Gilgamesh

Sumerian ruler and protagonist of the Epic of Gilgamesh

For other uses, see Gilgamesh (disambiguation).

Gilgamesh
𒀭𒄑𒂆𒈦
𒀭𒄑𒉋𒂵𒎌

King of Uruk

Possible representation of Gilgamesh as Master of Animals, grasping a lion in his left arm and snake in his right hand, in an Assyrian palace relief (713–706 BC), from Dur-Sharrukin, now held in the Louvre[1]

Reign| c. 2900–2700 BC (EDI)[2][3][4][5][6]
Predecessor| Dumuzid
Successor| Ur-Nungal
Issue| Ur-Nungal
Father| Lugalbanda (in Sumerian poetry)
Mother| Ninsun (in Sumerian poetry)

This article contains cuneiform script. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of cuneiform script.

Gilgamesh (/ˈɡɪlɡəmɛʃ/,[7] /ɡɪlˈɡɑːmɛʃ/;[8] Akkadian: 𒀭𒄑𒂆𒈦, romanized: Gilgāmeš; originally Sumerian: 𒀭𒄑𒉋𒂵𒎌, romanized: Bilgames)[9][a] 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, c. 2900–2350 BC, though he became a major figure in Sumerian legend during the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2112 – c. 2004 BC).

Tales of Gilgamesh's legendary exploits are narrated in five surviving Sumerian poems. The earliest of these is likely "Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld",[12] in which Gilgamesh comes to the aid of the goddess Inanna 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's death, his shade tells Gilgamesh about the bleak conditions in the Underworld. The poem Gilgamesh and Aga describes Gilgamesh's revolt against his overlord Aga of Kish. Other Sumerian poems relate Gilgamesh's defeat of the giant Huwawa and the Bull of Heaven, while a fifth, poorly preserved poem relates the account of his death and funeral.

In later Babylonian 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 (c. 1600 – c. 1155 BC), based on much older source material. In the epic, Gilgamesh is a demigod of superhuman strength who befriends the wild man Enkidu. Together, they embark on many journeys, most famously defeating Humbaba (Sumerian: Huwawa) and the Bull of Heaven, who is sent to attack them by Ishtar (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, the survivor of the Great Flood, hoping to find immortality. 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 and the Odyssey, two epic poems written in ancient Greek during the 8th century BC.[citation needed] The story of Gilgamesh's birth is described in an anecdote in On the Nature of Animals by the Greek writer Aelian (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 in 1849. After being translated in the early 1870s, it caused widespread controversy due to similarities between portions of it and the Hebrew Bible. Gilgamesh remained mostly obscure until the mid-20th century, but, since the late 20th century, he has become an increasingly prominent figure in modern culture.

## Name

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Exit Gišțubar! Theophilus Pinches' 1890 publication of the correct name of Gilgamesh, which had previously been deciphered as Izdubar. This was followed by Archibald Sayce noting that the name had appeared in Aelian's De Natura Animalium as Classical Greek: Γίλγαμος, romanized: Gilgamos in the early 200s CE.[13]

The modern form "Gilgamesh" is a direct borrowing of the Akkadian 𒀭𒄑𒂆𒈦, rendered as Gilgāmeš. The Assyrian form of the name derived from the earlier Sumerian form 𒀭𒄑𒉋𒂵𒎌, 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 (𒉺𒉋𒂵), a related term which described familial relations, but this is not supported by epigraphic or phonological evidence.[14]

## Historical king

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Seal impression of "Mesannepada, king of Kish", excavated in the Royal Cemetery at Ur (U. 13607), dated circa 2600 BC.[15][16] The seal shows Gilgamesh and the mythical bull between two lions, one of the lions biting him in the shoulder. On each side of this group appears Enkidu and a hunter-hero, with a long beard and a Kish-style headdress, armed with a dagger. Under the text, four runners with beard and long hair form a human swastika. They are armed with daggers and catch each other's foot.[16]

Most historians generally agree that Gilgamesh was a historical king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk,[17][18][19][20] who probably ruled sometime during the early part of the Early Dynastic Period (c. 2900–2350 BC).[17][18] Stephanie Dalley, 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".[18] An inscription, possibly belonging to a contemporary official under Gilgamesh, was discovered in the archaic texts at Ur;[21] his name reads: "Gilgameš is the one whom Utu has selected". Aside from this the Tummal Inscription, a thirty-four-line historiographic text written during the reign of Ishbi-Erra (c. 1953 – c. 1920 BC), also mentions him.[19] The inscription credits Gilgamesh with building the walls of Uruk.[22] Lines eleven through fifteen of the inscription read:

> For a second time, the Tummal fell into ruin,
>  Gilgamesh built the Numunburra of the House of Enlil.
>  Ur-lugal, the son of Gilgamesh,
>  Made the Tummal pre-eminent,
>  Brought Ninlil to the Tummal.[23]

Gilgamesh is also connected to King Enmebaragesi of Kish, a known historical figure who may have lived near Gilgamesh's lifetime.[22] Furthermore, he is listed as one of the kings of Uruk by the Sumerian King List.[22] Fragments of an epic text found in Mê-Turan (modern Tell Haddad) relate that upon his death Gilgamesh was buried under the river bed,[22] and the workmen of Uruk temporarily diverted the flow of the Euphrates for this purpose.[24][22]

## Deification and legendary exploits

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### Sumerian poems

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Sculpted scene depicting Gilgamesh wrestling with animals. From the Shara temple at Tell Agrab, Diyala Region, Iraq. Early Dynastic Period, 2600–2370 BC. On display at the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad. Mace dedicated to Gilgamesh, with transcription of the name Gilgamesh (𒀭𒉈𒂵𒈩) in standard Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform, Ur III period, between 2112 and 2004 BC

It is certain that, during the later Early Dynastic Period, Gilgamesh was worshiped as a god at various locations across Sumer.[17] In the 21st century BC, King Utu-hengal of Uruk adopted Gilgamesh as his patron deity.[17] The kings of the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2112 – c. 2004 BC) were especially fond of Gilgamesh,[17][22] calling him their "divine brother" and "friend."[17] King Shulgi of Ur (2029–1982 BC) declared himself the son of Lugalbanda and Ninsun and the brother of Gilgamesh.[22] 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, the Second Dynasty ruler of Lagash (2144–2124 BC).[25] Prayers inscribed on clay tablets address Gilgamesh as a judge of the dead in the Underworld.[22]

#### "Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld"

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Main article: Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld

During this period, a large number of myths and legends developed surrounding Gilgamesh.[17][26][27][28]: 95  Five independent Sumerian poems have been discovered narrating his exploits.[17] Gilgamesh's first appearance in literature is probably in the Sumerian poem "Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld".[29][22][30] The narrative begins with a huluppu tree—perhaps, according to the Sumerologist Samuel Noah Kramer, a willow,[31] growing on the banks of the river Euphrates.[31][22][32] The goddess Inanna moves the tree to her garden in Uruk with the intention to carve it into a throne once it is fully grown.[31][22][32] The tree grows and matures, but the serpent "who knows no charm," the Anzû-bird, and Lilitu, a Mesopotamian demon, invade the tree, causing Inanna to cry with sorrow.[31][22][32]

Gilgamesh, who in this story is portrayed as Inanna's brother, slays the serpent, causing the Anzû-bird and Lilitu to flee.[33][22][32] Gilgamesh's companions chop down the tree and carve it into a bed and a throne for Inanna.[34][22][32] The goddess responds by fashioning a pikku and a mikku (perhaps a drum and drumsticks)[35][22] as a reward for Gilgamesh's heroism.[36][22][32] But Gilgamesh loses the pikku and mikku and asks who will retrieve them.[37] His servant Enkidu descends to the Underworld to find them,[38] but he disobeys its strict laws and can never return.[38] In the remaining dialog, Gilgamesh questions the shade of his lost comrade about the Underworld.[17][37]

#### Subsequent poems

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Story of Gilgamesh and Aga

Story of "Gilgamesh and Agga". Old Babylonian period, from southern Iraq. Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraq

Gilgamesh and Agga describes Gilgamesh's successful revolt against his liege lord Agga, king of the city-state of Kish.[17][39] Gilgamesh and Huwawa describes how Gilgamesh and his servant Enkidu, with the help of fifty volunteers from Uruk, defeat the monster Huwawa, an ogre appointed as guardian of the Cedar Forest by the ruling god Enlil.[17][40][41]

In Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven, Gilgamesh and Enkidu slay the Bull of Heaven, who has been sent to attack them by the goddess Inanna.[17][42][43] The details of this poem differ substantially from the corresponding episode in the later Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh.[44] In the Sumerian poem, Inanna remains aloof from Gilgamesh, but in the Akkadian epic she asks him to become her consort.[42] 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.[44]

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.[45][17]

### Epic of Gilgamesh

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Main article: Epic of Gilgamesh

The ogre Humbaba, shown in this terracotta plaque from the Old Babylonian Period,[46] is one of the opponents fought by Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu in the Epic of Gilgamesh.[47]

Ancient Mesopotamian terracotta relief (c. 2250–1900 BC) showing Gilgamesh slaying the Bull of Heaven,[48] an episode described in Tablet VI of the Epic of Gilgamesh[47][49]

Eventually, according to Kramer (1963):[26]

> Gilgamesh became the hero par excellence of the ancient world—an adventurous, brave, but tragic figure symbolizing man's vain but endless drive for fame, glory, and immortality.

