Gilgamesh and the Search for Living Forever
Classical Stories · No. 47 — A king walks to the end of the world to argue with death.
- Classical Stories
- 44 min
- Ages 8–13
- 6 chapters
About this audiobook
Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, is shattered by the death of his friend Enkidu and terrified that the same fate waits for him. Refusing to accept it, he journeys to the ends of the earth to find Utnapishtim, the one man granted immortality after surviving a great flood. The road is brutal — scorpion-guarded mountains, the sun's dark tunnel, the ferry across the waters of death. When he finally arrives, Utnapishtim tells him the hard truth: death is the lot of humankind. He offers Gilgamesh one chance at a plant of youth from the sea-bottom — which a serpent snatches away the moment the king sets it down. Gilgamesh goes home empty-handed, and wiser: the walls he built, the life he has, are the only immortality a person gets.
Why it's worth a listen
After losing his dearest friend, the king of Uruk cannot accept that he too must die — so he sets out to find the one man who ever escaped death and learn his secret. He crosses mountains, the waters of death, and a garden of jewels, only to discover the answer is smaller, stranger, and truer than he hoped. The sequel to the world's oldest story, and its wisest chapter.
A question to keep
If you cannot live forever, how should you live at all?
Chapters
- The King in the Wild
- The Sun's Dark Path
- The House at the Edge of the World
- The Silent Shore
- Bread and the Deep Waters
- A Question to Keep