Gilgamesh's unusual divine ratio comes from his parents. His mother was the goddess Ninsun and his father was the mortal King Lugalbanda.

Terrified by his own mortality, Gilgamesh seeks out Utnapishtim, the only human granted immortality by the gods, to learn how to escape death.

Discovered on clay tablets in 1872, this Babylonian deluge myth predates Genesis and features a hero building a large boat to save animals.

After a serpent steals the magical rejuvenating plant Gilgamesh found, it immediately sheds its old skin, explaining why snakes molt.