George Smith was a British Assyriologist. While working as a banknote engraver at a London printer, he taught himself cuneiform, and his talent was recognized, leading to work studying clay tablets at the British Museum.
In 1872 he discovered, among clay tablets excavated at Nineveh, a great flood story very similar to “Noah’s Ark” in the Old Testament, and his announcement shocked the world. It was part of the Epic of Gilgamesh. He went on excavation trips to the region afterward, but during his third expedition he fell ill near Aleppo, Syria, and died at just 36.
