Answer:
The Epic of Gilgamesh is significant because it’s one of the earliest examples of epic poetry and because of the insights it gives us into ancient Mesopotamian civilization.
It is a surprisingly humanistic work, centering on the bond of friendship between a flawed, impetuous, fallible king (Gilgamesh) and a wild man (Enkidu) in the first half of the tale, then concluding with the hero’s distressed and futile search for immortality after Enkidu’s death.
It was designed primarily to entertain, with ribald tales of sexual seduction, descriptions of dangerous quests, battles with a giant ogre and the “bull of heaven”, vivid depictions of the underworld, a journey to the ends of the earth to meet Gilgamesh’s immortal ancestor, and a story of the gods’ attempt to wipe out humanity with a massive flood. There are also hints that it was designed to impart wisdom through the negative example set by Gilgamesh and through consideration of the flood myth that affects his transformation from an impulsive, violent character to the mature and wise king described in the prologue and epilogue.
It is important to observe that fragments of the Gilgamesh epic have been found all over the ancient near east. It was one of the most popular texts in the ancient world, perhaps due partly to its use as a standard text for cuneiform scribes. Its influence can be detected in several books of the bible, including Genesis (Eden, the flood, the attempted seduction of Joseph by Potiphar’s wife), Ecclesiastes, Daniel, perhaps Judges and Kings (Samson, David and Jonathan), along with literary echoes and possible borrowing in extra-biblical texts like the Greek flood myth of Duecalion, Homer’s Odyssey, the Qumran Book of Giants, the Tale of Buluqiya and the legend of al-Khidr.