Epic Of Gilgamesh Research Paper

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a historical epic, set in Mesopotamia, that is about a hero-king named Gilgamesh. The epic details the king's tales, conquests, tragedy, and the search for immortality. The epic also delves into what the lives of those who live in Mesopotamia do everyday – such as what religions they believed in, inventions they created, and traditions they maintained.

The epic is considered to be a work of fiction among many people throughout the course of time. Yet the story of Gilgamesh holds some historical evidence that has been proven to be true as time has gone on. The Epic of Gilgamesh was set in what we now call present-day Iraq around the third millennium – also known as around 2700 B.C.E. It was during this time period

that small fragments of the story were found and on those small fragments it was written that king Gilgamesh ruled the city of Uruk in Mesopotamia (Spodek 57). It also turns out that these small fragments are how we know about Mesopotamian society today and that the Epic of Gilgamesh epic is our earliest written fiction that we know to have.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is about two friends, who are like brothers, named Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Gilgamesh was a king in the city of Uruk and he was not afraid of his enemies or even of death for the gods of heaven cried out: “A goddess made him, strong as a savage bull, none can withstand his arms” (Gilgamesh 62). Enkidu was made by Aruru to be an equal to Gilgamesh, after Anu cried out to Aruru asking for Aruru to create Gilgamesh's equal: “You made him, O Aruru, now create [Gilgamesh's] equal; let it be as like him as his own reflection, his second self, stormy heart for stormy heart” (Gilgamesh 62).