The Epic of Gilgamesh: One of the Oldest Stories About Death

More than 3,000 years ago, scribes in Mesopotamia compiled a poem about a king who could not accept that he would die. The Epic of Gilgamesh is often called one of the oldest stories in the world. Much of it is about grief, and about what grief makes a person do.

Who is Gilgamesh?

The king of Uruk, an ancient city in Mesopotamia. The epic is about his friendship with Enkidu, a wild man who becomes his companion. Together they kill the Bull of Heaven, sent by the goddess Ishtar, and insult her in the process. The gods then decide that Enkidu must die.

What happens when Enkidu dies?

Gilgamesh falls apart. The Collector’s overview says Enkidu has dreams of the “house of dust,” a grim realm of the dead, over his last twelve days. When Enkidu dies, an essay on grief in ancient Akkadian texts reports, Gilgamesh weeps for seven days and nights and refuses to let the body be taken for burial until a maggot crawls from its nose. The same essay notes that his grief fits the known mourning customs of the time: weeping, wailing, tearing hair and clothes, and withdrawing from the city. The Toyo Eiwa University abstract adds that Gilgamesh was also afraid of his own death.

What does Gilgamesh do about it?

He sets out to find eternal life. His journey leads him to Utnapishtim, the one man who survived the great flood and was granted immortality by the gods. Utnapishtim says this gift was a one-time event and sets Gilgamesh a test: stay awake for six days and seven nights. Gilgamesh falls asleep almost at once. To prove it, Utnapishtim has his wife bake a loaf for each day he slept.

How does the story end?

Without immortality. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh of a plant at the bottom of the sea that will restore his youth. He retrieves it, but sets it down while bathing, and a snake eats it. According to the Toyo Eiwa abstract, the snake cast off its skin, which suggests it was rejuvenated. Gilgamesh returns home empty-handed. Many readers see the ending as a recognition that people cannot escape death, and that what lasts is the work of civilization and culture.

Where do the surviving texts come from?

From clay tablets. An older version dates to the 18th century BCE, but only a few tablets of it survive. The later “Standard Babylonian” version was compiled by an editor named Sîn-lēqi-unninni, between the 13th and 10th centuries BCE. It has twelve tablets. The best copies come from the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal at Nineveh, from the 7th century BCE. In 1872, British Museum scholar George Smith read out a translation of the flood tablet, which drew wide attention. The eleventh tablet holds the flood story, which many scholars think was added from an older epic. The twelfth is thought by many to be a separate addition.

Why does it still matter?

Because the central experience has not changed. A person loses someone, cannot accept it, and goes looking for a way out. Readers today still recognize it. For other ancient views, see The Egyptian Book of the Dead and the Weighing of the Heart and Funerals in Ancient Greece and Rome.

Where can I learn more?

See When Did Humans Start Having Funerals?, The Elegy: How Poets Have Mourned, and Memento Mori.