Archaeology Odyssey

See Zahi Hawass, “Who Really Built the Pyramids?” AO 02:02.

A longer version here adds: “Young lord, mightiest of the mighty, hero in battle, let me sing his song! [Expert] in wrestling and trials of strength, [hero in battle, let me sing his song!]”

For instance, in Tablet VI Gilgamesh rejects Ishtar’s marriage proposal, which would result in his deification. Gilgamesh recognizes that were he to marry the goddess, he would not be entering into a normal or even a sacred marriage; rather, he would be accepting the role of a deity in the netherworld. He would be taking on the identity of Ishtar’s prototypical consort Tammuz (Dumuzi). Gilgamesh is not yet prepared to give up his heroic quest, so he rejects Ishtar’s offer.

This same advice appears in the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes and, in the view of at least one scholar, can be traced back to this passage of the Gilgamesh epic (see “Did Ecclesiastes Copy Gilgamesh?” BR 16:01, by Karel van der Toorn).

In the Sumerian flood story, the role of Utnapishtim/Noah is played by Ziusudra; in the Old Babylonian version, by Atrahasis. In the Mesopotamian accounts, as in the Bible, a boat is built in anticipation of the flood, various species of animals enter the boat with the hero, birds are loosed to determine if the flood has subsided, and a sacrifice is offered when the birds do not return.

The opening lines of the epic, for example, were discovered in the British Museum’s collection only in late 1998 (see “Beneath the Watery Deep,” Field Notes, AO 02:03).

See Susan Heuck Allen, “Swimming the Hellespont,” Destinations, AO 02:01.