Gilgamesh, Sumerian Cycle: Gilgamesh and Agga of Kish

There is no trace of the Sumerian poem "Gilgamesh and Agga" in the Babylonian epic. This is one of the shortest of all Sumerian epic tales; it consists of no more than 115 lines of text. Nevertheless, it is of significance from several points of view. In the first place, its plot deals with humans only; unlike other Sumerian epic tales, it introduces no mythological motifs involving the Sumerian deities. Secondly, it is of considerable historical importance, for it provides a number of hitherto unknown facts concerning the early struggles of the Sumerian city-states. Finally, it is of special significance for the history of political thought and practice, since it reveals the existence of what were to some extent democratic institutions as early as 3000 BCE. Perhaps these are the very factors which induced the Babylonian redactors to omit this epic tale altogether from the "Epic of Gilgamesh". The Sumerian tale lacks those superhuman qualities and supernatural heroics so characteristic of epic poetry.

Gilgamesh and Agga of Kish.
One of eleven Nippur tablets.

The story of the struggle between Erech and Kish is told in the form of a Sumerian epic poem whose chief characters are Agga, the last ruler of the first dynasty of Kish, and Gilgamesh, the king of Erech and "lord of Kullab". The poem begins with the arrival in Erech of Agga's envoys bearing an ultimatum to its king Gilgamesh. Before giving them his answer, Gilgamesh goes before "the convened assembly of the elders of his city" with an urgent plea not to submit to Kish but to take up arms and fight for victory. The "senators", however, are of a different mind; they would rather submit to Kish and enjoy peace. Their decision displeases Gilgamesh, who then goes before "the convened assembly of the men of his city" and repeats his plea. The men of this assembly decide to fight rather than submit to Kish. Gilgamesh is delighted, and seemed confident of the results of the expected struggle. In a very short time - in the words of our poet, "It was not five days, it was not ten days" - Agga besieges Erech, and the Erechites are dumfounded. The meaning of the remainder of the poem is not too clear, but it seems that Gilgamesh in some way succeeds in gaining the friendship of Agga and in having the siege lifted without a fight.

Here, now, are the ancient Sumerian poet's actual words dealing with the Erech "congress"; the translation is quite literal, but omits a number of lines whose contents are still unintelligible.

The envoys of Agga, the son of Enmebaraggesi,
Proceeded from Kish to Gilgamesh in Erech.
The lord Gilgamesh before the elders of his city
Put the matter, seeks out the word:
"Let us not submit to the house of Kish, let us smite it with weapons."
The convened assembly of the elders of his city
Answers Gilgamesh:
"Let us submit to the house of Kish, let us not smite it with weapons."
Gilgamesh, the lord of Kullab,
Who performs heroic deeds for the goddess Inanna,
Took not the words of the elders of his city to heart.
A second time Gilgamesh, the lord of Kullab,
Before the fighting men of his city put the matter, seek out the word:
"Do not submit to the house of Kish, let us smite it with weapons."
The convened assembly of the fighting men of his city
Answers Gilgamesh:
"Do not submit to the house of Kish, let us smite it with weapons."
Then Gilgamesh, the lord of Kullab,
At the word of the fighting men of his city his heart rejoiced, his spirit brightened.

There are known, at present, eleven tablets and fragments inscribed with our political-assembly poem. Four of the eleven pieces were copied and published in the past four decades. But the significance of their contents for the history of political thought and practice was not realized until 1943, when Thorkild Jacobsen, of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, published a study on Primitive Democracy. Since then it was the authors (Kramer) good fortune to identify and copy the remaining seven pieces in Istanbul and Philadelphia. As a result, the poem, consisting of 115 lines, is now complete. A scientific edition of its text, together with a newly revised translation, appeared in 1949 in the American Journal of Archaeology.