The Epic of Gilgamesh
Anonymous (ancient Sumerian/Akkadian) (-2100)
“The oldest surviving literary work in human history — a king who had everything except the one thing he wanted: to live forever.”
Short Summary
Gilgamesh, tyrannical king of Uruk, is given a companion by the gods — Enkidu, a wild man civilized through sex and friendship. Together they slay the monster Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven, but their hubris angers the gods. Enkidu dies. Shattered by grief, Gilgamesh journeys to the ends of the earth seeking immortality from Utnapishtim, the one man who survived the Great Flood. He fails. A serpent steals the plant of youth. Gilgamesh returns to Uruk empty-handed but transformed — he finally sees that his city's walls are his true legacy, that civilization itself is the only immortality available to mortals.
Detailed Summary
Gilgamesh is two-thirds god and one-third man, king of Uruk, the greatest city in Mesopotamia. He is beautiful, powerful, and unbearable — he exhausts his people with forced labor and claims the right to sleep with every new bride. The citizens cry out to the gods for relief. The gods respond by cr...