How old is the Epic of Gilgamesh, and how does it end?
TL;DR — Babylonian scribes were copying several editions of the Gilgamesh epic by about 2000 BC; it ends with a king who loses his friend, seeks eternal life and loses it.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is old enough that several editions already existed about four thousand years ago. Morris Jastrow and Albert Clay wrote in 1920 that “as early as 2000 B.C. there were already several editions of the Epic.” Its hero is Gilgamesh, a king of Uruk in older Sumerian tales, and its story runs from a wild man’s friendship to a failed search for eternal life.
Quick facts
- When
- Several Old Babylonian editions by about 2000 BC (Jastrow and Clay); a Nippur tablet of about 1900–1600 BC (Penn Museum); a twelve-tablet series read by George Smith in 1872
- Where
- Uruk (Sumerian Unug) in southern Mesopotamia; tablets from Nippur and Nineveh
- Who
- Gilgamesh, king of Uruk in the Sumerian tales; Enkidu; Uta-Napishtim (Utnapishtim); the scholar Sin-leqi-unninni, named in a later list of Uruk's sages
- Outcome
- The epic followed Gilgamesh from his friendship with Enkidu to his failed search for eternal life; R. Campbell Thompson's 1928 translation closed it with Enkidu's ghost on the twelfth tablet
A king of Unug in the Sumerian tales
Gilgamesh first appears in Sumerian poems about Unug, the Sumerian name of Uruk. In “Gilgamesh and Aga,” translated by the Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature at Oxford, “envoys of Aga, the son of En-me-barage-si, came from Kic to Gilgamec in Unug,” and Gilgamesh, “the lord of Kulaba,” ignores the advice of his city’s elders.
The Sumerian King List places him among Uruk’s early rulers: “Gilgamec, whose father was a phantom(?), the lord of Kulaba, ruled for 126 years.” The figure belongs to legend, not to a reign anyone could measure. R. Campbell Thompson, introducing his translation in 1928, noted that the list sets Gilgamesh after Tammuz and Lugalbanda, and that “the mother of Gilgamish was Nin-sun.”
Editions by 2000 BC
The long poem was already circulating early in the second millennium BC. Jastrow and Clay pointed to “a text clearly belonging to the first Babylonian dynasty” as proof that the epic “reverts to a period earlier than Hammurabi.” One such early copy is in Philadelphia: the Penn Museum’s tablet CBS 7771, a literary tablet “excavated in Nippur” and “dated to the Old Babylonian (ca. 1900-1600 BC) period.”
A later tradition named an editor. A list of the kings and sages of Uruk, studied by Sophus Helle of Aarhus University, pairs “king? [Gilgam]esh?” with “the scholar Sin-leqi-unninni.” The list is far later than either man; it shows how Uruk’s scholars remembered the author of the standard version. By the time George Smith read the Nineveh copies in 1872, he had made out a series of “twelve tablets or books,” with the Flood on the eleventh.
Enkidu, Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven
Thompson’s translation opens with a king of whom “two-thirds of him are divine, and one-third of him human.” The wild man Enkidu is created and drawn into the city. As Thompson summarized the plot, “a tremendous fight ensues,” after which “the two heroes become firm friends, and determine to make an expedition . . . to the Forest of Cedars which is guarded by an Ogre, Humbaba.”
They kill Humbaba. The goddess Ishtar then falls in love with Gilgamesh, “but he rebuffs her,” and she asks her father Anu “to make a divine bull to destroy the two heroes.” Enkidu overcomes the bull and “thus incurs the punishment”; the gods decide that “Enkidu must die.” With the death of his friend, in Thompson’s words, Gilgamesh “goes in search of eternal life.”
The plant at the bottom of the sea
His search brings him to Uta-Napishtim, who cannot give him eternal life. “All Uta-Napishtim can do,” Thompson wrote, “is to tell him of a plant at the bottom of the sea which will make him young again.” To reach it, Gilgamesh ties “stones on his feet in the manner of Bahrein pearl-divers” and dives.
