Friday
Oct022015
Epic of Gilgamesh
Friday, October 2, 2015 at 9:53AM 
The Epic of Gilgamesh, the magnificent Sumerian poem dating back to 2100 BCE, is now 20 lines longer. A clay tablet dating back to the neo-Bablylonian period (2000-1500 BCE) has recently been discovered in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The tablet adds new verses to the story of how Gilgamesh and Enkidu slew the forest demigod Humbaba. This is huge. Read the original paper describing the find, which includes the entire text of the tablet both transliterated and translated into English, here. The Epic of Gilgamesh is often regarded as the first great work of literature.