GILGAMESIT, gl1Vgli-msh. The name of the hero in a Babylonian epic, large portions of which have now been found among the cuneiform tablets constituting the 'brick' library of King Asurbanipal. At first the name of the hero, written ideographically, was provisionally read Izdubar (or Gishdubar), which simply represented the sound of the three signs ix (or gish), du, and bar, with which the name was written. The phonetic reading Gilgamesh was discovered by T. G. Pinches in 1890. The Gilgamesh epic con sisted originally of twelve tablets, and comprised about three thousand lines. About half of it has been recovered. The epic is a composite produc tion, many of the stories told about Gilgamesh being attached to him merely because he became the favorite hero of the Babylonians, whose ad ventures acquired great popularity. In the Gil gamesh epic dimmed historical traditions and pure myth are represented in about equal pro portions. He is a deified hero. As a hero he is primarily associated with the South Babylonian city Uruk (modern Warka), which he conquers; as a god he is a solar deity who is intro duced in incantations and hymns. Gilgamesh is a hero of irresistible strength, and among his adventures is a fight against a tyrant, Khunbaba, who is represented as dwelling in a fortress situ ated in a grove of wonderful grandeur. This adventure probably recalls some historical event, but in the sixth tablet a mythical element is in troduced. Ishtar, the goddess of fertility, has become enamored of Gilgamesh, and offers herself to the hero, who, however, refuses her, and adds insult to injury by reprimanding the goddess for her cruelty to her former lovers. As a punish ment, a mighty bull is sent out by Ann, the god of heaven, to kill Gilgamesh, but the latter suc cessfully vanquishes the bull. Thereupon Gil gamesh is smitten with disease and begins a long series of wanderings in search of healing. This disease represents the decline of the year, when the sun (Gilgamesh), removing itself from the earth (Ishtar), is imagined to be deprived of its former strength. Associated with Gilgamesh is another hero, Eabani—a Babylonian prototype of the first man—of whom, likewise, stories were current, some of which were transferred to Gil gamesh. Eabani and Gilgamesh become asso
ciates, and the former is also punished by Ish tar and eventually dies, whereas Gilgamesh ulti mately finds a remedy that at least partially re stores him. In the course of his wanderings he has many adventures. He passes through danger ous regions, encounters scorpion-men and lions before he reaches an ancestor, Pir-napishtim (source of life), who has survived a destructive deluge, and from whom Gilgamesh hopes to learn the secret of eternal and also to obtain heal ing from disease. When he at last encounters Pir-napishtim, the latter tells him the story of the deluge (q.v.), and while Gilgamesh does not learn the secret of immortality, he is healed of his disease and returns to Uruk.
It was formerly supposed that Gilgamesh was the counterpart of the biblical Nimrod, but this theory has now been abandoned. Gilgamesh bears a certain relationship to Samson, and phases of the Gilgamesh epic seem to have on to the Greeks and to have been embodied in the Hercules epic. Again, in the legends which cluster in the Orient around Alexander the Great, certain elements have been introduced which can be traced back ultimately to the Babylonian tales of Gilgamesh. Consult: Haupt, Das babylonische Nimrodepos (Leipzig, 1884-92) ; Jeremias, lzdu bar-Nimrod (ib., 1891) ; Meissner, Alexander und Gilgamos (ib., 1894) ; Jastrow, Religion of Baby lonia and Assyria (Boston, 1898) ; Jensen, Kei linsehriftliehe Bibliothek, vol. vi., 1 (Berlin, 1900).
(Neo-Lat., named in honor of Felipe Gil, a Spanish botanist). A genus of about 100 species of annual or biennial and a few perennial herbs (mostly western) of the natural order Polemoniacen. The species have small, many colored funnel-shaped or bell-shaped or some times salver-shaped five-lobed corollas, and some of the species have become popular in gardens, for which purpose they are well adapted, since they are hardy, prolific of bloom, sturdy, and of simplest culture. The seed is sown in any good soil, usually where the plants are to remain. Gilia tricolor is shown on Plate of CALIFORNIA PLANTS.