Storytelling and the hunger for stories is probably as old as humanity, but what is the oldest story in history? Well, the story preserved in the first writing is the Epic of Gilgamesh, which dates back to the 22nd century BC, was written in the Akkadian language and includes stories about the Sumerian king Gilgamesh. Stories recorded on clay tablets in cuneiform abound in mythical figures and adventures. The content of the story preserved in several ancient languages has been expanded over time, thanks to the different language versions, so for example the flood story was included about 700 years after the original text, more than a millennium before the biblical flood story.