apart from the several copies of the epics.44 In turn, religious texts from the late libraries mention him frequently as the sovereign of the underworld who, after his life on earth, became king of the underworld—a Babylonian Osiris, identified with Nergal.45 Gilgamesh as judge and ruler of the shades in the netherworld had a specific role in ancestor cult and magical healing (incantations).46 Netherworld connections and mantic functions are regularly interrelated in religious beliefs. Gilgamesh