Gilgamesh is the main character in the Epic of Gilgamesh, an Akkadian poem that is considered the first great work of literature, and in earlier Sumerian poems. In the epic, Gilgamesh is a demigod of superhuman strength who builds the city walls of Uruk to defend his people and after the death of his friend Enkidu travels to meet the sage Utnapishtim, who survived the Great Flood. His name means something to the effect of "The Ancestor is a Young-man".