The Battle between Gilgamesh and Aga

The Sumerian poem "Gilgamesh and Aga" (or Agga or Akka), is also known by its opening words "The Envoys of Aga". It is one of several short stories in Sumerian about Gilgamesh, the legendary king of Uruk (Figure 1). It narrates how Uruk, under the leadership of Gilgamesh, broke free from Kish's dominance during the reign of Aga, king of Kish.

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1. This might be one of the earliest depictions of the legendary king Gilgamesh. It was made in the city of Ur in about 2500 BC and shows a Gilgamesh-like figure battling a dragon-like monster. This fragment of a perforated stone plaque just 9 x 10 cm and was discovered by Leonard Woolley's PGP  team at Ur in the 1920s. The original is now in the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. Source: BM 119292 (cast of original, IM 1182) [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_C-293?selectedImageId=1141870001], British Museum.

The poem opens with envoys from Kish sent to Uruk by Aga, who demand that Uruk's citizens dig water wells for Kish. Unhappy with this order, Gilgamesh, ruler of Uruk, consults the young men of his city and all decide to refuse to submit. In response, Aga sends his army to besiege Uruk. During the conflict which ensues, Gilgamesh and his best friend Enkidu manage to capture Aga and rather than using violence, they reason with him. In an earnest face to face, Gilgamesh recognises Aga's past kindness (he had once given him refuge), and Aga asks Gilgamesh to return his favour by setting him free. In the end, the two men part ways in peace. Aga returns to Kish unharmed, but this defeat will mean the end of the first dynasty of Kish.

Manuscripts of "Gilgamesh and Aga" first emerged in 1935, when the Assyriologist Thomas Fish published a fragment purchased 25 years earlier by the John Rylands Library in Manchester, UK. All copies known so far come from Old Babylonian Nippur, where it was part of the repertoire of advanced schooling in cuneiform. Unlike the other Sumerian tales of Gilgamesh, "Gilgamesh and Aga" was not incorporated into the famous Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh that started to take shape at this time.

20 Oct 2025

Nadia Aït Saïd-Ghanem & Eleanor Robson

Nadia Aït Saïd-Ghanem & Eleanor Robson, 'The Battle between Gilgamesh and Aga', The Forgotten City of Kish • مدينة كيش المنسية, The Kish Project, 2025 [http://oracc.org/KingsandLegends/GilgameshandAga/]

 
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http://oracc.org/KingsandLegends/GilgameshandAga/