A stupendous adventure story

The Epic of Gilgamesh tells of King Gilgamesh, the tyrannical ruler of Uruk in the land of Sumer. The gods create the wild man Enkidu as his counterpart. Accompanied by Enkidu, Gilgamesh sets out on great expeditions, kills the ogre who guards the sacred forest of cedar, and fells cedars. Back in Uruk, he kills the Bull of Heaven that has caused havoc there. In doing so, Gilgamesh incurs the wrath of the gods, who punish him by letting Enkidu die.

His friend’s death brings home to Gilgamesh his own mortality. He wanders the earth in search of immortality, crosses the Waters of Death, and finds Uta-napishti, who survived the Deluge and gained eternal life. Failing the test set by Uta-napishti, Gilgamesh realizes that there is no hope of escaping the fate of mortals. This epic is one of the world’s earliest known works of narrative poetry.　The English translation by Andrew George is highly readable.