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The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh
Adventurers, explorers, kings, gods, and goddesses come to life in this riveting story of the first great epic--lost to the world for 2,000 years, and rediscovered in the nineteenth century
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 the wild king Ashurbanipal was sacked in a raid.
The Buried Book begins with the rediscovery of the epic and its deciphering in 1872 by George Smith, a brilliant self-taught linguist who created a sensation when he discovered Gilgamesh among the thousands of tablets in the British Museum's collection. From there the story goes backward in time, all the way to Gilgamesh himself. Damrosch reveals the story as a literary bridge between East and a document lost in Babylonia, discovered by an Iraqi, decoded by an Englishman, and appropriated in novels by both Philip Roth and Saddam Hussein. This is an illuminating, fast-paced tale of history as it was written, stolen, lost, and--after 2,000 years, countless battles, fevered digs, conspiracies, and revelations--finally found.
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 the wild king Ashurbanipal was sacked in a raid.
The Buried Book begins with the rediscovery of the epic and its deciphering in 1872 by George Smith, a brilliant self-taught linguist who created a sensation when he discovered Gilgamesh among the thousands of tablets in the British Museum's collection. From there the story goes backward in time, all the way to Gilgamesh himself. Damrosch reveals the story as a literary bridge between East and a document lost in Babylonia, discovered by an Iraqi, decoded by an Englishman, and appropriated in novels by both Philip Roth and Saddam Hussein. This is an illuminating, fast-paced tale of history as it was written, stolen, lost, and--after 2,000 years, countless battles, fevered digs, conspiracies, and revelations--finally found.
315 pages, Hardcover
First published March 6, 2007
About the author
David Damrosch
145 books98 followersA past president of the American Comparative Literature Association, David Damrosch has written widely on comparative and world literature from antiquity to the present. His books include The Narrative Covenant: Transformations of Genre in the Growth of Biblical Literature (1987), We Scholars: Changing the Culture of the University (1995), What Is World Literature? (2003), The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh (2007), and How to Read World Literature (2008). He is the founding general editor of the six-volume Longman Anthology of World Literature (2004) and the editor of Teaching World Literature (2009) and co-editor of The Princeton Sourcebook in Comparative Literature (2009), The Routledge Companion to World Literature (2011), and Xin fangxiang: bijiao wenxue yu shijie wenxue duben [New Directions: A Reader of Comparative and World Literature], Peking U. P., 2010. He is presently completing a book entitled Comparing the Literatures: What Every Comparatist Needs to Know, and starting a book on the role of global scripts in the formation of national literatures.
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September 9, 2013
This book is a collection of stories, essays and mini-biographies. The mini-biographies focus on two Nineteenth Century archaeologists, George Smith and Hormuzd Rassam, both employees of the British Museum working to uncover relics of ancient Babylon in what is now Iraq. Their work leads to the collection and translation of thousands of clay tablets in cuneiform script, some of which contained a more complete version of the epic of Gilgamesh than previously available. The translation of the more complete epic by Smith in the 1870's causes a sensation because of its stories of the Great Flood and the Creation and analogies to, and discrepancies from, the Bible.
There is a story of Rassam's law suit for defamation against another Museum administrator. There is the fantastic (in the true meaning of the word) story of the 1868 British army expedition to rescue Rassam after he is held hostage with other Brits in the Kingdom of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia). From the tablets, we are also given a summary of life in the royal courts in the earliest urban civilization in human history (around 2500 BCE) and a short plot summary of the book itself, Gilgamesh. The last chapter of the book is a rambling discourse on the influence of Gilgamesh on modern authors ranging from Phillip Roth to Saddam Hussein. (Yes, he was an "author!")
This book needs editing badly. Let me rephrase that: it's already very badly edited and in need of reorganization and good editing. That is why I refer to it as a collection. Still, if you don't mind a book served in pieces, it's a fascinating collection of stories.
There is a story of Rassam's law suit for defamation against another Museum administrator. There is the fantastic (in the true meaning of the word) story of the 1868 British army expedition to rescue Rassam after he is held hostage with other Brits in the Kingdom of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia). From the tablets, we are also given a summary of life in the royal courts in the earliest urban civilization in human history (around 2500 BCE) and a short plot summary of the book itself, Gilgamesh. The last chapter of the book is a rambling discourse on the influence of Gilgamesh on modern authors ranging from Phillip Roth to Saddam Hussein. (Yes, he was an "author!")
This book needs editing badly. Let me rephrase that: it's already very badly edited and in need of reorganization and good editing. That is why I refer to it as a collection. Still, if you don't mind a book served in pieces, it's a fascinating collection of stories.
December 27, 2016
The Epic of Gilgamesh is some of the oldest literature we have access to, so you’d be forgiven for imagining it must have had a huge influence on subsequent mythology. The truth is, it was only rediscovered relatively recently, via archaeology, decipherment and a fair amount of politics. And of course, money. David Damrosch’s book discusses both the epic itself, its themes and context, and the archaeological and political process of bringing it back to light.
Despite the fact that it’s talking about archaeology, political manoeuvring and the long process of decipherment, The Buried Book manages to be entertaining and even gripping. I was certainly hooked, anyway. Damrosch does a great job of making it accessible and interesting, and pulling out facts that are both pertinent and interesting. You’ll learn a fair amount about Mesopotamia from this, not a little about British archaeology and the process of deciphering an ancient language, some interesting titbits about various personalities you’d never heard of before… and of course, about the epic itself — which is well worth reading.
In fact, if you’re thinking about reading The Epic of Gilgamesh, I’d recommend reading something like this first. Get some context on where it came from, where its been, and how people are still using and relating to the story told now. Then grab a translation and settle in.
Originally reviewed here.
Despite the fact that it’s talking about archaeology, political manoeuvring and the long process of decipherment, The Buried Book manages to be entertaining and even gripping. I was certainly hooked, anyway. Damrosch does a great job of making it accessible and interesting, and pulling out facts that are both pertinent and interesting. You’ll learn a fair amount about Mesopotamia from this, not a little about British archaeology and the process of deciphering an ancient language, some interesting titbits about various personalities you’d never heard of before… and of course, about the epic itself — which is well worth reading.
In fact, if you’re thinking about reading The Epic of Gilgamesh, I’d recommend reading something like this first. Get some context on where it came from, where its been, and how people are still using and relating to the story told now. Then grab a translation and settle in.
Originally reviewed here.
August 27, 2013
See the tablet-box of cedar,
release its clasp of bronze!
