Hero’s Journey in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Clash of the Titans

This work is about the interpretation of “Epic of Gilgamesh” and the movie named “Clash of the Titans” in comparative mythology from the view point of “hero's journey”. Epic of Gilgamesh is the first known epic poetry from BC 2100. It tells the adventures of King Gilgamesh and his best friend Enkidu. Gilgamesh believed to be Uruk king lived and ruled in Mesopotamia. Uruk is a Sumerian city. Once a tyrant, Gilgamesh turned into a hero. A savage young man Enkidu becomes his companion, a deep bond occurs between them. Later on Enkidu loses his synergy with nature, becomes week and finally dies. In return, Gilgamesh begins to seek immortality and faces the facts of life. On the other hand, the movie Clash of the Titans covers the legend of Perseus which is recorded from BC 700s. Perseus is accepted as one of the most important heroes in ancient Greek mythology. In this legend the gods are ruthless and humans are in distress. It tells the adventures of Perseus, his flying horse Pegasus and his companions in a quest for saving the city of Argos from being destroyed by a giant monster. For the Epic of Gilgamesh the book of İsmail Gezgin (2009) is used as the source material and the latest movie of Clash of the Titans directed by Louis Leterrier (2010) is selected. In the introduction section of this work, the terms of “hero and monster” is covered. In the first section, “the journey of the hero” concept is explained. In this part “character archetypes” and “character cycle” concepts are also involved in detail. In the following sections, heroes and monsters of “Epic of Gilgamesh” and the movie “Clash of the Titans” are studied respectively. Also each work is analyzed in terms of “character archetypes” and “character cycle”. The final section is about the comparison of heroes and monsters in the epic and the movie. The reason –why these works of art are chosen– is; one belongs to the past where the other is an echo of a modern variant. The harmony between oral literature of ancient times and cinema art of modern times became a subject of study.