The Epic of Gilgameš (Standard Babylonian)
A king who would not die learns the hardest wisdom — eternal life is the gods' alone, but a name endures.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is the most celebrated work of Mesopotamian literature and one of the oldest great poems in the world. Its hero, Gilgamesh, the overbearing king of Uruk, is matched by the gods with a wild man, Enkidu, who becomes his beloved friend. Together they journey to the Cedar Forest to kill its guardian Humbaba and slay the Bull of Heaven sent by the spurned goddess Ishtar. As punishment the gods condemn Enkidu to die, and his death shatters Gilgamesh, who — now terrified of his own mortality — sets out to find the one man granted eternal life, the Flood-survivor Utnapishtim. Utnapishtim tells him the Flood story and shows him that immortality cannot be won; even a rejuvenating plant Gilgamesh finds is stolen by a snake. He returns home empty-handed but wiser, his enduring achievement the great walls of Uruk. The epic's answer to death is sober and humane: accept mortality, and live well.