Lift the lid of its secret,
pick up the tablet of lapis lazuli and read out
the travails of Gilgamesh, all that he went through.*
So begins the epic that Steven Moore "would love to claim as the world's first novel" – the cornerstone of world literature that no one knew anything about until November 1872 when George Smith, a working-class scholar, an engraver who had taught himself to read Akkadian cuneiform, discovered an ancient version of the Genesis flood narrative on some broken tablets in the British Museum. As Smith’s Victorian colleague later described the moment:
I bought this book when it appeared in 2007 then buried it in the book closet. I excavated it a couple weeks ago when I began re-reading my copies of Gilgamesh. It’s an appealing edition – the typography and engravings have a deliberately Victorian look about them (unfortunately the reproductions are as muddy as a clay tablet). Damrosch begins with the epiphany in Bloomsbury, then tells his history in reverse, redeeming the reputation of Hormuzd Rassam who had discovered, by stealth, the tablets decoded by Smith; then shifts back to 650 BCE and the Assyrian palace of Ashurbanipal – which, thanks to its catastrophic collapse at the hands of vengeful Babylonians, preserved the tablets unearthed by Rassam. And from there it’s down into the abyss of time, to the Sumerians who originally told the first stories about the god-king of Uruk.
Ironies abound. “Sudden destruction is disastrous for the people who suffer it, but it can be a godsend for archeologists: no neighborhood of ancient Rome has been preserved with the perfection of Pompeii.” Damrosch also outlines the bedevilled history of our cultural inheritance. The remnants of Babylon were more or less stolen from the Ottoman empire, which considered them worthless bits of junk. The spectacular sculptures unearthed by the Brits and the French were rescued from the inhabitants, Arab Muslims suspicious of imagery who simply destroyed them. The US invasion of Iraq sped up the process: the sacking of museums and the National Library that the invaders did nothing to prevent; “the wholesale looting and destruction of sites underway today – bulldozers dig indiscriminately into mounds, and large reliefs are hacked into pieces for easy removal and piecemeal sale.” In the haunted words of Walter Benjamin, “There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism. And just as such a document is not free of barbarism, barbarism taints also the manner in which it was transmitted from one owner to another.”
Grim theses aside – Damrosch comes not to bury but to praise. The writing is lucid, illuminating, and entertaining; and there are some surprising moments. Who knew Saddam Hussein as the author of the steamy romance novel Zubibah and the King? Or of King Shulgi of Ur (2094-47 BCE), “the world’s first great patron of literature”? Or that when Mesopotamians descended at death to the House of Dust, they would see emaciated, naked sheep escaping as they entered, as they sought out the judgment of Gilgamesh himself – “the man most famous in history for his hatred of death, his longing for life, and his love of fellowship and beauty…”
_________________
* Translation from the superb edition by Andrew George.
release its clasp of bronze!
Lift the lid of its secret,
pick up the tablet of lapis lazuli and read out
the travails of Gilgamesh, all that he went through.*
So begins the epic that Steven Moore "would love to claim as the world's first novel" – the cornerstone of world literature that no one knew anything about until November 1872 when George Smith, a working-class scholar, an engraver who had taught himself to read Akkadian cuneiform, discovered an ancient version of the Genesis flood narrative on some broken tablets in the British Museum. As Smith’s Victorian colleague later described the moment:
when he saw that [the tablet] contained the portion of the legend he had hoped to find there, he said, “I am the first man to read that after more than two thousand years of oblivion.” Setting the tablet on the table, he jumped up and rushed about the room in a great state of excitement, and, to the astonishment of those present, began to undress himself!David Damrosch rediscovers not only the unfortunate (“early fame and sudden death”) George Smith but a slandered scholar and a motley of Mesopotamian kings and tyrants, including one infamous dictator/novelist.
I bought this book when it appeared in 2007 then buried it in the book closet. I excavated it a couple weeks ago when I began re-reading my copies of Gilgamesh. It’s an appealing edition – the typography and engravings have a deliberately Victorian look about them (unfortunately the reproductions are as muddy as a clay tablet). Damrosch begins with the epiphany in Bloomsbury, then tells his history in reverse, redeeming the reputation of Hormuzd Rassam who had discovered, by stealth, the tablets decoded by Smith; then shifts back to 650 BCE and the Assyrian palace of Ashurbanipal – which, thanks to its catastrophic collapse at the hands of vengeful Babylonians, preserved the tablets unearthed by Rassam. And from there it’s down into the abyss of time, to the Sumerians who originally told the first stories about the god-king of Uruk.
Ironies abound. “Sudden destruction is disastrous for the people who suffer it, but it can be a godsend for archeologists: no neighborhood of ancient Rome has been preserved with the perfection of Pompeii.” Damrosch also outlines the bedevilled history of our cultural inheritance. The remnants of Babylon were more or less stolen from the Ottoman empire, which considered them worthless bits of junk. The spectacular sculptures unearthed by the Brits and the French were rescued from the inhabitants, Arab Muslims suspicious of imagery who simply destroyed them. The US invasion of Iraq sped up the process: the sacking of museums and the National Library that the invaders did nothing to prevent; “the wholesale looting and destruction of sites underway today – bulldozers dig indiscriminately into mounds, and large reliefs are hacked into pieces for easy removal and piecemeal sale.” In the haunted words of Walter Benjamin, “There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism. And just as such a document is not free of barbarism, barbarism taints also the manner in which it was transmitted from one owner to another.”
Grim theses aside – Damrosch comes not to bury but to praise. The writing is lucid, illuminating, and entertaining; and there are some surprising moments. Who knew Saddam Hussein as the author of the steamy romance novel Zubibah and the King? Or of King Shulgi of Ur (2094-47 BCE), “the world’s first great patron of literature”? Or that when Mesopotamians descended at death to the House of Dust, they would see emaciated, naked sheep escaping as they entered, as they sought out the judgment of Gilgamesh himself – “the man most famous in history for his hatred of death, his longing for life, and his love of fellowship and beauty…”
_________________
* Translation from the superb edition by Andrew George.
September 13, 2020
Wonderful work by a Columbia professor (at the time of publication of the book) of English and comparative literature.
The book takes us through the history of the recent discovery of the epic of Gilgamesh (the very first written epic that we have knowledge of, about 4,000 years old) by some archeologists and British experts who worked at the British Museum - in particular, the brilliant George Smith - and then, in the second part, it outlines the content of the Gilgamesh epic and its importance in the history of literature.
The history of the archeological discoveries and how they related to the British museum’s politics is a dramatic story in itself, taking place about 150 years ago in London and in the Middle East.
As for the story of Gilgamesh, fictional although based on reality, I found it fascinating to understand how many passages of the Iliad and of the Bible (especially Genesis) have their direct and undeniable roots in this ancient epic.
Moreover, as a die-hard fan of Dante’s Comedy, given the descent into the Underworld narrated in the epic of Gilgamesh, I was struck by the realization that:
No Gilgamesh — no Iliad.
No Iliad — no Aeneid.
And no Aeneid — no Divine Comedy.
Everything is connected. Everything.
——
p.s. the great Robert Silverberg wrote a modern novelization of the epic of Gilgamesh. With this basic background information, I’m now going to read that book with a better understanding of its cultural relevance.
