The story of Gilgamesh is an interesting one. He was said to be 1/3 human and 2/3 god. He was a historical king of Uruk around 4000 years ago. His story is chronicled in tales written by Tolstoy and Charles Dickens, stories of events and circumstances that occurred throughout his journey to find the secrets of immortality.
Gilgamesh was an arrogant and temperamental man. Because of these characteristics, in an attempt to tame his behavior, Enkidu was created by the gods to challenge Gilgamesh, however, his was not able to defeat, instead, the two became fast friends. They went on to conform an evil monster Humbaba, and also manage to kill the Bull of Heaven, which was sent against them by the goddess of lovemaking, Ishtar. In punishment, Enkidu was killed. The loss of his friend greatly saddened Gilgamesh and also taught him valuable lessons about love and moss and human mortality.
After experiencing the sadness of losing a friend, Gilgamesh continued on his venture to redeem immortality. Once at the end, where he finally gets to the holder of the seed to immortal life on his way back to Uruk, the seed was stolen by a serpent. He is then forced to accept the fact that he is not ever going to obtain immortality. He is left with the noble legacy as a king who pushed through difficulty and grief in the attempt to better his kingdom.
If my understanding is correct, it is my conclusion that Gilgamesh was a hero in the eyes of his people because he appeared to be doing this heroic act in an attempt to better the kingdom. In a glance, from 4000 years