Tagged: Gilgamesh

Akkadian Dogs

Our first-year students are beginning with the beginning in this first week of the Fall 2020 semester, by reading the oldest book we have written copies of — the Epic of Gilgamesh. In keeping with the Mesopotamian moment, let us share these marvelous little clay dog figurines from the 7th century BCE. We spotted this […]

Core Authors in the News!

Some content for your viewing pleasure… Are you exhausted by the prospect of reading another new translation or adaptation? Are you looking for a new way to experience the story of your favorite hero? Perhaps you should go back to basics and experience a classic text the classic way!This articlediscusses the impact of hearing the […]

And So It Begins…

At the start of every new year in the Core Curriculum, we like to begin at the very beginning, with the Epic of Gilgamesh. And while it technically remains the same story from year to year, we’re always delighted to watch how different students and professors bring their own views and interpretations to the text. […]

From The New York Times: Editorial Contest Winner

The winner of the New York Times’ Third Annual Student Editorial Contest has been honored with the publication of her essay, “The Resurrection of Gilgamesh.” The author, Annie Cohen, thinks of Gilgamesh when she finds herself drowned in a sea of teenagers absorbed into flashing gadgets. Like Gilgamesh, they are too absorbed into themselves:suffering from […]

“That’s Gilgamesh’d Up”: Recreating the Music of Ancient Sumer

We know what you’re thinking. Gilgamesh… sung? No, it’s not the newest historical musical, hoping to capitalize on the hysteria for history-themed performances catalyzed by Hamilton. We’re talked here aboutthe opening lines of the Epic of Gilgamesh performed by musician Peter Pringle. The piece is not only played on a Sumerian lute called a “gish-gu-di” […]

The Graduate Student Classics Department Conference

Alright guys, it’s time to get excited about death. Now death is a natural part of life, a part that can overcome even the greatest but can leave the weakest stronger than ever imagined. Gilgamesh taught us that if nothing else. But for those of us who didn’t learn enough from our discussion section, have no […]

The Assyrian Dictionary: Completed After 90 Years

Pertaining to CC101’s study of Gilgamesh and ancient Mesopotamia, is this article on the completed Assyrian tongue. As a dead language that has not been spoken for two millennia, the project was started in 1921 and took 90 years to complete. Dr. Irving Finkel, a contributor to the project, describes it as “a heroic and […]

Interview: Stuart Kendall On His New Gilgamesh Translation

  Relating to CC101’s study of the Epic of Gilgamesh is an interview by Biblioklept with Stuart Kendall, a former Core professor whose latest translation is a telling of Gilgamesh that casts the ancient epic poem in modernist poetry. Here is a sample from the interview: Biblioklept: Why Gilgamesh? Stuart Kendall: Gilgamesh is the oldest extended tale that […]

Analects of the Core: Ferry on storms

In view of the coming storm tomorrow, the Core would like to remind everyone to remain calm and intellectual. To aid this process, here is a sample from David Ferry’s Epic of Gilgamesh (studied in CC101), on the relevant topic of storms: “In the early hours of the next morning dawning there was the noise of […]

Gilgamesh and David Ferry

In his recent work Gilgamesh: An Epic Obsession (http://bit.ly/TDl2BN), Theodore Ziolkowski takes a look at the ways in which the epic has manifested into our literature, art, music, and popular culture. The students of CC101 experienced this through David Ferry, whose translation of Gilgamesh they read this semester. David Ferry has also written: Bewilderment  (http://bit.ly/RwrwnD), which […]