History Literature / TheEpicOfGilgamesh

* AnAesop: Having a MortalityPhobia is immature, and the only way to actually "live" forever is to leave a legacy of great deeds.

* HalfHumanHybrid: Well, "one third human" hybrid, anyway. Yeah, genetically not possible, but it works if you take into account that the ancient Babylonians didn't know about genetics: divine + divine + human = [=2/3=] divine and [=1/3=] human.

* ManlyTears: Gilgamesh sheds these at the death of Enkidu.

* UnevenHybrid: Gilgamesh is two-thirds god, one-third man.

* UrExample: Due to the ''sheer age'' of the work, most of it's tropes are either this or [[UnbuiltTrope Unbuilt]] examples. In particular Gilgamesh provides the current page image for the Ur-Example article, by using his SuperStrength to bend an Ox in half (in accordance with the "first usage ever" interpretation of what an Ur-Example is).

* UnbuiltTrope: A lot of the wish-fulfillment elements embodied in Gilgamesh are portrayed as immature character flaws that needs to be overcome (consider how later Myth/ClassicalMythology might have treated the same subjects), his heroic adventures only sets of a chain of events leading to the death of his best friend and when going on the most important quest of his life what does he do? He fails.

Their prayers are answered in the form of Enkidu, a BeastMan who emerges from the woods to fight Gilgamesh. The two brawl in the streets of Uruk until neither can continue, and by the end the two have become the greatest of friends. For a while, they entertain themselves with grand adventures, but eventually their actions anger the gods, who strike Enkidu down.

* SemiDivine: Gilgamesh is two-thirds god. For those scratching their heads at the genetics, this is due to an ancient belief that ''all'' of a woman's male sexual partners during a pregnancy contribute to the resulting baby; Gilgamesh is therefore the son of two different gods and one mortal woman.

* SemiDivine: Gilgamesh is two-thirds god. For those scratching their heads at the genetics, this is due to an ancient belief that ''all'' of a woman's sexual partners during a pregnancy contribute to the resulting baby, making all of them the child's fathers; Gilgamesh is therefore the son of two different gods and one mortal woman.

* SemiDivine: Gilgamesh is two-thirds god. For those scratching their heads at the genetics, this is due to an ancient belief that if two men had sex with the same woman and a child was born afterwards, then ''both'' men were the father of the resulting child; Gilgamesh is therefore the son of two different gods and one mortal woman.

* SemiDivine: Gilgamesh is two-thirds god.

Their prayers are answered in the form of Enkidu, a WildMan who emerges from the woods to fight Gilgamesh. The two brawl in the streets of Uruk until neither can continue, and by the end the two have become the greatest of friends. For a while, they entertain themselves with grand adventures, but eventually their actions anger the gods, who strike Enkidu down.

Heartbroken by the loss of his friend and suddenly aware of death's inevitability, Gilgamesh sets out on one last adventure [[ImmortalitySeeker in search of immortality]]. He ultimately fails, but in the process learns a valuable lesson about arrogance, [[BittersweetEnding and returns to rule Uruk as a wiser, humbler king.]]

* ZombieApocalypse: UrExample. Ishtar threatens to knock down the doors of the underworld to bring the dead up, who will eat the living.

A [[Myth/MesopotamianMythology legend from Ancient Mesopotamia]], the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' is the one of the oldest known works of great literature, dating from around 1800 BCE and inscribed on clay tablets.

* AntiHero: Gilgamesh himself is the UrExample, beginning as an unlikeable and immature king, and still being a NominalHero by the end of the tale.

While not the first example of literature ever written (with Sumerian and Egyptian texts like the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_of_Shuruppak Instructions of Shuruppak]]'', the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesh_temple_hymn Kesh temple hymn]]'', the Hymns of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enheduanna Enheduanna]] and the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_Texts Pyramid Texts]]'' dating back even further) it is often considered to be the earliest surviving [[TheHerosJourney heroic epic]], predating ''Literature/TheIliad'' and even the majority of ''Literature/TheBible'' by well over a thousand years. Naturally, any trope found in this work is OlderThanDirt, and is likely either [[UnbuiltTrope Unbuilt]] or an UrExample.

Their prayers are answered in the form of Enkidu, a WildMan who emerges from the woods to fight Gilgamesh. He fights the King to a stand still and Gilgamesh respects such strength, rapidly becoming a friend. For a while, they entertain themselves with grand adventures, but eventually their actions anger the gods, who strike Enkidu down.

A [[Myth/MesopotamianMythology legend from Ancient Mesopotamia]], the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' is the earliest surviving [[TheHerosJourney heroic epic]], dating from around 1800 BCE.

While not the first example of literature ever written (with Sumerian and Egyptian texts like the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_of_Shuruppak Instructions of Shuruppak]]'', the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesh_temple_hymn Kesh temple hymn]]'', the Hymns of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enheduanna Enheduanna]] and the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_Texts Pyramid Texts]]'' dating back even further) it is often considered to be the earliest surviving work of great literature, predating even ''Literature/TheIliad'' and the majority of ''Literature/TheBible'' by well over a thousand years. Naturally, any trope found in this work is OlderThanDirt, and is likely either [[UnbuiltTrope Unbuilt]] or an UrExample.

* ManlyTears: Gilgamesh sheds these at the death of Enkidu, though it should be noted that the people of the time considered crying itself to [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment already be inherently masculine]].

* ManlyTears: Gilgamesh sheds these at the death of Enkidu.

While not the first example of literature ever written (with Sumerian and Egyptian texts like the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_of_Shuruppak Instructions of Shuruppak]]'', the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesh_temple_hymn Kesh temple hymn]]'', the Hymns of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enheduanna Enheduanna]] and the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_Texts Pyramid Texts]]'' dating back even further) it is often considered to be the earliest surviving work of great literature, predating even ''Literature/TheIliad'' and the majority of ''Literature/TheBible'' by well over a thousand years. Naturally, any trope found in this work is OlderThanDirt.

Their prayers are answered in the form of Enkidu, a WildMan who emerges from the woods to fight Gilgamesh. He loses, [[DefeatMeansFriendship but the two quickly become best friends.]] For a while, they entertain themselves with grand adventures, but eventually their actions anger the gods, who strike Enkidu down.

* OverprotectiveDad: Anu lets Ishtar borrow the Bull of Heaven because Gilgamesh was rude to her.

* UnbuiltTrope:
** A lot of the wish-fulfillment elements embodied in Gilgamesh are portrayed as immature character flaws that needs to be overcome (consider how later Myth/ClassicalMythology might have treated the same subjects), his heroic adventures only sets of a chain of events leading to the death of his best friend and when going on the most important quest of his life what does he do? He fails.
** Also qualifies as either this or UrExample in just about every other trope that applies to it, simply due to being one of the oldest recorded stories ''period''.

* ManlyTears: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]. Gilgamesh sheds these at the death of Enkidu, but the people of that culture [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment considered crying itself to be inherently masculine to begin with]].

** Also qualifies as either this or UrExample in just about every other trope that applies to it, simply due to being one of the oldest recorded stories _period_.

* UnbuiltTrope: A lot of the wish-fulfillment elements embodied in Gilgamesh are portrayed as immature character flaws that needs to be overcome (consider how later Myth/ClassicalMythology might have treated the same subjects), his heroic adventures only sets of a chain of events leading to the death of his best friend and when going on the most important quest of his life what does he do? He fails.

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Gilgamesh does. The story is largely about him learning that it's too hard to achieve, even for a badass of his caliber.