By the Old Babylonian Period (c. 1830 – c. 1531 BC), stories of Gilgamesh's legendary exploits had been woven into one or several long epics.[17] The Epic of Gilgamesh, the most complete account of Gilgamesh's adventures, was composed in Akkadian during the Middle Babylonian Period (c. 1600 – c. 1155 BC) by a scribe named Sîn-lēqi-unninni.[17] 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 Library of Ashurbanipal in the Assyrian capital of Nineveh,[17][22][50] with many pieces missing or damaged.[17][22][50] 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.[17]

Tablet V of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraq

In the epic, Gilgamesh is introduced as "two thirds divine and one third mortal".[51] At the beginning of the poem, Gilgamesh is described as a brutal, oppressive ruler.[17][51] This is usually interpreted to mean either forced labor or sexual exploitation.[17] As punishment for his cruelty, the god Anu creates the wild man Enkidu.[52] After being tamed by a prostitute named Shamhat, Enkidu journeys to Uruk to confront Gilgamesh.[47] In the second tablet, the two men wrestle and though Gilgamesh wins in the end,[47] he is so impressed by his opponent's strength and tenacity that they become close friends.[47] In the earlier Sumerian texts, Enkidu is Gilgamesh's servant,[47] but, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, they are companions of equal standing.[47]

In tablets III through IV, Gilgamesh and Enkidu travel to the Cedar Forest, which is guarded by Humbaba (the Akkadian name for Huwawa).[47] The heroes cross the seven mountains to the Cedar Forest, where they begin chopping down trees.[53] Confronted by Humbaba, Gilgamesh panics and prays to Shamash (the East Semitic name for Utu),[53] who blows eight winds in Humbaba's eyes, blinding him.[53] Humbaba begs for mercy, but the heroes decapitate him.[53] Tablet VI begins with Gilgamesh returning to Uruk,[47] where Ishtar (the Akkadian name for Inanna) comes to him and demands him as her consort.[47][53][54] Gilgamesh rejects her, reproaching her mistreatment of all her former lovers.[47][53][54]

In revenge, Ishtar goes to her father Anu and demands that he give her the Bull of Heaven,[55][56][44] which she sends to attack Gilgamesh.[47][55][56][44] Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the Bull and offer its heart to Shamash.[57][56] While Gilgamesh and Enkidu are resting, Ishtar stands up on the walls of Uruk and curses Gilgamesh.[57][58] Enkidu tears off the Bull's right thigh and throws it in Ishtar's face,[57][58] saying, "If I could lay my hands on you, it is this I should do to you, and lash your entrails to your side."[59][58] Ishtar calls together "the crimped courtesans, prostitutes and harlots"[57] and orders them to mourn for the Bull of Heaven.[57][58] Meanwhile, Gilgamesh holds a celebration over the Bull's defeat.[60][58]

Tablet VII begins with Enkidu recounting a dream in which he saw Anu, Ea, and Shamash declare that either Gilgamesh or Enkidu must die to avenge the Bull of Heaven.[47] They choose Enkidu, who soon grows sick.[47] He has a dream of the Underworld, and then dies.[47] Tablet VIII describes Gilgamesh's inconsolable grief for his friend[47][61] and the details of Enkidu's funeral.[47] 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 Utnapishtim, the sole survivor of the Great Flood, who was rewarded with immortality by the gods.[47][61]

Early Middle Assyrian cylinder seal impression dating between 1400 and 1200 BC, showing a man with bird wings and a scorpion tail firing an arrow at a griffin on a hillock. A scorpion man is among the creatures Gilgamesh encounters on his journey to the homeland of Utnapishtim.[61]

The journey to Utnapishtim involves a series of episodic challenges, which probably originated as major independent adventures,[61] but, in the epic, they are reduced to what Joseph Eddy Fontenrose calls "fairly harmless incidents".[61] First, Gilgamesh encounters and slays lions in the mountain pass.[61] Upon reaching the mountain of Mashu, Gilgamesh encounters a scorpion man and his wife;[61] their bodies flash with terrifying radiance,[61] but once Gilgamesh tells them his purpose, they allow him to pass.[61] Gilgamesh wanders through darkness for twelve days before he finally comes into the light.[61] He finds a beautiful garden by the sea in which he meets Siduri, the divine Alewife.[61] At first, she tries to prevent Gilgamesh from entering the garden,[61] and then attempts to persuade him to accept death as inevitable and not journey beyond the waters.[61] When Gilgamesh persists in his quest, she directs him to Urshanabi, the ferryman of the gods, who takes Gilgamesh across the sea to Utnapishtim.[61] When Gilgamesh finally arrives at Utnapishtim's home, Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that, to become immortal, he must defy sleep.[47] Gilgamesh attempts this, but fails and falls into a seven-day sleep.[47]

Next, Utnapishtim tells him that, even if he cannot obtain immortality, he can restore his youth with a rejuvenating herb.[47][32] Gilgamesh takes the plant, but leaves it on the shore while swimming and a snake steals it, explaining why snakes shed their skins.[47][32] Despondent at this loss, Gilgamesh returns to Uruk,[47] and shows his city to the ferryman Urshanabi.[47] At this point the continuous narrative ends.[47][32][62] Tablet XII is an appendix corresponding to the Sumerian poem of Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld describing the loss of the pikku and mikku.[47][32][62]

Numerous elements reveal a lack of continuity with the earlier portions of the epic.[62] At the beginning of Tablet XII, Enkidu is still alive, despite having previously died in Tablet VII,[62] and Gilgamesh is kind to Ishtar, despite the violent rivalry between them in Tablet VI.[62] Also, while most of the parts of the epic are free adaptations of their respective Sumerian predecessors,[63] Tablet XII is a literal, word-for-word translation of the last part of Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld,[63] and was probably relegated to the end because it did not fit the larger epic narrative.[47][32][62] In it, Gilgamesh sees a vision of Enkidu's ghost, who promises to recover the lost items[47][37] and describes to his friend the abysmal condition of the Underworld.[47][37]

### In Mesopotamian art

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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,[64] authentic representations of him in ancient art are uncommon.[64] Popular works often identify depictions of a hero with long hair, containing four or six curls, as representations of Gilgamesh,[64] but this identification is known to be incorrect.[64] A few genuine ancient Mesopotamian representations of Gilgamesh do exist, however.[64] These representations are mostly found on clay plaques and cylinder seals.[64] Generally, it is only possible to identify a figure as Gilgamesh if the work clearly depicts a scene from the Epic of Gilgamesh itself.[64] One set of representations of Gilgamesh is found in scenes of two heroes fighting a demonic giant, clearly Humbaba.[64] Another set is found in scenes showing a similar pair of heroes confronting a giant winged bull, clearly the Bull of Heaven.[64]

## Later influence

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### In antiquity

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The episode involving Odysseus's confrontation with Polyphemus in the Odyssey, shown in this seventeenth-century painting by Guido Reni, bears similarities to Gilgamesh and Enkidu's battle with Humbaba in the Epic of Gilgamesh.[65] Indus valley civilization seal, with the Master of Animals motif of a man fighting two lions or tigers (2500–1500 BC), similar to the Sumerian "Gilgamesh" motif, an indicator of Indus-Mesopotamia relations.[66][67]

The Epic of Gilgamesh exerted substantial influence on the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Homeric epic poems written in ancient Greek during the eighth century BC.[68][65][69][70] According to classics scholar Barry B. Powell, early Greeks were probably exposed to and influenced by Mesopotamian oral traditions through their extensive connections to the civilizations of the ancient Near East.[20] German classicist Walter Burkert 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.[71] In this scene, Aphrodite, the Greek analogue of Ishtar, is wounded by the hero Diomedes and flees to Mount Olympus, where she cries to her mother Dione and is mildly rebuked by her father Zeus.[71]

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.[51] The storyline of the Odyssey likewise bears many similarities to the Epic of Gilgamesh.[72][73] Both Gilgamesh and Odysseus encounter a woman who can turn men into animals: Ishtar (for Gilgamesh) and Circe (for Odysseus).[72] Odysseus blinds the giant cyclops Polyphemus,[65] while Gilgamesh slays of Humbaba.[65] Both heroes visit the Underworld[72] 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).[72] Finally, both have a missed opportunity for immortality, Gilgamesh when he loses the plant, and Odysseus when he leaves Calypso's island.[72]

In the Qumran scroll the Book of Giants (c. 100 BC) the names of Gilgamesh and Humbaba appear as two of the antediluvian giants,[74][75] 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 Al-Suyuti (c. 1500).[74]

The story of Gilgamesh's birth is not recorded in any extant Sumerian or Akkadian text,[64] but a version of it is described in De Natura Animalium (On the Nature of Animals) 12.21, a commonplace book written in Greek around 200 AD by the Hellenized Roman orator Aelian.[76][64] According to Aelian, an oracle told King Seuechoros (Σευεχορος) of the Babylonians that his grandson Gilgamos would overthrow him.[64] To prevent this, Seuechoros kept his only daughter under close guard at the Acropolis of Babylon,[64] but she became pregnant nonetheless.[64] Fearing the king's wrath, the guards hurled the infant off the top of a tall tower.[64] An eagle rescued the boy in mid-flight and set him down in a distant orchard.[64] The caretaker found the boy and raised him, naming him Gilgamos (Γίλγαμος).[64] Eventually, Gilgamos returned to Babylon and overthrew his grandfather, proclaiming himself king.[64] This birth narrative is in the same tradition as other Near Eastern birth legends,[64] such as those of Sargon, Moses, and Cyrus.[64] The Syriac writer Theodore Bar Konai (c. 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.[77][78]

