The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest works of fiction, written long before Homer's ‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey,’ the greatest literary masterpiece of the Ancient East, which for the first time describes the myth of the Great Flood. The reader is presented with the story of the glorious deeds of the demigod king-warrior Gilgamesh (whose image is based on a real historical figure, Bilgames, the king of the city of Uruk), and his initial rival, and later friend and blood brother, Enkidu. It tells of their campaign against Humbaba, the monster ruler of the mountains of Lebanon, and Gilgamesh's journeys to the land of the dead to the mistress of the gods Siduri and the ancestor Utnapishtim in search of the flower of immortality. In this edition, the Epic is published in a restored translation by I. Dyakonov with detailed notes.