The book takes us through the history of the recent discovery of the epic of Gilgamesh (the very first written epic that we have knowledge of, about 4,000 years old) by some archeologists and British experts who worked at the British Museum - in particular, the brilliant George Smith - and then, in the second part, it outlines the content of the Gilgamesh epic and its importance in the history of literature.
The history of the archeological discoveries and how they related to the British museum’s politics is a dramatic story in itself, taking place about 150 years ago in London and in the Middle East.
As for the story of Gilgamesh, fictional although based on reality, I found it fascinating to understand how many passages of the Iliad and of the Bible (especially Genesis) have their direct and undeniable roots in this ancient epic.
Moreover, as a die-hard fan of Dante’s Comedy, given the descent into the Underworld narrated in the epic of Gilgamesh, I was struck by the realization that:
No Gilgamesh — no Iliad.
No Iliad — no Aeneid.
And no Aeneid — no Divine Comedy.
Everything is connected. Everything.
——
p.s. the great Robert Silverberg wrote a modern novelization of the epic of Gilgamesh. With this basic background information, I’m now going to read that book with a better understanding of its cultural relevance.
May 18, 2022
At four thousand years old, The Epic of Gilgamesh predates both The Bible and The Iliad, and its direct influence can be found in both of those works. Yet we remained completely ignorant of this hugely influential urtext of World Literature until well into the 19th century. The Buried Book is the story of how that happened. It is written for a general audience, and reads more like a collection of interesting stories rather than a rigorous, scholarly tome. Telling its story backwards, it starts with the epic’s rediscovery before examining how it was lost.
The opening chapters focus on the two men most responsible for the rediscovery of the Gilgamesh Epic - George Smith, who translated it and introduced it to the public, and Hormuzd Rassam, who unearthed the ancient library of Ashurbanipal where the original clay tablets lay buried. Both were irregular for their time. Their personal stories are as fascinating as the work they are famous for.
Smith was a brilliant young man from the working class who miraculously managed to breach the snobbish enclave of gentleman scholars at the British Museum. His translation of the Gilgamesh Epic focused on the story of the deluge within it, which in turn captured the imagination of the public because of its relation to the Biblical Flood narrative.
Rassam was unique for his time. He was a native of the city of Mosul in the Ottoman Empire (modern day Iraq), and as such, the only archeologists native to the region where he was working in a field dominated by European gentleman hobbyists. It was his clandestine, moonlit excavations that initially unearthed the forgotten Palace of Ashurbanipal and it’s great library containing the lost epic.
Working backwards, the book next examines the history of Ashurbanipal, and how the history of his father’s and grandfather’s rule may have influenced his creation of his great library and his collection of so many copies of the Gilgamesh Epic. It relates the catastrophe of the sack of Ninevah that destroyed the great library, ironically preserving the clay tablets of the epic that otherwise might have deteriorated and been permanently lost.
The book’s final chapters give a lively and interesting summation of the story within the Gilgamesh Epic. It includes information on possible creators and compilers of the epic, and points out themes within the story that influenced and reappear in The Iliad and The Bible.
The Buried Book reads fast and easy. It tells interesting stories that add layers of context to this great granddaddy of World Epics. It’s definitely worth your time.
The opening chapters focus on the two men most responsible for the rediscovery of the Gilgamesh Epic - George Smith, who translated it and introduced it to the public, and Hormuzd Rassam, who unearthed the ancient library of Ashurbanipal where the original clay tablets lay buried. Both were irregular for their time. Their personal stories are as fascinating as the work they are famous for.
Smith was a brilliant young man from the working class who miraculously managed to breach the snobbish enclave of gentleman scholars at the British Museum. His translation of the Gilgamesh Epic focused on the story of the deluge within it, which in turn captured the imagination of the public because of its relation to the Biblical Flood narrative.
Rassam was unique for his time. He was a native of the city of Mosul in the Ottoman Empire (modern day Iraq), and as such, the only archeologists native to the region where he was working in a field dominated by European gentleman hobbyists. It was his clandestine, moonlit excavations that initially unearthed the forgotten Palace of Ashurbanipal and it’s great library containing the lost epic.
Working backwards, the book next examines the history of Ashurbanipal, and how the history of his father’s and grandfather’s rule may have influenced his creation of his great library and his collection of so many copies of the Gilgamesh Epic. It relates the catastrophe of the sack of Ninevah that destroyed the great library, ironically preserving the clay tablets of the epic that otherwise might have deteriorated and been permanently lost.
The book’s final chapters give a lively and interesting summation of the story within the Gilgamesh Epic. It includes information on possible creators and compilers of the epic, and points out themes within the story that influenced and reappear in The Iliad and The Bible.
The Buried Book reads fast and easy. It tells interesting stories that add layers of context to this great granddaddy of World Epics. It’s definitely worth your time.
June 11, 2011
The Buried Book
I picked up this book two reasons: first because it is about the re-discovery of the ancient tale of Gilgamesh and second because the author was the main contributor and presenter on the hit PBS series “Invitation to World Literature”. Despite my very high expectations, except in small ways, I was not disappointed. This book is better than a “4.0”, but I reserve fives for those that truly stand out in my mind. Call it a “4.5” is good reads had such a rating.
You don’t have to be an Assyriologist or lover of ancient civilizations to understand and appreciate this book. It is very well written, organized and researched. It is a perfect book for those who are curious. Unlike the book I read (and also enjoyed) “They Wrote On Clay” this book emphasizes the human story about the re-discovery of cuneiform tablets and their successful translation. The author lets us see how the key “discoverers” went about locating sites, excavating, and making sense of it all.
As in any “hot field”, there is intrigue, competition, a bit of skullduggery, and keeping the public (and politicians) interested. There is also personal animosity and the strife it brings when feelings rise above common sense. Even the author had previously written incorrectly about some of the player’s contributions. Only after later research (for this book) did he uncover the “true story”.
While the main attraction might be the “re-discovery” and it’s eventual translation, this book goes on to provide the reader with a synopsis (with interpretation) of the tale of Gilgamesh and how it is reflected in other works; old and new. I found it fascinating how there were precursor versions of the tale that existed long before the version that we consider the standard text today. In many of these the tale is shorter and the emphasis is different, but the germ of the tale is still there. Dr. Damrosch does an excellent job of presently this material and how it parallels other tales that became literature.
Today we still do not have every line of every tablet in the “Epic of Gilgamesh” and we may never find any more of it. Butt, although we have to guess (by context) or infer (from the older variants) what the missing pieces are, that does not reduce the impact of this oldest piece of literature. Because of a catastrophe we in the modern world have this great tale of the king of Uruk. What had been lost for thousands of years has been brought back into human ken.
I’ve given short shrift to the book’s history of Mesopotamia and the kingdoms or empires of Sumeria, Babylon, and Assyria. You can learn about those and how they created both this tale and the conditions for its survival by reading this book. Those chapters are great reading also.
