A Sumerian demigod; see epic of Gilgamesh.

Also, a minor character in some of the Final Fantasy series of video games. Gilgamesh is THE MAN. He also has eight arms and carries four swords; Masamune, Zantesuken, Excalibur and Excalipoor.

A member of the super-hero team the Avengers published by Marvel Comics.

The real name of the Eternal known as Gilgamesh has yet to be revealed. He roamed the Earth for many years, being mistaken for many legendary heroes. Gilgamesh was even mistaken for the Olympian Hercules at one point when he cleaned the Augean Stables.

Gilgamesh has been known by such names Hero and the Forgotten One.

During the time of the Inferno crisis in New York, the Eternal known as Gilgamesh joined up with the superhero team known as the Avengers. He became a member of the team for a short time, but eventually left to recover from injuries sustained during one of their adventures. He has aided the team on a number of occasions since then.

Major figure of Mesopotamian myth, somewhat certainly identified as an historical king of Uruk dating to around the Early Dynastic Period (roughly 2750-2600 B.C.).

The name itself can be transcribed roughly in its earliest forms as dGISH.BIL.PAP-ga-mesh or bìl-ga-mesh - translated from the Sumerian, roughly, "The Old Man is Young". Even so, the explanation is far from certain, and the name may originate in an earlier, pre-Sumerian language. The only historic elements identified with the figure are a reference in the legends to a victory over King Agga of Kish, and a sherd from the Early Dynastic period bearing an inscription with his name - the Tummal Inscription. The Sumerian King Lists placing him as the fifth King of Uruk are at the earliest from the Ur III period, and may have been influenced by the already flourishing mythic tradition.

Gilgamesh is the son of Lugalbanda (sometimes of a wind-demon) and the goddess Ninsuna (a goddess of cattle) - two-thirds divine, one third human - born in Kulaba, a suburb of Uruk. According to tradition, he became King of that city, and, despite heavy oppression and enforced rights of prima nocte, raised the city to a major power, building the city walls which have been archaeologically dated to the same period. By the Ur III period - some 500 years after his supposed reign - he is already mentioned by the Kings of Ur, who ascribe to him kingship over a third of the underworld.

Whether he was an historic figure or not, the story of Gilgamesh was very early incorporated into the corpus of Mesopotamian mythology and literature. Six epics or fragments have been found containing Gilgamesh stories:

  1. Gilgamesh and Agga of Kish, recounts Agga's siege of Uruk and Gilgamesh's eventual victory with the help of the wild man, Enkidu
  2. Gilgamesh and Huwawa, in which Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and 50 warriors travel to the Cedar Forest to fight the giant Huwawa, the later Humbaba
  3. Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Bull of Heaven
  4. Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Underworld
  5. The Death of Gilgamesh
Each of these stories represents only a fragment of what would later become the complete epic of Gilgamesh. Each fragment thus formed only a part of a most likely oral tradition of Gilgamesh, solidified only piece by piece in writing. For the next 1000 years or so, this process continues - there are countless Old Babylonian fragments (most famously, the Pennsylvania Tablet and the Yale Tablet), as well as other, much smaller and only partly coherent writings.

The most famous version of the Gilgamesh cycle, however, is the 12-tablet epic from the library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, compiled, according to a final subscript, by the scribe Sin-leqe-unnini. The first half tells the story of Gilgamesh's encounter and friendship with the wild man Enkidu, and their subsequent travels to kill the giant Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven sent by the scorned Ishtar. After Enkidu is killed by the sun-god Shamash as punishment, Gilgamesh wanders the world in search of Utnapishtim, the Mesopotamian equivalent of the biblical Noah, to find the secret of eternal life. The hero, of course, eventually fails, only to return to Uruk. The moral? As recounted by a bar-wench in the 10th tablet: "Why search for eternal life and happiness in the hereafter, only to be disappointed. Drink, celebrate, and enjoy life now".

Enough expository banter! Now we fight like men! And ladies! And ladies who dress like men! For Gilgamesh…it is morphing time!

Gilgamesh, third battle. Final Fantasy V

Gilgamesh is a recurring character in the Final Fantasy series of video games. It’s portrayed as a dimension-jumping warrior and it’s perhaps the only true recurrent character in the series (as shown by his dialogues in FF VIII). In-universe, Gilgamesh is often a powerful boss, proficient with in many character classes and able to use several kinds of weapons. It is also accompanied by the faithful Enkidu.

Some of his aspects are inspired by the mythological Benkei (Wikipedia), most notably: both carry several weapons on their backs, both collect weapons from defeated foes and both have important fights on a bridge (see Battle at the Big Bridge and Gojo Bridge). Gilgamesh is also associated with Genji armor, apparently associated with the Minamoto clan (see postscript below)

As of the time of this writeup, Gilgamesh has appeared as a character in:

More info at https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Gilgamesh_(character)


Postscript: The most excellent Clockmaker notes:

»Genji« is just an alternate reading of the characters in »Minamoto«, just like »Heike« is the alternate of »Taira«. That's why the civil war between the Minamoto and Taira clans is called the Gempei War.


Poincaré conjectureAndy’s Brevity Quest 2019 (245words) → An approximation to e

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.