Gilgamesh threw the axe in front of his mother and then he embraced it like a wife.

# Gilgamesh tells his mother Ninsun about two dreams he had.

Antu appears in Akkadian texts mostly as a rather colorless consort of Anu, the mother of Ishtar in the Gilgamesh story, but is also identified with the northwest Semitic goddess ‘ Anat of essentially the same name.

In the Gilgamesh and Huwawa tale, the hero consistently uses the assertive phrase: “ By the life of my own mother Ninsun and of my father, holy Lugalbanda !”.

In Sumerian mythology, Ninsun or Ninsuna (" lady wild cow ") is a goddess, best known as the mother of the legendary hero Gilgamesh, and as the tutelary goddess of Gudea of Lagash.

In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh was said to have destroyed a tree that was in a sacred grove dedicated to the goddess Ishtar / Inanna / Asherah.

Like Odysseus, Gilgamesh gets directions on how to reach the land of the dead from a divine helper: in this case, the goddess Siduri, who, like Circe, dwells by the sea at the ends of the earth.

Later they kill the Bull of Heaven, which the goddess Ishtar sends to punish Gilgamesh for spurning her advances.

Gilgamesh rejects the advances of the goddess Ishtar because of her mistreatment of previous lovers like Dumuzi.

The people prayed to the goddess Ishtar ( see also, The Empress ) and she sent Enkidu to teach Gilgamesh to be human.

After an encounter with Gilgamesh, they found Qataka in Kish, posing as Ishtar, the goddess of sex.

Ninsun adopts Enkidu as her son, and Gilgamesh leaves instructions for the governance of Uruk in his absence.

In royal hymns of the Ur III period, Ur-Nammu of Ur and his son Shulgi describe Lugalbanda and Ninsun as their holy parents, and in the same context call themselves the brother of Gilgamesh.

In the Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh and in earlier Sumerian stories about the hero, the king of Uruk, Gilgamesh, calls himself the son of Lugalbanda and Ninsun.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Ninsun is depicted as a human queen who lives in Uruk with her son as king.

Since the father of Gilgamesh was former king Lugalbanda, it stands to reason that Ninsun procreated with Lugalbanda to give birth.

Also in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Ninsun is summoned by Gilgamesh and Enkidu to help pray to the god Utu to help the two on their journey to the Country of the Living to battle Humbaba.

In the myth of Inanna's descent, Inanna, in order to console her grieving sister Ereshkigal, who is mourning the death of her husband Gugalana ( gu, bull, gal, big, ana, sky / heaven ), slain by Gilgamesh and Enkidu, sets out to visit her sister.

He had always existed, from the time of the epic of Gilgamesh, where he appears as Enkiddu, the wild-but-good man who lives with animals.

Ningizzida was the ancestor of Gilgamesh, who according to the epic dived to the bottom of the waters to retrieve the plant of life.

Gilgamesh, two-thirds god and one-third man, is oppressing his people, who are crying out to the gods for help.

Meeting the ale wife Siduri, who assumes, because of his dishevelled appearance, that he is a murderer, Gilgamesh tells her about the purpose of his journey.

Gilgamesh, who is seeking to overcome death, cannot even conquer sleep!

Unfortunately, when Gilgamesh stops to bathe, it is stolen by a serpent, who sheds its skin as it departs.

Alternatively, it has been suggested that " its purpose, though crudely handled, is to explain to Gilgamesh ( and the reader ) the various fates of the dead in the Afterlife " and in " an awkward attempt to bring closure ", it both connects the Gilgamesh of the epic with the Gilgamesh who is the King of the Netherworld, and is " a dramatic capstone whereby the twelve-tablet epic ends on one and the same theme, that of " seeing " (= understanding, discovery, etc.

The Chronicle lists successive early Sumerian rulers who kept up intermittent ceremonies at the temple: Aga of Kish, son of Enmebaragesi ; Mesannepada of Ur ; his son Meskiang-nunna ; Gilgamesh of Uruk ; his son Ur-Nungal ; Nanni of Ur and his son Meskiang-nanna.

In the eleventh tablet of the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim " the faraway " is the wise king of the Sumerian city state of Shuruppak who, along with his unnamed wife, survived a flood sent by Enlil to drown every living thing on Earth.

One of the earliest recorded sidekicks may be Enkidu, who adopted a sidekick role to Gilgamesh after they became allies in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Hormuzd Rassam ( 1826 – 16 September 1910 ) (), was a native Assyrian Assyriologist, British diplomat and traveller who made a number of important discoveries, including the clay tablets that contained the Epic of Gilgamesh, the world's oldest literature.

An early quest story tells the tale of Gilgamesh, who seeks a secret to eternal life after the death of Enkidu, including the search for an emerald.

Examples of well-known demigods include the Celtic hero Cuchulain, the Sumerian king Gilgamesh ( who supposedly was actually two thirds god ), the ancient Germanic woodsman Ansel, and the Greek hero Heracles ( Roman Hercules ).

Hercules interrupted the ritual and engaged in an intense battle against Gilgamesh who was transformed into a demon by Dahak.

The Epic of Gilgamesh, who was an ancient Sumerian king ( ca. 3000 BC ), is our first detailed written evidence of human civilization.

Bernarda Bryson Shahn ( March 9, 1903 – December 13, 2004 ) was an American painter, lithographer and widow of renowned artist Ben Shahn, who wrote and illustrated children's books including " The Zoo of Zeus " and " Gilgamesh.

Siduri, nonetheless, has a long conversation with Gilgamesh, who boasts of his exploits and is forced to explain why his appearance is so haggard.

Gilgamesh is set in the super present and the plot revolves around characters who can be divided into four groups: The Countess and the Orga-Superior, the Mitleid Corporation, the siblings, and the Gilgamesh.

In the myth, Gilgamesh seeks to establish his name with the assistance of Utu, because of his connection with the cedar mountain.

After Enkidu ’ s death Gilgamesh seeks Utnapishtim, the survivor of the Deluge, in order to find out the secret of immortality.

Many available tablets comprising The Sumerian King Lists support The Epic of Gilgamesh by omitting Shuruppak as a ruler of Shuruppak.

* In Tales of Hearts, Gilgamesh can be summoned as a support character.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the Bull and offer its heart to the sun-god Shamash.