Gilgamesh Explained

The Epic of Gilgamesh may be considered a biography of a legendary king, a love story, a comedy, a tragedy, a precarious adventure, or perhaps an anthology of origin stories. All these elements are present in the narrative, and the diversity of the text is only matched by its literary sophistication. Perhaps surprisingly, given the extreme antiquity of the material, the epic is a masterful blending of complex existential queries, rich imagery, and dynamic characters. Despite being two thirds god, Gilgamesh remains a very human character, one who experiences the same heartbreaks, limitations and simple pleasures that shape the universal quality of the human condition.