Epic of Gilgamesh Composed

The earliest Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh, legendary king of Uruk, date to around 2100 BCE. Later compiled into a unified epic, the story follows Gilgamesh's quest for immortality after the death of his friend Enkidu. The epic includes a flood narrative strikingly similar to the Genesis account — a righteous man builds a boat, loads animals aboard, and survives a divine deluge. When the flood tablet was first translated in 1872, it caused a sensation.