Gilgamesh the King

Gilgamesh the King is a novel written by Jeffrey Robbins. His guide dog Gilly is named after the title character.

Real-World Background

Robbins' novel was presumably about Gilgamesh, a legendary king of Uruk in ancient Sumeria, whose deeds were recounted in the Epic of Gilgamesh. (Among these were his befriending the wild man Enkidu, defeating the ogre Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven, meeting Utnapishtim, the Noah-like survivor of a great flood, and attempting in vain to secure a magical plant of immortality.)

A real novel by the same name has been written about Gilgamesh, by Robert Silverberg.

See also

• Gilgamesh at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia