Gilgamesh - Cuneiform references

A Babylonian epic poem, partially preserved in different versions, named after its hero, the Sumerian king Gilgamesh (3rd millennium BC). It describes Gilgamesh's legendary adventures, and narrates a story of the Flood that has striking parallels with the Biblical account.

Fertile Crescent myth series
Mesopotamian
Levantine
Arabian
Mesopotamia
Primordial beings
7 gods who command
The great gods
Spirits and monsters
Tales from Babylon
Demigods and Heroes
Adapa, Enkidu Enmerkar, Geshtinanna Gilgamesh, Lugalbanda Shamhat, Siduri Tammuz, Utnapishtim

Gilgamesh, according to the Sumerian king list, was the fifth king of Uruk (Early Dynastic II, first dynasty of Uruk), the son of Lugalbanda, ruling circa 2650 BC.

Cuneiform references

In the Epic of Gilgamesh it is said that Gilgamesh ordered the creation of the legendary walls of Uruk.

Fragments of an epic text found in Me-Turan (modern Tell Haddad) relate that Gilgamesh was buried under the waters of a river at the end of his life.

Despite the lack of direct evidence, most scholars do not object to consideration of Gilgamesh as a historical figure, particularly after inscriptions were found confirming the historical existence of other figures associated with him: kings Enmebaragesi and Aga of Kish.

In most texts, Gilgamesh is written with the determinative for divine beings (DINGIR) - but there is no evidence for a contemporary cult, and the Sumerian Gilgamesh myths suggest the deification was a later development (unlike the case of the Akkadian god-kings). George, Andrew [1999], The Epic of Gilgamesh: the Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian, Harmondsworth: Allen Lane The Penguin Press, 1999 (published in Penguin Classics 2000, reprinted with minor revisions, 2003. ISBN 0-14-044919-1 George, Andrew, The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic - Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2 volumes, 2003.

Text translations

Wikisource has original text related to this article: The Epic of Gilgamesh http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/GILG.HTM The Epic of Gilgamesh: A Spiritual Biography Sumerian texts: ETCSL Gilgamesh and Huwawa, version A - (the adventure of the cedar forest) Gilgamesh and Huwawa, version B Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven Gilgamesh and Aga Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the nether world The death of Gilgamesh Comparison of The Epic of Gilgamesh to the Genesis flood The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (http://www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk/), Oxford 1998-.

Translations for several legends of Gilgamesh in the Sumerian language have been written by:

Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Fluckiger-Hawker, E, Stephen Mitchell Stripped Books: Stephen Mitchell on Gilgamesh - a comic-book adaptation of a talk by Stephen Mitchell about the epic poem.