Gilgamesh (, ; ; originally ) was a hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the ''

Epic of Gilgamesh The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poetry, epic from ancient Mesopotamia. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian language, Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames"), king of Uruk, some of ...

'', an

epic poem In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to ...

written in Akkadian during the late 2nd millennium BC. He was possibly a historical king of the

Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...

ian

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world throughout history, including cities such as Rome, ...

Uruk Uruk, the archeological site known today as Warka, was an ancient city in the Near East, located east of the current bed of the Euphrates River, on an ancient, now-dried channel of the river in Muthanna Governorate, Iraq. The site lies 93 kilo ...

, who was posthumously

deified Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The origina ...

. His rule probably would have taken place sometime in the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period, 2900–2350 BC, though he became a major figure in Sumerian legend during the

Third Dynasty of Ur The Third Dynasty of Ur or Ur III was a Sumerian dynasty based in the city of Ur in the 22nd and 21st centuries BC ( middle chronology). For a short period they were the preeminent power in Mesopotamia and their realm is sometimes referred to by ...

(). Tales of Gilgamesh's legendary exploits are narrated in five surviving

Sumerian poems Sumerian literature constitutes the earliest known corpus of recorded literature, including the religious writings and other traditional stories maintained by the Sumerian civilization and largely preserved by the later Akkadian and Babylonian em ...

. The earliest of these is likely "Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld", in which Gilgamesh comes to the aid of the goddess

Inanna Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...

and drives away the creatures infesting her ''huluppu'' tree. She gives him two unknown objects, a ''mikku'' and a ''pikku'', which he loses. After

Enkidu Enkidu ( ''EN.KI.DU10'') was a legendary figure in Mesopotamian mythology, ancient Mesopotamian mythology, wartime comrade and friend of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk. Their exploits were composed in Sumerian language, Sumerian poems and in the Akk ...

's death, his

shade Shade, Shades or Shading may refer to: * Shade (color), a mixture of a color with black (often generalized as any variety of a color) * Shade (shadow), the blocking of sunlight * Shades or sunglasses * Shading, a process used in art and graphic ...

tells Gilgamesh about the bleak conditions in the

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

. The poem ''

Gilgamesh and Aga Gilgamesh and Aga, sometimes referred to as incipit The envoys of Aga (Sumerian literature, Sumerian: ''lu2 kin-gi4-a aka''), is an First Babylonian dynasty, Old Babylonian poem written in Sumerian language, Sumerian. The only one of the five po ...

'' describes Gilgamesh's revolt against his overlord

Aga of Kish Aga (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Aga'', ''Agga'', or ''Akkà''; ), commonly known as Aga of Kish, was king in the first dynasty of Kish (Sumer), Kish during the Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)#Periodization, Early Dynastic I period. He is ...

. Other Sumerian poems relate Gilgamesh's defeat of the giant

Huwawa Humbaba (Ḫumbaba; , ''Ḫumbāba'', with an optional determinative ), originally known as Ḫuwawa in Sumerian (, ''Ḫuwāwa''), was a figure in Mesopotamian mythology. The origin and meaning of his name are unknown. He was portrayed as an anth ...

and the

Bull of Heaven In ancient Mesopotamian mythology, the Bull of Heaven is a mythical beast fought by the King of Uruk Gilgamesh. The story of the Bull of Heaven is known from two different versions: one recorded in an earlier Sumerian poem and a later episode ...

, while a fifth, poorly preserved poem relates the account of his death and funeral. In later

Babylonia Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...

n times, these stories were woven into a connected narrative. The standard Akkadian ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' was composed by a scribe named Sîn-lēqi-unninni, probably during the

Middle Babylonian Period The Middle Babylonian period, also known as the Kassite period, in southern Mesopotamia is dated from and began after the Hittites sacked the city of Babylon. The Kassites, whose dynasty is synonymous with the period, eventually assumed political ...

(), based on much older source material. In the epic, Gilgamesh is a

demigod A demigod is a part-human and part-divine offspring of a deity and a human, or a human or non-human creature that is accorded divine status after death, or someone who has attained the "divine spark" (divine illumination). An immortality, immor ...

of superhuman strength who befriends the wild man

. Together, they embark on many journeys, most famously defeating

Humbaba Humbaba (Ḫumbaba; , ''Ḫumbāba'', with an optional determinative ), originally known as Ḫuwawa in Sumerian (, ''Ḫuwāwa''), was a figure in Mesopotamian mythology. The origin and meaning of his name are unknown. He was portrayed as an ant ...

(Sumerian: Huwawa) and the

, who is sent to attack them by

Ishtar Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...

(Sumerian: Inanna) after Gilgamesh rejects her offer for him to become her consort. After Enkidu dies of a disease sent as punishment from the gods, Gilgamesh becomes afraid of his own death and visits the sage

Utnapishtim Uta-napishtim or Utnapishtim (, "he has found life") was a legendary king of the ancient city of Shuruppak in southern Iraq, who, according to the Gilgamesh flood myth, one of several similar narratives, survived the Flood by making and occupyi ...

, the survivor of the

Great Flood A flood myth or a deluge myth is a myth in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys civilization, often in an act of divine retribution. Parallels are often drawn between the flood waters of these myths and the primeva ...

, hoping to find

immortality Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some species possess "biological immortality" due to an apparent lack of the Hayflick limit. From at least the time of the Ancient Mesopotamian religion, ancient Mesopotamians, there has been a con ...

. Gilgamesh repeatedly fails the trials set before him and returns home to Uruk, realizing that immortality is beyond his reach. Most scholars agree that the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' exerted substantial influence on the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

'' and the ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

'', two epic poems written in

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

during the 8th century BC. The story of Gilgamesh's birth is described in an anecdote in ''On the Nature of Animals'' by the Greek writer

Aelian Aelian or Aelianus may refer to: * Aelianus Tacticus, 2nd-century Greek military writer in Rome * Casperius Aelianus (13–98 AD), Praetorian Prefect, executed by Trajan * Claudius Aelianus Claudius Aelianus (; ), commonly Aelian (), born at Pr ...

