Archetypal Heroes of The Epic of Kings and The Epic of Gilgamesh: Rostam and Gilgamesh are Mirroring Myths

Abstract

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the earliest works of an ancient Mesopotamian civilization that its protagonist, Gilgamesh in many aspects is comparable with Rostam, the protagonist of Iranian mythology, and Shahnameh which is known as The Book of Kings written by Ferdowsī. Comparing both characters, we encounter loads of similarities that can be considered as archetypes that are untrained tendency to experience things in a certain way and contain images and phenomena from their ancestors. The similarities in both epic heroes show that the heroic mythology—though very different in detail—have explicitly common structural and infrastructural analogies. Although archetypal heroes are different in details, the more they are recognized, the more their structural and infrastructural similarities come to light. They all follow a global pattern that suggests the existence of examples in the collective subconscious mind of two authors. The human mind digests events of the world, imagines, and interprets the myths as the mystery. Thus, the ability to arouse humankind against the phenomena is the beginning of humanity’s attempt to learn myths.