By Charlotte Niblett

Faculty Mentor: Dr Nabil Al-Tikriti

Abstract

This project explores the archaeological and textual evidence and analysis of cultic activities around the post-mortem deification of Gilgamesh in Ur III and the Early Dynastic Period. The quasi-mythical king of ancient Uruk, Gilgamesh, is the subject of one of the world’s first epics and pieces of poetic literature. Though most famous for his epic tale, he appears in later works as a reference or a sort of allusion to the afterlife in companionship with the other texts’ main characters. His appearance in these textual works, as well as in records found during the Ur III period, strongly suggests a possible cultic worship in his name as a god of the underworld. Though other academics in the field have touched on the subject, many fail to expand on it, often focusing on grander schemes of Sumer as a whole. Through the compilation of sources, both ancient and modern in scholarship, it is evident to see that the possibility of Gilgamesh being worshipped in the deified sense is highly possible.