Nick Owchar is acting deputy editor of Book Review. Seamus HEANEY isn’t the only one intent on making the classics relevant to our times. Stephen Mitchell’s translation of “Gilgamesh” (The Free Press: ...

Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Marvel Comics all owe a debt to Gilgamesh, a hero in Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the world’s first epic story. Gilgamesh was a historic king of the ...

An ancient story takes shape in Marin Shakespeare Company’s capacious black box on Fourth Street in San Rafael. A retelling of one of the oldest tales in the historical era — since the advent of ...

The ancient Sumerian “Epic of Gilgamesh” (25,000 B.C.) is thought to be the oldest written story in human history. In the tale — as presented outdoors by Theater Schmeater this summer — the wiry and ...

‘Gilgamesh,’ said the renowned German poet Rainer Maria Rilke in 1916, ‘is stupendous’. The great Babylonian epic inspired Rilke so much that he enthusiastically repeated the story to everyone he met.

The world's oldest surviving work of literature begins and ends with a wall: the rampart of Uruk-the-Sheepfold, great city of ancient Mesopotamia. "View its parapet that none could copy!" reads Andrew ...

This tale is about the limits of ambition; it is about power, about piety, and about man's inhumanity to man and life's timeless lessons to man. Our tale is also about the beauty of friendship and the ...

The Gilgamesh epic has often been called the world's oldest surviving story. This isn't strictly true: That distinction probably belongs to the Sumerian epic Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta. Still, ...

In last week’s column we considered the ancient Greek story of Deucalion and the wonderful ark, which saved the peoples of antiquity from a flood sent by the angry Olympian gods. We reflected on the ...

The ancient Mesopotamian god-king, Gilgamesh, will be the next deity to step into the Battleground of the Gods, clashing with Tiamat in the new Cinematic Reveal Trailer. On Mar. 30, the SMITE by Titan ...