The Epic of Gilgamesh has directly inspired many manifestations of literature, art, music, and popular culture throughout history. It was extremely influential during the
Bronze Age and
Iron Age in the
Middle East, but gradually fell into obscurity during
classical antiquity. The story was rediscovered in the 19th century, and began to regain popular recognition and influence in the 20th century.
Overview
Ancient reception
According to historian Wolfgang Röllig, the Epic of Gilgamesh addressed many basic concerns and important themes of human culture such as creation, death, friendship, enmity, pride, arrogance, humility, and failure. These subjects have remained of importance to humans throughout time, explaining the story's impact and popularity.[2] The Epic of Gilgamesh gradually emerged from the 3rd millennium BC as a collection of tales concering the figure of
Gilgamesh. These stories were eventually compiled into a single text by
Sîn-lēqi-unninni, though different variants of the compilation continued to circulate. The best-known version of the compiled epic stems from the
Neo-Assyrian Empire; this text is also the most important basis for the modern versions of the text.[3] The epic was mainly spread by
oral tradition which makes it difficult to gauge Gilgamesh's exact influence on popular culture in ancient times; however, written fragments of his tales were discovered across the Middle East, suggesting that different versions of the epic were widely circulated.[4] It is also likely that tales about Gilgamesh influenced various other stories, including the
Bible, Illiad, and Odyssey.[5]
Even though the Epic of Gilgamesh was rather popular, it remained tied to
Cuneiform and was seemingly never translated into languages using other
writing systems such as
Ancient Greek or
Old Aramaic. Accordingly, the decline of Cuneiform coincided with the disappearance of Gilgamesh from public consciousness.[6] The story was eventually rediscovered by archaeologists in the 19th century, and many of its elements and sub-stories gradually became popular subjects in arts and popular culture.[7]
Reception after rediscovery
It was only during and after the
First World War that the first reliable translations to modern languages of the epic appeared.[8] For instance, the first German translation by
Albert Schott was published in 1934.[9] These translations were the first that reached a wide audience, and it was only after the
Second World War that the epic of Gilgamesh began to make itself felt more broadly in a variety of genres.[8] As identified by
Theodore Ziolkowski in the book Gilgamesh Among Us: Modern Encounters With the Ancient Epic (2011), the epic became increasingly influential from this point onward.[8][10] 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.[11][12] The Epic of Gilgamesh's existential themes made it particularly appealing to German authors in the years following the war.[12] 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,[12] portraying the bombed-out city of
Hamburg as resembling the frightening Underworld seen by
Enkidu in his dream.[12] In
Hans Henny Jahnn's magnum opusRiver 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[12] and whose masterpiece turns out to be a symphony about Gilgamesh.[12]
The Quest of Gilgamesh, a 1953 radio play by
Douglas Geoffrey Bridson, helped popularize the epic in Britain.[12] In the
United States,
Charles Olson praised the epic in his poems and essays[12] and
Gregory Corso believed that it contained ancient virtues capable of curing what he viewed as modern moral degeneracy.[12] The 1966 postfigurative novel Gilgamesch by
Guido Bachmann became a classic of German "
queer literature"[12] and set a decades-long international literary trend of portraying Gilgamesh and Enkidu as homosexual lovers.[12] 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.[12] 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.[12] As the
Green Movement expanded in Europe, Gilgamesh's story began
to be seen through an environmentalist lens,[12] with Enkidu's death symbolizing man's separation from nature.[12]
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.)"[13] The Epic of Gilgamesh has been translated into many major world languages[14] and has become a staple of American
world literature classes.[15] Many contemporary authors and novelists have drawn inspiration from it, including an American
avant-garde theater collective called "The Gilgamesh Group"[16] and
Joan London in her novel Gilgamesh (2001).[16][12]The Great American Novel (1973) by
Philip Roth features a character named "Gil Gamesh",[16] who is the star
pitcher of a fictional 1930s
baseball team called the "Patriot League".[16] Believing that he can never lose, Gil Gamesh throws a violent temper tantrum when an
umpire goes against him[16] and he is subsequently banished from baseball.[16] He flees to the
Soviet Union, where he is trained as a spy against the United States.[16] Gil Gamesh reappears late in the novel as one of
Joseph Stalin's spies[16] and gives what American literary historian
David Damrosch calls "an eerily casual description of his interrogation training in Soviet Russia."[16] In 2000, a
modern statue of Gilgamesh by the
Assyrian sculptor Lewis Batros was unveiled at the
University of Sydney in
Australia.[1]
Starting in the late twentieth century, the Epic of Gilgamesh began to be read again in Iraq.[14]Saddam Hussein, the former
President of Iraq, had a lifelong fascination with Gilgamesh.[17]Hussein's first novelZabibah 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.[18] Like Gilgamesh, the king at the beginning of the novel is a brutal tyrant who misuses his power and oppresses his people,[19] but, through the aid of a commoner woman named Zabibah, he grows into a more just ruler.[20] When the United States pressured Hussein to step down in February 2003, Hussein gave a speech to a group of his generals posing the idea in a positive light by comparing himself to the epic hero.[14]
The Time Masters (1953/1971) and Time Bomb by
Wilson Tucker. The protagonist, Gilbert Nash, has a mysterious past.