### Modern rediscovery

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In 1880, the English Assyriologist George Smith (left) published a translation of Tablet XI of the Epic of Gilgamesh (right), containing the Flood myth,[79] which attracted immediate scholarly attention and controversy due to its similarity to the Genesis flood narrative.[80]

The Akkadian text of the Epic of Gilgamesh was first discovered in 1849 AD by the English archaeologist Austen Henry Layard in the Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh.[22][50][28]: 95  Layard was seeking evidence to confirm the historicity of the events described in the Hebrew Bible, i.e. the Christian Old Testament,[22] which was believed to contain the oldest texts in the world.[22] Instead, his and later excavations unearthed much older Mesopotamian texts[22] and showed that many of the stories in the Old Testament may be derived from earlier myths told throughout the ancient Near East.[22] The first translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh was produced in the early 1870s by George Smith, a scholar at the British Museum,[79][81][82] who published the Flood story from Tablet XI in 1880 under the title The Chaldean Account of Genesis.[79] Gilgamesh's name was originally misread as Izdubar.[79][83][84]

Early interest in the Epic of Gilgamesh was almost exclusively on account of the flood story from Tablet XI.[85] It attracted enormous public attention and drew widespread scholarly controversy, while the rest of the epic was largely ignored.[85] Most attention towards the Epic of Gilgamesh in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries came from German-speaking countries,[86] where controversy raged over the relationship between Babel und Bibel ("Babylon and Bible").[87]

In January 1902, the German Assyriologist Friedrich Delitzsch gave a lecture at the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin before the Kaiser and his wife, in which he argued that the Flood story in the Book of Genesis was directly copied from the Epic of Gilgamesh.[85] 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 and the biblical Law of Moses.[88] The Kaiser distanced himself from Delitzsch and his radical views[88] and by the fall of 1904, Delitzsch was reduced to giving his third lecture in Cologne and Frankfurt am Main rather than in Berlin.[88] 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 Die große Täuschung (The Great Deception) that the Hebrew Bible was irredeemably "contaminated" by Babylonian influence[85] and that only by eliminating the human Old Testament entirely could Christians finally believe in the true, Aryan message of the New Testament.[85]

### Early modern interpretations

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Illustration of Izdubar (Gilgamesh) in a scene from the book-length poem Ishtar and Izdubar (1884) by Leonidas Le Cenci Hamilton, the first modern literary adaptation of the Epic of Gilgamesh[89]

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.[89] Hamilton had rudimentary knowledge of Akkadian, which he had learned from Archibald Sayce's 1872 Assyrian Grammar for Comparative Purposes.[90] Hamilton's book relied heavily on Smith's translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh,[90] but also made major changes.[90] For instance, Hamilton omitted the famous flood story entirely[90] and instead focused on the romantic relationship between Ishtar and Gilgamesh.[90] 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 cantos.[90] Hamilton significantly altered most of the characters and introduced entirely new episodes not found in the original epic.[90] Significantly influenced by Edward FitzGerald's Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and Edwin Arnold's The Light of Asia,[90] Hamilton's characters dress more like nineteenth-century Turks than ancient Babylonians.[91] 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".[92]

In his 1904 book Das Alte Testament im Lichte des alten Orients, the German Assyriologist Alfred Jeremias equated Gilgamesh with the king Nimrod from the Book of Genesis[93] and argued Gilgamesh's strength must come from his hair, like the hero Samson in the Book of Judges,[93] and that he must have performed Twelve Labors like the hero Heracles in Greek mythology.[93] 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,[93] arguing that Moses 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."[93] He then proceeded to argue that Abraham, Isaac, Samson, David, and various other biblical figures are all nothing more than exact copies of Gilgamesh.[93] Finally, he declared that even Jesus is "nothing but an Israelite Gilgamesh. Nothing but an adjunct to Abraham, Moses, and countless other figures in the saga."[93] This ideology became known as Panbabylonianism[94] and was almost immediately rejected by mainstream scholars.[94] The most stalwart critics of Panbabylonianism were those associated with the emerging Religionsgeschichtliche Schule.[95] Hermann Gunkel dismissed most of Jensen's purported parallels between Gilgamesh and biblical figures as mere baseless sensationalism.[95] He concluded that Jensen and other Assyriologists like him had failed to understand the complexities of Old Testament scholarship[94] and had confused scholars with "conspicuous mistakes and remarkable aberrations".[94]

In English-speaking countries, the prevailing scholarly interpretation during the early twentieth century was one originally proposed by Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet,[96] which held that Gilgamesh is a "solar hero", whose actions represent the movements of the sun,[96] and that the twelve tablets of his epic represent the twelve signs of the Babylonian zodiac.[96] The Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, drawing on the theories of James George Frazer and Paul Ehrenreich, interpreted Gilgamesh and Eabani (the earlier misreading for Enkidu) as representing "man" and "crude sensuality" respectively.[97][98] He compared them to other brother-figures in world mythology,[98] 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."[98] He also saw Enkidu as representing the placenta, the "weaker twin" who dies shortly after birth.[99] Freud's friend and pupil Carl Jung frequently discusses Gilgamesh in his early work Symbole der Wandlung (1911–1912).[100] He, for instance, cites Ishtar's sexual attraction to Gilgamesh as an example of the mother's incestuous desire for her son,[100] Humbaba as an example of an oppressive father-figure whom Gilgamesh must overcome,[100] and Gilgamesh himself as an example of a man who forgets his dependence on the unconscious and is punished by the "gods", who represent it.[100]

### Modern interpretations and cultural significance

[edit]

Main article: Gilgamesh in the arts and popular culture

Existential angst during the aftermath of World War II significantly contributed to Gilgamesh's rise in popularity in the middle of the twentieth century.[82] For instance, the German novelist Hermann Kasack used Enkidu's vision of the Underworld from the Epic of Gilgamesh as a metaphor for the bombed-out city of Hamburg (pictured above) in his 1947 novel Die Stadt hinter dem Strom.[82]

In the years following World War II, Gilgamesh, formerly an obscure figure known only by a few scholars, gradually became increasingly popular with modern audiences.[101][82] The Epic of Gilgamesh's existential themes made it particularly appealing to German authors in the years following the war.[82] In his 1947 existentialist novel Die Stadt hinter dem Strom, the German novelist Hermann Kasack adapted elements of the epic into a metaphor for the aftermath of the destruction of World War II in Germany,[82] portraying the bombed-out city of Hamburg as resembling the frightening Underworld seen by Enkidu in his dream.[82] In Hans Henny Jahnn's magnum opus 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[82] and whose masterpiece turns out to be a symphony about Gilgamesh.[82]

The Quest of Gilgamesh, a 1953 radio play by Douglas Geoffrey Bridson, helped popularize the epic in Britain.[82] In the United States, Charles Olson praised the epic in his poems and essays[82] and Gregory Corso believed that it contained ancient virtues capable of curing what he viewed as modern moral degeneracy.[82] The 1966 postfigurative novel Gilgamesch by Guido Bachmann became a classic of German "queer literature"[82] and set a decades-long international literary trend of portraying Gilgamesh and Enkidu as homosexual lovers.[82] 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.[82] 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.[82] As the Green Movement expanded in Europe, Gilgamesh's story began to be seen through an environmentalist lens,[82] with Enkidu's death symbolizing man's separation from nature.[82]

A modern statue of Gilgamesh stands at the University of Sydney.[102]

Theodore Ziolkowski, 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 or Frankenstein's monster.)"[103] The Epic of Gilgamesh has been translated into many major world languages[104] and has become a staple of American world literature classes.[105] Many contemporary authors and novelists have drawn inspiration from it, including an American avant-garde theater collective called "The Gilgamesh Group"[106] and Joan London in her novel Gilgamesh (2001).[106][82] The Great American Novel (1973) by Philip Roth features a character named "Gil Gamesh",[106] who is the star pitcher of a fictional 1930s baseball team called the "Patriot League".[106]

Starting in the late twentieth century, the Epic of Gilgamesh began to be read again in Iraq.[104] Saddam Hussein, the former President of Iraq, had a lifelong fascination with Gilgamesh.[107] Saddam's first novel Zabibah and the King (2000) is an allegory for the Gulf War set in ancient Assyria that blends elements of the Epic of Gilgamesh and the One Thousand and One Nights.[108] Like Gilgamesh, the king at the beginning of the novel is a brutal tyrant who misuses his power and oppresses his people,[109] but, through the aid of a commoner woman named Zabibah, he grows into a more just ruler.[110] 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.[104]

Scholars like Susan Ackerman and Wayne R. Dynes have noted that the language used to describe Gilgamesh's relationship with Enkidu seems to have homoerotic implications.[111][112][113] Ackerman notes that, when Gilgamesh veils Enkidu's body, Enkidu is compared to a "bride".[111] Ackerman states, "that Gilgamesh, according to both versions, will love Enkidu 'like a wife' may further imply sexual intercourse."[111]

In 2000, a modern statue of Gilgamesh by the Assyrian sculptor Lewis Batros was unveiled at the University of Sydney in Australia.[102]

The Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard 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.[114]

## See also

[edit]

* Atra-Hasis
* Ziusudra
* Enūma Eliš

## References

[edit]

### Informational notes

[edit]

1. ^ The name translates roughly as "The Ancestor is a Young-man",[10] from Bil.ga "Ancestor", Elder[11]: 33  and Mes/Mesh3 "Young-Man".[11]: 174  See also The Electronic Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary. University of Pennsylvania. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2014..

