What understanding of the afterlife does The Epic of Gilgamesh suggest?
In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh and his best friend, Enkidu, travel to the edge of the world and fight demons and gods side by side. Enkidu is killed by a god and Gilgamesh grieves upon this greatly. Gilgamesh then sets off on a quest to find the secret to immortality. On this journey, he is tested by a god to see if he can handle immortality by staying awake for a whole week. After realizing he cant pass the tests, he returns home with the advice from a god that he should enjoy life as much as possible and enjoy the pleasures of the world for immortality is futile. He also concludes that his ruling of his country was the greatest accomplishment he had made and that the power he had achieved was his own version of immortality.
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