Iliad and The Odyssey

One of the most obvious themes in these stories, in my opinion, have to do with growth and strength. Odysseus has been gone for years and his family that is left where he used to rule in is ruins with the pain of his absence and the suitors destroying his land and pursuing his mother. When his son is given the news that he must not give up hope and search for his father it starts his journey to becoming a man. He starts this when he holds an assembly and addresses the suitors for disrespecting his family and his land for so long; telling them that they need to leave by the next day. He is met with even more disrespect and insults to his character. He does meet this with some insult as well, which shows some of the flaw in his growth throughout his journey. He learns that remorse will not allow you to grow and being a man you have to take power that is yours or somebody else will. These are not easy lessons for him and through these, he learns he must not give up.

Comparative Analysis

The three creation stories Gilgamesh, The Epic of Creation, and Genisis all share similarities although they are very different stories. All written in the BCE era, each of these stories contained important roles by men, gods or influence from one or the other. Two of the stories contained floods which seemed to have been brought on by the gods.
In Gilgamesh and Genesis, the floods were representative as God's return to Earth. The gods made a vow to secrecy in Gilgamesh to cause the food, or "the sacrifice." In Genesis, the flood was seen to cleanse the Earth; it was Gods first return since making the planet.
The role of men and the gods seemed to be the most important part of these stories analysis'. In Gilgamesh, men were entitled to power; although gods had the most power and control. In the Epic of Creation, gods represented wisdom, through the moon and the sun which people prayed to. In Genesis men and women were created by God equally and reliant on each other in some way.