What is a difference between gilgamesh and hercules?

Question

What is a difference between gilgamesh and hercules?

Answer 1

Hercules was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman; Gilgamesh was the son of a goddess and seemed to have two fathers (however that was managed!), one of whom was a god.  Gilgamesh had a best friend and companion who shared his adventures; Hercules had several companions but no long-term, exclusive one.  Gilgamesh's adventures have come down to us in one more or less unified and coherent narrative; those of Hercules must be pieced together from various sources.  We know a little about Hercules' two successive wives, and we know that he fathered a great many children (all boys); we know only that Gilgamesh had a wife, who is mentioned (but not by name) only at his funeral, and we know nothing, at least in the epic, of any children he may have fathered.  Although both heroes incurred the enmity of goddesses, Hercules did nothing to deserve Hera's grudge against him (it was enough for her that he was a result--one of many-- of her husband's infidelity), whereas Gilgamesh had the bad sense and bad manners to reject Ishtar's advances bluntly and throw up to her the mortal lovers she had cast off when she became tired of them.  Hercules became a god after he died; Gilgamesh, as far as we know, just died and was buried.