ure, their traditions, their rituals, their social structure and their knowledge of science. This is all hinted at in religion. Rituals and traditions are usually based on religion, especially in heavily religious cultures, therefore religious readings are a good way to learn about them. Social structure can also be learned about through religious texts, Popol Vuh for example mentions famous kings as well as the gods, reading about these kings lets us know what their government was like. Science, while not mentioned in religious documents can be inferred by what is not left up to faith. For example, in Popol Vuh the Mayans believe that the sun is a god traveling across the sky, from this we can infer that the Mayans did not study astronomy very closely.Gilgamesh on the other, hand is not a religious document of any kind rather it is a Mesopotamian myth that involves religious figures. Despite that, much can be learned from it about Mesopotamian culture, because it too describes the gods, kings and people of ancient Mesopotamia, and while it is in no way any type of “bible” it does give a fair amount of background regarding their religion.Another similarity the two texts have is the way in which they depict the gods. Both Popol Vuh and Gilgamesh show the gods as having more human or having human tendencies. For example in Popol Vuh the gods fail in their first few attempt to create man and humans defeated the lords of the underworld, this shows us that the Mayans did not believe their gods to be perfect like those of western religions. Gilgamesh went one step further by actually bringing the gods down to earth to interact directly with the humans. Gilgamesh himself was also half god half human, this showing how the Mesopotamians also believed their gods to be very human. Another similarity the two texts have is one of the stories featured in the texts. Both Popol Vuh and Gilgamesh had a story about a great battle against...
