The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.23 (952 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0805087257 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 315 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-01-25 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
After Nineveh was sacked in 612 B.C., the Gilgamesh epic was forgotten for more than 2,000 years until archeologists Austen Henry Layard and Hormuzd Rassam uncovered the library and shipped 100,000 clay tablets and fragments to the British Museum in the 1840s and '50s. . (Mar.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. Several copies of a largely complete version of the 4,000-year-old poem, which follows Gilgamesh on a heroic quest for immortality as he seeks out a survivor of a major deluge, were part of the great library assembled at the palace of Nineveh by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, who ruled from 669 B.C
But in 600 BCE, the clay tablets that bore the story were lost to the world, buried beneath ashes and ruins.David Damrosch begins with the rediscovery of the epic in 1872 and from there goes backward in time, all the way to Gilgamesh himself. The Buried Book is an illuminating tale of history as it was written, stolen, lost, andafter 2,000 years and countless battles, conspiracies, and revelationsfinally found.. Adventurers, explorers, kings, gods, and goddesses come to life in this "useful, entertaining and informative" story of the first great epic (The Washington Post)Composed in Middle Babylonia around 1200 BCE, The Epic of Gilgamesh foreshadowed later stories that would become as fundamental as any in human history: The Odyssey and the Bible
"Good as Literature, Not History" according to H. Cornetto. The book itself is a good read. It is readable, enjoyable, and I dare say many can learn from it. It includes facts and events that are presented without being boorish or dry. Despite this, the book should not be relied upon as a historic account because the author presents his own biases and opinions mixed in with . Several engrossing stories D. E WARD I bought this book in order to read the story of George Smith, the young genius who assembled and translated Tablet XI of the Gilgamesh Epic but then, sadly, died just as his promising scholarly career was really taking off.Along with it, I got several more great stories, including:1) the story of Hormuzd Rassam, th. "Floods, fantasies, and fables in clay" according to Stephen A. Haines. In the mid-19th Century, the fragile condition of the Ottoman Empire left its borders more open to intrusion by Christian visitors. Originally intending to simply visit the "Holy Land", the influx included people who wanted to know more about the various peoples living in Biblical times. Their quests led them to the