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Circa 2900 B.c. Gilgamesh, a Sumerian king, refused to die. Five hundred years before him Etana, king of Kish, sought to achieve Immortality by preserving his seed—his DNA— by having a son. (According to the Sumerian King Lists he was followed on the throne by "Balih, the son of Etana"; but whether this was a child by his official spouse or by a concubine, the records do not say). Five hundred years after Gilgamesh, Egyptian Pharaohs sought to achieve Immortality by joining the gods in an After- life. But to embark on the journey that would translate them to an Everlastingness, they had first to die. Gilgamesh sought to achieve Immortality by refusing to die . .. The result was an adventure-filled search for Immor- tality whose tale became one of the most famous epics of the ancient world, known to us primarily from an Akkadian recension written on twelve clay tablets. In the course of this search Gilgamesh—and with him the readers of the Epic of Gilgamesh—meet a robotic man, an artificial guardian, the Bull of Heaven, gods and goddesses, and the still-living hero of the Deluge. With Gilgamesh we arrive at the Landing Place and witness the launch of a rocketship, and go to the Spaceport in the forbidden region. With him we climb the Cedar Mountains, go under in a sinking boat, traverse a desert where lions roam, cross the Sea of Death, reach the Gates of Heaven. All along Divine Encounters dominate the saga, omens and dreams determine its course, visions fill its dra- matic stages. Indeed, as the Epic's opening lines state, 131 Heaven. IN SEARCH OF IMMORTALITY