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The Epic of Gilgamesh, Lecture by Andrew George

Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East
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Andrew George, Professor of Babylonian, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London The Epic of Gilgamesh is a 4,000-year-old Mesopotamian poem about a hero who embarks on an arduous quest to find the secret of immortality. Preserved on clay tablets in cuneiform script, it is generally considered to be the earliest great work of literature to survive from the ancient world. In this illustrated lecture, Andrew George, author of a prize-winning translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh, explores four themes related to this Babylonian masterpiece: the archaeology of the poem’s recovery, the reconstruction of its text, the story it tells, and its messages about life and death. Presented in collaboration with the Departments of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations and Comparative Literature, with the support of the Provostial Fund for the Arts and Humanities, Harvard University ...more
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Five ways to approach Gilgamesh

6:22

Tablets I-II: Coming of Enkidu

6:55

Tablets II-V: Expedition to Cedar Forest

10:05

Tablet VI: Ishtar and the Bull of Heaven

10:50

Tablets VII-VIII: Death & funeral of Enkidu

13:35

Tablets IX-XI: Quest for immortality+ Flood story

15:36

Nineveh in the 19th century

20:25

Nineveh in the 20th century

21:42

A H Layard's excavations 1847-51

22:21

Inside Sennacherib's palace

22:53

Library of King Ashurbanipal (669-627 BC)

24:13

"Izdubar" at the British Museum

25:30

The Deluge Tablet and a deluge of tablets

26:54

The 21st century

29:28

Now 226 sources, and rising Ancient epic yields a new chapter

31:50

Excavating tablets

33:51

Recovering text from 2 MSS

34:53

Gilgamesh XI 101-6

36:45

The seduction of Enkidu: Babylonian

40:32

At the end of the world

44:12

Tablet I 18-28

47:53

Prologue, end

49:49

The wisdom of Utanapishti: Death Tablet X 301-7

52:48

The wisdom of Utanapishti: the Mayfly Tablet X 308-15

54:22

The wisdom of Utanapishti: Destiny Tablet X 316-22

56:03

The end of the poem

57:13

Uruk's expanse = sum of human life

59:38
The Epic of Gilgamesh, Lecture by Andrew George
25KLikes
2,566,006Views
2017Jan 30
Andrew George, Professor of Babylonian, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London The Epic of Gilgamesh is a 4,000-year-old Mesopotamian poem about a hero who embarks on an arduous quest to find the secret of immortality. Preserved on clay tablets in cuneiform script, it is generally considered to be the earliest great work of literature to survive from the ancient world. In this illustrated lecture, Andrew George, author of a prize-winning translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh, explores four themes related to this Babylonian masterpiece: the archaeology of the poem’s recovery, the reconstruction of its text, the story it tells, and its messages about life and death. Presented in collaboration with the Departments of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations and Comparative Literature, with the support of the Provostial Fund for the Arts and Humanities, Harvard University

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Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East

37.3K subscribers