Gilgamesh (c 2700 BCE)

Quotation

As for you, Gilgamesh, let your belly be full, / Make merry day and night. / Of each day make a feast of rejoicing. / Day and night dance and play! / Let your garments be sparkling fresh, / Your head be washed; bathe in water. / Pay heed to a little one that holds on to your hand, / Let a spouse delight in your bosom. - Tablet X

Books

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Research

COPAC UK: Gilgamesh
Library of Canada: Gilgamesh
Library of Congress: Gilgamesh
Other Library Catalogs: Gilgamesh

Biographical

King Gilgamesh lived and reigned about 2700 BC. He was probably the fifth king in the first dynasty of Uruk in Mesopotamia. He built a temple to Ninlil in Nippur, and possibly the walls of Uruk. Contemporary records indicate that he reigned for 126 years; his son, by contrast, reigned for a mere thirty years. The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest recorded stories in the world, and is the most important surviving literature of Mesopotamia.

The most complete version of the epic was preserved in the collection of the 7th century BC Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. The original from which his version was copied was recorded in Babylon but was based in legends and stories from older Sumerian sources. [This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License and uses material adapted in whole or in part from the Wikipedia article on Gilgamesh.]

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