### Citations

[edit]

1. ^ Delorme 1981, p. 55.
2. ^ George, A.R. (2003). The Epic of Gilgamesh: The Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian. Penguin Books. p. lxi. ISBN 978-0-14044919-8.
3. ^ Isakhan, Benjamin (13 May 2016). Democracy in Iraq: History, Politics, Discourse. Taylor & Francis. p. 200\. ISBN 978-1-31715309-2.
4. ^ Marchesi, Gianni (2004). "Who Was Buried in the Royal Tombs of Ur? The Epigraphic and Textual Data". Orientalia. 73 (2): 197.
5. ^ Pournelle, Jennifer (2003). Marshland of Cities:Deltaic Landscapes and the Evolution of Early Mesopotamian Civilization. San Diego. p. 268.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
6. ^ "Pre-dynastic architecture (UA1 and UA2)". Artefacts. Berlin.
7. ^ "Gilgamesh". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
8. ^ George, Andrew R. (2010) [2003]. The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic – Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts (in English and Akkadian). Vol. 1, 2 (reprint ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 163\. ISBN 978-0-19814922-4. OCLC 819941336.
9. ^ George, A. R., ed. (2003). The Babylonian Gilgamesh epic: introduction, critical edition and cuneiform texts. Translated by George, A. R. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 71–77\. ISBN 0-19-814922-0. OCLC 51668477.
10. ^ Hayes, J. L. A Manual of Sumerian Grammar and Texts (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 May 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018 – via Enenuru.
11. ^ a b Halloran, J. Sum. Lexicon.
12. ^ "Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the nether world: translation". etcsl. Oxford University. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
13. ^ Emmerich, Karen (2016). ""A message from the antediluvian age": The Modern Construction of the Ancient "Epic of Gilgamesh"". Comparative Literature. 68 (3). [Duke University Press, University of Oregon]: 251–273\. doi:10.1215/00104124-3631557. ISSN 0010-4124. JSTOR 44211304. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
14. ^ Gonzalo Rubio. "Reading Sumerian Names, II: Gilgameš." Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 64, The American Schools of Oriental Research, 2012, pp. 3–16, https://doi.org/10.5615/jcunestud.64.0003.
15. ^ Hall, H. R.; Woolley, Leonard; Legrain, Leon (1900). Ur excavations. Trustees of the Two Museums by the aid of a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. p. 312.
16. ^ a b Image of a Mesanepada seal in: Legrain, Léon (1936). Ur Excavations (PDF). Vol. III. Archaic Seal-Impressions. The Trustees of the Two Museums by the Aid of a Grant from the Carnagie Corporation of New York. p. 44 seal 518 for description, Plate 30, seal 518 for image.
17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Black & Green 1992, p. 89.
18. ^ a b c Dalley 1989, p. 40.
19. ^ a b Kramer 1963, pp. 45–46.
20. ^ a b Powell 2012, p. 338.
21. ^ Marchesi, Gianni (2004). "Who Was Buried in the Royal Tombs of Ur? The Epigraphic and Textual Data". Orientalia. 73 (2): 153–197\. ISSN 0030-5367. JSTOR 43076896.
22. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Mark 2018.
23. ^ Kramer 1963, p. 46.
24. ^ "Gilgamesh tomb believed found". BBC News. 29 April 2003. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
25. ^ Sandars, N.K. (1972). "Introduction". The Epic of Gilgamesh. Penguin.
26. ^ a b Kramer 1963, p. 45.
27. ^ George 2003b, p. 141.
28. ^ a b The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Vol. A (3rd ed.). W. W. Norton & Company. 2012.
29. ^ Kramer 1961, p. 30.
30. ^ ETCSL 1.8.1.4
31. ^ a b c d Kramer 1961, p. 33.
32. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Fontenrose 1980, p. 172.
33. ^ Kramer 1961, pp. 33–34.
34. ^ Wolkstein & Kramer 1983, p. 140.
35. ^ Kramer 1961, p. 34.
36. ^ Wolkstein & Kramer 1983, p. 9.
37. ^ a b c d Fontenrose 1980, pp. 172–173.
38. ^ a b Fontenrose 1980, p. 173.
39. ^ ETCSL 1.8.1.1
40. ^ Fontenrose 1980, p. 167.
41. ^ ETCSL 1.8.1.5
42. ^ a b Tigay 2002, p. 24.
43. ^ ETCSL 1.8.1.2
44. ^ a b c d Tigay 2002, pp. 24–25.
45. ^ ETCSL 1.8.1.3
46. ^ Black & Green 1992, p. 109.
47. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac Black & Green 1992, p. 90.
48. ^ Powell 2012, p. 342.
49. ^ Powell 2012, pp. 341–343.
50. ^ a b c Rybka 2011, pp. 257–258.
51. ^ a b c Powell 2012, p. 339.
52. ^ Black & Green 1992, pp. 89–90.
53. ^ a b c d e f Fontenrose 1980, p. 168.
54. ^ a b Pryke 2017, pp. 140–159.
55. ^ a b Dalley 1989, pp. 81–82.
56. ^ a b c Fontenrose 1980, pp. 168–169.
57. ^ a b c d e Dalley 1989, p. 82.
58. ^ a b c d e Fontenrose 1980, p. 169.
59. ^ George 2003b, p. 88.
60. ^ Dalley 1989, p. 82–83.
61. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Fontenrose 1980, p. 171.
62. ^ a b c d e f Tigay 2002, pp. 26–27.
63. ^ a b Tigay 2002, p. 26.
64. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Black & Green 1992, p. 91.
65. ^ a b c d Anderson 2000, pp. 127–128.
66. ^ Possehl, Gregory L. (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Rowman Altamira. p. 146\. ISBN 978-0759116429.
67. ^ Kosambi, Damodar Dharmanand (1975). An Introduction to the Study of Indian History. Popular Prakashan. p. 64\. ISBN 978-8171540389.
68. ^ West 1997, pp. 334–402.
69. ^ Burkert 2005, pp. 297–301.
70. ^ Powell 2012, pp. 338–339.
71. ^ a b Burkert 2005, pp. 299–300.
72. ^ a b c d e Anderson 2000, p. 127.
73. ^ Burkert 2005, pp. 299–301.
74. ^ a b George 2003b, p. 60.
75. ^ Burkert 2005, p. 295.
76. ^ Burkert, Walter (1992). The Orientalizing Revolution. p. 33, note 32.
77. ^ George 2003b, p. 61.
78. ^ Tigay. The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic. p. 252.
79. ^ a b c d Ziolkowski 2012, pp. 1–25.
80. ^ Ziolkowski 2012, pp. 20–28.
81. ^ Rybka 2011, p. 257.
82. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Ziolkowski 2011.
83. ^ Smith, George (1872) [3 December 1872]. "The Chaldean Account of the Deluge". Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, Volumes 1–2. Vol. 2\. London: Society of Biblical Archæology. pp. 213–214. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
84. ^ Jeremias, Alfred (1891). Izdubar-Nimrod, eine altbabylonische Heldensage (in German). Leipzig, Teubner. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
85. ^ a b c d e Ziolkowski 2012, pp. 23–25.
86. ^ Ziolkowski 2012, pp. 28–29.
87. ^ Ziolkowski 2012, pp. 23–25, 28–29.
88. ^ a b c Ziolkowski 2012, p. 25.
89. ^ a b Ziolkowski 2012, pp. 20–21.
90. ^ a b c d e f g h Ziolkowski 2012, p. 21.
91. ^ Ziolkowski 2012, pp. 22–23.
92. ^ Ziolkowski 2012, p. 23.
93. ^ a b c d e f g Ziolkowski 2012, p. 26.
94. ^ a b c d Ziolkowski 2012, pp. 26–27.
95. ^ a b Ziolkowski 2012, p. 27.
96. ^ a b c Ziolkowski 2012, p. 28.
97. ^ Freud, Sigmund, William McGuire, Ralph Manheim, R. F. C. Hull, Alan McGlashan, and C. G. Jung. Freud-Jung Letters: The Correspondence between Sigmund Freud and C.G. Jung. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1994, at 199.
98. ^ a b c Ziolkowski 2012, p. 29.
99. ^ Ziolkowski 2012, pp. 29–30.
100. ^ a b c d Ziolkowski 2012, p. 30.
101. ^ Ziolkowski 2012, p. xii.
102. ^ a b Stone 2012.
103. ^ Ziolkowski 2012, pp. xii–xiii.
104. ^ a b c Damrosch 2006, p. 254.
105. ^ Damrosch 2006, pp. 254–255.
106. ^ a b c d Damrosch 2006, p. 255.
107. ^ Damrosch 2006, pp. 254–257.
108. ^ Damrosch 2006, p. 257.
109. ^ Damrosch 2006, pp. 259–260.
110. ^ Damrosch 2006, p. 260.
111. ^ a b c Ackerman 2005, p. 82.
112. ^ Haggerty, George (2013). Encyclopedia of Gay Histories and Cultures. Routledge. p. 929\. ISBN 978-1-135-58513-6. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
113. ^ Dynes, Wayne R. (2016). Encyclopedia of Homosexuality. Vol. I. Routledge. p. 479\. ISBN 978-1317368151. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
114. ^ "Gilgamesh, by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard". King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. Retrieved 13 November 2023.

