Imagine this: a divine voice warns you of an impending flood that will wipe out all living things on the face of the Earth. You are ordered to construct an ark, and load it with as many animals as you can. You comply, build the ark, and manage to preserve both humanity and all other forms of life.

Now, you will be forgiven for assuming that I’m asking you to imagine being Noah from the Book of Genesis, but he’s not one I’m talking about.

I’m talking about Utnapishtim from Tablet XI of the Epic of Gilgamesh, which the majority of scholars agree far predates the Biblical flood story.

So let’s start with our hero, Gilgamesh, and figure out why he’s looking for his ancestor, Utnapishtim.

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King Gilgamesh could be cruel; this was the complaint of his subjects in the city of Uruk. The goddess Arura heard…