Comparison of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Theogony of Hesiod and the Metamorphoses of OvidThere are many parallels between the Epic of Gilgamesh, Hesiod's Theogony and Ovid's Metamorphoses. The first similarity is obvious: the structure. We can think of the structure of the Gilgamesh story as three concentric circles: a story within a story within a story. In the outer circle, a narrator prepares the audience for the main story, contained in the second circle: the story of the adventures of Gilgamesh. Within this second circle, a third story, the story of the flood, is told to Gilgamesh by Utanapishtim. Ovid's Metamorphoses is told in the same way: Ovid begins by recounting his intention and invokes the help of the gods to tell the story. He then tells many tales as the main narrative, and within the main narrative are other narratives, such as "Venus tells Adonis the story of Atalanta" in book 10. Even Hesiod's Theogony is similar in a certain extent. He has a short prologue in which he explains how the Muses inspired him to write about creation, and then he goes into the main creation story. This method of storytelling does a variety of things. First, it prepares the reader to accept the story. In Gilgamesh, the narrator tells us that Gilgamesh wrote his adventures in his own handwriting. This causes the reader to accept the story as authoritative, especially since it comes from a mortal, like us, who is part god. Because Gilgamesh is part God, we realize that if he can accept his lot in life, his mortality, then we mere mortals should be able to do the same. In Theogony, Hesiod prepares his audience to accept the story by recounting (ad nauseum) that the Muses worked through him to create...... middle of paper ......MEL Early Mesopotamia and Iran . McGraw-Hill: New York, 1965. Ovid. Metamorphoses. Trans. Rolfe Humphries. Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 1983. Rosenberg, Donna. “Gilgamesh.” World Mythology: An Anthology of the Great Myths and Epics. 3rd ed. Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Publishing Group, 1999. 26-57. Swisher, Clarice. The ancient Near East. Lucent Books: San Diego, 1995. Works Viewed “The Epic of Gilgamesh”: An Overview. Online. February 15, 2000. http://www.hist.unt.edu/ane-09.htm Sumerian Mythology FAQ. Online. February 15, 2000. http://webster.unh.edu/%7Ecbsiren/sumer-faq.html Gardner, John and John Maier. Gilgamesh: Translated from the Sin-leqi-unninni version. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984. Harris, Stephen L. “Gilgamesh.” The humanist tradition in world literature. Ed. Stephen Harris. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co.., 1970.