Gilgamesh: Romanzo (1959) by Gian Franco Gianfilippi. The first in a wave of historical novels based on the epic. A wave including works in Italian (Paola Capriola), English (
Robert Silverberg,
Stephan Grundy), German (Harold Braem, Thomas Mielke), French (Jacques Cassabois), and Spanish (José Ortega).[8]
Gilgamesch (1966) by Guido Bachmann. An early classic of a genre Germans called "queer literature", it would inspire other works that examined the idea of a possible homosexual relationship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Other works include: Denmark (
Henrik Bjelke), Germany (Thomas Mielke,
Christian Kracht), France (Jacques Cassabois), and England (
Edwin Morgan).[8]
In The Great American Novel (1973), a novel by author
Philip Roth, the Gilgamesh myth is reworked into the tale of a fictional baseball player, Gil Gamesh, whose immortal aspirations are achieved by disappearing after his final game.
In Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, Gilgamesh is used to set the early timeline of events.
Ölümsüzlük Ardında Gılgamış (Gilgamesh in Search of Immortality) (1981), a poetry book by Turkish poet
Melih Cevdet Anday.
Timewyrm: Genesys (1991), by John Peel, is the first of the New Doctor Who Adventures published by Virgin. The book describes the Doctor meeting Gilgamesh, and relates the epic of Gilgamesh as a Doctor Who story.
"
Gilgamesh and the Homeboys" (1991), by
Harry Turtledove, a time-displaced Gilgamesh meets Los Angeles street gangs. This short story was published in an obscure magazine and has never been reprinted as of 2018.
How Like a God (1997) by
Brenda Clough is based on the epic.
In The Eternal Footman (1999) by
James K. Morrow, a traveling troupe enacts a play based on the Gilgamesh canon.
Gilgamesh (1999), historical fiction by
Stephan Grundy which retells the legend.
1001 Nights of Bacchus (2000), a graphic novel by
Eddie Campbell, features a six-page collage story in which Gilgamesh is a Scottish-accented soccer hooligan near-incomprehensibly recounting the entire epic. The story also appeared, in color, on the back covers of issues 22–26 of Campbell's Bacchus magazine.
Gilgamesh (2001) by
Joan London, a postfiguration in which the epic becomes the structural key for a world torn by politics and betrayal (modern Armenia).[8]
Fate/stay night (2004), a Japanese visual novel written by
Kinoko Nasu and developed by
Type-Moon features Gilgamesh as a major antagonist. He serves as the primary antagonist of the Unlimited Blade Works route.
Bartimaeus (book series), the titular Djinn was a servant to Gilgamesh (his first master) and aided him alongside the wildman Enkidu in defeating the giant
Humbaba in addition to also assisting the demi-God king in building the walls of Uruk, a feat originally attributed to Gilgamesh alone.
Stargate SG-1: Blood Ties (2007) by Sonny Whitelaw and Elizabeth Christensen has Doctor
Daniel Jackson consult the Epic of Gilgamesh for clues about the threat that the characters are currently facing.
Like Mayflies in a Stream (2009) by
Shauna S. Roberts (
ISBN978-0982514009) is a novelization of the first half of the epic from the viewpoint of
Shamhat, who tamed Enkidu.
"Long Time" by Rick Norwood, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Jan/Feb 2011, a retelling of the Gilgamesh legend by a cynical immortal soldier serving in Gilgamesh's army.
Warm Bodies by
Isaac Marion 2011. The Epic of Gilgamesh is mentioned as "one of the earliest known works of literature. Humanity's debut novel, you could say. Love, sex, blood and tears. A journey to find eternal life. To escape death."
Fate/strange fake (2015), a Light Novel written by
Ryōgo Narita, illustrated by Morii Shizuki, a spin-off of both
Fate/stay Night and
Fate/Zero that originated as an April fool's joke in 2008 as Fate/states night.
Fearless Inanna, by
Jonathan Schork (2015), is loosely structured after the original Epic in twelve "books" and borrows translated passages in chapter 10.[21]The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, by Simo Parpola (Eisenbrauns, 1997), is listed in the bibliography.[22]
Thick as Thieves (2017) by Megan Whalen Turner features a main character from a fictionalized version of the Persian empire who, throughout the course of the novel, recites from an ancient poem loosely based on the Epic of Gilgamesh. The two characters in the novel come to represent the main characters of the epic, known as Immakuk and Ennikar (Gilgamesh and Enkidu).
