logo

Video encyclopedia

Epic of Gilgamesh

13:46

The Epic of Gilgamesh: Crash Course World Mythology #26

5:27

The epic of Gilgamesh, the king who tried to conquer death - Soraya Field Fiorio

11:15

The Epic of Gilgamesh - Summary and analsysis (Oldest work of literature)

23:54

The Epic of Gilgamesh - Sumerian Literature

1:28:46

The Epic of Gilgamesh, Lecture by Andrew George

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia that is often regarded as the earliest surviving great work of literature. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian poems about Bilgamesh, king of Uruk, dating from the Third Dynasty of Ur. These independent stories were later used as source material for a combined epic. The first surviving version of this combined epic, known as the "Old Babylonian" version, dates to the 18th century BC and is titled after its incipit, Shūtur eli sharrī. Only a few tablets of it have survived. The later "standard" version dates from the 13th to the 10th centuries BC and bears the incipit Sha naqba īmuru. Approximately two thirds of this longer, twelve-tablet version have been recovered. Some of the best copies were discovered in the library ruins of the 7th-century BC Assyrian king Ashurbanipal.
  • Genres 

  • Literary work facts 

  • Characters