Posted on 10/05/2015 7:25:47 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A serendipitous deal between a history museum and a smuggler has provided new insight into one of the most famous stories ever told: "The Epic of Gilgamesh."
The new finding, a clay tablet, reveals a previously unknown "chapter" of the epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia. This new section brings both noise and color to a forest for the gods that was thought to be a quiet place in the work of literature. The newfound verse also reveals details about the inner conflict the poem's heroes endured.
In 2011, the Sulaymaniyah Museum in Slemani, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, purchased a set of 80 to 90 clay tablets from a known smuggler. The museum has been engaging in these backroom dealings as a way to regain valuable artifacts that disappeared from Iraqi historical sites and museums since the start of the American-led invasion of that country, according to the online nonprofit publication Ancient History Et Cetera.
Among the various tablets purchased, one stood out to Farouk Al-Rawi, a professor in the Department of Languages and Cultures of the Near and Middle East at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London. The large block of clay, etched with cuneiform writing, was still caked in mud when Al-Rawi advised the Sulaymaniyah Museum to purchase artifact for the agreed upon $800.
With the help of Andrew George, associate dean of languages and culture at SOAS and translator of "The Epic of Gilgamesh: A New Translation" (Penguin Classics, 2000), Al-Rawi translated the tablet in just five days. The clay artifact could date as far back to the old-Babylonian period (2003-1595 B.C.), according to the Sulaymaniyah Museum. However, Al-Rawi and George said they believe it's a bit younger and was inscribed in the neo-Babylonian period (626-539 B.C.)...(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
That line of Enkidu’s, “The planet is having a fever!” seems particularly suspect...
:’D
Thanks! Will ping later.
You can skip to page 77 without missing anything: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/18512/1/jcunestud.66.0069_w-footer.pdf
Perhaps it is the reverse.
Just as Tablet Six may have at least to some extent inspired The Walking Dead [Gilgamesh romantically rejects the goddess Ishtar, who threatens to raise the dead until they outnumber the living and devour their brains], perhaps Al Gore got a sneak peak at the new tablet and said, “this will get me a Nobel Prize in literature or somewhere if I use it to argue for bigger government”.
It made me think they did more that chop down a single tree. It sounded like they tore down the entire forest...which metaphorically, would be akin to blowing up a big piece of land. And the landlord was gonna be angry about THAT.
Nice! :)
Sorry for hijacking their thread!
One of the most creative Star Trek stories. Something you’ll never see in nuTrek.
Temba, at rest.
Thanks To Hell With Poverty and Fiddlstix.
Humblegunner and Shibumi at Lake Conroe
Bud Light and Meatballs, Sriracha Unbottled.
Healthy forests are seldom quiet. Sixty-five years ago I used to like to sit in the woods and listen to the noises. It seems a lot quieter these days except in cicada season.
Is he by any chance related to Henry Waxman?
Sokath.
With his nostrilitis flaring.
Bad camera angle.
Don’t be racist.
"Nikto, Klaatu Barada."
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