I would also like to say that I found parallels in this book’s organization and style with the two (so far!) books that I have read by Simon Winchester (“The Professor and the Madman” and “The Man who Loved China”). This is a good thing. There is no single phrase or sentence that was borrowed, but it is a way in which the story builds on different facets, bring diverse elements together and keeping the reader interested in both the “journey” as well as the “outcome”. I took it along during a work trip during which I worked 14-18 hour days and no matter how exhausted I was, I could make sense of those little black smudges on the paper.
I picked up this book two reasons: first because it is about the re-discovery of the ancient tale of Gilgamesh and second because the author was the main contributor and presenter on the hit PBS series “Invitation to World Literature”. Despite my very high expectations, except in small ways, I was not disappointed. This book is better than a “4.0”, but I reserve fives for those that truly stand out in my mind. Call it a “4.5” is good reads had such a rating.
You don’t have to be an Assyriologist or lover of ancient civilizations to understand and appreciate this book. It is very well written, organized and researched. It is a perfect book for those who are curious. Unlike the book I read (and also enjoyed) “They Wrote On Clay” this book emphasizes the human story about the re-discovery of cuneiform tablets and their successful translation. The author lets us see how the key “discoverers” went about locating sites, excavating, and making sense of it all.
As in any “hot field”, there is intrigue, competition, a bit of skullduggery, and keeping the public (and politicians) interested. There is also personal animosity and the strife it brings when feelings rise above common sense. Even the author had previously written incorrectly about some of the player’s contributions. Only after later research (for this book) did he uncover the “true story”.
While the main attraction might be the “re-discovery” and it’s eventual translation, this book goes on to provide the reader with a synopsis (with interpretation) of the tale of Gilgamesh and how it is reflected in other works; old and new. I found it fascinating how there were precursor versions of the tale that existed long before the version that we consider the standard text today. In many of these the tale is shorter and the emphasis is different, but the germ of the tale is still there. Dr. Damrosch does an excellent job of presently this material and how it parallels other tales that became literature.
Today we still do not have every line of every tablet in the “Epic of Gilgamesh” and we may never find any more of it. Butt, although we have to guess (by context) or infer (from the older variants) what the missing pieces are, that does not reduce the impact of this oldest piece of literature. Because of a catastrophe we in the modern world have this great tale of the king of Uruk. What had been lost for thousands of years has been brought back into human ken.
I’ve given short shrift to the book’s history of Mesopotamia and the kingdoms or empires of Sumeria, Babylon, and Assyria. You can learn about those and how they created both this tale and the conditions for its survival by reading this book. Those chapters are great reading also.
I would also like to say that I found parallels in this book’s organization and style with the two (so far!) books that I have read by Simon Winchester (“The Professor and the Madman” and “The Man who Loved China”). This is a good thing. There is no single phrase or sentence that was borrowed, but it is a way in which the story builds on different facets, bring diverse elements together and keeping the reader interested in both the “journey” as well as the “outcome”. I took it along during a work trip during which I worked 14-18 hour days and no matter how exhausted I was, I could make sense of those little black smudges on the paper.
January 18, 2024
This book comprises three parts: a history of the discoverers of the tablets, a recap of the Gilgamesh epic, and a discussion of the work's influence, including a novel by Saddam Hussein(!). I found the first part to be the most interesting. It primarily dealt with discovers George Smith and Hormuzd Rassam. Among Rassam's adventures was his failed attempt to negotiate the release of hostages from the king of Abyssinia, and his libel lawsuit against EA Wallis-Budge of the British Museum. The other parts were of less interest because I already was familiar with the Gilgamesh epic, and I wasn't that interested in the Hussein novel.
I listened to this on audiobook.
I listened to this on audiobook.
March 29, 2014
I didn’t know much about Gilgamesh when I started this book so it proved very educational. The structure was interesting in that the narrative moved from the events and peoples who discovered the cuneiform tablets and translated them to the life and times of the ancient rulers who created the libraries of tablets and finally to the themes and plotline of the epic itself. This was a fascinating read and did a great job of making the life and times of the involved parties seem real. If nothing else, I am glad one more person (me) knows of the work and passion of Hormuzd Rassam, an excavator and scholar who ran afoul of Budge and the British Museum and was slandered and marginalized towards the end of his career. The casual racism of the time was sometimes shocking, but I am glad this book brings the true facts to light as well as investigating the origins and motives for the continued bad press Rassam received even after his death. The epic, as presented here, was interesting and I appreciated the extended discussions of the similarities in themes and plots with both the Old Testament and other works of the similar time period such as the Odyssey. Overall, an interesting and informative read and well worth my time!
August 18, 2017
An introduction to the Epic of Gilgamesh that is as interesting, encompassing and ideal as anyone could hope to have. The font reminds me of nineteenth century adventure reports - surely deliberate!
'n Bykans onverbeterlike inleiding tot die Gilgamesj-epos, aangebied as 'n negentiende-eeuse avontuurverhaal, as ek die lettertipe reg interpreteer.
'n Bykans onverbeterlike inleiding tot die Gilgamesj-epos, aangebied as 'n negentiende-eeuse avontuurverhaal, as ek die lettertipe reg interpreteer.
January 18, 2022
This book can easily be broken into three parts and a rather rambling epilogue. The first part details the lives and careers of two British Museum archaeologists—George Smith and Hormuzd Rassam. The second takes a look at the court life in ancient Babylon in roughly 2500 BCE. The third is a short summary of the Epic of Gilgamesh. And the fourth is a brief account of the epic’s influence in modern times. The result is not a book on the rediscovery of the first great epic poem, but a rather jumbled set of accounts on the above topics. To give Damrosch credit, he starts very well, but the whole account quickly loses steam as the book seems to veer off topic repeatedly. The little side routes are interesting, but they distract from the overall sense of unity that I expected the book to achieve. At many times I kept asking myself when the Epic of Gilgamesh was going to reappear in Damrosch’s account.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
December 21, 2025
This quick read is better as an introduction to Gilgamesh and Ancient Sumer. I enjoyed the first part of the book the most where the author discusses the 19th century archeology and early findings of the Epic. This book is not an in-depth look at this subject matter and serves to possibly whet your appetite for more, of which there is plenty to choose from.
November 16, 2021
This book gave me a feeling similar to when I read Swerve by Greenblatt. Damrosch took me back to the Kingdom of Nineveh and King Ashurbanipal who had the largest and first systematically organized library in all the world. Most Kings had no use for reading. Their scribes would, of course, read for them. But King Ashurbanipal was wonderfully curious and seemed, by Damrosch's account, to be very proud of his ability to read and was driven to learn everything he could about the world through books. I am currently reading a book about Hypatia of Alexandria who calls books, "paper ships," because they bring to the reader an entire world of knowledge. You don't even have to leave your own land to discover other lands, other cultures, other civilization's advanced knowledge about the world and universe around you. It was wonderful to read two books at the same time that were so focused on the love of books, specifically because books take general knowledge, package it, and preserve it so that people can ingest all this knowledge and, so often, escape into the fantasy and entertainment of various authors' imaginations.
