BBC NEWS

The Epic Of Gilgamesh – written by a Middle Eastern scholar 2,500 years before the birth of Christ – commemorated the life of the ruler of the city of Uruk, from which Iraq gets its name.

Now, a German-led expedition has discovered what is thought to be the entire city of Uruk – including, where the Euphrates once flowed, the last resting place of its famous King.

“I don’t want to say definitely it was the grave of King Gilgamesh, but it looks very similar to that described in the epic,” Jorg Fassbinder, of the Bavarian department of Historical Monuments in Munich, told the BBC World Service’s Science in Action programme.