The Epic of Gilgamesh | Historical Context

The Epic of Gilgamesh Historical Context

Development of the Epic

The Epic of Gilgamesh is the product of several civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, those city-states of the Tigris-Euphrates river valley, in present-day Iraq. These cultures are, in turn, the Sumerians, the Akkadians or Babylonians, and the Assyrians. Scholars of the ancient Near East have determined that the Epic of Gilgamesh probably began as five separate Sumerian Gilgamesh stories (called "Gilgamesh and Agga of Kish;" "Gilgamesh and the Land of the Living;" "Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven;" "Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld;" and "The Death of Gilgamesh"). According to Jeffrey H. Tigay, who has written the standard account of the literary and historical development of the Epic, the ancient oral tales about Gilgamesh probably were first written down, in cuneiform, about 2500 B.C. by Sumerian scribes, although the earliest copies date from about 2100 B.C. or about 500 years after the historical Gilgamesh ruled Uruk. These separate Sumerian tales were...
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