### Bibliography

[edit]

* Ackerman, Susan (2005). When Heroes Love: The Ambiguity of Eros in the Stories of Gilgamesh and David. New York City: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-50725-7.
* Anderson, Graham (2000). Fairytale in the Ancient World. Routledge. pp. 127–131\. ISBN 978-0-415-23702-4.
* Black, Jeremy; Green, Anthony (1992). Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 166–168\. ISBN 978-0-7141-1705-8.
* Burkert, Walter (2005). "Chapter Twenty: Near Eastern Connections". In Foley, John Miles (ed.). A Companion to Ancient Epic. New York City and London: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4051-0524-8.
* Dalley, Stephanie (1989). Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-283589-5.
* Damrosch, David (2006). The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh. New York City: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-0-8050-8029-2.
* Delorme, Jean (1981) [1964]. "The Ancient World". In Dunan, Marcel; Bowle, John (eds.). The Larousse Encyclopedia of Ancient and Medieval History. New York City: Excaliber Books. ISBN 978-0-89673-083-0.
* Fontenrose, Joseph Eddy (1980) [1959]. Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: The University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-04106-6.
* George, Andrew R. (2003a) [1999, 2000]. The Epic of Gilgamesh: The Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian. Penguin Classics (Third ed.). London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-044919-8. OCLC 901129328.
* George, Andrew R. (2003b). The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts. Vol. 1\. Oxford University Press.
* Kramer, Samuel Noah (1961), Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C. (Revised ed.), Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, ISBN 978-0-8122-1047-7 `{{citation}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
* Kramer, Samuel Noah (1963). The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-45238-8. `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
* Mark, Joshua J. (29 March 2018). "Gilgamesh". World History Encyclopedia.
* Powell, Barry B. (2012) [2004], "Gilgamesh: Heroic Myth", Classical Myth (Seventh ed.), London: Pearson, pp. 336–350, ISBN 978-0-205-17607-6
* Pryke, Louise M. (2017). Ishtar. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-71632-9.
* Rybka, F. James (2011). "The Epic of Gilgamesh". Bohuslav Martinu: The Compulsion to Compose. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-7762-7.
* Tigay, Jeffrey H. (2002) [1982]. The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic. Wauconda, IL: Bolchazzy-Carucci Publishers. ISBN 978-0-86516-546-5.
* Stone, Damien (July 2012). Turner, Michael (ed.). "The Epic of Gilgamesh: Statue brings ancient tale to life" (PDF). MUSE. No. 2\. p. 28\. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 May 2018.
* West, M. L. (1997). The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-815221-7.
* Wolkstein, Diane; Kramer, Samuel Noah (1983). Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer. New York City, New York: Harper&Row. ISBN 978-0-06-090854-6.
* Ziolkowski, Theodore (1 November 2011). "Gilgamesh: An Epic Obsession". Berfrois.
* Ziolkowski, Theodore (2012). Gilgamesh among Us: Modern Encounters with the Ancient Epic. Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-5035-8.

## Further reading

[edit]

* "Narratives featuring… Gilgameš". Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
* Gmirkin, Russell E (2006). Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus. New York: T & T Clark International.
* Foster, Benjamin R., ed. (2001). The Epic of Gilgamesh. Translated by Foster, Benjamin R. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-97516-1.
* Hammond, D.; Jablow, A. (1987). "Gilgamesh and the Sundance Kid: the Myth of Male Friendship". In Brod, H. (ed.). The Making of Masculinities: The New Men's Studies. Boston. pp. 241–258.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
* Jackson, Danny (1997). The Epic of Gilgamesh. Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. ISBN 978-0-86516-352-2.
* Kluger, Rivkah Sch. (1991). The Archetypal significance of Gilgamesh: a modern ancient hero. Switzerland: Daimon. ISBN 978-3-85630-523-9.
* The Epic of Gilgamesh. Translated by Kovacs, Maureen Gallery. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 1989 [1985]. ISBN 978-0-8047-1711-3.
* Maier, John R. (2018). "Gilgamesh and the Great Goddess of Uruk". Suny Brockport Ebooks. Archived from the original on 30 January 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
* Mitchell, Stephen (2004). Gilgamesh: A New English Version. New York: Free Press. ISBN 978-0-7432-6164-7.
* Oberhuber, K., ed. (1977). Das Gilgamesch-Epos. Darmstadt: Wege der Forschung.
* Parpola, Simo; Luuko, Mikko; Fabritius, Kalle (1997). The Standard Babylonian, Epic of Gilgamesh. The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project. ISBN 978-9514577604.
* Pettinato, Giovanni (1992). La saga di Gilgamesh. Milan: Rusconi Libri. ISBN 978-88-18-88028-1.

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to Gilgamesh at Wikimedia Commons
* Quotations related to Gilgamesh at Wikiquote
* The dictionary definition of Gilgamesh at Wiktionary

Regnal titles

Preceded by

Dumuzid the Fisherman

|  En of Uruk
c. 2900–2700 BC  | Succeeded by

Ur-Nungal

* v
* t
* e

Epic of Gilgamesh

Characters|

| Humans|

* Gilgamesh
* Aga
* Enmebaragesi
* Enkidu
* Shamhat
* Urshanabi
* Utnapishtim

|

Deities|

* Adad
* Anunnaki
* Ea
* Enlil
* Ishtar (Inanna)
* Ninsun
* Shamash (Utu)
* Shullat and Hanish
* Siduri
* Silili
* Wer

Other mythical beings|

* Bull of Heaven
* Humbaba
* Scorpion man

Adaptations|

| Literature|

* The Great American Novel (1973)
* Gilgamesh the King (1984)
* Gilgamesh in the Outback (1986)
* Timewyrm: Genesys (1991)
* Slaves of the Shinar (2006)
* The Sorceress: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (2009)

|

Classical music|

* The Epic of Gilgamesh (1955 Czech oratorio)
* Gilgamesh (Kodallı) (1964 Turkish opera)
* Gilgamesh (Saygun) (1970 Turkish opera)
* Gilgamesh (Nørgård) (1972 Danish opera)
* Gilgamesh (Brucci) (1986 Serbian opera)

Film|

* The Epic of Gilgamesh, or This Unnameable Little Broom (1985)
* Princess Mononoke (1997)
* Where is Gilgamesh? (2024)

Television|

* "Darmok"
* "Demon with a Glass Hand"
* "The Tower of Druaga"
* "The Beginnings"

Comics|

* Gilgamesh II
* Forgotten One
* Gilgamesh

Video games|

* The Tower of Druaga

Other|

* Popular culture
* Gilgamesh flood myth
* Uruk
* Mashu
* Sîn-lēqi-unninni
* George Smith
* Tale of Gudam

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Sumerian mythology

Primordial beings|

* Abzu
* An
* Enmesharra
* Ki
* Nammu

Primary deities|

* Enki
* Enlil
* Inanna
* Nanna
* Ninhursag
* Utu

Other major deities|

* Dumuzid the Shepherd
* Ereshkigal
* Ishtaran
* Nergal
* Nisaba
* Ninazu
* Ninegal
* Ningal
* Ningishzida
* Ninlil
* Ninshubur
* Ninurta
* Nuska

Minor deities|

* Azimua
* Bitu
* Geshtinanna
* Gugalanna
* Hushbishag
* Isimud
* Namtar
* Ninimma
* Ninkasi
* Ninsianna
* Nimintabba
* Ninsun
* Nungal
* Sherida
* Ugur
* Uttu

Demons, spirits,
and monsters|

* Asag
* Anzû
* Gallu
* Huwawa
* Mušḫuššu
* Udug
* Rabisu

Mortal heroes|

* Enkidu
* Enmerkar
* Etana
* Gilgamesh
* Lugalbanda
* Ziusudra

* v
* t
* e

Rulers in the Sumerian King List

|    |

| Eridu|

* Alulim
* Alalngar

|

Bad-tibira|

* En-men-lu-ana
* En-men-gal-ana
* Dumuzid

Larak|

* En-sipad-zid-ana

Sippar|

* En-men-dur-ana

Shuruppak|

* Ubara-Tutu
* Then the flood swept over.

