Epic of Gilgamesh
The "Epic of Gilgamesh" was discovered by Austen Henry Layard, Hormuzd Rassam, and W. K. Loftus in 1853. The central character of Gilgamesh was initially reintroduced to the world as ""Izdubar"", before the cuneiform logographs in his name could be pronounced accurately. The first modern translation was published in the early 1870s by George Smith. Smith then made further discoveries of texts on his later expeditions, which culminated in his final translation which is given in his book "The Chaldaean Account of Genesis" (1880).
Jules-Justin Sauveplane
Jules-Justin Sauveplane studied at the École des langues orientales and the École pratique des Hautes Études. A specialist of Biblical studies and of the ancient East, he published one of the first French translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh ("Une épopée babylonienne", 1893), in the "Revue des Religions". He later supported his thesis on this topic ("Sur l'épopée babylonienne de Gilgamès"), under the direction of Joseph Halévy, in front of a jury including Gaston Maspero and Jules Oppert on 2 July 1894.