(2nd century AD). Aelian relates that Gilgamesh's grandfather kept his mother under guard to prevent her from becoming pregnant, because an oracle had told him that his grandson would overthrow him. She became pregnant and the guards threw the child off a tower, but an eagle rescued him mid-fall and delivered him safely to an orchard, where the gardener raised him. The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' was rediscovered in the

Library of Ashurbanipal The Royal Library of Ashurbanipal, named after Ashurbanipal, the last great king of the Assyrian Empire, is a collection of more than 30,000 clay tablets and fragments containing texts of all kinds from the 7th century BCE, including texts in ...

in 1849. After being translated in the early 1870s, it caused widespread controversy due to similarities between portions of it and the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' figure in modern culture.

Name

The modern form "Gilgamesh" is a direct borrowing of the Akkadian , rendered as ''Gilgāmeš''. The Assyrian form of the name derived from the earlier Sumerian form , ''Bilgames''. It is generally concluded that the name itself translates as "the (kinsman) is a hero", though what type of "kinsman" was meant is a point of controversy. It is sometimes suggested that the Sumerian form of the name was pronounced ''Pabilgames'', reading the component ''bilga'' as ''pabilga'' (), a related term which described familial relations, but this is not supported by epigraphic or phonological evidence.

Historical king

Most historians generally agree that Gilgamesh was a historical king of the Sumerian city-state of

, who probably ruled sometime during the early part of the Early Dynastic Period ( 2900–2350 BC).

Stephanie Dalley Stephanie Mary Dalley FSA (''née'' Page; March 1943) is a British Assyriologist and scholar of the Ancient Near East. Prior to her retirement, she was a teaching Fellow at the Oriental Institute, Oxford. She is known for her publications of ...

, a scholar of the ancient Near East, states that "precise dates cannot be given for the lifetime of Gilgamesh, but they are generally agreed to lie between 2800 and 2500 BC". An inscription, possibly belonging to a contemporary official under Gilgamesh, was discovered in the archaic texts at Ur; his name reads: "Gilgameš is the one whom Utu has selected". Aside from this the

Tummal Inscription Tummal (Tum-ma-alki or Tum-alki) was an ancient Near East cult site of the goddess Ninlil, as Egi-Tummal (Lady of Tummal), currently unlocated but known to be in the vicinity of Nippur and Drehem. E-Tummal (House of Tummal) (also E-kiur) was the te ...

, a thirty-four-line

historiographic Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term "historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific to ...

text written during the reign of

Ishbi-Erra Ishbi-Erra ( Akkadian: d''iš-bi-ir₃-ra'') was the founder of the dynasty of Isin, reigning from c. 2017— 1986 BC ( MC). Ishbi-Erra was preceded by Ibbi-Sin of the third dynasty of Ur in ancient Lower Mesopotamia, and then succeeded by � ...

(), also mentions him. The inscription credits Gilgamesh with building the walls of Uruk. Lines eleven through fifteen of the inscription read: Gilgamesh is also connected to King

Enmebaragesi Enmebaragesi ( Sumerian: ''Enmebárgisi'' N-ME-BARA2-GI4-SE ) originally Mebarasi () was the penultimate king of the first dynasty of Kish and is recorded as having reigned 900 years in the ''Sumerian King List''. Like his son and successor Ag ...

of Kish, a known historical figure who may have lived near Gilgamesh's lifetime. Furthermore, he is listed as one of the kings of Uruk by the ''

Sumerian King List The ''Sumerian King List'' (abbreviated ''SKL'') or ''Chronicle of the One Monarchy'' is an ancient Composition (language), literary composition written in Sumerian language, Sumerian that was likely created and redacted to legitimize the claims ...

''. Fragments of an epic text found in

Mê-Turan Me-Turan (also Mê-Turan) is an archaeological site in Diyala Governorate Iraq comprising the modern Tell Haddad and the two mounds of Tell al-Sib (also Tell as-Sib). In Neo-Assyrian times it was known as Me-Turnat. It was excavated as part of the ...

(modern Tell Haddad) relate that upon his death Gilgamesh was buried under the river bed, and the workmen of Uruk temporarily diverted the flow of the

Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...

for this purpose.

Deification and legendary exploits

Sumerian poems

It is certain that, during the later Early Dynastic Period, Gilgamesh was worshiped as a god at various locations across Sumer. In the 21st century BC, King

Utu-hengal Utu-hengal (, ; died 2112 BC), also written Utu-heg̃al, Utu-heĝal, and sometimes transcribed as Utu-hegal, Utu-hejal, Utu-Khengal, was one of the first native kings of Sumer after two hundred years of Akkadian and Gutian rule, and was at the ...

of Uruk adopted Gilgamesh as his patron deity. The kings of the

() were especially fond of Gilgamesh, calling him their "divine brother" and "friend." King

Shulgi Shulgi ( dšul-gi,(died c. 2046 BC) formerly read as Dungi) of Ur was the second king of the Third Dynasty of Ur. He reigned for 48 years, from (Middle Chronology). His accomplishments include the completion of construction of the Great ...

of Ur (2029–1982 BC) declared himself the son of

Lugalbanda Lugalbanda was a deified Sumerian king of Uruk who, according to various sources of Mesopotamian literature, was the father of Gilgamesh. Early sources mention his consort Ninsun and his heroic deeds in an expedition to Aratta by King Enmerkar ...

and

Ninsun Ninsun (also called Ninsumun, cuneiform: dNIN.SUMUN2; Sumerian: ''Nin-sumun(ak)'' "lady of the wild cows") was a Mesopotamian goddess. She is best known as the mother of the hero Gilgamesh and wife of deified legendary king Lugalbanda, and appe ...

and the brother of Gilgamesh. Over the centuries, there may have been a gradual accretion of stories about Gilgamesh, some possibly derived from the real lives of other historical figures, such as

Gudea Gudea ( Sumerian: , ''Gu3-de2-a''; died 2124 BC) was a Sumerian ruler ('' ensi'') of the state of Lagash in Southern Mesopotamia, who ruled –2060 BC ( short chronology) or 2144–2124 BC ( middle chronology). He probably did not come from the ...

