“Forget death and seek life!”

With these encouraging words, Gilgamesh, the hero of the eponymous 4000-year-old epic poem, coins the world’s first heroic catchphrase .

At the same time, the young king encapsulates the considerations of mortality and humanity that lie at the heart of the world’s most ancient epic. While much has changed since, the epic’s  themes are still remarkably relevant to modern readers

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Depending upon your point of view, Gilgamesh may be considered a myth-making biography of a legendary king , a love story, a comedy, a tragedy, a cracking adventure, or perhaps an anthology of origin stories .

All these elements are present in the narrative, and the diversity of the text is only matched by its literary sophistication . Perhaps surprisingly, given the extreme antiquity of the material, the epic is a masterful blending of complex existential queries, rich imagery and dynamic characters .

Gilgamesh story proves that people have the ability to grow and they are not stuck forever in repeating the same mistakes. It demonstrates that people can be better people, and that even kings have lessons to learn. While Gilgamesh is a part god, the reader can see him as a person with a number of human qualities that ordinary people may also possess in everyday life .

“The Epic of Gilgamesh” is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia that originated in Iraq and among the earliest known literary writings in the world. It originated as a series of Sumerian legends and poems in cuneiform script dating back to the early 3rd or late 2nd millenium BCE, which were later gathered into a longer Akkadian poem (the most complete version existing today, preserved on 12 clay tablets, dates from the 12th to 10th Century BCE) .

The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest story known to mankind, being written on Sumerian clay almost five thousand years ago (Garone) . Since the story was originally known orally, the culture and themes from The Epic of Gilgamesh must have existed long before it was finally inscribed  Having known this, the cultures and themes can be compared to today’s society, discovering about how they have shifted and evolved, and also observe how they are similar. The ancient days of Gilgamesh has brought culture that has greatly influenced today’s society . Because Gilgamesh was set around the time of late Babylonian or early Sumerian society, the Babylonian and Sumerian cultures also play a role in shaping the world into what is is today (Mark) . These societies have developed inventions and ideas that have significantly affected  .today’s world such as, government, art, wheels mathematics, and many more