Gilgamesh and Sumeria has been starting to catch my attention for a while now. They are the oldest civilisation of them all and there is something ultimately fascinating about that. A chap called Peter Pringle attempted something of a spiritual adaption of the first few lines, done in a (hopefully) historically authentic way.
I find it beautifully ironic that although Gilgamesh's quest for immortality failed, his legend is still told thousands of years later. Long after Uruk had crumbled into the desert and Sumer became only a memory, he lives on.