The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest major literary work in human history and the very foundation of narrative literature. Its universal archetypes of mortality, friendship, and the search for meaning have resonated across millennia, establishing themes that define all subsequent storytelling traditions.

Composed in ancient Sumer and Babylon, The Epic of Gilgamesh contains a flood narrative that closely parallels the account in Genesis, suggesting shared mythological roots across Mesopotamian and biblical traditions. The work was lost to the world for centuries until it was rediscovered in the nineteenth century among cuneiform tablets excavated from the royal library at Nineveh. Its themes of heroism, loss, and the limits of human ambition have come to define the very foundations of all subsequent literature.