, the Second Dynasty ruler of

Lagash Lagash (; cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Lagaš'') was an ancient city-state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Al-Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash ( ...

(2144–2124 BC). Prayers inscribed on clay tablets address Gilgamesh as a judge of the dead in the Underworld.

"Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld"

During this period, a large number of myths and legends developed surrounding Gilgamesh. Five independent Sumerian poems have been discovered narrating his exploits. Gilgamesh's first appearance in literature is probably in the Sumerian poem "Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld". The narrative begins with a ''huluppu'' tree—perhaps, according to the Sumerologist

Samuel Noah Kramer Samuel Noah Kramer (September 28, 1897 – November 26, 1990) was one of the world's leading Assyriologists, an expert in Sumerian history and Sumerian language. After high school, he attended Temple University, before Dropsie University and t ...

, a willow, growing on the banks of the river

. The goddess Inanna moves the tree to her garden in

with the intention to carve it into a throne once it is fully grown. The tree grows and matures, but the serpent "who knows no charm," the ''

Anzû Anzû, also known as dZû and Imdugud ( Sumerian: '' ''), is a demon in several Mesopotamian religions. He was conceived by the cosmic freshwater ocean '' Abzu'' and mother Earth ''Mami'', or as son of Siris. In Babylonian myths Anzû was depi ...

''-bird, and '' Lilitu'', a Mesopotamian demon, invade the tree, causing Inanna to cry with sorrow. Gilgamesh, who in this story is portrayed as Inanna's brother, slays the serpent, causing the ''Anzû''-bird and Lilitu to flee. Gilgamesh's companions chop down the tree and carve it into a bed and a throne for Inanna. The goddess responds by fashioning a ''pikku'' and a ''mikku'' (perhaps a drum and drumsticks) as a reward for Gilgamesh's heroism. But Gilgamesh loses the ''pikku'' and ''mikku'' and asks who will retrieve them. His servant Enkidu descends to the Underworld to find them, but he disobeys its strict laws and can never return. In the remaining dialog, Gilgamesh questions the

of his lost comrade about the Underworld.

Subsequent poems

'' Gilgamesh and Agga'' describes Gilgamesh's successful revolt against his liege lord Agga, king of the city-state of

Kish Kish may refer to: Businesses and organisations * KISH, a radio station in Guam * Kish Air, an Iranian airline * Korean International School in Hanoi, Vietnam People * Kish (surname), including a list of people with the name * Kish, a former ...

. ''Gilgamesh and Huwawa'' describes how Gilgamesh and his servant

, with the help of fifty volunteers from Uruk, defeat the monster

, an ogre appointed as guardian of the

Cedar Forest The Cedar Forest ( ) is the glorious realm of the gods of Mesopotamian mythology. It is guarded by the Demigod, demigod Humbaba and was once entered by the hero Gilgamesh who dared cut down Cedrus libani, cedar trees from its Old-growth forest ...

by the ruling god

Enlil Enlil, later known as Elil and Ellil, is an List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian god associated with wind, air, earth, and storms. He is first attested as the chief deity of the Sumerian pantheon, but he was later worshipped by t ...

. In ''Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven'', Gilgamesh and Enkidu slay the

, who has been sent to attack them by the goddess

. The details of this poem differ substantially from the corresponding episode in the later Akkadian ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. In the Sumerian poem, Inanna remains aloof from Gilgamesh, but in the Akkadian epic she asks him to become her consort. Also, while pressing her father An to give her the Bull of Heaven, in Sumerian Inanna threatens a deafening cry that will reach the earth, while in Akkadian she threatens to wake the dead to eat the living. A poem known as ''The Death of Gilgamesh'' is poorly preserved, but appears to describe a major state funeral followed by the arrival of the deceased in the Underworld. The poem may have been misinterpreted, and may actually depict the death of Enkidu.

''Epic of Gilgamesh''

Eventually, according to Kramer (1963): By the

Old Babylonian Period The Old Babylonian Empire, or First Babylonian Empire, is dated to , and comes after the end of Sumerian power with the destruction of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the subsequent Isin-Larsa period. The chronology of the first dynasty of Babyloni ...

(), stories of Gilgamesh's legendary exploits had been woven into one or several long epics. The ''

'', the most complete account of Gilgamesh's adventures, was composed in Akkadian during the

( 1600 – 1155 BC) by a scribe named

Sîn-lēqi-unninni Sîn-lēqi-unninni ( ) was a '' mašmaššu'' who lived in Mesopotamia, probably in the period between 1300 BC and 1000 BC. He is traditionally thought to have compiled the best-preserved version of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. His name ...

. The most complete surviving version of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' is recorded on a set of twelve clay tablets dating to the seventh century BC, found in the

in the

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

n capital of

Nineveh Nineveh ( ; , ''URUNI.NU.A, Ninua''; , ''Nīnəwē''; , ''Nīnawā''; , ''Nīnwē''), was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul (itself built out of the Assyrian town of Mepsila) in northern ...

, with many pieces missing or damaged. Some scholars and translators choose to supplement the missing parts with material from the earlier Sumerian poems or from other versions of the epic found at other sites throughout the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

. In the epic, Gilgamesh is introduced as "two thirds divine and one third mortal". At the beginning of the poem, Gilgamesh is described as a brutal, oppressive ruler. This is usually interpreted to mean either forced labor or sexual exploitation. As punishment for his cruelty, the god Anu creates the wild man Enkidu. After being tamed by a prostitute named

Shamhat Shamhat (; also called Shamkat in the old Babylonian version of Gilgamesh") is a female character who appears in Tablets I and II of the Epic of Gilgamesh and is mentioned in Tablet VII. She is often characterized as a Sacred prostitution, sacred ...

, Enkidu journeys to Uruk to confront Gilgamesh. In the second tablet, the two men wrestle and though Gilgamesh wins in the end, he is so impressed by his opponent's strength and tenacity that they become close friends. In the earlier Sumerian texts, Enkidu is Gilgamesh's servant, but, in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', they are companions of equal standing. In tablets III through IV, Gilgamesh and Enkidu travel to the

, which is guarded by Humbaba (the Akkadian name for Huwawa). The heroes cross the seven mountains to the Cedar Forest, where they begin chopping down trees. Confronted by Humbaba, Gilgamesh panics and prays to

Shamash Shamash (Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''šamaš''), also known as Utu (Sumerian language, Sumerian: dutu "Sun") was the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian Solar deity, sun god. He was believed to see everything that happened in t ...

(the East Semitic name for Utu), who blows eight winds in Humbaba's eyes, blinding him. Humbaba begs for mercy, but the heroes decapitate him. Tablet VI begins with Gilgamesh returning to Uruk, where

(the Akkadian name for Inanna) comes to him and demands him as her consort. Gilgamesh rejects her, reproaching her mistreatment of all her former lovers. In revenge, Ishtar goes to her father Anu and demands that he give her the Bull of Heaven, which she sends to attack Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the Bull and offer its heart to Shamash. While Gilgamesh and Enkidu are resting, Ishtar stands up on the walls of

and curses Gilgamesh. Enkidu tears off the Bull's right thigh and throws it in Ishtar's face, saying, "If I could lay my hands on you, it is this I should do to you, and lash your entrails to your side." Ishtar calls together "the crimped courtesans, prostitutes and harlots" and orders them to mourn for the Bull of Heaven. Meanwhile, Gilgamesh holds a celebration over the Bull's defeat. Tablet VII begins with Enkidu recounting a

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...

in which he saw Anu, Ea, and Shamash declare that either Gilgamesh or Enkidu must die to avenge the Bull of Heaven. They choose Enkidu, who soon grows sick. He has a dream of the Underworld, and then dies. Tablet VIII describes Gilgamesh's inconsolable grief for his friend and the details of Enkidu's funeral. Tablets IX through XI relate how Gilgamesh, driven by grief and fear of his own mortality, travels a great distance and overcomes many obstacles to find the home of

, the sole survivor of the

, who was rewarded with immortality by the gods. Mesopotamian - Cylinder Seal with Scorpion Man Shooting at Winged Creatures - Walters 42807

The journey to Utnapishtim involves a series of episodic challenges, which probably originated as major independent adventures, but, in the epic, they are reduced to what

Joseph Eddy Fontenrose Joseph Eddy Fontenrose (17 June 1903 in Sutter Creek – July 1986 in Ashland, Oregon) was an American classical scholar. He was centrally interested in Greek religion and Greek mythology; he was also an expert on John Steinbeck, commenting on ...

calls "fairly harmless incidents". First, Gilgamesh encounters and slays lions in the mountain pass. Upon reaching the mountain of

Mashu Mashu, as described in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' of Mesopotamian mythology, is a great cedar mountain through which the hero-king Gilgamesh passes via a tunnel on his journey to Dilmun after leaving the Cedar Forest, a forest of ten thousand l ...

, Gilgamesh encounters a

scorpion man Scorpion-men ( feature in several Akkadian language myths from ancient Mesopotamia, including the epic '' Enûma Elish'' and the Standard Babylonian version of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. In the visual arts, the form of scorpion-men varies, thou ...

and his wife; their bodies flash with terrifying radiance, but once Gilgamesh tells them his purpose, they allow him to pass. Gilgamesh wanders through darkness for twelve days before he finally comes into the light. He finds a beautiful garden by the sea in which he meets

Siduri Siduri, or more accurately Šiduri (pronounced Shiduri), is a character in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. She is described as an alewife. The oldest preserved version of the composition to contain the episode involving her leaves her nameless, and in ...

, the divine Alewife. At first, she tries to prevent Gilgamesh from entering the garden, and then attempts to persuade him to accept death as inevitable and not journey beyond the waters. When Gilgamesh persists in his quest, she directs him to

Urshanabi Urshanabi, also known as Sursunabu, was a figure in Mesopotamian mythology. His name is considered unusual and difficult to interpret, and consists of a prefix common in Sumerian names and a cuneiform numeral which could be read as either or 40. ...

, the ferryman of the gods, who takes Gilgamesh across the sea to Utnapishtim. When Gilgamesh finally arrives at Utnapishtim's home, Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that, to become immortal, he must defy sleep. Gilgamesh attempts this, but fails and falls into a seven-day sleep. Next, Utnapishtim tells him that, even if he cannot obtain immortality, he can restore his youth with a rejuvenating herb. Gilgamesh takes the plant, but leaves it on the shore while swimming and a snake steals it, explaining why snakes shed their skins. Despondent at this loss, Gilgamesh returns to Uruk, and shows his city to the ferryman Urshanabi. At this point the continuous narrative ends. Tablet XII is an appendix corresponding to the Sumerian poem of ''Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld'' describing the loss of the ''pikku'' and ''mikku''. Numerous elements reveal a lack of continuity with the earlier portions of the epic. At the beginning of Tablet XII, Enkidu is still alive, despite having previously died in Tablet VII, and Gilgamesh is kind to Ishtar, despite the violent rivalry between them in Tablet VI. Also, while most of the parts of the epic are free adaptations of their respective Sumerian predecessors, Tablet XII is a literal, word-for-word translation of the last part of ''Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld'', and was probably relegated to the end because it did not fit the larger epic narrative. In it, Gilgamesh sees a vision of Enkidu's ghost, who promises to recover the lost items and describes to his friend the abysmal condition of the Underworld.

In Mesopotamian art

, The Gilgamesh Dream tablet. From Iraq. Middle Babylonian Period, First Sealand Dynasty, 1732–1460 BC. Iraq Museum, Baghdad. This dream tablet recounts a part of the epic of Gilgamesh in which the hero (Gilgamesh) describes his dreams to his mother (the goddess Ninsun), who interprets them as announcing the arrival of a new friend, who will become his companion Although stories about Gilgamesh were wildly popular throughout ancient Mesopotamia, authentic representations of him in ancient art are uncommon. Popular works often identify depictions of a hero with long hair, containing four or six curls, as representations of Gilgamesh, but this identification is known to be incorrect. A few genuine ancient Mesopotamian representations of Gilgamesh do exist, however. These representations are mostly found on clay plaques and cylinder seals. Generally, it is only possible to identify a figure as Gilgamesh if the work clearly depicts a scene from the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' itself. One set of representations of Gilgamesh is found in scenes of two heroes fighting a demonic giant, clearly Humbaba. Another set is found in scenes showing a similar pair of heroes confronting a giant winged bull, clearly the Bull of Heaven.

