The epic derives from Sumerian oral tradition dating to ca. 2000 BCE. It was told and retold for centuries. Our version is from Akkadian cuneiform tablets, 7th c. BCE.

Gilgamesh is a true ruler who was king of Uruk around 2600 BCE. Uruk is a Sumerian city founded around 3500.

The narrative begins with Gilgamesh, the best and brightest in the city of Uruk, running rampant with antisocial and violent behavior against men and women. The g-ds create Enkidu, the hairy wildman, to provide a counterweight. They fight, become friends, and perform heroic exploits such as the slaughter of Humbaba, the forest demon. This great exploit attracts Ishtar, who proposes marriage. Gilgamesh spurns the g-ddess because of her treatment of her past lovers. Ishtar asks the g-ds to give her retribution by having the two heroes attacked by the Bull of the Sun. They kill it, which angers the sun, who requires the death of Enkidu as expiation o

2. A structural reading (cognitive level) contrasts the wild Enkidu vs. the civilized Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is a king in a city. Enkidu lives in fellowship with the animals. Sex transform Enkidu: the animals thereafter run away from him, and he is said to have acquired wisdom. He goes to live in the city. But civilized pursuits (heroic exploits) eventually lead to his death. Wisdom and culture lead to death, or perhaps better, a consciousness of death.

“Why should not my cheeks be starved and my face drawn? Despair is in my heart. My brother whom I loved, the end of mortality has overtaken him. Because of my brother I am afraid of death. How can I be silent, how can I rest? He is dust and I shall die also and be laid in the earth forever.”

1. The epic offers a critique of various forms of immortality (ethical level). The great heroic deeds, which usually bring immortality in the lasting fame of epic (slaughter of the demon Humbaba), here lead to the death of Enkidu, and Gilgamesh's depression.. Gilgamesh can't even stave off sleep

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