The Epic of Gilgamesh

← all texts · Mesopotamian · c. 2100–1200 BCE

What this is

The oldest great work of literature — the king Gilgamesh 🎨 and his wild companion Enkidu 🎨, the quest for immortality, and a flood story that predates and parallels Noah 🎨's. The Old Babylonian version is on Gutenberg.

Highlighted names link to their entry in the encyclopedia.

Read & download

We don't host the text — these go to the source library.

Read at Sacred-Texts →Download at Project Gutenberg →

The gods & things in it

Ea (Enki)🎨 Enkidu 🎨 Gilgamesh 🎨 Ishtar (Inanna)🎨 Utnapishtim 🎨

Companion reading path

What to read alongside it, and why.

The Enūma Eliš (Babylonian Creation) Mesopotamian

The Babylonian creation that sets the cosmic stage for Gilgamesh's world.

Genesis (King James Version) Hebrew

Compare the Gilgamesh flood with Noah's — the literary kinship is unmistakable.

Homer — The Odyssey Greek

The other foundational hero-journey: mortality, the underworld, the long way home.