Essay on Popol Vuh vs. Gilgamesh - 861 Words

Popol Vuh vs. Gilgamesh While the two texts Gilgamesh and Popol Vuh have many similarities, themes characters ect. I personally would not call the two texts similar. In my opinion for two texts to be similar they must poses similar general themes that apply to the entire text, not small themes that only apply to portions of the text. In other words I believe that two texts can have similar events, yet have completely different meanings. Popol Vuh and Gilgamesh actually had more similarities than dissimilarities, but it is the significance of those similarities, not the quantity, that really counts. The fact that small details come up in both texts does not overshadow the fact that these two texts have different meanings. In this essay†¦show more content†¦This is all hinted at in religion. Rituals and traditions are usually based on religion, especially in heavily religious cultures, therefore religious readings are a good way to learn about them. Social structure can also be learned about through religious texts, Popol Vuh for example mentions famous kings as well as the gods, reading about these kings lets us know what their government was like. Science, while not mentioned in religious documents can be inferred by what is not left up to faith. For example, in Popol Vuh the Mayans believe that the sun is a god traveling across the sky, from this we can infer that the Mayans did not study astronomy very closely. Gilgamesh on the other, hand is not a religious document of any kind rather it is a Mesopotamian myth that involves religious figures. Despite that, much can be learned from it about Mesopotamian culture, because it too describes the gods, kings and people of ancient Mesopotamia, and while it is in no way any type of bible it does give a fair amount of background regarding their religion. Another similarity the two texts have is the way in which they depict the gods. Both Popol Vuh and Gilgamesh show the gods as having more human or having human tendencies. For example in Popol Vuh the gods fail in