First dynasty of Kish|

* Jushur
* Kullassina-bel
* Nangishlishma
* En-tarah-ana
* Babum
* Puannum
* Kalibum
* Kalumum
* Zuqaqip
* Atab
* Mashda
* Arwium
* Etana
* Balih
* En-me-nuna
* Melem-Kish
* Barsal-nuna
* Zamug
* Tizqar
* Ilku
* Iltasadum
* Enmebaragesi
* Aga

Eanna|

* Meshkiangasher

First dynasty of Uruk|

* Enmerkar
* Lugalbanda
* Dumuzid the Fisherman
* Gilgamesh
* Ur-Nungal
* Udul-kalama
* La-ba'shum
* En-nun-tarah-ana
* Mesh-he
* Melem-ana
* Lugal-kitun
* Mesannepada

First dynasty of Ur|

* Mesannepada
* A'annepada
* Meskiagnun
* Elulu
* Balulu

Awan dynasty|

* [...]
* [...]-Lu
* Kul[...]

Second dynasty of Kish|

* Susuda
* Dadasig
* Mamagal
* Kalbum
* Tuge
* Men-nuna
* Lugalngu

Hamazi|

* Hadanish

Second dynasty of Uruk|

* Enshakushanna
* Lugal-kinishe-dudu
* Argandea

Second dynasty of Ur|

* Nanni
* Mesh-ki-ang-Nanna II

| Adab|

* Lugal-Anne-Mundu

|

Dynasty of Mari|

* Anbu
* Anba
* Bazi
* Zizi
* Limer
* Sharrum-iter

Third dynasty of Kish|

* Kubaba

Dynasty of Akshak|

* Unzi
* Undalulu
* Urur
* Puzur-Nirah
* Ushi-Il
* Shu-Suen of Akshak

Fourth dynasty of Kish|

* Puzur-Suen
* Ur-Zababa
* Zimudar
* Usi-watar
* Eshtar-muti
* Ishme-Shamash
* Nanniya

Third dynasty of Uruk|

* Lugal-zage-si

Dynasty of Akkad|

* Sargon
* Rimush
* Manishtushu
* Naram-Sin
* Shar-Kali-Sharri
* Then who was king? Who was not king?
* Igigi
* Imi
* Nanum
* Ilulu
* Dudu
* Shu-turul

Fourth dynasty of Uruk|

* Ur-ningin
* Ur-gigir
* Kuda
* Puzur-ili
* Ur-Utu

Gutian dynasty|

* In the army of Gutium, at first no king was famous; they were their own kings and ruled thus for 3 years.
* Inkishush
* Sarlagab
* Shulme
* Elulmesh
* Inimabakesh
* Igeshaush
* Yarlagab
* Ibate
* Yarla
* Kurum
* Apilkin
* La-erabum
* Irarum
* Ibranum
* Hablum
* Puzur-Suen
* Yarlaganda
* Tirigan

Fifth dynasty of Uruk|

* Utu-hengal

Third Dynasty of Ur|

* Ur-Nammu
* Shulgi
* Amar-Sin
* Shu-Sin
* Ibbi-Sin

Dynasty of Isin|

* Ishbi-Erra
* Shu-Ilishu
* Iddin-Dagan
* Ishme-Dagan
* Lipit-Ishtar
* Ur-Ninurta
* Būr-Sîn
* Lipit-Enlil
* Erra-imitti
* Enlil-bani
* Zambiya
* Iter-pisha
* Ur-du-kuga
* Sîn-Māgir

* v
* t
* e

Rulers of the ancient Near East

|  | Territories/
dates
[1][2][3][4][5] | Egypt | Canaan | Ebla | Mari | Kish/
Assur | Akshak/
Akkad | Uruk | Adab | Umma
| Lagash | Ur | Elam

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4000–3200 BCE  | Naqada I
Naqada II
| Egypt–Mesopotamia relations | Pre-Dynastic period (4000–2900 BCE)  | Susa I

Uruk period
(4000–3100 BCE)

(Anu Ziggurat, 4000 BCE)

(Anonymous "King-priests")  | Susa II

(Uruk influence or control)
3200–3100 BCE  | Proto-Dynastic period
(Naqada III)
Early or legendary kings:
Upper Egypt
Finger Snail Fish Pen-Abu Animal Stork Canide Bull Scorpion I Shendjw Iry-Hor Ka Scorpion II Narmer / Menes | Lower Egypt
Hedju Hor Ny-Hor Hsekiu Khayu Tiu Thesh Neheb Wazner Nat-Hor Mekh Double Falcon Wash
3100–2900 BCE  | Early Dynastic Period
First Dynasty of EgyptNarmer Palette
Narmer Menes Neithhotep♀ (regent) Hor-Aha Djer Djet Merneith♀ (regent) Den Anedjib Semerkhet Qa'a Sneferka Horus Bird | Canaanites | Jemdet Nasr period
(3100–2900 BCE)  | Proto-Elamite
period
(Susa III)
(3100–2700 BCE)
2900 BCE  | Second Dynasty of Egypt

Hotepsekhemwy Nebra/Raneb Nynetjer Ba Nubnefer Horus Sa Weneg-Nebty Wadjenes Senedj Seth-Peribsen Sekhemib-Perenmaat Neferkara I Neferkasokar Hudjefa I Khasekhemwy
| Early Dynastic Period I (2900–2700 BCE)
First Eblaite
Kingdom
| First kingdom of Mari
| Kish I dynasty
Jushur, Kullassina-bel
Nangishlishma,
En-tarah-ana
Babum, Puannum, Kalibum
2800 BCE

| Kalumum Zuqaqip Atab
Mashda Arwium Etana
Balih En-me-nuna
Melem-Kish Barsal-nuna | Uruk I dynasty
Meshkiangasher
Enmerkar ("conqueror of Aratta")
2700 BCE  | Early Dynastic Period II (2700–2600 BCE)
|  | Zamug, Tizqar, Ilku
Iltasadum | Lugalbanda
Dumuzid, the Fisherman
Enmebaragesi ("made the land of Elam submit")[6]
Aga of Kish | Gilgamesh | Old Elamite period
(2700–1500 BCE)

Indo-Mesopotamia relations
2600 BCE  | Third Dynasty of Egypt

Djoser

(First Egyptian pyramids)
Sekhemkhet Sanakht Nebka Khaba Qahedjet Huni | Early Dynastic Period III (2600–2340 BCE)
Sagisu
Abur-lim
Agur-lim
Ibbi-Damu
Baba-Damu |  | Kish II dynasty
(5 kings)
Uhub
Mesilim | Ur-Nungal
Udulkalama
Labashum | Lagash
En-hegal
Lugal-
shaengur | Ur
A-Imdugud
Ur-Pabilsag
Meskalamdug
(Queen Puabi)
Akalamdug
Enun-dara-anna
Mesh-he
Melem-ana
Lugal-kitun | Adab
Nin-kisalsi
Me-durba
Lugal-dalu |
2575 BCE  | Old Kingdom of Egypt
Fourth Dynasty of Egypt
Snefru Khufu

Djedefre Khafre Bikheris Menkaure Shepseskaf Thamphthis | Ur I dynasty
Mesannepada
"King of Ur and Kish", victorious over Uruk
2500 BCE  | Phoenicia (2500–539 BCE)  | Second kingdom of Mari

Ikun-Shamash
Iku-Shamagan

Ansud
Sa'umu
Ishtup-Ishar
Ikun-Mari
Iblul-Il
Nizi
Enna-Dagan | Kish III dynasty
Ku-Baba♀ | Akshak dynasty
Unzi
Undalulu | Uruk II dynasty
Ensha-
kushanna | Mug-si | Umma I dynasty

Pabilgagaltuku | Lagash I dynasty

Ur-Nanshe

Akurgal | A'annepada
Meskiagnun
Elulu
Balulu | Awan dynasty
Peli
Tata
Ukkutahesh
Hishur
2450 BCE  | Fifth Dynasty of Egypt

Userkaf Sahure Neferirkare Kakai Neferefre Shepseskare Nyuserre Ini Menkauhor Kaiu Djedkare Isesi Unas | Enar-Damu
Ishar-Malik | Ush
Enakalle
Elamite invasions
(3 kings)[6] | Shushun-Tarana
Napi-Ilhush
2425 BCE  | Kun-Damu | Eannatum
(King of Lagash, Sumer, Akkad, conqueror of Elam)
2400 BCE  | Adub-Damu
Igrish-Halam
Irkab-Damu | Kish IV dynasty
Puzur-Suen
Ur-Zababa | Urur | Lugal-kinishe-dudu
Lugal-kisalsi | E-iginimpa'e
Meskigal | Ur-Lumma

Gishakidu
(Queen Bara-irnun)  | Enannatum
Entemena
Enannatum II
Enentarzi | Ur II dynasty
Nanni
Mesh-ki-ang-Nanna II | Kikku-Siwe-Temti
2380 BCE  | Sixth Dynasty of Egypt
Teti Userkare Pepi I Merenre Nemtyemsaf I Pepi II Merenre Nemtyemsaf II Netjerkare Siptah
| Adab dynasty
Lugal-Anne-Mundu
"King of the four quarters of the world"
2370 BCE  | Isar-Damu | Enna-Dagan
Ikun-Ishar
Ishqi-Mari | Invasion by Mari
Anbu, Anba, Bazi, Zizi of Mari, Limer, Sharrum-iter[6] | Ukush | Lugalanda
Urukagina | Luh-ishan
2350 BCE  |  | Puzur-Nirah
Ishu-Il
Shu-Sin | Uruk III dynasty
Lugal-zage-si
(Governor of Umma, King of all Sumer)
2340 BCE  |  | Akkadian Period (2340–2150 BCE)
Akkadian Empire

