The Epic Of Gilgamesh Summary

King Gilgamesh ruled the walled city of Uruk located in Mesopotamia, present day Iraq/Syria, around 2700 B.C. He ruled the Sumerians for around 128 years. This extremely long life was made possible by the fact that he was thought to be a demi-god. His mother was named Ninsun. She was the goddess of wisdom. One of the most well-known stories about Gilgamesh was the time he and his friend, Eukidu, killed a fierce monster guarding a sacred cedar forest. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a book written about the divine king. The book was written, roughly, from 3000-1400 BCE. In the time the book was written many big changes were coming to the way people lived, worked, and played. Sumerians lived in small city-states which acted like small countries.

It was, however, between two rivers that flooded easily. Irrigation was a necessity if the Sumerians were to grow crops or raise cattle. Marshes were drained and ditches dug. The new system of laws helped decide who got how much water. The land that was given water was fertile and the ancient farmers grew barley, beans, flax, olives, and wheat. Cattle were raised outside the city walls to provide the town dwellers with milk and meat. Sheep, oxen, donkeys, and dogs where domesticated. Oxen pulled the newly invented plow for the farmers and donkeys served as pack animals. Due to the new ways to water crops and improving methods of farming there was lots of food to go

Some gods though were more important than others. Anu a sky god was the greatest of them all. He was the city god of Uruk, it makes sense that the most important god should come from the biggest city. Along with the gods Sumerians also thought that their ancestors brought the land out of the water that once covered the earth. Some of their stories especially the story of the great flood are very similar to bible stories. The culture was heavily related to the belief system they found in the gods. Gods, kings, and god-kings ruled the