> (it's also very weird they don't have their equivalent of Homer or Gilgamesh)
i'm not sure if this is the case or not but if it is lack of evidence may not be evidence of a lack! they may have done and it may have not been transmitted to us
If they had a "national epic" of sorts then you'd expect it referenced everywhere. The Iliad is not important b/c it just a story that happened to be preserved. It's a foundational piece of literature for the whole region and people are making allusions to it everywhere
There are for instance Greek plays that are of the form you imagine. Where they're important, referenced, and no surviving copies exist
i'm not sure if this is the case or not but if it is lack of evidence may not be evidence of a lack! they may have done and it may have not been transmitted to us