Ashurbanipal's library held the most complete copy of the epic of Gilgamesh, which I read alongside this book. David Damrosh's painstaking account of how the tale of Gilgamesh was found, translated, and brought to the public was breathtaking. The average rating for this book is 3.6, far from my rating of a solid 5. It might be an acquired taste? Maybe it has too much detail or moves too slowly? In my estimation, this book is a really rare investigation of how an ancient book came to exist. Imagine the stone tablets, which lay hidden for 2000 years, being uncovered by archeologists ***only to sit undeciphered for another 25 years!** The tablets eventually made their way to a museum in the 1870s that did not have electricity yet and relied on sunlight or gas lamps. In the dim light of foggy England, and in said museum, George Smith had to wait for sunny days to try to figure out the language and decode the stones. The story of this alone made this a treasured book for me to read in 2021, while I was listening to my copy of Gilgamesh, which I had read in print while in high school and again in college, in an audio version. It all felt too marvelous! In addition to relating all of that, David Damrosch detailed many unsettling inequalities associated with bringing Gilgamesh to light. The racism and classism played a huge part in who was allowed to participate in this venture. Damrosch also related a really nice story about one king who was educated and could read. He, unlike other kings, prized his intelligence over his brawn. To see if they should go into battle or to answer other questions, people would ask the oracle or sacrifice sheep and then examine the sheep's innards. They would read all sorts of meanings into the random differences of the markings on the sheep's organs. The king said we should actually record these findings. meaning, if the markings predicted this outcome, how often was that true? He was creating statistical methods, 2000 years ago!!, to see if consulting a sheep's organs was a good predictor of the sought outcome. How amazing! This book was filled with lots of little gems.
Ashurbanipal's library held the most complete copy of the epic of Gilgamesh, which I read alongside this book. David Damrosh's painstaking account of how the tale of Gilgamesh was found, translated, and brought to the public was breathtaking. The average rating for this book is 3.6, far from my rating of a solid 5. It might be an acquired taste? Maybe it has too much detail or moves too slowly? In my estimation, this book is a really rare investigation of how an ancient book came to exist. Imagine the stone tablets, which lay hidden for 2000 years, being uncovered by archeologists ***only to sit undeciphered for another 25 years!** The tablets eventually made their way to a museum in the 1870s that did not have electricity yet and relied on sunlight or gas lamps. In the dim light of foggy England, and in said museum, George Smith had to wait for sunny days to try to figure out the language and decode the stones. The story of this alone made this a treasured book for me to read in 2021, while I was listening to my copy of Gilgamesh, which I had read in print while in high school and again in college, in an audio version. It all felt too marvelous! In addition to relating all of that, David Damrosch detailed many unsettling inequalities associated with bringing Gilgamesh to light. The racism and classism played a huge part in who was allowed to participate in this venture. Damrosch also related a really nice story about one king who was educated and could read. He, unlike other kings, prized his intelligence over his brawn. To see if they should go into battle or to answer other questions, people would ask the oracle or sacrifice sheep and then examine the sheep's innards. They would read all sorts of meanings into the random differences of the markings on the sheep's organs. The king said we should actually record these findings. meaning, if the markings predicted this outcome, how often was that true? He was creating statistical methods, 2000 years ago!!, to see if consulting a sheep's organs was a good predictor of the sought outcome. How amazing! This book was filled with lots of little gems.
August 8, 2008
One might be forgiven for thinking that a book that is half-devoted to the archaeological expeditions and discoveries in Mesopotamia in the nineteenth century, and the subsequent attempts of linguists to crack the linguistic "code" that ultimately led to the recovery of the Epic of Gilgamesh, would be dry. One would be wrong: Damrosch writes with velocity and poise, yet does not sacrifice scholarly heft, weaving in issues of pertaining to colonialism, culture, race, and the arbitrariness of history, as he hurtles backward towards ancient Mesopotamia. Along the way, he attempts to set the record straight by shedding new light on the (unlikely, and remarkable) career of Iraqi archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam, so central to the Western re-discovery of the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian pasts, and so often shunted to the side by his British colleagues, whether as an archaeologist or a diplomat; Damrosch's rescue of Rassam's work from oblivion seems to me as much an ethical act as one of scholarship.
But the book offers other pleasures too: Damrosch has a novelist's gift when it comes to characterization, and vividly sketches nineteenth century scholars like George Smith and Henry Rawlinson to life. But most rewarding of all is Damrosch's evocation of the ancient milieu of the epic, and his account of the functionings of the Assyrian court and bureaucrac; not to mention his engagement with the poem itself, and with its abiding relevance. It is man's fate to die, the poem seems to tell us, and even at such great remove, the uncompromising clarity of that insight unsettles.
But the book offers other pleasures too: Damrosch has a novelist's gift when it comes to characterization, and vividly sketches nineteenth century scholars like George Smith and Henry Rawlinson to life. But most rewarding of all is Damrosch's evocation of the ancient milieu of the epic, and his account of the functionings of the Assyrian court and bureaucrac; not to mention his engagement with the poem itself, and with its abiding relevance. It is man's fate to die, the poem seems to tell us, and even at such great remove, the uncompromising clarity of that insight unsettles.
June 16, 2009
Story of the discovery of the "Epic of Gilgamesh" and the various cultural and personality oddities involved. The book is organized something like an archaeological tell - most recent layer first, "digging down" into the earlier layers into the murky origins of the tale. I recommend the book to people with an interest in Mesopotamian culture or as a fascinating example of the ways in which the (British) imperialist, colonialist, and archaeological projects coincided.
To me the most engaging parts were the sections on George Smith, the London engraver without a classical education who edged his way into the British Museum and first discovered and translated the parallels with the Biblical Flood story, and on Hormuzd Rassam, born in Mosul (modern Iraq) near ancient Nineveh, who among many other achievements discovered the Assyrian library where the most complete version of the Gilgamesh story was found, but whose reputation was unfairly besmirched by envious English scholars.
To me the most engaging parts were the sections on George Smith, the London engraver without a classical education who edged his way into the British Museum and first discovered and translated the parallels with the Biblical Flood story, and on Hormuzd Rassam, born in Mosul (modern Iraq) near ancient Nineveh, who among many other achievements discovered the Assyrian library where the most complete version of the Gilgamesh story was found, but whose reputation was unfairly besmirched by envious English scholars.
July 28, 2010
Damrosch writes insightfully, movingly, and beautifully, no matter whom he's writing about, Hormuzd Rassam, Ashurbanipal, or Gilgamesh himself. It's nice that he has a sense of humor, too. I'm finally able to distinguish between Sumerian, Akkadian, and Aramaic; Babylon and Nineve; Ur and Uruk; some aspects of Sumerian, Old Babylonian, and Middle Babylonian (i.e., Sin-leqe-unninni's) versions of the Gilgamesh narrative. One star less for his last chapter in which Damrosch crammed (quite possibly for marketing reasons) Philip Roth and Saddam Hussein.
