Epic of Gilgamesh

The most famous cuneiform tablet ever discovered, this clay tablet contains a portion of the Epic of Gilgamesh, including the story of a great flood that predates the biblical account by over a thousand years. Found in the ruins of the ancient library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh (modern-day Iraq), this tablet is part of a series that tells the story of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, and his quest for immortality. The discovery of this tablet in 1872 caused a sensation, as it provided evidence that flood stories existed in ancient Mesopotamia long before the Hebrew Bible was written.