He brings the plant up, and then loses it. In Thompson’s verse translation, “Gilgamish spied out a pool of cool water, (and) therein descending Bathed in the water,” and “a serpent who snuff’d the plant’s fragrance, Darted he up from the water, (and) snatch’d the plant.” Then “Gilgamish sate him, (and) burst into weeping.”
Where the poem ends
Thompson in 1928 read the twelfth tablet, in which the ghost of Enkidu returns from the underworld and tells his friend of the fate of the dead, as the close of the tragedy. The epic Smith counted in 1872 as twelve tablets follows one king from a friendship to the loss of the one thing he went to the end of the world to find.
Key facts
- Jastrow and Clay wrote in 1920 that “as early as 2000 B.C. there were already several editions of the Epic” (Jastrow and Clay).
- The Penn Museum’s tablet CBS 7771, from Nippur, dates to the Old Babylonian period, about 1900–1600 BC (CDLI).
- In the Sumerian King List, Gilgamesh, “the lord of Kulaba,” is given 126 years, a legendary figure (ETCSL).
- A later list of Uruk’s kings and sages pairs Gilgamesh with the scholar Sin-leqi-unninni (Helle 2018).
- George Smith counted the series at twelve tablets in 1872, with the Flood on the eleventh (Smith 1876).
- Thompson’s 1928 translation describes the plant of youth at the bottom of the sea and the serpent that steals it (Thompson 1928).
FAQ
How old is the Epic of Gilgamesh?
By about 2000 BC several editions already existed, according to Morris Jastrow and Albert Clay's 1920 study of an Old Babylonian copy. Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh as king of Unug (Uruk) stand behind it.
What happens in the Epic of Gilgamesh?
Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, fights the wild man Enkidu and becomes his friend. Together they kill Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven; Enkidu dies as punishment, and Gilgamesh goes in search of eternal life, which he fails to win.
What does Gilgamesh lose to the serpent?
A plant from the bottom of the sea that would "make him young again," which Uta-Napishtim told him about. A serpent snatches it while Gilgamesh bathes in a pool, in R. Campbell Thompson's 1928 translation.
Who wrote the Epic of Gilgamesh?
No author signed it. A much later list of Uruk's kings and sages names the scholar Sin-leqi-unninni alongside King Gilgamesh, which is how Uruk's later scholars remembered the author.
How does the Epic of Gilgamesh end?
In R. Campbell Thompson's 1928 translation it ends with the twelfth tablet, where Enkidu's ghost returns and describes the fate of the dead. Before that, on the eleventh tablet, Gilgamesh loses the plant of youth to a serpent.
Sources
- ETCSL, University of Oxford, "Gilgamesh and Aga: translation"
- ETCSL, University of Oxford, "The Sumerian king list: translation"
- Morris Jastrow and Albert T. Clay, An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic (Yale University Press, 1920), Project Gutenberg
- Penn Museum tablet CBS 7771, "Gilgamesh II 001-003," Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (P262784)
- Sophus Helle, "The Role of Authors in the 'Uruk List of Kings and Sages'" (2018)
- R. Campbell Thompson, The Epic of Gilgamish (London: Luzac, 1928), Internet Archive
- George Smith, The Chaldean Account of Genesis (1876), Project Gutenberg
Cite this article
- APA
- Song Letter. (2026, October 11). How old is the Epic of Gilgamesh, and how does it end? Our Earth's History. https://ourearthshistory.com/west-asia/ancient/worlds-oldest-story-gilgamesh/
- Chicago
- Song Letter. “How old is the Epic of Gilgamesh, and how does it end?” Our Earth's History, October 11, 2026. https://ourearthshistory.com/west-asia/ancient/worlds-oldest-story-gilgamesh/.
- MLA
- Song Letter. “How old is the Epic of Gilgamesh, and how does it end?” Our Earth's History, 11 Oct. 2026, https://ourearthshistory.com/west-asia/ancient/worlds-oldest-story-gilgamesh/.
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