The First Known Story Ever Written | analysing the Epic of Gilgamesh

Came because I was curious about the story, stayed for the deep analysis of the origins of human civilization.

The highlights:

1. The first civilization to ever put things into writing, writing about the invention of writing itself 🤯:

Until then, there had been no putting words in clay. Now, under that sun and on that day, it was indeed so. (Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta)

1. at the 52:35 mark: “Though men are mortal, mankind itself is immortal”
2. The distinction between the three states of being — animal, man, god — and how man is uniquely positioned because it has an awareness that the animal lacks, but also a fear of death that no god can understand and that leads it to live life to its fullest. This calls to mind how in Buddhism, there are also different realms of existence — one of them also corresponding to animals, other to humans, and other to devas (gods) — but only humans are uniquely positioned to escape the eternal cycle of death and rebirth [citation needed]