Throughout history, there have been many men and women who have been influential in keeping records so that their customs and traditions may be passed on and made known to modern people and cultures. Some ancient historians were able to observe other civilizations and how they differed from their own. Herodotus studying the Persians, Tacitus studying the Germanics, and Sima Qian studying the Xiongnu are all examples of such men studying their neighboring civilizations. Through their writings on different civilizations, readers are able to infer information about the historian’s cultures due to the bias of the writing. In analyzing how these historians viewed differing cultures, one can see how these three different historians would have viewed the culture of Ancient Mesopotamia as portrayed in The Epic of Gilgamesh. There are multiple ways in which these historians would be similar in their view of ancient Mesopotamia such as their religious practices and forms of government. Despite their similarities, these historians would still differ in their views on their methods of worshipping and feasting.
One of the most famous historians from the Ancient Greece period was Herodotus. Herodotus was born into a very wealthy family in Greece in 485 BCE. Because of this great wealth, he was able to travel around Eurasia and spent much time studying Persia. He wrote his impressions of the countries he visited in “The Histories.” Using what he has written about the Persians, it can be assumed that there are some cultural ways in which he could relate to the Mesopotamians, but also several ways in which their cultures would be very different. One similarity between the Greeks and the Mesopotamians is that they both worshipped more than one God. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, there are at least five different Gods mentioned: Anu, Enlil, Ninurta, Shamash, and Ishtar. The Greeks also worshipped multiple Gods such as Zeus, Athena, Ares, and Dionysus. In Herodotus’s writing about the Persians, he mentions the Gods that they worship, which happen to be the same as some of the Greek Gods. Herodotus would have enjoyed the fact that the Mesopotamians worshipped multiple Gods, even if they were not the same deities. One thing that Herodotus points out in his writing on Persians is that they did not use temples to worship their Gods but instead traveled to the top of mountains to offer sacrifices. Through his disdainful tone, readers can assume that his culture uses temples as their primary source of contact with the Gods. One of the biggest attractions in Greece was originally a tribute to the Goddess Athena: the well-known Athena Parthenon. Herodotus would have related to the Mesopotamians in the fact that they both used temples as their main form of worship. The Epic of Gilgamesh talks about the temples of Eanna, Ishtar, Anu, Egalmah, and Shamash. Had Herodotus studied the Ancient Mesopotamians, he would have found that they had many of the same religious practices as the Greeks such as temple worship and the occasional sacrifice. Something that Herodotus found distasteful among the Persians was their love to have extravagant parties and more specifically, their love to drink. From his aloof tone, one can assume that Greek culture did not include a lot of drinking. Like the Persians and unlike the Greeks, The Epic of Gilgamesh mentions multiple times that beer was a staple in the Mesopotamian diet. In the story, the Harlot gave Enkidu beer telling him he should drink it because it was “the custom of the land.” The harlot made it apparent that he would need to drink beer in order to fit in with the other citizens of Uruk. It seemed that the Persians and the Mesopotamians drank beer and were often drunk. Herodotus would have found it irresponsible to drink beer often, as described in The Epic of Gilgamesh because that left them incapacitated. The Greeks would drink mostly wine in moderation and only the upper class would have access to it. Another way that the Greeks differed from the Mesopotamians was in their form of government. While Herodotus wrote about the Persians having a king, the Greeks functioned under an Athenian democracy. Like the Persians, the Mesopotamians also had a single king. Herodotus probably would have thought that the rule of the king was oppressive and didn’t give men the right to have input on official matters. Coming from a wealthy family in Greece, his family probably was very involved in the Government and deciding large matters; wealthy families often had the most influence in the Greek government.