Later influence

In antiquity

Guido Reni - Polyphemus - Google Art Project

The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' exerted substantial influence on the ''

'' and the ''

'', the Homeric epic poems written in

during the eighth century BC. According to classics scholar

Barry B. Powell Barry Bruce Powell (born 1942) is an American classical scholar who is the author of the textbook ''Classical Myth.'' Trained at Berkeley and Harvard, he is a specialist in Homer and in the history of writing. Powell is currently the Halls-Bascom ...

, early Greeks were probably exposed to and influenced by Mesopotamian oral traditions through their extensive connections to the civilizations of the ancient Near East. German classicist

Walter Burkert Walter Burkert (; 2 February 1931 – 11 March 2015) was a German scholar of Greek mythology and cult. A professor of classics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, he taught in the UK and the US. He has influenced generations of student ...

observes that the scene in Tablet VI of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' in which Gilgamesh rejects Ishtar's advances and she complains before her mother Antu, but is mildly rebuked by her father Anu, is directly paralleled in Book V of the ''Iliad''. In this scene,

Aphrodite Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...

, the Greek analogue of Ishtar, is wounded by the hero

Diomedes Diomedes (Jones, Daniel; Roach, Peter, James Hartman and Jane Setter, eds. ''Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary''. 17th edition. Cambridge UP, 2006.) or Diomede (; ) is a hero in Greek mythology, known for his participation in the Trojan ...

and flees to

Mount Olympus Mount Olympus (, , ) is an extensive massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, between the regional units of Larissa (regional unit), Larissa and Pieria (regional ...

, where she cries to her mother Dione and is mildly rebuked by her father

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

. Powell observes that the opening lines of the ''Odyssey'' seem to echo the opening lines of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', both praising and pitying their heroes. The storyline of the ''Odyssey'' likewise bears many similarities to the ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. Both Gilgamesh and Odysseus encounter a woman who can turn men into animals: Ishtar (for Gilgamesh) and

Circe In Greek mythology, Circe (; ) is an enchantress, sometimes considered a goddess or a nymph. In most accounts, Circe is described as the daughter of the sun god Helios and the Oceanid Perse (mythology), Perse. Circe was renowned for her vast kn ...

(for Odysseus). Odysseus blinds the giant

cyclops In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, the Cyclopes ( ; , ''Kýklōpes'', "Circle-eyes" or "Round-eyes"; singular Cyclops ; , ''Kýklōps'') are giant one-eyed creatures. Three groups of Cyclopes can be distinguished. In Hesiod's ''Th ...

Polyphemus Polyphemus (; , ; ) is the one-eyed giant son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes described in Homer's ''Odyssey''. His name means "abounding in songs and legends", "many-voiced" or "very famous". Polyphemus first ap ...

, while Gilgamesh slays of Humbaba. Both heroes visit the Underworld and both find themselves unhappy while living in an otherworldly paradise in the company of a seductive sorceress: Siduri (for Gilgamesh) and Calypso (for Odysseus). Finally, both have a missed opportunity for immortality, Gilgamesh when he loses the plant, and Odysseus when he leaves Calypso's island. In the

Qumran Qumran (; ; ') is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, about south of the historic city of Jericho, and adjac ...

scroll the '' Book of Giants'' ( 100 BC) the names of Gilgamesh and

appear as two of the

antediluvian The antediluvian (alternatively pre-diluvian or pre-flood) period is the time period chronicled in the Bible between the fall of man and the Genesis flood narrative in biblical cosmology. The term was coined by Thomas Browne (1605–1682). The n ...

giants, rendered (in consonantal form) as ''glgmš'' and ''ḩwbbyš''. This same text was later used in the Middle East by the Manichaean sects, and the Arabic form ''Gilgamish''/''Jiljamish'' survives as the name of a demon according to the Egyptian

cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

Al-Suyuti Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (; 1445–1505), or al-Suyuti, was an Egyptians, Egyptian Sunni Muslims, Muslim polymath of Persians, Persian descent. Considered the mujtahid and mujaddid of the Islamic 10th century, he was a leading Hadith studies, muh ...

( 1500). The story of Gilgamesh's birth is not recorded in any extant Sumerian or Akkadian text, but a version of it is described in '' De Natura Animalium'' (''On the Nature of Animals'') 12.21, a

commonplace book Commonplace books (or commonplaces) are a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into blank books. They have been kept from antiquity, and were kept particularly during the Renaissance and in the nineteenth century. Such book ...

written in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

around 200 AD by the Hellenized Roman orator

. According to Aelian, an

oracle An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination. Descript ...

told King Seuechoros () of the Babylonians that his grandson Gilgamos would overthrow him. To prevent this, Seuechoros kept his only daughter under close guard at the

Acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens ...

of Babylon, but she became pregnant nonetheless. Fearing the king's wrath, the guards hurled the infant off the top of a tall tower. An eagle rescued the boy in mid-flight and set him down in a distant orchard. The caretaker found the boy and raised him, naming him ''Gilgamos'' (). Eventually, Gilgamos returned to Babylon and overthrew his grandfather, proclaiming himself king. This birth narrative is in the same tradition as other Near Eastern birth legends, such as those of

Sargon Sargon may refer to: Mesopotamian kings * Sargon of Akkad ( 2334–2279 BC), founder of the Akkadian Empire * Sargon I ( 1920–1881 BC), king of the Old Assyrian city-state * Sargon II ( BC), king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire Modern people Giv ...

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

, and

Cyrus Cyrus () is a Persian-language masculine given name. It is historically best known as the name of several List of monarchs of Iran, Persian kings, most notably including Cyrus the Great, who founded the Achaemenid Empire in 550 BC. It remains wid ...

