Description
The last three tablets-----number nine, ten and eleven----from the Royal Library of Nineveh comprise the conclusion of the Epic, beginning with the wanderings of Gilgamesh, his passage through the mountain Mashu, through which the sun passes making day and night. He arrives at last to the sea on the edge of the world where he meets Siduri, the Alewife, who keeps a tavern for travelers, and she directs him to the boatman who must take him to Ut-napishtim, the one man who not yet died.
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The image, a clay impression
from an ancient Sumerian cylinder,
is of sun god Shamash,
bestriding the cleft
of the mountain Mashu, featured
between the twin pillars
which hold up the sky.
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Music excerpt is “Kish” from the album
The Forest by David Byrne
A brief introduction to the Epic: its origin and significance to our lives.
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Image is of the famed eleventh tablet
of the Epic of Gilgamesh,
in which the tale of the Flood is related.
Now housed in the British Museum,
it was found in the pillaged remains
of the royal library of the...
Published 07/21/11
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 tablets which are to be read to tell this tale.
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Image is an Akkadian representation of Gilgamesh...
Published 07/21/11