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Coming from the neighboring state of Greece, the Roman historian Tacitus is also one of the best-remembered writers of his time. He wrote about other civilizations in Europe that did not operate in single nations, but rather in tribes and chiefdoms. He spent a great deal of time studying the Germanics, although he never actually went to see the Germanic tribes. When not spending his time writing about other civilizations, he was a Roman official who helped to control the quickly growing civilization. Tacitus was very judgmental of the Germanic way of life as it was very different from the way Rome operated. Tacitus starts his papers by addressing the fact that the Germanics could not endure heat and thirst, two things that both the Romans and Mesopotamians dealt with. Due to their geographical locations, Rome and Mesopotamia were very dry and hot places. As described in The Epic of Gilgamesh, there were palm gardens that thrived because of the warm temperatures the people of Uruk experienced. The people in both places had to acclimate to the extreme heat and the limited access to water. Tacitus also talks about how the Germanic people were not built for “long, arduous work.” He is appalled at the very limited work the people actually do. The Romans and the Mesopotamians all had specific jobs in their societies. Everyone was responsible for some form of work that would benefit society. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, after Ishtar has killed Enkidu, in his speech to mourn his death, Gilgamesh lists many of the professions that reflected the majority of the people in Uruk. He talks about farmers, herders, and even harlots that would be distraught by the death of Enkidu. This showed how the people of Uruk needed to work hard in order to survive, unlike most of the Germanic people. Later in his writings, Tacitus shows aggravation towards the simplicity of the Germanic buildings. Because they are only made of wood, Tacitus says that they are “without ornament or attractiveness…” Similarly, the walls that protect Uruk in The Epic of Gilgamesh were made only of “kiln-fired brick”; these stones were considered rather boring and monotonous despite their reliability. In contrast to the city of Uruk’s simplicity, the Romans were known for their extravagant buildings and lifestyle. At the peak of their empire, they wanted the rest of the world to know how wealthy there were. Although Tacitus typically looked down on their simplicity and barbaric way of life, one thing that Tacitus was able to respect about the “barbaric” Germanic people was their strict policy on adultery. They believed that when a woman slept with someone else, the husband had complete control over what happened to her; the outcome of the wife cheating was normally that her hair would be cut, she would be stripped of her clothing, she would be expelled from the house, and then be flogged through the entire village. While the Romans were not as harsh in punishing adulterous acts and the husbands often slept with concubines and harlots, they also believed that the wife needed to be completely loyal to her husband. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh, the king, reveals that the Gods have told him that he must sleep with every bride before she is married to her then fiancé. Although the people were vehemently opposed to this, they had to comply because they had been told it was a commandment of the Lord. Tacitus would have grown up in an environment where his father would never have let another man sleep with his mother. He would be appalled at the tradition that Gilgamesh enforced.
Like Tacitus, Sima Qian was both a famous historian as well as a political official. With the strict qualifications to become a public official, it can be assumed that Sima Qian probably came from a very wealthy family in the midst of the Han dynasty. His main focus of the study was the “barbaric” people in the north of China. Like the Germanics, the Xiongnu were mostly nomadic and the Chinese saw them as “uncivilized.” Because they were nomadic, they did not have one place where they were able to settle and call their own. Sian Qian expresses his contempt for these people because they were never able to maintain a steady relationship with the Chinese empire. In contrast, the Chinese empire was very successful and grounded in China. In order to protect themselves as well as assert their dominance in China, they built the Great Wall of China, which still stands today. The people of Uruk also had large walls that helped them to appear strong to people approaching the city. When returning from his great quest for eternal life, Gilgamesh remembers the great walls that surround his city. Although he failed in his quest to become immortal, he was reminded that his legacy would continue. Another aspect of Gilgamesh’s rule that would continue after his death was the emphasis on agriculture. The Mesopotamians had to be clever about how they farmed because of the difficult land and infrequent flooding from the Euphrates. Contrarily, the Xiongnu people never set up farming land and based their food supply on trade agreements with countries like China. Sima Qian thought that this method of obtaining food was very irresponsible and would result in their people starving. The majority of the Han dynasty was made up of peasants whose only responsibility was to farm and provide the rest of the empire with the supplies needed to survive. Because the Xiongnu people relied on the Chinese people to provide tradable items, Tacitus found them to be lazy and greedy. This is mainly a result of a lack of proper and organized government. The Xiongnu people operated under many chiefs who ruled their specific people. Those chiefs often had no knowledge of “proper behavior or justice.” In a similar fashion, Gilgamesh was the only ruler of the city of Uruk, and he was not known for being the most merciful ruler. The people under his rule said that he was arrogant and made them anxious. Contrarily, the Chinese government was a bureaucracy from very early on. This meant that many people were able to participate in government, but only if they could qualify through the civil service exams. This ensured that there would be minimal corruption and that all of the Chinese people would be treated fairly. As an official himself, Sima Qian would have thought very highly of the Confucian way of thinking and the right for all citizens to have justice. Sima Qian thought that it was strange that the men who were in their prime ate the fattiest and best foods while the elderly ate the scraps of them. China followed the theory of filial piety, which was based on respecting the elders in the community. Sima Qian would not have eaten good food unless he had made sure that his father and grandfather had also been able to eat. In Mesopotamia, the king, Gilgamesh, would have eaten the best food before anyone else. Because he was a majority God, he was viewed as supreme. Because China operated under an emperor, Sima Qian would have related to the people of Uruk who had Gilgamesh as their king. However, he would never have neglected the elderly and poor in the same way that Gilgamesh did.
The three historians, Herodotus, Tacitus, and Sima Qian, all influenced their studies of other cultures. Through their works, current historians are able to learn about their own cultures from the way the ancient historians viewed other civilizations such as Ancient Mesopotamia mostly through the book, The Epic of Gilgamesh. For example, Herodotus would have found that he worshipped his Gods the same way that Gilgamesh worshipped his. Tacitus would have found that the Romans wanted to show their extreme wealth through extravagant architecture while the Uruk people liked things more simply. Sima Qian would realize that not all cultures gave citizens a fair chance at participating in government. These realizations would lead Herodotus, Tacitus, and Sima Qian to the knowledge that every civilization is different but their similarities help to show how they were able to coexist.
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