Sargon of Akkad Rimush Manishtushu | Akkadian Governors:
Eshpum
Ilshu-rabi
Epirmupi
Ili-ishmani
2250 BCE  | Naram-Sin | Lugal-ushumgal
(vassal of the Akkadians)
2200 BCE  | First Intermediate Period
Seventh Dynasty of Egypt
Eighth Dynasty of Egypt
Menkare Neferkare II Neferkare Neby Djedkare Shemai Neferkare Khendu Merenhor Neferkamin Nikare Neferkare Tereru Neferkahor Neferkare Pepiseneb Neferkamin Anu Qakare Ibi Neferkaure Neferkauhor Neferirkare | Second Eblaite
Kingdom | Third kingdom of Mari
(Shakkanakku
dynasty)

Ididish
Shu-Dagan
Ishma-Dagan
(vassals of the Akkadians)  |
Shar-Kali-Sharri
Igigi, Imi, Nanum, Ilulu (3 years)
Dudu
Shu-turul | Uruk IV dynasty
Ur-nigin
Ur-gigir |  | Lagash II dynasty
Puzer-Mama
Ur-Ningirsu I
Pirig-me
Lu-Baba
Lu-gula
Ka-ku
| Hishep-ratep
Helu
Khita
Puzur-Inshushinak
2150 BCE  | Ninth Dynasty of Egypt
Meryibre Khety Neferkare VII Nebkaure Khety Setut | Ur III period (2150–2000 BCE)
Nûr-Mêr
Ishtup-Ilum

Ishgum-Addu
Apil-kin | Gutian dynasty
(21 kings)

La-erabum
Si'um | Kuda (Uruk)
Puzur-ili
Ur-Utu |  | Umma II dynasty
Lugalannatum
(vassal of the Gutians)  | Ur-Baba
Gudea
Ur-Ningirsu
Ur-gar
Nam-mahani

Tirigan
2125 BCE  | Tenth Dynasty of Egypt
Meryhathor Neferkare VIII Wahkare Khety Merikare

| Uruk V dynasty
Utu-hengal
2100 BCE  | (Vassals of UR III)  | Iddi-ilum
Ili-Ishar
Tura-Dagan
Puzur-Ishtar
(vassals of Ur III)[7] | Ur III dynasty
"Kings of Ur, Sumer and Akkad"
Ur-Nammu Shulgi Amar-Sin Shu-Sin
2025–1763 BCE  | Amorite invasions | Ibbi-Sin | Elamite invasions
Kindattu (Shimashki Dynasty)
Middle Kingdom of Egypt
Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt
Mentuhotep I Intef I Intef II Intef III Mentuhotep II Mentuhotep III Mentuhotep IV
Third Eblaite
Kingdom
(Amorites)
Ibbit-Lim

Immeya Indilimma | (Amorite Shakkanakkus)
Hitial-Erra
Hanun-Dagan
(...)

Lim Dynasty
of Mari
(Amorites)
Yaggid-Lim Yahdun-Lim Yasmah-Adad Zimri-Lim (Queen Shibtu)  | Old Assyria
Puzur-Ashur I
Shalim-ahum
Ilu-shuma
Erishum I
Ikunum
Sargon I
Puzur-Ashur II
Naram-Sin
Erishum II | Isin-Larsa period
(Amorites)
Dynasty of Isin: Ishbi-Erra Shu-Ilishu Iddin-Dagan Ishme-Dagan Lipit-Ishtar Ur-Ninurta Bur-Suen Lipit-Enlil Erra-imitti Enlil-bani Zambiya Iter-pisha Ur-du-kuga Suen-magir Damiq-ilishu
Dynasty of Larsa: Naplanum Emisum Samium Zabaia Gungunum Abisare Sumuel Nur-Adad Sin-Iddinam Sin-Eribam Sin-Iqisham Silli-Adad Warad-Sin Rim-Sin I (...) Rim-Sin II
Uruk VI dynasty: Alila-hadum Sumu-binasa Naram-Sin of Uruk Sîn-kāšid Sîn-iribam Sîn-gāmil Ilum-gamil An-am Irdanene Rîm-Anum Nabi-ilišu  | Sukkalmah dynasty

Siwe-Palar-Khuppak
Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt
Amenemhat I Senusret I Amenemhat II Senusret II Senusret III Amenemhat III Amenemhat IV Sobekneferu♀
1800–1595 BCE  | Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt
Fourteenth Dynasty of Egypt | Abraham
(Biblical)
Kings of Byblos
Kings of Tyre
Kings of Sidon | Yamhad
(Yamhad dynasty)
(Amorites)  | Old Assyria

(Shamshi-Adad dynasty
1808–1736 BCE)
(Amorites)
Shamshi-Adad I Ishme-Dagan I Mut-Ashkur Rimush Asinum Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi

(Non-dynastic usurpers
1735–1701 BCE)
Puzur-Sin Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi

(Adaside dynasty
1700–722 BCE)
Bel-bani Libaya Sharma-Adad I Iptar-Sin Bazaya Lullaya Shu-Ninua Sharma-Adad II Erishum III Shamshi-Adad II Ishme-Dagan II Shamshi-Adad III Ashur-nirari I Puzur-Ashur III Enlil-nasir I Nur-ili Ashur-shaduni Ashur-rabi I Ashur-nadin-ahhe I Enlil-Nasir II Ashur-nirari II Ashur-bel-nisheshu Ashur-rim-nisheshu Ashur-nadin-ahhe II

| First Babylonian dynasty
("Old Babylonian Period")
(Amorites)
Sumu-abum Sumu-la-El Sabium Apil-Sin Sin-Muballit Hammurabi Samsu-iluna Abi-Eshuh Ammi-Ditana Ammi-Saduqa Samsu-Ditana

Early Kassite rulers |

Second Babylonian dynasty
("Sealand Dynasty")
Ilum-ma-ili Itti-ili-nibi Damqi-ilishu
Ishkibal Shushushi Gulkishar
mDIŠ+U-EN Peshgaldaramesh Ayadaragalama
Akurduana Melamkurkurra Ea-gamil

Second Intermediate Period
Sixteenth
Dynasty of Egypt
Abydos
Dynasty
Seventeenth
Dynasty of Egypt

| Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt
("Hyksos")
Pharaoh Ahmose I slaying a Hyksos
Semqen 'Aper-'Anati Sakir-Har Khyan Apepi Khamudi | Mitanni
(1600–1260 BCE)
Kirta Shuttarna I Baratarna
1531–1155 BCE  | TutankhamunNew Kingdom of Egypt
Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt
Ahmose I Amenhotep I | Third Babylonian dynasty (Kassites)
Agum-Kakrime Burnaburiash I Kashtiliash III Ulamburiash Agum III Karaindash Kadashman-Harbe I Kurigalzu I Kadashman-Enlil I Burna-Buriash II Kara-hardash Nazi-Bugash Kurigalzu II Nazi-Maruttash Kadashman-Turgu Kadashman-Enlil II Kudur-Enlil Shagarakti-Shuriash Kashtiliash IV Enlil-nadin-shumi Kadashman-Harbe II Adad-shuma-iddina Adad-shuma-usur Meli-Shipak II Marduk-apla-iddina I Zababa-shuma-iddin Enlil-nadin-ahi | Middle Elamite period

(1500–1100 BCE)
Kidinuid dynasty
Igehalkid dynasty
Untash-Napirisha

Thutmose I Thutmose II Hatshepsut♀ Thutmose III
Amenhotep II Thutmose IV Amenhotep III Akhenaten Smenkhkare Neferneferuaten♀ Tutankhamun Ay Horemheb | Hittite Empire (1450–1180 BCE)
Suppiluliuma I Mursili II Muwatalli II Mursili III Hattusili III Tudhaliya IV Suppiluliuma II

Ugarit (vassal of Hittites)
Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt
Ramesses I Seti I Ramesses II Merneptah Amenmesses Seti II Siptah Tausret♀ | Elamite Empire
Shutrukid dynasty
Shutruk-Nakhunte
1155–1025 BCE  | Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt

Setnakhte Ramesses III Ramesses IV Ramesses V Ramesses VI Ramesses VII Ramesses VIII Ramesses IX Ramesses X Ramesses XI

