What it is: Also known as the 11th tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh, this fragment of a baked clay tablet contains cuneiform inscriptions describing an epic flood that swept through Babylon.It is ...

But older than the Greek flood myth, and perhaps older than the account of Noah in Genesis, is the ancient Iraqi story of Utnapishtim, found in the epic poem Gilgamesh.

Among these was the Flood Tablet, deciphered by George Smith in 1872, which alerted him to the existence of the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh. BRIDGEMAN/ACI Long days working with the ancient puzzle ...

Perhaps the oldest flood story is one of the earliest stories known to man, The Epic of Gilgamesh. Recorded on 12 stone tablets this is among the first pieces of literature in history.

The flood in Gilgamesh lasted seven days and seven nights. Noah’s flood lasts forty days and forty nights. Noah sends a raven first, then a dove twice. The dove later became a symbol of peace.

While the Gilgamesh Flood story has been recounted by several clay tablets dating back over 3,000 years, the Biblical Flood is said to have been about 5,000 years ago. Filed under.

Markings in the Gilgamesh (or Flood) Tablet suggest the god Ea duped humankind through the manipulation of phonetics—a trick that may be the first example of fake news, says academic.

It turns out this flood story is even older than Gilgamesh. That makes at least three ancient flood stories, all originating out of Mesopotamia. All are relaying very similar details.

A rare cuneiform tablet engraved with a portion of the ancient Mesopotamian epic of Gilgamesh will be returned to Iraq, per the US Department of Justice, along with 17,000 other looted artifacts.

The Gilgamesh Flood story is known from clay tablets that date back around 3,000 years, the Biblical Flood was about 5,000 years ago.

Scholars have struggled to identify fragments of the epic of Gilgamesh — one of the world’s oldest literary texts. Now A.I. has brought an “extreme acceleration” to the field.