History glossary
Epic of Gilgamesh
an ancient Mesopotamian poem about King Gilgamesh of Uruk, friendship, fame, death, and the search for meaning.
- Category
- Literature
- Region
- Mesopotamia
- Date range
- stories from the third millennium BCE; standard version first millennium BCE
What it means
The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest surviving works of literature. Written in cuneiform and preserved in several versions, it tells stories about Gilgamesh, a legendary king of Uruk, and shows how Mesopotamians thought about kingship, friendship, mortality, and the gods.
