The Epic of Gilgamesh is a poem from ancient Mesopotamia and one of the earliest surviving works of literature. Its hero is Gilgamesh, king of the city of Uruk, who was probably a real ruler of the early third millennium BCE, later surrounded by legend. Separate Sumerian poems about him date from around 2100 BCE, and they were later combined into an Akkadian epic, whose standard version was edited by the scribe Sin-leqi-unninni. Gilgamesh befriends the wild man Enkidu, and after Enkidu dies he searches for immortality, learning from the flood survivor Utnapishtim that it is not for humans. The story was rediscovered in the nineteenth century in the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh, and when George Smith translated the flood tablet in 1872 it caused a sensation.
Before and after
- from c. 2,180 BCE to 350 CEKingdom of Kush
- from c. 2,160 BCE to 2,050 BCENinth Dynasty of Egypt
- from c. 2,150 BCE to 1,991 BCEEleventh Dynasty of Egypt
- 22nd century BCEConstruction of Ziggurat of Ur
- c. 2,100s BCEEpic of Gilgamesh
- c. 2,101 BCEThe Code of Ur-Nammu is issued
- from c. 2,050 BCE to 2,000 BCETenth Dynasty of Egypt
- c. 2,050 BCECode of Ur-Nammu
- from c. 2,040 BCE to 1,782 BCEMiddle Kingdom of Egypt
More in Art, literature & culture
- c. 3,000 BCECuneiform
- c. 1,500 BCERigveda
- from c. 1,200 BCE to 150 BCEPhoenician script
- c. 750s BCEThe Homeric epics are composed
- from 448 BCE to 433 BCEConstruction of the Parthenon begins
- 196 BCERosetta Stone
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 22nd century BCE.