The Sumerian Uruk was the ancient city in which Gilgamesh was king. It is known in modern times as Warka, which is in Iraq and in Sumeria it was known as Unug. The patron deity of this city was Inanna/Ishtar.

We have no current evidence of the Epic of Gilgamesh having being written before about 2150 BC. However, there are cylinders and seals depicting the hero-king grappling with animals which are attested to being older than any writing of him. It is, therefore, generally believed that Gilgamesh lived and ruled around 2600 BC.

For a long time, it was unclear whether Gilgamesh was an actual historical figure of antiquity. The Sumerian king list names him as a king of Uruk, but for a long time scholars were unsure as to the accuracy of this table since reigns of the kings were given superhuman lengths. But, another king of the same era (Enmerkar), has been found on other inscriptions. Therefore, we have more substantial evidence of the existence of these kings in history, other than strictly mythical.

There are various instances of parentage for Gilgamesh. According to the Epic of Gilgamesh, a Sumerian king named Lugalbanda was his father and a lesser goddess, Ninsun (sometimes called Ninsuna), his mother. Another source (“Treasures of Darkness”) supports this and also claim the Sumerian kings: Ur-Nammu and Shulgi are his brothers. Taken literally, this is impossible since these two ruled in the Third Dynasty of Ur and Gilgamesh ruled thousands of years earlier in the First Dynasty of Uruk. These two may have called themselves his brothers due to a practice by the kings of the Third Dynasty, who worshipped Gilgamesh as a sort of demi-god (half divine, half human), referring to him as their “divine brother” (Gods, Demons and Symbols).

A different tradition of parentage comes from, surprisingly enough, the king list. The list mentions in parenthesis, that Gilgamesh’s father is lillu, which in Mesopotamian tradition is a sort of half man, half demon that haunts deserts and open country and is dangerous to pregnant women and infants alike. The list tells us that the father of our hero is also a high priest or lord of Kullab (Kulaba), which is part of Uruk. We could try to combine these two descriptions of Gil’s father by saying that Lugalbanda began life as a lillu-man who then became a priest of Kullab all before becoming King of Uruk. However, this is all a bit farfetched. It would be more plausible to explain Gilgamesh’s parentage by saying that he came to Uruk in the form of Conqueror. After having taken over the city as his own, Gilgamesh may have then “adopted” the famous Lugalbanda (a local hero-king of the usurped dynasty) as his father. It had been a tradition, in this region, for other conquerors to have done the same.

Although the king list is almost mythical in that it gives huge lengths of rule to its early kings, it seems to at least put them in proper order. This order has been shown to exist, as it is laid out in the list, through research and new findings. Also, more and more rulers have come to light, thanks to diligent work by archaeologists. Therefore, Gilgamesh, in all probability, existed in history as well as in myth.

Sources: *Oxford World’s Classics, “Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others, A new translation by Stephanie Dalley”, © Stephanie Dalley 1989
* “An Illustrated Dictionary: Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia” by Jeremy Black and Anthony Green © 1992 by the Trustees of The British Museum
* “The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion” by Thorkild Jacobsen © 1976 by Yale University

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