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 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...
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