ABSTRACT
The one Sumerian sovereign of whom most people will have heard is Gilgamesh.1 By his appearance in the story of Dilmun in an episode in the Epic story identified with him, which describes his quest for the flower of restored youth, he highlights the essentially mystical nature which that land enjoyed in the minds of the people of Sumer who lived during and after Gilgamesh’s time. More than this, in the person of Gilgamesh of Uruk, Sumerian legend and historical reality come into conjunction. To the people of the land he remained one of the greatest of heroes throughout their existence and indeed beyond it, for he was a potent symbol to their Babylonian and Assyrian successors. His appeal, apart from the universal characteristics of his legend, seems to have rested upon the real achievements of his reign and the memory which the people retained of its glories. The exploits of later kings may also have contributed to it by being absorbed into the older legend.