"Smokepit Fairytales" (2016) a science fiction novel by Tripp Ainsworth. A Marine and a Sailor accidentally stumble upon Utnapishtim's garden while deployed to Iraq and inadvertently become immortal. The novel pulled heavily from Gilgamesh as inspiration.
City of the Plague God (2021) a fantasy novel by Sarwat Chadda under the
Rick Riordan Presents imprint, features protagonist Sikander "Sik" Aziz meeting Gilgamesh in the present day where Gilgamesh reveals that he really did become immortal, but had lied in the Epic of Gilgamesh and faked his death in order to keep other people from discovering the secret of immortality. Gilgamesh has become a pacifist dedicated to gardening and helps Sik create a cure for the plague spread by the Mesopotamian deity
Nergal. Using his powers as the
demigod son of
Ninsun, Gilgamesh generates a hurricane over Manhattan for Sik to spread the cure in the form of rain. He later sends Sik his royal seal as a gift.
1989 Turn left at Gilgamesh, a play by New York playwright Rory Winston.
2007 (September/October). Gilgamesh in Uruk: GI in Iraq, adapted by Blake Bowden. Directed by Regina Pugh, with original music composed by
Grammy-nominee, Steve Goers, and original puppetry by Aretta Baumgartner.
2007 (July). Chronicles – the custom of lamenting, based on the adaptation and completed Polish translation of Gilgamesh by
Robert Stiller. Directed by Grzegorz Brai with original music based on Albanian and Greek polyphonic laments. Produced by Song of the Goat Theatre in
Poland.
2007 (March/April). Gilgamesh, adapted by
Stephen Sachs. Directed by Sachs and Jessica Kubzansky. Produced by The Theatre @ Boston Court in
Pasadena, California.
2017 (October). Broken Stones, by Fin Kennedy. Directed by
Seth Rozin. Produced by
Interact Theatre CompanyinPhiladelphia. Inspired by a true story, this meta-theatrical play follows a former U.S. Army Reservist who broke military protocol to safeguard the Baghdad Museum of Antiquities (
the Iraq Museum) from being looted during the Iraq War. This museum houses Gilgamesh tablets, and the story references Gilgamesh. As the ex-soldier tells his harrowing saga to a Hollywood ghost writer, his story is manipulated into a more palatable narrative.
In the film adaptation of the Unlimited Blade Works route of Fate/Stay Night, Gilgamesh is the main antagonist who, with Kirei Kotomine, attempts a ritual to bring the
Holy Grail into existence. This route has also been adapted as an
anime series.
In the Heaven's Feel route of Fate/Stay Night, Gilgamesh is a minor character as a servant in the Holy Grail War in which he is easily defeated by
Angra Mainyu who is possessing the heroine Sakura Matou. He is a main character in the other two routes, which have been adapted as
twoanime series and a
movie.
Where Is Gilgamesh? (2024) Kurdish feature film based on the Epic of Gilgamesh, directed by Karzan Kardozi and filmed in Iraqi Kurdistan. After a priceless tablet of Gilgamesh is stolen from the
Sulaymaniyah Museum, a security guard vows to do whatever it takes to get it back from a group of smugglers.[28]
Gilgamesh appears in an episode of
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, revealed to have turned his back on the gods after his family died while he was fighting their war. In his despair, he began worshipping the demon Dahak in a bid to have the gods destroyed as revenge. He manages to kill Hercules’ best friend Iolaus as a sacrifice for the demon, before Hercules kills Gilgamesh. He is a half-brother to another character in the series named Nebula.
"
Darmok", episode 2 of season 5 of Star Trek: The Next Generation, is a self-referential adaptation of Gilgamesh in a science fiction setting.
Jean-Luc Picard references the epic directly as he attempts to communicate with a member of an alien species whose language consists entirely of
allegory which references mythological and historical people and events from his culture.[30]
The Epic is seen in The Secret Saturdays, though with some alterations. Instead of telling the story of Gilgamesh's quest for immortality, it depicts his battle against an ancient
Sumeriancryptid known as
Kur.
Gilgamesh is one of the Servants in the Holy Grail War of the Fate/Zero, Fate/stay night and the Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works anime, in all three of which, he serves as a final antagonist who has an obsession with
Saber; he merely desires to possess Saber and the Holy Grail (for the sake of it being a treasure) in the former two while he wants to destroy the world using the Holy Grail to rule over those who survive the cataclysm in the latter. He also appears in Fate/Grand Order - Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia as the king of
Uruk and a main character of the story.
