Bronze and Iron AgesCulture & Arts Epic of Gilgamesh c. 2,100 BCETurning point The oldest great work of literature explores friendship, death and a great flood. ▲ MattersSaveShareTrace roots Longest chain: The Big Bang → First stars ignite → Supernovae seed heavy elements → The Sun forms → Earth forms → First oceans → First life → Photosynthesis evolves → Great Oxidation Event → Complex cells (eukaryotes) → Multicellular life → First animals → Cambrian Explosion → First vertebrates → Jawed fish → Fish walk onto land → The amniotic egg → The Great Dying → Dinosaurs appear → Asteroid ends the dinosaurs → Early primates → Apes split from monkeys → Human line splits from chimpanzees → Walking upright → First stone tools → Genus Homo appears → Homo erectus → Control of fire → Habitual fire and cooking → Homo sapiens appears → Complex language → Natufian villages → Oldest known bread → Agriculture begins → Irrigation → Uruk and the first cities → Cylinder seals → Writing (cuneiform) → Epic of Gilgamesh Community notesLoading notes… Learn more ranked by votesDocumentgutenberg.orgAn Old Babylonian version of the Gilgamesh epic, Jastrow and Clay (Project Gutenberg) ↗Editor's pickDocumentbritishmuseum.orgThe Flood Tablet, Epic of Gilgamesh tablet 11, K.3375 (British Museum collection) ↗Editor's pickBookStephen MitchellGilgamesh: A New English Version ↗Editor's pickVideoSearch on YouTubeEpic of Gilgamesh explained ↗Editor's pick