Epic of Gilgamesh Podcast
1) Introduction to the Text
A brief introduction to the Epic: its origin and significance to our lives. *** Image is of the famed eleventh tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh, in which the tale of the Flood is related. Now hous...Show More
2) Prologue
Preamble to the adventures, introducing Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, and alluding to the goddess Ishtar whose presence is preeminent among all divinity in this tale, and in whose temple are kept the table...Show More
3) Adventure of Enkidu
The Adventure of Enkidu continues tablet I of the Epic and finishes on tablet II. It is supplemented by Bablyonian material where the Akkadian text is damaged. Gilgamesh is a young king of Uruk, ar...Show More
4) Adventure of Forests of Cedar (Part 1)
The text of this episode is much damaged in both the Akkadian and the Babylonian series; rather than indicating the frequent gaps and ambiguities, the text is reconstructed from the best sources, incl...Show More
5) Adventure of Forests of Cedar (Part 2)
The conclusion of the adventure, the confron-tation with Humbaba. *** The image is a Sumerian clay model of the face of Humbaba, said to be the image of coiled intestines.
 Music excerpt is 
“Fant...Show More
6) Adventure of the Halub Tree
This is the heavily damaged twelfth tablet in the Gilgamesh Epic found in the royal library of Ninevah. It’s content is disconcerting to scholars as the final chapter to the Epic, because so ranked it...Show More
7) Adventure of Lugalbanda and the Anzud Bird
Lugalbanda, the ostensible father of Gilgamesh, whose statue stood in his bedroom, which he reverentially anointed with butter, and to which he addressed his private thoughts, appeared in important Su...Show More
8) 5,000 Year Old Proverbs
This is my favorite Sumerian artifact. A so-called “devotional statue,” it dates to 2600 B.C., representing what scholars believe is a married couple. This statue was found buried beneath the floor o...Show More
9) Adventure of the Bull of Heaven (Part 1)
The image is the “Queen of the Night,” a relief of Old Babylonian Empire (1800-1750 BC); it is now housed in the British Museum. This large plaque is made of baked straw-tempered clay, modeled in high...Show More
10) Adventure of the Bull of Heaven (Part 2)
A modern clay impression of a Neo-Assyrian cylinder seal, circa 7th century BCE. One of only five with this motif that have survived. Height: 3.9 cm. Diameter: 1.6 cm. Enkidu, on the left, wears a ...Show More