. The Syriac writer Theodore Bar Konai ( AD 600) also mentions a king ''Gligmos'', ''Gmigmos'' or ''Gamigos'' as the last of a line of twelve kings contemporaneous with the patriarchs from Peleg to Abraham.

Modern rediscovery

The Akkadian text of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' was first discovered in 1849 AD by the English archaeologist

Austen Henry Layard Sir Austen Henry Layard (; 5 March 18175 July 1894) was an English Assyriologist, traveller, cuneiformist, art historian, draughtsman, collector, politician and diplomat. He was born to a mostly English family in Paris and largely raised in It ...

in the

at Nineveh. Layard was seeking evidence to confirm the historicity of the events described in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

, which was believed to contain the oldest texts in the world. Instead, his and later excavations unearthed much older Mesopotamian texts and showed that many of the stories in the Old Testament may be derived from earlier myths told throughout the ancient Near East. The first translation of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' was produced in the early 1870s by George Smith, a scholar at the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

, who published the Flood story from Tablet XI in 1880 under the title ''The Chaldean Account of Genesis''. Gilgamesh's name was originally misread as ''Izdubar''. Early interest in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' was almost exclusively on account of the flood story from Tablet XI. It attracted enormous public attention and drew widespread scholarly controversy, while the rest of the epic was largely ignored. Most attention towards the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries came from German-speaking countries, where controversy raged over the relationship between ''Babel und Bibel'' ("Babylon and Bible"). In January 1902, the German Assyriologist

Friedrich Delitzsch Friedrich Delitzsch (; 3 September 1850 – 19 December 1922) was a German Assyriologist. He was the son of Lutheran theologian Franz Delitzsch (1813–1890). Born in Erlangen, he studied in Leipzig and Berlin, gaining his habilitation in 1874 as ...

gave a lecture at the

Sing-Akademie zu Berlin The Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, also known as the Berliner Singakademie, is a musical (originally choral) society founded in Berlin in 1791 by Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch, harpsichordist to the court of Prussia, on the model of the 18th-centu ...

before the

Kaiser Kaiser ( ; ) is the title historically used by German and Austrian emperors. In German, the title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (). In English, the word ''kaiser'' is mainly applied to the emperors ...

and his wife, in which he argued that the Flood story in the Book of Genesis was directly copied from the ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. Delitzsch's lecture was so controversial that, by September 1903, he had managed to collect thousands of articles and pamphlets criticizing this lecture about the Flood and another about the relationship between the

Code of Hammurabi The Code of Hammurabi is a Babylonian legal text composed during 1755–1750 BC. It is the longest, best-organized, and best-preserved legal text from the ancient Near East. It is written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian language, Akkadi ...

and the biblical

Law of Moses The Law of Moses ( ), also called the Mosaic Law, is the law said to have been revealed to Moses by God. The term primarily refers to the Torah or the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. Terminology The Law of Moses or Torah of Moses (Heb ...

. The Kaiser distanced himself from Delitzsch and his radical views and by the fall of 1904, Delitzsch was reduced to giving his third lecture in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

and

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

rather than in Berlin. The putative relationship between the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' and the Hebrew Bible later became a major part of Delitzsch's argument in his 1920–21 book ' (''The Great Deception'') that the Hebrew Bible was irredeemably "contaminated" by Babylonian influence and that only by eliminating the human Old Testament entirely could Christians finally believe in the true,

Aryan ''Aryan'' (), or ''Arya'' (borrowed from Sanskrit ''ārya''), Oxford English Dictionary Online 2024, s.v. ''Aryan'' (adj. & n.); ''Arya'' (n.)''.'' is a term originating from the ethno-cultural self-designation of the Indo-Iranians. It stood ...

message of the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

Early modern interpretations

ISHTAR-EPOS p221 IZDUBAR TAKING LEAVE OF SABITU AND SIDURI IN THE HAPPY HALLS

The first modern literary adaptation of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' was ''Ishtar and Izdubar'' (1884) by Leonidas Le Cenci Hamilton, an American lawyer and businessman. Hamilton had rudimentary knowledge of Akkadian, which he had learned from

Archibald Sayce Archibald Henry Sayce (25 September 18454 February 1933) was a pioneer British Assyriologist and linguist, who held a chair as Professor of Assyriology at the University of Oxford from 1891 to 1919. He was able to write in at least twenty anci ...

's 1872 ''Assyrian Grammar for Comparative Purposes''. Hamilton's book relied heavily on Smith's translation of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', but also made major changes. For instance, Hamilton omitted the famous flood story entirely and instead focused on the romantic relationship between Ishtar and Gilgamesh. ''Ishtar and Izdubar'' expanded the original roughly 3,000 lines of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' to roughly 6,000 lines of rhyming couplets grouped into forty-eight

canto The canto () is a principal form of division in medieval and modern long poetry. Etymology and equivalent terms The word ''canto'' is derived from the Italian word for "song" or "singing", which comes from the Latin ''cantus'', "song", from th ...

s. Hamilton significantly altered most of the characters and introduced entirely new episodes not found in the original epic. Significantly influenced by Edward FitzGerald's ''

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam ''Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám'' is the title that Edward FitzGerald (poet), Edward FitzGerald gave to his 1859 translation from Persian language, Persian to English of a selection of quatrains (') attributed to Omar Khayyam (1048–1131), dub ...

'' and

Edwin Arnold Sir Edwin Arnold (10 June 1832 – 24 March 1904) was an English poet and journalist. He is best known for his 1879 work, '' The Light of Asia''. Born in Gravesend, Kent, Arnold's early education at King's School, Rochester, and later at Kin ...

's ''

The Light of Asia ''The Light of Asia'', or ''The Great Renunciation'' (''Mahâbhinishkramana''), is a book by Sir Edwin Arnold. The first edition of the book was published in London in July 1879. In the form of a narrative poem, the book endeavours to descri ...

