The Sumerian tale of Gilgamesh is the oldest to have survived into the modern era. Thus the greatest value of Gilgamesh is that it opens a window for modern readers into their collective past. The tale’s content reveals much about humanity’s earliest social and religious concerns, while its form reveals equivalent insights about the relationship between instruction and entertainment in an oral culture.

The story of Gilgamesh reveals both a desire to commemorate the hero’s greatness and an obligation to learn from his flaws. The first thing the audience learns from the story is that Gilgamesh builds protective walls around the city, a great gift to his society. When the audience next learns that the king has been abusive to the young men of the city and has deflowered young maidens, their disapproval of these acts is tempered by their initial approval of his great accomplishment. Overall, the early portions of the story demonstrate that the abiding criterion for judgment is not the happiness of the individual, even if that individual is the king, but the good of society as a whole. When Gilgamesh exercises the kingly privilege in deflowering maidens, his actions may be legal, but they fail to provide any benefit for Uruk and are therefore condemned. Thus does the audience learn that greatness entails responsibility, not just strength.

Crucial to the lesson of the story is Gilgamesh’s status as two-thirds god, one-third human. Kings are more than human and therefore are revered; yet at the same time kings are imperfect, so that as they learn, their growth will serve as a model for the improvement of their subjects. One special feature of Gilgamesh is its introduction of an additional intermediary between the king and his people, Engidu. Precisely because the hero is so far above his subjects, he needs to befriend someone who is thoroughly human, though possessing heroic strength; only in this way can the audience achieve an emotional identification, or at least a profound empathy, with the hero. They can never quite see themselves as Gilgamesh, but they can see themselves as Engidu, standing by the hero’s side, supporting him, making possible his glorious triumphs.