Concept
Gilgamesh
Related concepts (25)
Epic of Gilgamesh
The Epic of Gilgamesh (ˈɡɪlɡəmɛʃ) is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian poems about Bilgamesh (Sumerian for "Gilgamesh"), king of Uruk, dating from the Third Dynasty of Ur (2100 BC). These independent stories were later used as source material for a combined epic in Akkadian. The first surviving version of this combined epic, known as the "Old Babylonian" version, dates back to the 18th century BC and is titled after its incipit, Shūtur eli sharrī ("Surpassing All Other Kings").
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia occupies modern Iraq. In the broader sense, the historical region included present-day Iraq and parts of present-day Iran, Kuwait, Syria and Turkey. The Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians and Babylonians), each originating from different areas, dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of recorded history (3100 BC) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire.
Inanna
Inanna is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, divine law, and political power. She was known by the Akkadian Empire, Babylonians, and Assyrians as Ishtar (and occasionally the logogram ). Her primary title was "the Queen of Heaven", and she was the patron goddess of the Eanna temple at the city of Uruk, which was her early main cult center.
Uruk
Uruk, today known as Warka, was a city in the ancient Near East situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates River on the dried-up ancient channel of the Euphrates. The site lies 58 miles northwest of ancient Ur, 108 kilometers southeast of ancient Nippur and 24 kilometers southeast of ancient Larsa. It is east of modern Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq. Uruk is the type site for the Uruk period. Uruk played a leading role in the early urbanization of Sumer in the mid-4th millennium BC.
Shamash
Shamash (Akkadian: šamaš) was the ancient Mesopotamian sun god, earlier known as Utu (Sumerian: dUTU "Sun"). He was believed to see everything that happened in the world every day, and was therefore responsible for justice and protection of travelers. As a divine judge, he could be associated with the underworld. Additionally, he could serve as the god of divination, typically alongside the weather god Adad. While he was universally regarded as one of the primary gods, he was particularly venerated in Sippar and Larsa.
Nineveh
Nineveh (ˈnɪnᵻvə ; URUNI.NU.A, Ninua; Nīnəwe; Naynawā; Nīnwē), also known in early modern times as Kouyunjik, was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul in northern Iraq. It is located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River and was the capital and largest city of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, as well as the largest city in the world for several decades. Today, it is a common name for the half of Mosul that lies on the eastern bank of the Tigris, and the country's Nineveh Governorate takes its name from it.
Nippur
Nippur (Sumerian: Nibru, often logographically recorded as , EN.LÍLKI, "Enlil City;" Akkadian: Nibbur) was an ancient Sumerian city. It was the special seat of the worship of the Sumerian god Enlil, the "Lord Wind", ruler of the cosmos, subject to An alone. Nippur was located in modern Nuffar in Afak, Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Iraq. It is roughly 200 kilometers south of modern Baghdad and about 60 miles southeast of the ancient city of Babylon.
Sargon of Akkad
Sargon of Akkad (ˈsɑrgɒn; Šarrugi), also known as Sargon the Great, was the first ruler of the Akkadian Empire, known for his conquests of the Sumerian city-states in the 24th to 23rd centuries BC. He is sometimes identified as the first person in recorded history to rule over an empire. He was the founder of the "Sargonic" or "Old Akkadian" dynasty, which he ruled for about a century after his death until the Gutian conquest of Sumer. The Sumerian king list makes him the cup-bearer to king Ur-Zababa of Kish.
Anu
Anu ( , from 𒀭 an "Sky", "Heaven") or Anum, originally An ( ), was the divine personification of the sky, king of the gods, and ancestor of many of the deities in ancient Mesopotamian religion. He was regarded as a source of both divine and human kingship, and opens the enumerations of deities in many Mesopotamian texts. At the same time, his role was largely passive, and he was not commonly worshipped.
Babylonia
Babylonia (ˌbæbɪˈloʊniə; Akkadian: , māt Akkadī) was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state 1894 BC. During the reign of Hammurabi and afterwards, Babylonia was called "the country of Akkad" (Māt Akkadī in Akkadian), a deliberate archaism in reference to the previous glory of the Akkadian Empire.