The Literature Book

20

See also: Mahabharata 22–25 ■ Iliad 26–33 ■ Beowulf 42–43 ■

Njal’s Saga 52–53

W

riting first appeared in

Mesopotamia at the

beginning of what is

now known as the Bronze Age

(c.3300–1200 bce). Cuneiform

symbols, originally devised as a

means of recording commercial

transactions, had evolved from

numerals into representations of

sounds, which offered a means

of writing down the Sumerian

and Akkadian languages.

Among the fragments of texts

discovered in 1853 by the Assyrian

archaeologist Hormuzd Rassan are

tablets inscribed with tales of the

legendary King Gilgamesh of Uruk,

which are some of the earliest

examples of written literature.

The stories had probably been

passed down orally in a form that

combined history and mythology.

From tyrant to hero

The Epic of Gilgamesh, as the

collected tales are known, tells

how the oppressive ruler of the

Mesopotamian city of Uruk is

taught a lesson, and goes on to

become a local hero. To punish

Gilgamesh for his arrogance, the

gods send the “wild man” Enkidu,

formed from clay, to torment him.

After a fight, however, they become

friends, and embark on a series

of monster-slaying adventures.

Angered by this turn of events,

the gods sentence Enkidu to death.

Gilgamesh is distraught at the loss

of his companion, but also becomes

aware of his own mortality. The

second half of the tale tells of

Gilgamesh’s quest for the secret

of eternal life and of his return to

Uruk—still a mortal, but a wiser

man and more noble ruler. ■

ONLY THE GODS DWELL

FOREVER IN SUNLIGHT

THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH (FROM 2100 bce)

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Bronze Age literature

BEFORE

30th century bce Systems

of writing first emerge in

Mesopotamia and Egypt.

c.2600 bce The earliest known

texts—although not literary

ones—are written on tablets,

in the Sumerian language, at

Abu Salabikh, Mesopotamia.

c.2285–2250 bce The earliest

known author, Akkadian

princess and priestess

Enheduanna, lives and works

in the Sumerian city of Ur.

AFTER

c.1700–1100 bce The Rig

Veda, the first of the four

Hindu sacred texts known

as Vedas, is written in

northwestern India.

c.1550 bce The Egyptian Book

of the Dead is the first of the

Egyptian funerary texts to be

written on papyrus rather than

the walls of tombs or coffins.

The life that you seek

you never will find.

The Epic of Gilgamesh

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