March 25, 2021
⭒ 3.5 ⭒
September 4, 2024
A slightly odd but mostly captivating book. The first half focuses on a couple of 19th century archaeologists, Englishman George Smith and Iraqi-English Hormuzd Rassam, each of whom were periodic employees of the British Museum working to uncover (and retrieve) relics of the ancient world mainly in the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh (near current day Mosul) in what is now Iraq. In addition, other interesting pioneers in this early field of archaeology such as Austen Henry Layard and Henry Rawlinson (aka 'The Father of Assyriology') are discussed, with the work of the latter being especially interesting. The excavation of thousands of clay tablets of cuneiform script mainly from Nineveh occurred over decades, which were then shipped to England and translated, mostly by George Smith who was something of a genius in the realm of cuneiform translation. The chief discovery of course was the Mesopotamian epic of Gilgamesh (which dates from ~2100 BC) and the translations by Smith in the 1870's caused a 'media' sensation in the Western world because of the similarity of to Biblical accounts of the Great Flood and Creation stories.
But the book doesn't end there, there is a chapter on the life of the Assyrian King Ashburnipal (and includes much on his neurotic father, King Esarhaddon) who ruled in Nineveh in the mid-7th century BC until near the fall of Nineveh in around 630 BC. Apparently, all us book readers owe Mr. Ashburnipal a real debt! When not out annihilating nearby kingdoms, he found time to construct the 'Library of Ashurbanipal', which according to Wikipedia is "a collection of texts and documents...Perhaps comprising over 100,000 texts at its height, the Library of Ashurbanipal was not surpassed until the construction of the Library of Alexandria, several centuries later".
The last chapter is a rather bizarre excursion into connections of Gilgamesh to the brief literary history of Saddam Hussein (yes, that one) and a 1973 book written by Philip Roth ('The Great American Novel') with a character named Gil Gamesh. How that all fit together I will not spoil for the next reader! The book does wander quite a bit, especially the recounting of the British expedition against Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1868 but it was still interesting. I would like to say 3.5 stars but will round up for a decent discussion of sources, solid footnotes, a reasonable map and a fair number of photos and drawings of the treasures retrieved, many now likely on display in the British Museum.
But the book doesn't end there, there is a chapter on the life of the Assyrian King Ashburnipal (and includes much on his neurotic father, King Esarhaddon) who ruled in Nineveh in the mid-7th century BC until near the fall of Nineveh in around 630 BC. Apparently, all us book readers owe Mr. Ashburnipal a real debt! When not out annihilating nearby kingdoms, he found time to construct the 'Library of Ashurbanipal', which according to Wikipedia is "a collection of texts and documents...Perhaps comprising over 100,000 texts at its height, the Library of Ashurbanipal was not surpassed until the construction of the Library of Alexandria, several centuries later".
The last chapter is a rather bizarre excursion into connections of Gilgamesh to the brief literary history of Saddam Hussein (yes, that one) and a 1973 book written by Philip Roth ('The Great American Novel') with a character named Gil Gamesh. How that all fit together I will not spoil for the next reader! The book does wander quite a bit, especially the recounting of the British expedition against Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1868 but it was still interesting. I would like to say 3.5 stars but will round up for a decent discussion of sources, solid footnotes, a reasonable map and a fair number of photos and drawings of the treasures retrieved, many now likely on display in the British Museum.
October 27, 2022
A good read for anyone who likes history and nonfiction! I wasn't sure what I was expecting but this was definitely a very informative read. I liked going through the journey of discovery and history about the origins of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Each person involved got their own little spotlight. Which was a nice touch, I really liked the parts about the old Kings. They had such interesting lives and kingdoms.
June 3, 2024
Book 9, Stack One
Great read and very interesting.
The first few chapters read like an adventure novel.
Then there's a chapter that tells the story of Gilgamesh and then one about contemporary writings that use the Epic as a base for their story.
The chapters are long but flow pretty well.
Great read and very interesting.
The first few chapters read like an adventure novel.
Then there's a chapter that tells the story of Gilgamesh and then one about contemporary writings that use the Epic as a base for their story.
The chapters are long but flow pretty well.
November 18, 2019
Primarily about the Archaeologists
Review of the Henry Holt & Co. hardcover (2007)
Review of the Henry Holt & Co. hardcover (2007)
July 18, 2024
3.5 stars rounded down. A collection of interesting chapters with the common element of clay tablets that included the Epic of Gilgamesh recovered from Ninevah which was sacked in 612 BC.
September 13, 2023
The book wandered away from the reason I was reading it (I wanted to know more about George Smith), but it kept my interest. Would’ve liked more images, but really enjoyed the ones included.
April 8, 2026
The information presented here is interesting but it's not so much about the Epic of Gilgamesh as about the history of ancient Assyria.
June 8, 2015
Good subject, bad idea. Damrosch makes a decision to work in reverse chronological order that flaws his account of the discovery and deciphering of the tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh, then doesn't follow through because he needs to build on chronological knowledge to bring the Epic to the general readers his book is intended for.
So he starts with synopsis of the discovery of some of the tablets, then goes through the deciphering of the tablets, before going back to the discovery in more detail, then works backward to a synopsis of the Epic, before concluding with a prologue which returns to a tacked-on discussion of the cultural impact of the Epic today. Damrosch would have been better served by a straight chronological sequence or some other organizational framework.
Also, in the telling he goes off-topic in his earnestness to resurrect the career of an Iraqi native who was crucial to the 19th-century archaeological finds--a worthy effort to be sure, but then to spend a whole chapter in a thin book on Hormuzd Rassam's subsequent 20-year diplomatic career away from the archaeological field betrays Damrosch's lack of confidence in his core subject material.
So he starts with synopsis of the discovery of some of the tablets, then goes through the deciphering of the tablets, before going back to the discovery in more detail, then works backward to a synopsis of the Epic, before concluding with a prologue which returns to a tacked-on discussion of the cultural impact of the Epic today. Damrosch would have been better served by a straight chronological sequence or some other organizational framework.
Also, in the telling he goes off-topic in his earnestness to resurrect the career of an Iraqi native who was crucial to the 19th-century archaeological finds--a worthy effort to be sure, but then to spend a whole chapter in a thin book on Hormuzd Rassam's subsequent 20-year diplomatic career away from the archaeological field betrays Damrosch's lack of confidence in his core subject material.
June 5, 2015
I love this book. I came across it after I'd been teaching Gilgamesh in World Literature for about two years. It didn't change my approach so much as illuminate it in so many ways. From uncovering the essential contributions of the overlooked Hormuzd Rassam, who uncovered many of the Gilgamesh tablets, to Damrosch's excellent summary/commentary of the Gilgamesh story, this book is filled with information which fleshed out the history of the Gilgamesh tablets. If you love ancient or nineteenth-century history, archaeology, or ancient epics, this book is a must-read. Damrosch does an excellent job of keeping the content engaging and accessible, so this one isn't just for scholars. Would go together very nicely with Stephen Mitchell's version of Gilgamesh as a study of the epic.
