Bibliograph

The buried book, the loss and rediscovery of the great Epic of Gilgamesh, David Damrosch

Type

Label

The buried book, the loss and rediscovery of the great Epic of Gilgamesh, David Damrosch

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-293) and index

Illustrations

mapsillustrations

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

The buried book

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

70230776

Responsibility statement

David Damrosch

Sub title

the loss and rediscovery of the great Epic of Gilgamesh

Summary

Composed by a poet and priest 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. But in 600 BCE, the clay tablets that bore the story were lost--buried beneath ashes and ruins when the library of King Ashurbanipal was sacked in a raid. This book begins with the rediscovery of the epic and its decipherment in 1872 by George Smith, a brilliant self-taught linguist, who created a sensation when he discovered Gilgamesh among thousands of undistinguished tablets in the British Museum. From there the story goes backward in time, all the way to Gilgamesh himself.--From publisher description

Table Of Contents

The broken tablets -- Early fame and sudden death -- The lost library -- The fortress and the museum -- After Ashurbanipal, the deluge -- At the limits of culture -- The vanishing point

Classification