Aga of Kish

Agga sent a threat to Uruk demanding the city to work as slaves for the irrigation of Kish, by building canals and digging wells.

Irrigation was pivotal for the sumerian life, which, along drainage, created canals for transportation. The original text does not give much detail, but according to Dina Katz, this interpretation is supported by Stele of the Vultures, which describes the aftermath of a war. King Eannatum details the oath taken by the defeated king of Umma:[6]

I shall not shift it's irrigation canals and channels.

Gilgamesh recounts the threat to the city elders and proposes to rebel against Agga, but they refuse as the city is powerful and has the hegemony of Sumer. Gilgamesh doesn't listen to them and makes the same propotion to the soldiers of the city, which they accept by answering a proverb, paralleling Agga's demand. The soldiers make Gilgamesh the officer during wartime. [7]

Around 4 days later, Agga and his army sieged Uruk and the gates of the city, making unable fighting in the open. However Gilgamesh devises a plan, who voluntarily starts his royal guard Birhurtura. After leaving the city gates, he is captured, tortured, taken to the middle of the army where Agga is and interrogated by him. Displaced from the entrance of the city, Gilgamesh looks out over the wall, distracting the soldiers. Taking advantage of the diversion, Enkidu, leading the Uruk soldiers, leaves through the city gates and attack in the open field. In the middle of the battle, Gilgamesh defeats Agga. [8]

Ak gal-ukkin, "Aga, of the Great Assembly"

Agga asks for mercy to Gilgamesh, who remembers his past life serving as a soldier to the King of Kish. Gilgamesh takes pity and lets Agga go back to his city, with Kish's hegemony destroyed and Uruk's liberation. [9]

This is the only one of the five sumerian poems of Gilgamesh who has no mythological aspects. It is also remarkable to note that in this story the battlefield, Enkidu and Birhurtura are given a leading role, wile Gilgamesh stayed on the wall, distracting Agga with his corpulence. The text is made in the form of parallels, such as the threat and its response, both based on Sumerian proverbs, the fact that Gilgamesh asks the elders and then asks the soldiers the same question and that a soldier leans out of the wall and Gilgamesh then makes the same action. Gilgamesh and Birhurtura speak of "confusing Agga" although later in the poem it is Uruk who is "confused". However in the end only the king keeps his promise, emphasizing Gilgamesh's ironic portrayal.