August 2, 2009
Interesting topic and reasonably well written. Damrosch tells the story backwards starting with the man who first deciphered the lost epic of Gilgamesh, linking him to the men who discovered the cuniform tablets, then to the ruler who collected the tablets in his library. It was a different approach to tell the tale in reverse, but to make sense of it, Damrosch had to fill in a few gaps, so in a few places he had to jump out of sequence and anticipate his next subject. It was a worthwhile effort, but I wonder how a traditional linear narrative would have worked?
November 29, 2007
mostly about archaeology and the personalities involved in unearthing GILGAMESH. of interest if you're really into both of those things. well written and paced.
January 23, 2025
It’s a bit of a hotch-potch, but despite that, an unexpectedly interesting read.
I hate that word, “read” used as a noun; but it’s difficult otherwise to characterise The Buried Book. It’s not really an account of the loss and rediscovery of the great epic of Gilgamesh as the front cover claims, and neither is it about a buried book. They didn’t have books in Mesopotamia.
So, what is it? It begins with an account of two of the several men who devoted their lives, or at least part of them, to hunting for history in ancient Mesopotamia. The piece on George Smith is fascinating, and so is that on Homuzfd Rassam (albeit it a bit long); though one wonders why the fluent David Damrosch should single them out, as his own text makes it clear there were others involved too.
The life and achievements of George Smith certainly deserve their place: he was the near-miraculous interpreter of the British Museum’s cuneiform tablets containing the Gilgamesh epic. he taught himself to decipher the mysterious wedge-shaped markings on the clay tablets lying around in Museum; discovered that the Bible’s account of the Flood was not original history but a rehash of contemporary legend; decided to travel to what is now Iraq to find key missing elements of the tale; and, blow me down, found precisely the missing tablet needed to present the story in full. What a guy.
At that point, unfortunately, he died. The narrative shifts abruptly to Hormuzd Rassam, a Mosul-born archaeologist who also became one of the key players in the story of Assyrian exploration. Nothing wrong with that, though David Damborough does rather go overboard in recounting his story: he throws in a whole range of details, kitchen sink and all. It is for example genuinely quite interesting to read the story of emperor Theodor of Abyssinia and Britain’s campaign to rescue hostages he had taken (including Rassam himself – that’s the connection), but it has precious little to do with the epic of Gilgamesh. He manages to throw in such tasty morsels as that some of the navy members of the British campaign sported very bushy facial hair, or that the wife of Henry Rawlinson (often quoted as the father of Assyriology) was described as a “gazelle” in her early life, but more like an “Iron Elephant” after years of marriage – presumably a reference to the number of pies provided by Mr Rawlinson. DD’s American prejudices peep out here and there too, which is quite fun: the machinations of the British empire are invariably presented with a gentle curl of his anti-imperialist lip. Why are Americans so obsessed with it? Either way, you do find yourself aching to get back to Gilgamesh.
Or rather, I should say “to Gilgamesh”, as there hasn’t been that much on the ancient epic by that point, concentrating more on the derringdo of those imperialist Victorians. Before he gets to Gilgamesh he inserts some interesting samples of the material deciphered from the many cuneiform tablets in the British Museum, notably extracts from the life of the mighty Ashurbanipal, king of the world, king of Assyria. The narrative is vivid and lively and it is astonishing to think that such an ancient world could be brought to life from those clay tablets. Imagine a clay tablet disclosing “I filled the plain with the bodies of their warriors, like grass” So far so good, up to that point. But the writer goes on: ”Their testicles I cut off, and tore out their privates like the seeds of summer cucumbers”. As one does.
Finally, the text does get round to Gilgamesh in the final couple of chapters, and it is truly fascinating to see one or two of the epic narratives of the bible popping up in earlier form, in that work. The most notable one is of course the Flood, and it is chastening to see that the original flood was unleashed by a short-tempered god, impatient with humanity “because it was making too much noise”. Glorious though it is to imagine an image of a god angrily poking his floorboards with a broom because the downstairs tenants were partying too much, this probably means population growth.
And at the very end, DD digresses into the twentieth century, and drags in Sadam Hussein. This is admittedly in the epilogue, traditionally reserved for otherwise irrelevant comment: but it felt as though he was throwing in another kitchen sink, simply to arrive at a book-length book. Shame, because there is much he did not say about the Victorians. The epilogue closes on a glum note too, recording that one consequence of the west’s toppling of Sadam has been the unbridled pillaging of the archaeological sites by modern-day Indiana Jones figures, using bulldozers to do their digging. This is an unmitigated tragedy, as those pesky Victorians had left a great deal unexcavated. And it has all gone.
In summary then: a lively account, on quite a mixture of subjects. It made me wish he had taken more time on the Gilgamesh epic itself.
I hate that word, “read” used as a noun; but it’s difficult otherwise to characterise The Buried Book. It’s not really an account of the loss and rediscovery of the great epic of Gilgamesh as the front cover claims, and neither is it about a buried book. They didn’t have books in Mesopotamia.
So, what is it? It begins with an account of two of the several men who devoted their lives, or at least part of them, to hunting for history in ancient Mesopotamia. The piece on George Smith is fascinating, and so is that on Homuzfd Rassam (albeit it a bit long); though one wonders why the fluent David Damrosch should single them out, as his own text makes it clear there were others involved too.
The life and achievements of George Smith certainly deserve their place: he was the near-miraculous interpreter of the British Museum’s cuneiform tablets containing the Gilgamesh epic. he taught himself to decipher the mysterious wedge-shaped markings on the clay tablets lying around in Museum; discovered that the Bible’s account of the Flood was not original history but a rehash of contemporary legend; decided to travel to what is now Iraq to find key missing elements of the tale; and, blow me down, found precisely the missing tablet needed to present the story in full. What a guy.
At that point, unfortunately, he died. The narrative shifts abruptly to Hormuzd Rassam, a Mosul-born archaeologist who also became one of the key players in the story of Assyrian exploration. Nothing wrong with that, though David Damborough does rather go overboard in recounting his story: he throws in a whole range of details, kitchen sink and all. It is for example genuinely quite interesting to read the story of emperor Theodor of Abyssinia and Britain’s campaign to rescue hostages he had taken (including Rassam himself – that’s the connection), but it has precious little to do with the epic of Gilgamesh. He manages to throw in such tasty morsels as that some of the navy members of the British campaign sported very bushy facial hair, or that the wife of Henry Rawlinson (often quoted as the father of Assyriology) was described as a “gazelle” in her early life, but more like an “Iron Elephant” after years of marriage – presumably a reference to the number of pies provided by Mr Rawlinson. DD’s American prejudices peep out here and there too, which is quite fun: the machinations of the British empire are invariably presented with a gentle curl of his anti-imperialist lip. Why are Americans so obsessed with it? Either way, you do find yourself aching to get back to Gilgamesh.
