Bronze Age Mesopotamia Leadership

The grand of Gilgamesh tan get on Mesopotamia had a distinct gardening and tradition their rich cultural heritage was passed down by exclude to incredible fictitious and non-fictitious writings like the Epic of Gilgamesh. There argon many inferences that can be make ab break bronze Age Mesopotamia by reading the Epic of Gilgamesh. Its clear from this inscription that the duality between a tyrannical and a just leader existed in the society where the leaders were expected to be courageous, bold and adventurous.The importance of the subprogram of religion on lead cannot be overlooked and religion seemed to commix with and govern the lives of the leaders. One of the more or less powerful deductions that can be made astir(predicate) Bronze Age Mesopotamia is the constant struggle between a tyrannical ruler and a just ruler. In fact star can go as farther as claiming that the entire document highlights the need for a leader who rules well over his people. In the close of t he tale we see Gilgamesh, a tyrannical barbaric ruler, repent by pledging to become someone who loves the people he rules (Kovacs).This shows that perhaps corrupt tyrants who thrived at the expense of the common people marred the Bronze Age Mesopotamia. in addition an new(prenominal) key deduction on leadership is the apparent master mandate to rule. The Persian Empire is known to get under ones skin solidified the shaper mandate to rule and it seems that the Bronze Age Mesopotamia wasnt too far off from the same archetype. In the story we see Gilgamesh as a hero mandated by the deitys to rule and after he displeases the Gods we see the give birth of another hero once again mandated by Gods to challenge Gilgamesh (Kovacs).This entangled relationship between heroes and Gods is something that seems to be a key feature of leadership as no ordinary person could simply become a leader. The Bronze Age Mesopotamian society had somewhat unique expectation from their leaders. The most important expectation dealt with courage and strength, which is to clear from the numerous incidents during the Woe unto Gilgamesh who slandered me and killed the turd of Heaven We see Enikdu and Gilgamesh employment off the bull of heaven as well as fight each other with courage, oestrus and determination. A leader who did not ave the courage to fight and the strength to win was considered no leader at all during the Bronze Age Mesopotamia (Kovacs). also, the leaders were withal expected to shed a sense of adventure to test out their courage. During the Epic of Gilgamesh we see Gilgamesh and Enikdu travel to the dark cedar forest to fight the great monster called Humbaba. There seemed to be no reason for both(prenominal) these leaders to fight this monster but in order to confirm their worth and win over the love of their people they had to embark upon this voyage and prove their courage as seen in this quote, I am Gilgamesh, I killed the GuardianI destroyed Humbaba who lived in the Cedar Forest I slew lions in the mountain passes (Kovacs) . During the course of the Epic of Gilgamesh we in addition come upon out about interesting and intricate relationship between Gods and leadership. The Bronze Age Mesopotamian notion of God was very different from our modern notion and Gods often had physical form and interacted with men and other beings. Its clear from the tale that Gods were deeply concerned about who rules and it what manner. As seen in tablet VI, after Gilgamesh rejected Ishtars proposal to her father, the god of creation, acts about a curse upon the city of Uruk (Kovacs).Even though the Gods do not have complete control over how the leaders behave they seem to be the ones who ultimately decide their fate as is evident from the death Enkidu. The Gods in like manner seem to decide the creation of leaders and their qualities. The leaders can be seen as appointed officials and whenever a leader is doing what the Gods would have him do the G ods can create a new one to bring about balance and harmony. To conclude, the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the few surviving whole kit and caboodle of the ancient literature, provides with wonderful insights into the hidden world of leadership in the Bronze Age Mesopotamia.From this tale we find out that the Mesopotamian society had experienced tyrannical rule but at the same time people seemed to have realized a way forward where rulers needed to be just. We also find out that Bronze Age Mesopotamian culture recognized courage, passion and a sense of adventure as important virtues in their leaders. Similarly a lot can be said about the close connection between leaders, Gods and the ultimate power of the Gods over the leaders. Works Cited Kovacs, Maureen. The Epic of Gilgamesh. N. p. , n. d. Web. 14 Sep 2012. .