Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The oldest known fictional account of immortality is also the oldest surviving work of fiction: the Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Sumerian tale from c. 2100 BCE. [1] [2] [3] Several Greek myths of antiquity depict mortals such as Ganymede and Tithonus being granted everlasting life by the gods.
Gilgamesh (/ ˈ ɡ ɪ l ɡ ə m ɛ ʃ /, [7] / ɡ ɪ l ˈ ɡ ɑː m ɛ ʃ /; [8] Akkadian: 𒀭𒄑𒂆𒈦, romanized: Gilgameš; originally Sumerian: 𒀭𒄑𒉋𒂵𒎌, romanized: Bilgames) [9] [a] was a hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem written in Akkadian during the late 2nd millennium BC.
Gilgamesh (possibly reigned during the 26th century BC) after the death of his companion, Enkidu, Gilgamesh pursues immortality to avoid Enkidu's fate. Gilgamesh fails two tests and does not become immortal, realising instead that mortals attain immortality through lasting works of civilization and culture. Gilgamesh's story is among the oldest ...
The Epic of Gilgamesh (/ ˈ ɡ ɪ l ɡ ə m ɛ ʃ /) [2] is an epic from ancient Mesopotamia.The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames" [3]), king of Uruk, some of which may date back to the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2100 BCE). [1]
In a new book, molecular biologist Venki Ramakrishnan raises critical questions about the societal, political and ethical costs of attempts to live forever.
In the Sumerian poem, Inanna does not seem to ask Gilgamesh to become her consort as she does in the later Akkadian epic. [5] Furthermore, while she is coercing her father An to give her the Bull of Heaven, rather than threatening to raise the dead to eat the living as she does in the later epic, she merely threatens to let out a "cry" that ...
Humans have been trying to cheat death for thousands of years. Myths about elixirs promising immortality span various cultures, as do real concoctions that often did more harm than good.
The elixir of life (Medieval Latin: elixir vitae), also known as elixir of immortality, is a potion that supposedly grants the drinker eternal life and/or eternal youth. This elixir was also said to cure all diseases .