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- Information
- Achilles beside GilgameshMortality and Wisdom in Early Epic Poetry, pp. 269 - 278Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019