The Pursuit of Immortality

Mo El Ramahi

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Humanities I

20 March 2012

The Pursuit of Immortality

The character of Gilgamesh is iconic of historic and modern day leaders who take advantage of the immense power they hold to prove the breadth of their capabilities and enhance their status. Underlining this power, these leaders sought glory on battlefields, took advantage of those they ruled and were driven by a quest for immortality of power and the evasion of death. From the ancient Egyptian Pharaohs and Alexander the Great, to present-day presidents, prime ministers and dictators, a common thread is a quest for immortality both in the context of life, power and control.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh is described as powerful, boastful, reckless, revered and yet feared. The young King of Uruk, he is said to have been two-thirds god and one-third human, and legends attributed to him superhuman powers (Mitchell). However, his journey of friendship with Enkidu brought to Gilgamesh a sense of maturity, compassion and the realizations that he had to suffer the ultimate fate of all men, death.

A main theme of the poem is that of mortality. This is a theme that has characterized several historical figures and has arguably laid seed to modern day industries of anti-aging and youth-prolonging schemes as well as the unclenching force with which corrupt leaders hold on to power:

"Philosophical, political and even religious thought of the last century and a half has been characterized by increasing dubiety about the possibility of immortality. Attention also has been given to the complex cultural reasons for the persistence in the belief of immortality, and the explanations are as varied as the doctrine in question." (McDermott 284).

Gilgamesh must learn the difficult lesson that, even as a powerful king, he too will face the reality of his own death. When Enkidu died, Gilgamesh was distraught and sought to learn the secret of immortality. Utnapishtim explained to Gilgamesh that the quest for immortality is useless. After an unsuccessful attempt to acquire a plant that restores youth, Gilgamesh returns to Uruk with the realization that the quality of one’s life is measured not by fortune or fame, but by the quality of his life and the people with which he surrounded himself (Mitchell).

"Similar to Gilgamesh, historical military leaders and present day leaders who conquer lands, wage wars recklessly and abuse their positions of power are consumed with the need to hold on to their power and showcase it. Several legends about immortality are associated with Alexander the Great. Some people suggest his travels across the globe were in part motivated by a search for a mythical fountain of youth:

Central to Alexander’s quest for immortality is his pothos, first mentioned by Arrian (2nd century AD) and described there as an “almost religious longing” that dictated the course of his life. In Sura 18 in the Koran (and many other texts), Alexander searches for the Water of Life, akin to the Fountain of Youth, but the water looked forward to life, not backward to youth. In the Arabic romances, he ascends the Holy Mountain Qaf, where he is castigated by the angel Israfil for longing for that which man ought not seek… the general theme of his quest for immorality is that it is not to be his, since he is merely a mortal man, doomed to die despite all his worldly power" (DeForest).

Recent events in the Middle East reflect the culmination of people’s outrage over leaders who have overstayed their terms of leadership by decades and though not monarchies, seek to put in place their children to succeed them as a dynasty. In the recent cases of the people of Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, this led to an uprising and revolution whereby these leaders were overturned and exiled, imprisoned or killed. All three presidents came to power several decades ago and though the majority of their people suffered from poverty, unemployment and repression (Parks), these leaders lived lavishly in palaces and were engrained amongst the most powerful and wealthiest people in the world. They enjoyed unrestricted control in a multitude of aspects such as property ownership, self-serving policies and a loose interpretation of policing society and individual rights based on what perpetuated their power and status. Like a swift blade of reality, current images