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The literary program "Friends" under the rubric Habent sua fata libelli (books also have their fate) offers a conversation about the oldest monument of world literature, the "Epic of Gilgamesh". Gilgamesh, earlier spelled "Bilgamesh", King of Uruk, is an ancient hero of Sumer and the entire Mesopotamia, who historically existed ca. BC in the 28th century. First, the Sumerians created unrelated narratives about him, and later in the Akkadian language, his epic was formed into a single poem. This largest and richest monument of Sumerian and Assyrian literature was lost over time, but after the discovery of Ashurbanipal's library in the 19th century, a clay tablet was discovered on which the episode of the flood was described. George Smith, a young self-taught scholar at the British Museum, gave a talk on this plate and its connection to the Bible. The sensation proved so resonant that the Daily Telegraph set aside £1,000 to reveal the opening and closing plates of the story. This is how 12 tablets were discovered, on which a genius poem was written in cuneiform (cuneiform) script in the Akkadian language. Who was Gilgamesh, how Enkidu was created, what adventure happened to Gilgamesh and Enkidu who became friends, how the king of Uruk lost the flower of his youth, why the hero did not achieve immortality - everything will be discussed in the program.