The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Iliad, and the Bhagavad Gita are three of the most enduring ancient texts in the canon of global literature. All are heroic tales focusing on a strong male warrior protagonist, who endures a series of tests in order to achieve their goals and retain their status as leaders of their community. However, unlike Achilles, the hero of Homer’s Iliad, or Arjuna, hero of the Bhagavad Gita, Gilgamesh was an actual historical figure, evidence by the archaeological record as well as literary correspondences (Hansman). The historicity of its hero is not necessarily the reason to favor one of these epics over the other, but The Epic of Gilgamesh has the edge over its epic counterparts in other ways. For example, Gilgamesh’s character undergoes deep and meaningful transformations in ways that neither Achilles nor Arjuna experience. Both Achilles and Arjuna are thinly drawn, when compared with Gilgamesh. Interestingly, though, Gilgamesh predates both Homer’s Iliad and the Bhagavad Gita. Dating to the third millennium BCE, The Epic of Gilgamesh is also the oldest of these three texts and may in fact have influenced the evolution of subsequent literature far more so than either the Iliad or the Bhagavad Gita. Although a direct influence is not provable definitively, Beye notes that “influence and continuity is likely,” (ix).