'', Hamilton's characters dress more like nineteenth-century Turks than ancient Babylonians. Hamilton also changed the tone of the epic from the "grim realism" and "ironic tragedy" of the original to a "cheery optimism" filled with "the sweet strains of love and harmony". In his 1904 book ''Das Alte Testament im Lichte des alten Orients'', the German Assyriologist Alfred Jeremias equated Gilgamesh with the king

Nimrod Nimrod is a Hebrew Bible, biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles, the Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush (Bible), Cush and therefore the great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of Sh ...

from the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek language, Greek ; ; ) is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its incipit, first word, (In the beginning (phrase), 'In the beginning'). Genesis purpor ...

and argued Gilgamesh's strength must come from his hair, like the hero

Samson SAMSON (Software for Adaptive Modeling and Simulation Of Nanosystems) is a computer software platform for molecular design being developed bOneAngstromand previously by the NANO-D group at the French Institute for Research in Computer Science an ...

in the

Book of Judges The Book of Judges is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom in the ...

, and that he must have performed Twelve Labors like the hero

Heracles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

. In his 1906 book ''Das Gilgamesch-Epos in der Weltliteratur'', the Orientalist Peter Jensen declared that the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' was the source behind nearly all the stories in the Old Testament, arguing that

is "the Gilgamesh of Exodus who saves the children of Israel from precisely the same situation faced by the inhabitants of Erech at the beginning of the Babylonian epic." He then proceeded to argue that

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...

Isaac Isaac ( ; ; ; ; ; ) is one of the three patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith. Isaac first appears in the Torah, in wh ...

, Samson,

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

, and various other biblical figures are all nothing more than exact copies of Gilgamesh. Finally, he declared that even

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

is "nothing but an Israelite Gilgamesh. Nothing but an adjunct to Abraham, Moses, and countless other figures in the saga." This ideology became known as Panbabylonianism and was almost immediately rejected by mainstream scholars. The most stalwart critics of Panbabylonianism were those associated with the emerging ''

Religionsgeschichtliche Schule The history of religions school (German: ''Religionsgeschichtliche Schule'') is a term applied to a group of German Protestant theologians associated with the University of Göttingen in the 1890s. Ideas The ''Religionsgeschichtliche Schule'' used ...

''.

Hermann Gunkel Hermann Gunkel (; 23 May 1862 – 11 March 1932), a German Old Testament scholar, founded form criticism. He also became a leading representative of the history of religions school. His major works cover Genesis and the Psalms, and his major ...

dismissed most of Jensen's purported parallels between Gilgamesh and biblical figures as mere baseless sensationalism. He concluded that Jensen and other Assyriologists like him had failed to understand the complexities of Old Testament scholarship and had confused scholars with "conspicuous mistakes and remarkable aberrations". In English-speaking countries, the prevailing scholarly interpretation during the early twentieth century was one originally proposed by

Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, 1st Baronet, KLS (5 April 1810 – 5 March 1895) was a British East India Company army officer, politician, and Orientalist, sometimes described as the Father of Assyriology. His son, also Henry, was to becom ...

, which held that Gilgamesh is a "solar hero", whose actions represent the movements of the sun, and that the twelve tablets of his epic represent the twelve signs of the Babylonian zodiac. The Austrian psychoanalyst

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...

, drawing on the theories of

James George Frazer Sir James George Frazer (; 1 January 1854 – 7 May 1941) was a Scottish social anthropologist and folkloristJosephson-Storm (2017), Chapter 5. influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion. ...

and Paul Ehrenreich, interpreted Gilgamesh and Eabani (the earlier misreading for ''Enkidu'') as representing "man" and "crude sensuality" respectively. He compared them to other brother-figures in world mythology, remarking, "One is always weaker than the other and dies sooner. In Gilgamesh this ages-old motif of the unequal pair of brothers served to represent the relationship between a man and his

libido In psychology, libido (; ) is psychic drive or energy, usually conceived of as sexual in nature, but sometimes conceived of as including other forms of desire. The term ''libido'' was originally developed by Sigmund Freud, the pioneering origin ...

." He also saw Enkidu as representing the

placenta The placenta (: placentas or placentae) is a temporary embryonic and later fetal organ that begins developing from the blastocyst shortly after implantation. It plays critical roles in facilitating nutrient, gas, and waste exchange between ...

, the "weaker twin" who dies shortly after birth. Freud's friend and pupil

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychologist who founded the school of analytical psychology. A prolific author of Carl Jung publications, over 20 books, illustrator, and corr ...

frequently discusses Gilgamesh in his early work ''Symbole der Wandlung'' (1911–1912). He, for instance, cites Ishtar's sexual attraction to Gilgamesh as an example of the mother's

incest Incest ( ) is sexual intercourse, sex between kinship, close relatives, for example a brother, sister, or parent. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by lineag ...

uous desire for her son, Humbaba as an example of an oppressive father-figure whom Gilgamesh must overcome, and Gilgamesh himself as an example of a man who forgets his dependence on

the unconscious In psychoanalysis and other psychological theories, the unconscious mind (or the unconscious) is the part of the psyche that is not available to introspection. Although these processes exist beneath the surface of conscious awareness, they are th ...

and is punished by the "gods", who represent it.

Modern interpretations and cultural significance

In the years following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Gilgamesh, formerly an obscure figure known only by a few scholars, gradually became increasingly popular with modern audiences. The ''Epic of Gilgamesh''s existential themes made it particularly appealing to German authors in the years following the war. In his 1947

existentialist Existentialism is a family of philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an authentic life despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of existence. In examining meaning, purpose, and value ...

novel , the German novelist

Hermann Kasack Hermann Robert Richard Eugen Kasack (24 July 1896 – 10 January 1966) was a German writer. He is best known for his novel '' Die Stadt hinter dem Strom'' (''The city beyond the river''). Kasack was a pioneer of using the medium broadcast for li ...

adapted elements of the epic into a metaphor for the aftermath of the destruction of World War II in Germany, portraying the bombed-out city of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

as resembling the frightening Underworld seen by Enkidu in his dream. In

Hans Henny Jahnn Hans Henny Jahnn (born Hans Henny August Jahn'';'' 17 December 1894 – 29 November 1959) was a German playwright, novelist, and organ-builder. Personal life Hans Henny Jahn was born in 1894 in Stellingen, one of Hamburg's suburbs, and was the s ...

magnum opus A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...