A child version of Gilgamesh appears in the anime series Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya
Gilgamesh is comically referenced in Futurama season 7 episode 18 titled "
The Inhuman Torch". Bender is compared to Gilgamesh after saving the earth from an evil personified flame.[31]
In Batman: The Animated Series, reference is made to Project Gilgamesh, from which the character Bane is born. (Season 3, Episode 1)
Gilgamesh is referenced during a street play based on his story, in the Indian television series Bharat Ek Khoj episode 2, based on The Indus Valley Civilisation.
The Smiths must rescue Steve after he is kidnapped and taken to the North Pole, which is revealed to be the frozen over remains of the
Cedar Forest. There, Santa Claus is using children to mine for precious stones from the Epic of Gilgamesh that he needs to perform an ancient ritual to revive
Humbaba and claim his powers. American Dad (season 12, episode 7)
In The Tower of Druaga anime, the king of Babylim and the first person to climb the tower was named Gilgamesh.
Comics
Gilgamesh II, a satirical graphic novel by
Jim Starlin in which an infant (the last of his doomed race) is rocketed to Earth
Superman-fashion, but whose life follows the trajectory of the Gilgamesh legends.
ASIN B00071S7T8
The Epic of Gilgamesh (2018), is a graphic novel covering the full Gilgamesh epic; rendered by
Kent H. Dixon and illustrated by his son, Kevin H. Dixon.
ISBN9781609807931
The Argentine comic book Gilgamesh the Immortal turns Gilgamesh into an immortal whose life spans across all human history and a post-apocalyptic future.
In Marvel Comics
Gilgamesh is one of the
Eternals, a race of immortal beings that live on
Olympia and have been mistaken for
Gods over the millennia. Gilgamesh has performed many heroic feats, and has been mistaken for other heroes, such as
Hercules. He is known as the Forgotten One after
Zuras, the Leader of the Eternals, caused everybody on Earth to forget about him.
The webcomic Abominable Charles Cristopher by
Karl Kerschl features Gilgamesh as an adventurous king, who is initially trying to slay the unwitting protagonist when he approaches Gilgamesh's kingdom. Later their relationship evolves.[32]
The Unwritten by
Mike Carey and
Peter Gross, issue 32.5 (Feb 2012), retells part of the Epic in a way that fits the series' examination of story-telling in human history.
Archer and Armstrong #0, written by
Fred Van Lente and published by
Valiant Comics features a retelling of the Epic of Gilgamesh from the point of view of one of the principal characters of the series, the immortal Aram Anni-Padda.[33]
The Final Fantasy series of video games includes, in some of its installments, a boss enemy named
Gilgamesh and his "faithful sidekick" Enkidu. There are actually several variants of Gilgamesh in Final Fantasy, as the series has no shared in-universe continuity, though there is usually some reference to him being a fierce warrior who collects swords and many iterations of him have as many as six arms.
In
Namco's video game Tales of Phantasia, one of Cress Albaine's titles is Gilgamesh, which can be obtained finding particular objects.
In
Capcom's video game Devil May Cry 4 Gilgamesh is a pair of boots and gauntlets that are worn and used by second protagonist Dante, possibly in reference to a similar weapon featured in earlier games in the series, named after Beowulf, another epic poem.
In the
Sir-Tech game Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, players construct their adventure party at Gilgamesh's Tavern.
In the mobile game Fate/Grand Order, Gilgamesh appears as a summonable servant in three different variants: as a child, in his Fate/Stay Night form prior to meeting Enkidu, and a wiser version from his time as king after the conclusion of The Epic. He is one of the main protagonists in the game's Seventh Singularity, which takes place in Ancient Mesopotamia, the arcade version of the game also has a babylonian singularity, in which Gilgamesh is cloned and Nebuchadnezzar II is summoned into his clone's body by the Beast of 666.
In the Japanese collectible card game Shadowverse, Gilgamesh is an uncommon playable card.
In the
WonderPlanet inc. mobile-game Crash Fever, Gilgamesh is an obtainable unit in an ultimate wizard quest.
In Assassin's Creed: Origins (2017), a sword originated from Mesopotamia known as "Humbaba's Fang" was carved by Gilgamesh from the tooth of
Humbaba.[35]
In Hades (2020), the fourth aspect of the Twin Fists of Malphon is the Aspect of Gilgamesh.[36]
In Smite, the second 2021 Babylonian god is Gilgamesh, who battles
Tiamat in the story.
^Bergonzi, Bernard, "Sinclair, Andrew (Annandale)". in Brown, Susan Windisch, Contemporary Novelists. Sixth Edition. St. James Press, New York,
ISBN155862189X, 1996 (pgs. 916-918).