Archaeology Odyssey takes the reader on a journey through the classical world as seen through the eyes of the top archaeologists in the discipline. Written with you in mind, the experts explain the latest in classical research in a way that is accessible to the general public. Read the complete series today!
In the Old Babylonian version of the Gilgamesh epic (18th century B.C.E.), Gilgamesh pursues valor and glory. He is larger than life, of heroic proportions:
Surpassing all other kings, heroic in stature,
brave scion of Uruk, wild bull on the rampage!
Going at the fore he was the vanguard,
going at the rear, one his comrades could trust!
A Semitic-speaking people who established a kingdom in the mountains of southwestern Jordan in the ninth century B.C. In the Bible, the Edomites are descendants of Esau; they often appear as the enemies of the Israelites. After the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B.C., Edomites settled in the Judean hill country. Their descendants are called the Idumeans.
“I hired a guide at Eldjy, to conduct me to Haroun’s [Aaron’s] tomb, and paid him with a pair of old horse-shoes …