''River Without Shores'' (1949–1950), the middle section of the trilogy centers around a composer whose twenty-year-long homoerotic relationship with a friend mirrors that of Gilgamesh with Enkidu and whose masterpiece turns out to be a symphony about Gilgamesh. ''The Quest of Gilgamesh'', a 1953 radio play by Douglas Geoffrey Bridson, helped popularize the epic in Britain. In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Charles Olson Charles John Olson (27 December 1910 – 10 January 1970) was a second generation modernist United States poetry, American poet who was a link between earlier Literary modernism, modernist figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams an ...

praised the epic in his poems and essays and

Gregory Corso Gregory Nunzio Corso (March 26, 1930 – January 17, 2001) was an American poet. Along with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs, he was part of the Beat Generation, as well as one of its youngest members. Early life Born N ...

believed that it contained ancient virtues capable of curing what he viewed as modern moral degeneracy. The 1966 postfigurative novel by Guido Bachmann became a classic of German "

queer literature LGBTQ literature may refer to: * Lesbian literature * Gay literature * Bisexual literature * Transgender literature * Intersex literature * Or any other literature featuring the LGBTQ community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, ...

" and set a decades-long international literary trend of portraying Gilgamesh and Enkidu as homosexual lovers. This trend proved so popular that the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' itself is included in ''The Columbia Anthology of Gay Literature'' (1998) as a major early work of that genre. In the 1970s and 1980s, feminist literary critics analyzed the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' as showing evidence for a transition from the original matriarchy of all humanity to modern

patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

. As the

Green Movement Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society often, but not always, rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy. Wall 2010. p. 12-13. It ...

expanded in Europe, Gilgamesh's story began to be seen through an environmentalist lens, with Enkidu's death symbolizing man's separation from nature. Gilagmesh

Theodore Ziolkowski Theodore Ziolkowski (September 30, 1932 – December 5, 2020) was a scholar in the fields of German studies and comparative literature. He coined the term " fifth gospel genre". Early life Theodore J. Ziolkowski was born on September 30, 1932, i ...

, a scholar of modern literature, states, that "unlike most other figures from myth, literature, and history, Gilgamesh has established himself as an autonomous entity or simply a name, often independent of the epic context in which he originally became known. (As analogous examples one might think, for instance, of the

Minotaur In Greek mythology, the Minotaur (, ''Mīnṓtauros''), also known as Asterion, is a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "par ...

Frankenstein's monster Frankenstein's monster, commonly referred to as Frankenstein, is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' as its main antagonist. Shelley's title compares the monster's ...

.)" The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' has been translated into many major world languages and has become a staple of American

world literature World literature is used to refer to the world's total national literature and the circulation of works into the wider world beyond their country of origin. In the past, it primarily referred to the masterpieces of Western European literature. ...

classes. Many contemporary authors and novelists have drawn inspiration from it, including an American

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

theater collective called "The Gilgamesh Group" and Joan London in her novel ''

Gilgamesh Gilgamesh (, ; ; originally ) was a hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', an epic poem written in Akkadian during the late 2nd millennium BC. He was possibly a historical king of the Sumer ...

'' (2001). '' The Great American Novel'' (1973) by

Philip Roth Philip Milton Roth (; March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short-story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophical ...

features a character named "Gil Gamesh", who is the star

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

of a fictional 1930s

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

team called the "Patriot League". Starting in the late twentieth century, the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' began to be read again in Iraq.

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

, the former

President of Iraq The President of the Republic of Iraq is the head of state of Iraq. Since the mid-2000s, the presidency is primarily a symbolic office, as the position does not possess significant power within the country according to the Constitution of Iraq, ...

, had a lifelong fascination with Gilgamesh. Saddam's first novel '' Zabibah and the King'' (2000) is an allegory for the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

set in ancient Assyria that blends elements of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' and the ''

One Thousand and One Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition ( ...

''. Like Gilgamesh, the king at the beginning of the novel is a brutal tyrant who misuses his power and oppresses his people, but, through the aid of a commoner woman named Zabibah, he grows into a more just ruler. When the United States tried to pressure Saddam to step down in February 2003, Saddam gave a speech to a group of his generals posing the idea in a positive light by comparing himself to the epic hero. Scholars like Susan Ackerman and

Wayne R. Dynes Wayne R. Dynes (August 23, 1934 – late July 2021) was an American art historian, encyclopedist, and bibliographer. He was professor emeritus in the Art Department at Hunter College, where he taught from 1972 to 2005. Dynes spent his early yea ...

have noted that the language used to describe Gilgamesh's relationship with Enkidu seems to have homoerotic implications. Ackerman notes that, when Gilgamesh veils Enkidu's body, Enkidu is compared to a "bride". Ackerman states, "that Gilgamesh, according to both versions, will love Enkidu 'like a wife' may further imply sexual intercourse." In 2000, a modern statue of Gilgamesh by the Assyrian sculptor Lewis Batros was unveiled at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The Australian psychedelic rock band

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard (KGLW) are an Australian rock band formed in 2010 in Melbourne, Victoria. The band's current lineup consists of Stu Mackenzie (vocals, guitar), Ambrose Kenny-Smith (vocals, harmonica, keyboards), Cook Craig ( ...

recorded a song titled "Gilgamesh" as the fifth track of their October 2023 album '' The Silver Cord'', with references to the epic in the song's lyrics.

References

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* * * {{Authority control Gilgamesh, 29th-century BC Sumerian kings 28th-century BC Sumerian kings 27th-century BC Sumerian kings Kings of Uruk Deified male monarchs Demigods Epic of Gilgamesh, - Heroes in mythology and legend Mesopotamian gods Nimrod Characters in the Epic of Gilgamesh

Name

Historical king

Deification and legendary exploits

Sumerian poems

"Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld"

Subsequent poems

''Epic of Gilgamesh''

In Mesopotamian art

Later influence

In antiquity

Modern rediscovery

Early modern interpretations

Modern interpretations and cultural significance

See also

References

Informational notes

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading

External links