Essay Example on Gender Roles: Ancient Literature Perspectives

Gender roles have always been in existence within our societies since the time of creation. In the early literature, gender played a major part in how roles were shared among sexes. This essay will focus on three poems from Leiden hymns that include God is a master craftsman, When Being began back in days of genesis and The mind of God is perfect knowing. From the time of creation, man was deemed more superior than females since he was created first, and the woman created from the man's rib. For this reason, man was required to protect the woman and woman to be submissive to a man. Man was to provide for the woman and sow seeds in her for them to bear healthy children. The gender roles in the three poems tend to agree with each other and all the three poems refer to men as more superior to females.

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God was depicted in various forms in early literature. Some of the forms in which God was described tend to be similar. For example in the three poems from Leiden hymns chosen for this essay, God is displayed as a Supreme being. He is described as a one who created himself and was neither born of a woman nor fathered by man (Foster, 156,162). From the poem When Being began back in days of genesis, it is said that there existed no other god before him, and neither did he appear with any other god. This confirmation that exists in the three texts shows that they exist only one god who created Himself and the heavens and earth. It depicts that god is so powerful that He cannot be comparable to anything. The three poems also show that god was a skilled artist and everything He laid his hands on turned to be perfect (Mark, 2). The poems show that God was self-made and He crafted and shaped His own beauty using His prowess. Beautiful, well-crafted things came into existence when Him alone was in this world. Additionally, God is painted as a powerful, yet kind and selfless. God has the power to create and destroy anything on earth yet His heart is open to men. He creates man in His own image, blows His breath in Him, and places him in a beautiful garden with vegetations and grains (Foster, 168). God fathered other gods in the beginning who keep turning to him. The insights about God from these texts is that He has such profound prowess that He fashioned His own self before other creation. The beautiful creations and environments that people enjoy today were crafted by one being was origin remain in mystery (University College London, 1). God is so powerful and controls everything on the universe, yet He is kind to share His glory with human beings.

Conclusion

The three texts also depict tropes about God. The very dominant trope is God's craftsmanship. All three poems marvel at God's prowess and creativity to make the various creations on earth. This is important since it shows that only a being so supreme than any other had the ability to be perfect in designing all creations in their unique ways. The other trope evident in the poems is God's origin. The origin of God is unknown and all the texts say is that He is self-made. The importance of this trope is that there is only one God who existed before the other gods and He is said to have crafted and fashioned Himself. The other trope is God's omnipotence, where God is shown as a very powerful being able to command creation and give breathe to human beings. This is important since it shows us that God is a powerful being and nothing is above Him.

Works Cited

Foster, J. L. Ancient Egyptian Literature: An Anthology. University of Texas Press. (2001). https://eds-b-ebscohost-com.proxygsu-flo1.galileo.usg.edu/eds/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzExMzU5MV9fQU41?sid=79b8f56d-fec0-4909-8edb-b369ff4bf9d9@pdc-v-sessmgr01&vid=0&hid=http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxygsu-flo1.galileo.usg.edu/&format=EB

Mark, J. J. Ancient History Encyclopedia: Gilgamesh. (2018, Mar 29). https://www.ancient.eu/gilgamesh/

University College London. Belief in one god in ancient Egypt. (2003). https://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt/amarna/belief.html