Opening of the Gilgamesh epic

 
     
 

The ancient Gilgamesh epic was written on clay tablets which are now in the Tablet Room at the British Museum.

The epic was written in the Akkadian language using cuneiform script. Cuneiform script is written and read from left to right.

The Gilgamesh story begins and ends in ancient Mesopotamia, in the city of Uruk.

Hidden beneath Uruk’s city wall, so the story says, is a copper box with a bronze clasp. Inside this copper box is a lapis lazuli tablet.

Behold the tablet box of copper. Release the clasp of bronze. Take out the tablet of lapis lazuli, and hear the tale of Gilgamesh, all that he endured.’