The Gilgamesh Epic is a famous story about a Sumerian hero's adventures and search for wisdom. Gilgamesh was king of Uruk, or Erech (modern-day Warka) at the end of the fourth millennium BC. The legend comes from the first Babylonian dynasty (about 1830–1530 BC) and was found in King Ashurbanipal's library in Nineveh. Ashurbanipal was king from 669 to 627 BC.
The story is written on 12 clay tablets. It tells how Gilgamesh, a strong ruler, became friends with Enkidu, a wild man created by the gods to defeat Gilgamesh. Together, they killed a monster named Huwawa. Then Ishtar, the goddess of love, tried to seduce Gilgamesh. When he refused her, they killed a sacred bull. As punishment, Enkidu died.
Sad and afraid of death, Gilgamesh traveled the world looking for immortality. He met Utnapishtim, who had survived a great flood. Utnapishtim told Gilgamesh about this flood, which covered a large area of Mesopotamia. Because of his devotion, the gods saved Utnapishtim and made him immortal. The last tablet talks about how sad Gilgamesh is because he will die someday.
Scholars have compared the flood story in this epic to the one in the Bible's book of Genesis. Both stories have a flood, people who are saved, birds sent out, and a sacrifice made afterward. But there are differences too. The Bible gives a moral reason for the flood, while in the epic, the gods were annoyed by human noise. The birds, heroes' names, boat size, and flood length are different in each story.
The Genesis story does not come from the epic. Both stories might come from an older tradition. Or they might be separate accounts of the same big flood.