Humanities 250 Glendale Community College

Gilgamesh was the first hero epic ever written. He was a tyrant, he was a rapist, he was brash and people hated him so much that they prayed to the God's for deliverance. Sounds like an anti-hero, by today's standards, right? Especially when one considers that the king was the one they looked to for how one was to act. He was everything wrong with what a king was supposed to be. Modern day hero's are firefighters, champions of the people, standing up for what is right and facing danger and possibly death. What the Gods send to Gilgamesh, is Enkidu. A beast man, who stands up to Gilgamesh in trying to stop his misdeeds. Enkidu has a lot of the traits that we consider heroic today. Enkidu has Gilgamesh's strength, compassion, and a sense of what is right. The duality of the story is that the beast man helps to tame Gilgamesh, while Enkidu becomes less beastly. The Epic of Gilgamesh has everything. Adventure, love and friendship, tragedy, the elixir for eternal life, i...

Plastered skulls have been found in 10 archaeological sites in the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean) region. There are around eighty skulls according to the article by Florine Marchand, "The Modelling Skulls in the Ancient Near-East"  . This was the only article out of the eight that I read in which the researcher took evidence form each site and broke down differences and similarities, as well as ages and sex. It is a 38 page read, but well worth your time! Out of the eighty skulls, some cannot be conclusively identified as either men or women, but interestingly, many age groups are included in these skulls. If this is ancestor worship, as some believe, quite a few children and young adults are found in the skulls, ranging from ages 7-25. Very few of the skulls are from individuals that are over 40 years of age. Also, how the skulls were displayed or buried ranges greatly, even at the same sites. Some were buried, others displayed on a pedestal, and quite a few were in grou...

Paleolithic Art Theories abound and the one I think most plausible is the mixture of Shamanism with the creation of art just for art's sake thrown in. Humans today are not too different than our ancestors. We  create art to worship what we believe; be that nature, an entity, or materialism. As humans we are compelled to create in worship to what we feel. Count that as buildings, accumulation of wealth, sculpture, art or technology. It is in our very nature to create meaning in our lives and the making of art is a communication of our selves to others. When looking at the France caves there is a feeling of worship and awe of the world around them. The way the animals seem to come to life shows a sophistication one would not expect. They seem top be unique to other sites. These caves were not lived in, which gives them special significance to the peoples who created them. This video of the  Altamira cave in Northern Spain  from the UNESCO shows a very lifelike 3-D buff...