Gilgamesh is the fifth king of Uruk (Early Dynastic II, first dynasty of Uruk), placing his reign ca.

2500 BCE.

According to the Sumerian king list he ruled for 126 years.

In the Tummal Inscription, Gilgamesh, and his son Urlugal, rebuilt the sanctuary of the goddess Ninlil, in Tummal, a sacred quarter in her city of Nippur.

Gilgamesh is the central character in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the greatest surviving work of early Mesopotamian literature.

In the epic his father was Lugalbanda and his mother was Ninsun (whom some call Rimat Ninsun), a goddess.

In Mesopotamian mythology, Gilgamesh is a demigod of superhuman strength who built the city walls of Uruk to defend his people from external threats, and traveled to meet the sage Utnapishtim, who had survived the Great Deluge.