Epic of Gilgamesh

• This is an Epic Poem from Bronze Age Mesopotamia about Gilgamesh, the King of Uruk, and his travels and adventures in the pursuit of the secret of Eternal Life.
• It is considered to be the world’s oldest recorded great work of literature.

Similarities with The Bible

• Noah’s Flood:
  • The Assyrian Utnapishtim survives a Flood, similar to the story of Noah in The Bible and Deucalion in Greek Mythology.
• The Garden of Eden:
  • In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Sumerians describe Dilmun as a Garden of Paradise, similar to the Garden of Eden in The Bible.

The Clay Tablets

• The ‘Old Babylonian’ version:
  • The first clay tablets describing the Epic of Gilgamesh date to the 1700’s BCE.
• The ‘Standard’ version:
  • An incomplete 12 Tablet version dating from the 7th century BCE, was found in the Library of King Ashurbanipal of Assyria.