Epic of Gilgamesh

epic poem from Mesopotamia, is amongst the earliest surviving works of literature

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 Sumerian city-state of Uruk, who was posthumously deified. 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 ().

Uruk, the archeological site known today as Warka, was an ancient city in the Near East or West Asia, 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 kilometers (58 miles) northwest of ancient Ur, 108 kilometers (67 miles) southeast of ancient Nippur, and 24 kilometers (15 miles) northwest of ancient Larsa.

species of plant

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forest in Lebanon

thumb|The story of Lugalbanda in the Mountain Cave, Old-Babylonian period, from southern Iraq. Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraqi Kurdistan. 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.

thumb|Sumerian King List, 1800 BC, Larsa, Iraq Ziusudra ( [ṣi₂-u₄-sud-ra₂], , ) of Shuruppak is listed in the WB-62 Sumerian King List recension as the last king of Sumer prior to the Great Flood. He is subsequently recorded as the hero of the Eridu Genesis and appears in the writings of Berossus as Xisuthros.

ancient Mesopotamian king

Atra-Hasis () is an 18th-century BC Akkadian epic, recorded in various versions on clay tablets and named for one of its protagonists, the priest Atra-Hasis ('exceedingly wise'). The narrative has four focal points: An organisation of allied upper and lower gods shaping Mesopotamia agriculturally; a political conflict between them, pacified by creating the first human couples; the mass reproduction of these; and a great deluge linked to the intention of the upper gods to destroy their imperfect artificial creatures, as handed down in a remarkably similar manner in various other flood myths of

Sîn-lēqi-unninni ( ) was a mašmaššu who lived in Mesopotamia, probably in the period between 1300&nbsp;BC and 1000&nbsp;BC. He is traditionally thought to have compiled the best-preserved version of the Epic of Gilgamesh. His name is listed in the text itself, which was unorthodox for works written in cuneiform. His version is known by its incipit, or first line "ša nagba īmuru" ("He who saw the deep" or "The one who saw the Abyss"). The extent to which his version is different from earlier texts is unknown; Andrew R. George argues that Sîn-lēqi-unninni "gave [The Epic of Gilgamesh] its final,

Akkadian mythological figure

Mythological realm

Old Babylonian poem

Mashu, as described in the Epic of Gilgamesh of Mesopotamian mythology, is a great cedar mountain with roots that reach the underworld and peaks that reach the heavens, 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 leagues span. Siduri, the alewife, lived on the shore, associated with "the Waters of Death" that Gilgamesh had to cross to reach Utnapishtim in search of the secret of eternal life.

deluge myth

Extant Sumerian language work

Silili is a divine figure mentioned in Tablet VI of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh objects to the unwanted attractions of the goddess Ishtar, enumerating the previous lovers of Ishtar, and the misfortunes which befell them. He claims that Ishtar once loved the horse, but ultimately decreed a number of misfortunes for him, including the continuous wailing of "his mother, Silili". Because Silili is only mentioned in passing, there is little to say of her character, other than she is a female divine figure closely associated with the horse.

mountain mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh