The many comparative studies that have considered the relation between Gilgamesh and the Iliad, whether looking for the influence between them or not, have explored such similarities as the two heroes’ love (Gilgamesh’s for Enkidu and Achilles’ for Patroclus), shared phrases and concepts in the poems, and echoes between their narrative arcs. This talk will instead focus on one striking dissimilarity between the two epics: the emotional reactions of the two main characters to the death of their beloveds. These reactions, Gilgamesh’s implosion and Achilles’s explosion, spark structurally opposite narrative trajectories, as Gilgamesh rejects death in every conceivable way while Achilles just as comprehensively embraces it.

Drawing on the comparative methodology developed by Johannes Haubold—which neither disallows nor necessitates a direct influence between the texts being studied—this talk will juxtapose the formal and conceptual structures of the violence unleashed by the deaths of Enkidu and Patroclus. As the talk shows, the different paths taken by the grief and violence in each text ultimately converge on a vision of total death, literalized by two scenes of omnicidal violence: the sack of Troy and the devastating Flood.