Over 4 000 years old, the famous Epic of Gilgamesh is considered the earliest surviving great work of literature. It is an epic poem recorded in ancient Sumerian cuneiform on several precious clay tablets from Mesopotamia, detailing the exploits of the King of Uruk – an old city east of the Euphrates River in present day Iraq.
Distressed over the death of his beloved friend Enkidu, Gilgamesh the Great undertakes a long and dangerous journey seeking the secret to immortality. In the second half of the narrative, he finally learns that the eternal “Life which you look for, you will never find. For when the Gods created man, they let death be his share, and life withheld in their own hands.”
Gilgamesh is seen by scholars as a historical figure who may very well have existed, a ruler so outstanding he became viewed as divine. A legendary builder who erected massive walls to defend his people, he travelled extensively and listened to the Great Flood accounts of his ancestor, Utnapishtim.
In a seminal story that was much later mirrored by the more famous Biblical Noah’s Ark, Utnapishtim is ordered by the Gods, recorded in the year 2100 BC, to construct a giant ship “The Preserver of Life” to save his family, craftsmen, baby animals and
