Enmebaragesi or Mebaragesi was the penultimate king of the first dynasty of Kish reigning circa the 26th century BC according to the Sumerian King List, the same source adds that he subdued Elam, and reigned 900 years. Like his son and successor Aga he reigned during the Kish hegemony over Sumer. Enmebaragesi signals a momentous documentary leap from legend to history, from fiction to history, since he is the earliest ruler on the king list whose name is attested directly from archaeology. A recent analysis on the part of the ARCANE project has determined that only one of the four inscriptions previously atributed to Enmebaragesi can be identified as belonging to him. This particular inscription is dated to the Early Dynastic Period based on the very archaic form of the sign kiš, still showing the horns of the aurochs’ heads at the origin of the grapheme. One inscription of unknown provenance in the Baghdad Museum, reads "Mebaragsi, King of Kish".. He is also attetsted in an Old-Babylonian inscription which mentions him as having built the first temple: There are in all at least four surviving fragments bearing the abbreviated form Mebaragsi, however, only one should be interpreted as referring to him, as the "sign bara of this inscription is quite different in shape from that on the vase of the name-sake king of Kiš.." As of today, one fragment of alabaster vessel bears a dedication inscription of Mebaragesi, king of Kish", which confirms the historicity of this king. This fragment verifying Enmebaragesi's historicity enhances the notion that Gilgamesh is also historical. Enmebaragesi is also mentioned in a section of the original Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, Bilgamesh and Aga, as the father of the Aga who laid siege to Uruk. The Sumerian King List and the Tummal Inscription concur with the Epic of Gilgamesh in making him the father of Aga, who was the final king of the 1st dynasty of Kish. Enmebaragesi is said to have been vanquished by Gilgamesh in a document written by Shulgi, but earlier texts describe his son Aga of Kish as having been vanquished instead. The later Sumerian Renaissance king Shulgi addressed one of his praise poems to Gilgamesh, that credits Gilgamesh with capturing and defeating Enmebaragesi — thus contradicting the king list, where he was already captured by Gilgamesh's predecessor. In another part of the Gilgamesh epic, Gilgamesh offers his "sister" Enmebaragesi to be the wife of the monster Huwawa or Humbaba, causing some debate as to Enmebaragesi's gender, with most scholars taking this reference as a jest.
Popular culture
In the 2009 comedy filmYear One, a film parodying historical, biblical and mythical persons, places and events, Enmebaragesi is portrayed as one of the best hunters from the village.
