Epic of Gilgamesh, lecture, Andrew George

The Epic of Gilgamesh

(Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, 1/30/17) Professor of Babylonian Andrew George, 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 to 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, Prof. George, author of a prize-winning translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh, explores four themes related to this Babylonian masterpiece:

1. the archaeology of the poem’s recovery,
2. the reconstruction of its text,
3. the story it tells, and
4. 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.