GILGAMESH TABLET COULD BE GOING BACK HOME

Much like the epic hero himself, the ancient tablet recounting the adventures of Gilgamesh has seen its share of wilderness journeys.

The tablet, which bears fragments of one of the world's oldest works of literature, has passed through dealers in Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Britain and most recently the U.S.

But the 3,500-year-old artifact may be returning to its homeland in Iraq, after a U.S. federal court ruled that it must be surrendered.

U.S. officials say the tablet, which bears text from the Sumerian poem The Epic of Gilgamesh, was illegally brought to the U.S. before it was purchased by arts and crafts firm Hobby Lobby.

It was to be displayed at Hobby Lobby's Museum of the Bible, which has faced controversies over the legality of its collection.

But authorities have formally ordered the forfeiture of the tablet, raising hopes that it will at last be returned to Iraq, where it was uncovered in 1853. The tablet is believed to have been looted from Iraq in the early 1990s and was purchased by an American antiques dealer in London in 2003.