Third Intermediate Period

Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt
Smendes Amenemnisu Psusennes I Amenemope Osorkon the Elder Siamun Psusennes II

| Phoenicia
Kings of Byblos
Kings of Tyre
Kings of Sidon

Kingdom of Israel
Saul
Ish-bosheth
David
Solomon | Syro-Hittite states
Carchemish
Tabal | Middle Assyria
Eriba-Adad I Ashur-uballit I Enlil-nirari Arik-den-ili Adad-nirari I Shalmaneser I Tukulti-Ninurta I Ashur-nadin-apli Ashur-nirari III Enlil-kudurri-usur Ninurta-apal-Ekur Ashur-dan I Ninurta-tukulti-Ashur Mutakkil-Nusku Ashur-resh-ishi I Tiglath-Pileser I Asharid-apal-Ekur Ashur-bel-kala Eriba-Adad II Shamshi-Adad IV Ashurnasirpal I Shalmaneser II Ashur-nirari IV Ashur-rabi II Ashur-resh-ishi II Tiglath-Pileser II Ashur-dan II | Fourth Babylonian dynasty ("Second Dynasty of Isin")
Marduk-kabit-ahheshu Itti-Marduk-balatu Ninurta-nadin-shumi Nebuchadnezzar I Enlil-nadin-apli Marduk-nadin-ahhe Marduk-shapik-zeri Adad-apla-iddina Marduk-ahhe-eriba Marduk-zer-X Nabu-shum-libur | Neo-Elamite period (1100–540 BCE)
1025–934 BCE  | Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Babylonian dynasties ("Period of Chaos")
Simbar-shipak Ea-mukin-zeri Kashshu-nadin-ahi Eulmash-shakin-shumi Ninurta-kudurri-usur I Shirikti-shuqamuna Mar-biti-apla-usur Nabû-mukin-apli
911–745 BCE  | Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt
Shoshenq I Osorkon I Shoshenq II Takelot I Osorkon II Shoshenq III Shoshenq IV Pami Shoshenq V Pedubast II Osorkon IV

Twenty-third Dynasty of Egypt
Harsiese A Takelot II Pedubast I Shoshenq VI Osorkon III Takelot III Rudamun Menkheperre Ini

Twenty-fourth Dynasty of Egypt
Tefnakht Bakenranef

| Kingdom of Samaria

Kingdom of Judah | Neo-Assyrian Empire
Adad-nirari II Tukulti-Ninurta II Ashurnasirpal II Shalmaneser III Shamshi-Adad V Shammuramat♀ (regent) Adad-nirari III Shalmaneser IV Ashur-Dan III Ashur-nirari V | Eight Babylonian Dynasty
Ninurta-kudurri-usur II Mar-biti-ahhe-iddina Shamash-mudammiq Nabu-shuma-ukin I Nabu-apla-iddina Marduk-zakir-shumi I Marduk-balassu-iqbi Baba-aha-iddina (five kings) Ninurta-apla-X Marduk-bel-zeri Marduk-apla-usur Eriba-Marduk Nabu-shuma-ishkun Nabonassar Nabu-nadin-zeri Nabu-shuma-ukin II Nabu-mukin-zeri
| Humban-Tahrid dynasty

Urtak
Teumman
Ummanigash
Tammaritu I
Indabibi
Humban-haltash III
745–609 BCE  | Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt
Taharqa("Black Pharaohs")
Piye Shebitku Shabaka Taharqa Tanutamun | Neo-Assyrian Empire

(Sargonid dynasty)
Tiglath-Pileser† Shalmaneser† Marduk-apla-iddina II Sargon† Sennacherib† Marduk-zakir-shumi II Marduk-apla-iddina II Bel-ibni Ashur-nadin-shumi† Nergal-ushezib Mushezib-Marduk Esarhaddon† Ashurbanipal Ashur-etil-ilani Sinsharishkun Sin-shumu-lishir Ashur-uballit II

Assyrian conquest of Egypt | Assyrian conquest of Elam
626–539 BCE  | Late Period
Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt
Necho I Psamtik I Necho II Psamtik II Wahibre Ahmose II Psamtik III | Neo-Babylonian Empire
Nabopolassar Nebuchadnezzar II Amel-Marduk Neriglissar Labashi-Marduk Nabonidus | Median Empire
Deioces Phraortes Madyes Cyaxares Astyages
539–331 BCE  | Twenty-seventh Dynasty of Egypt
(First Achaemenid conquest of Egypt)  | Kings of Byblos
Kings of Tyre
Kings of Sidon | Achaemenid Empire
Cyrus Cambyses Darius I Xerxes Artaxerxes I Darius II Artaxerxes II Artaxerxes III Artaxerxes IV Darius III
Twenty-eighth Dynasty of Egypt
Twenty-ninth Dynasty of Egypt
Thirtieth Dynasty of Egypt
Thirty-first Dynasty of Egypt
331–141 BCE  | Argead dynasty and Ptolemaic Egypt
Ptolemy I Soter Ptolemy Ceraunus Ptolemy II Philadelphus Arsinoe II♀ Ptolemy III Euergetes Berenice II Euergetis♀ Ptolemy IV Philopator Arsinoe III Philopator♀ Ptolemy V Epiphanes Cleopatra I Syra♀ Ptolemy VI Philometor Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator Cleopatra II Philometor Soteira♀ Ptolemy VIII Physcon Cleopatra III♀ Ptolemy IX Lathyros Cleopatra IV♀ Ptolemy X Alexander Berenice III♀ Ptolemy XI Alexander Ptolemy XII Auletes Cleopatra V♀ Cleopatra VI Tryphaena♀ Berenice IV Epiphanea♀ Ptolemy XIII Ptolemy XIV Cleopatra VII Philopator♀ Ptolemy XV Caesarion Arsinoe IV♀ | Hellenistic Period
Seleukos I Nikator Tetradrachm from BabylonArgead dynasty: Alexander III Philip III Alexander IV
Antigonid dynasty: Antigonus I
Seleucid Empire: Seleucus I Antiochus I Antiochus II Seleucus II Seleucus III Antiochus III Seleucus IV Antiochus IV Antiochus V Demetrius I Alexander III Demetrius II Antiochus VI Dionysus Diodotus Tryphon Antiochus VII Sidetes
141–30 BCE  | Kingdom of Judea
Simon Thassi John Hyrcanus Aristobulus I Alexander Jannaeus Salome Alexandra♀ Hyrcanus II Aristobulus II Antigonus II Mattathias | Alexander II Zabinas Seleucus V Philometor Antiochus VIII Grypus Antiochus IX Cyzicenus Seleucus VI Epiphanes Antiochus X Eusebes Antiochus XI Epiphanes Demetrius III Eucaerus Philip I Philadelphus Antiochus XII Dionysus Antiochus XIII Asiaticus Philip II Philoromaeus | Parthian Empire
Mithridates I Phraates Hyspaosines Artabanus Mithridates II Gotarzes Mithridates III Orodes I Sinatruces Phraates III Mithridates IV Orodes II Phraates IV Tiridates II Musa Phraates V Orodes III Vonones I Artabanus II Tiridates III Artabanus II Vardanes I Gotarzes II Meherdates Vonones II Vologases I Vardanes II Pacorus II Vologases II Artabanus III Osroes I
30 BCE–116 CE  | Roman Empire
(Roman conquest of Egypt)
Province of Egypt | Judaea | Syria
116–117 CE  | Province of Mesopotamia under Trajan | Parthamaspates of Parthia
117–224 CE  | Syria Palaestina | Province of Mesopotamia | Sinatruces II Mithridates V Vologases IV Osroes II Vologases V Vologases VI Artabanus IV
224–270 CE  | Sasanian Empire
Province of Asoristan
Coin of Ardashir I, Hamadan mint.Ardashir I Shapur I Hormizd I Bahram I Bahram II Bahram III Narseh Hormizd II Adur Narseh Shapur II Ardashir II Shapur III Bahram IV Yazdegerd I Shapur IV Khosrow Bahram V Yazdegerd II Hormizd III Peroz I Balash Kavad I Jamasp Kavad I Khosrow I Hormizd IV Khosrow II Bahram VI Chobin Vistahm
270–273 CE  | Palmyrene Empire
Vaballathus Zenobia♀ Antiochus
273–395 CE  | Roman Empire
Province of Egypt | Syria Palaestina | Syria | Province of Mesopotamia
395–618 CE  | Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Egypt | Palaestina Prima, Palaestina Secunda | Byzantine Syria | Byzantine Mesopotamia
618–628 CE  | (Sasanian conquest of Egypt)
Province of Egypt
Shahrbaraz Shahralanyozan Shahrbaraz | Sasanian Empire
Province of Asoristan
Khosrow II Kavad II
628–641 CE  | Byzantine Empire | Ardashir III Shahrbaraz Khosrow III Boran♀ Shapur-i Shahrvaraz Azarmidokht♀ Farrukh Hormizd Hormizd VI Khosrow IV Boran Yazdegerd III Peroz III Narsieh
Byzantine Egypt | Palaestina Prima, Palaestina Secunda | Byzantine Syria | Byzantine Mesopotamia
639–651 CE  | Muslim conquest of Egypt | Muslim conquest of the Levant | Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia and Persia
Chronology of the Neolithic period |  Rulers of ancient Central Asia

1. ^ Rulers with names in italics are considered fictional.
2. ^ Hallo, William W.; Simpson, William Kelly (1971). The Ancient Near East: A History. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. pp. 48–49\. ISBN 978-0-15-502755-8.
3. ^ "Rulers of Mesopotamia". CDLI:wiki. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative.
4. ^ Thomas, Ariane; Potts, Timothy, eds. (2020). Mesopotamia: Civilization Begins. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum. p. 14\. ISBN 978-1-60606-649-2.
5. ^ Roux, Georges (1992). Ancient Iraq. London: Penguin Books Limited. pp. 532–534 (Chronological Tables). ISBN 978-0-14-193825-7.
6. ^ a b c Per the Sumerian King List.
7. ^ Unger, Merrill F. (2014). Israel and the Aramaeans of Damascus: A Study in Archaeological Illumination of Bible History. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock. p. 5\. ISBN 978-1-62564-606-4.

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