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Gilgameš (English: The Epic of Gilgamesh) is an oratorio by Bohuslav Martinů composed 1954–1955 near Nice in France and premiered in 1958 in Basel, Switzerland, with a title and text in German, as Das Gilgamesch-Epos.
However, Martinů wrote his text in English, based on the translation of in hexameters by Reginald Campbell Thompson, The Epic of Gilgamish (1928), in his own style, choosing freely what would fit his music best. Martinů would have preferred to compose it to a text in Czech and, according to his biographer Miloš Šafránek, he regretted hearing too late about the recent Czech translation of the Epic by poet Lubor Matouš. Later, Ferdinand Pujman translated Martinů's text on the basis of Matouš' work for what became Epos o Gilgamešovi.
The text comprises a sectional portrait of the original Epic of Gilgamesh in three parts.
The premiere of the oratorio took place on 24 January 1958 with the Basel Chamber Orchestra and the Basel Chamber Choir conducted by Paul Sacher. The United Kingdom premiere in 1959 was conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent, who had been very impressed with it on hearing during a visit to Prague. Alvar Liddell was the narrator. This was recorded. Vernon Handley conducted the work in Guildford in 1970. Jiří Bělohlávek conducted a performance in the Albert Hall with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Jack Shepherd as narrator in 1995, issued on CD by the BBC.