The Epic of Gilgamesh

1960

Brasch PJ3771 G5 E5 1960

Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin

Iraq holds an important place in the history of the world as it was part of Mesopotamia and the Cradle of Civilisation. About 10,000 years ago, the people living between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers began to develop methods of agriculture and animal husbandry. This in turn led to the formation of complex societies and the development of religion. Out of these developments was born the Epic of Gilgamesh, a work of literature written down for the first time about 4000 years ago by the Sumerians. Clay tablets, on which a 7th century BC version of the Epic was written, were found in Nineveh (northern Iraq, near Mosul) in the 19th century. The Epic tells the tale of Gilgamesh, King of Uruk and is a ‘mixture of pure adventure, of morality, and of tragedy.’