Or rather, I should say “to Gilgamesh”, as there hasn’t been that much on the ancient epic by that point, concentrating more on the derringdo of those imperialist Victorians. Before he gets to Gilgamesh he inserts some interesting samples of the material deciphered from the many cuneiform tablets in the British Museum, notably extracts from the life of the mighty Ashurbanipal, king of the world, king of Assyria. The narrative is vivid and lively and it is astonishing to think that such an ancient world could be brought to life from those clay tablets. Imagine a clay tablet disclosing “I filled the plain with the bodies of their warriors, like grass” So far so good, up to that point. But the writer goes on: ”Their testicles I cut off, and tore out their privates like the seeds of summer cucumbers”. As one does.
Finally, the text does get round to Gilgamesh in the final couple of chapters, and it is truly fascinating to see one or two of the epic narratives of the bible popping up in earlier form, in that work. The most notable one is of course the Flood, and it is chastening to see that the original flood was unleashed by a short-tempered god, impatient with humanity “because it was making too much noise”. Glorious though it is to imagine an image of a god angrily poking his floorboards with a broom because the downstairs tenants were partying too much, this probably means population growth.
And at the very end, DD digresses into the twentieth century, and drags in Sadam Hussein. This is admittedly in the epilogue, traditionally reserved for otherwise irrelevant comment: but it felt as though he was throwing in another kitchen sink, simply to arrive at a book-length book. Shame, because there is much he did not say about the Victorians. The epilogue closes on a glum note too, recording that one consequence of the west’s toppling of Sadam has been the unbridled pillaging of the archaeological sites by modern-day Indiana Jones figures, using bulldozers to do their digging. This is an unmitigated tragedy, as those pesky Victorians had left a great deal unexcavated. And it has all gone.
In summary then: a lively account, on quite a mixture of subjects. It made me wish he had taken more time on the Gilgamesh epic itself.
Read
July 26, 2026I first learned about The Epic of Gilgamesh in college in the 1980s. But I don’t think I was told that this work of ancient literature had been lost for thousands of years, and only rediscovered in the 19th century. This book tells the story of that discovery. It also tells the history of how the epic came to be written in the first place, and then preserved. And its influence on world culture, from Philip Roth, who wrote a novel with a character named Gil Gamesh, to Saddam Hussein, who was fascinated by the story of the flawed king.
Once upon a time, the great empire of Assyria had its capital at the city of Nineveh, which is in modern day Iraq. One of the last kings of Assyria, Ashurbanipal, had built an extensive library, which included thousands of clay tablets with cuneiform writing. Among these tablets was the Epic of Gilgamesh. But the city was conquered, and the rubble was covered over.
In the 19th century people began digging into these earthen mounds, and found walls and palaces with sculptures of giant winged bulls, and most importantly, thousands of clay tablets. Since this was the 19th century, most of that stuff was shipped back to the British Museum.
This book tells the stories of the men who made those discoveries, with a dose of Indiana Jones swashbuckling adventure, sprinkled with racism, classism, and cultural misunderstanding. Goerge Smith, the man of humble background who translated the tablets, and first read what would turn out to be the Epic of Gilgamesh, was told by the men with titles and college degrees that no, he couldn’t come back home, and he died of dysentery in the field. Hormuzd Rassam, the Assyrian archeologist, had his name erased from every mention in the museum’s plaques and brochures.
How Ashurbanipal’s great library came to be is a story. Ashurbanipal’s father, Esarhaddon, was anxious and paranoid. He always thought someone was plotting against him. But he couldn’t read. Like most kings of his day, he relied on scribes to tell him what was in the letters he received. But what if the scribes were lying to him?
Esarhaddon determined that would never happen to his son. He had Ashurbanipal trained as a scholar, and once Ashurbanipal was king, reading was one of his greatest pleasures. He built his famous library, which was then preserved intact (except for many of the tablets being broken) when the kingdom was conquered.
The book also retells much of the Epic, with an emphasis on some of the ideas in it, how they are different from the culture of today, and how their influence persists. And that story, sometimes called the world’s oldest story, is still a great story.
The book also retells much of the Epic, with an emphasis on some of the ideas in it, how they are different from the culture of today, and how their influence persists. And that story, sometimes called the world’s oldest story, is still a great story.
It is fascinating that ancient peoples told a story that spoke to them about some of the deepest questions about existing in the world as a human, so much so that multiple copies of it were circulating, through different regions and eras. It is even more fascinating that that epic was lost for 2,500 years. Then it was dug up and read again, and people find it still speaks to them, millennia later.
Once upon a time, the great empire of Assyria had its capital at the city of Nineveh, which is in modern day Iraq. One of the last kings of Assyria, Ashurbanipal, had built an extensive library, which included thousands of clay tablets with cuneiform writing. Among these tablets was the Epic of Gilgamesh. But the city was conquered, and the rubble was covered over.
In the 19th century people began digging into these earthen mounds, and found walls and palaces with sculptures of giant winged bulls, and most importantly, thousands of clay tablets. Since this was the 19th century, most of that stuff was shipped back to the British Museum.
This book tells the stories of the men who made those discoveries, with a dose of Indiana Jones swashbuckling adventure, sprinkled with racism, classism, and cultural misunderstanding. Goerge Smith, the man of humble background who translated the tablets, and first read what would turn out to be the Epic of Gilgamesh, was told by the men with titles and college degrees that no, he couldn’t come back home, and he died of dysentery in the field. Hormuzd Rassam, the Assyrian archeologist, had his name erased from every mention in the museum’s plaques and brochures.
How Ashurbanipal’s great library came to be is a story. Ashurbanipal’s father, Esarhaddon, was anxious and paranoid. He always thought someone was plotting against him. But he couldn’t read. Like most kings of his day, he relied on scribes to tell him what was in the letters he received. But what if the scribes were lying to him?
Esarhaddon determined that would never happen to his son. He had Ashurbanipal trained as a scholar, and once Ashurbanipal was king, reading was one of his greatest pleasures. He built his famous library, which was then preserved intact (except for many of the tablets being broken) when the kingdom was conquered.
The book also retells much of the Epic, with an emphasis on some of the ideas in it, how they are different from the culture of today, and how their influence persists. And that story, sometimes called the world’s oldest story, is still a great story.
The book also retells much of the Epic, with an emphasis on some of the ideas in it, how they are different from the culture of today, and how their influence persists. And that story, sometimes called the world’s oldest story, is still a great story.
It is fascinating that ancient peoples told a story that spoke to them about some of the deepest questions about existing in the world as a human, so much so that multiple copies of it were circulating, through different regions and eras. It is even more fascinating that that epic was lost for 2,500 years. Then it was dug up and read again, and people find it still speaks to them, millennia later.
June 10, 2025
In the mid-19th Century, the fragile condition of the Ottoman Empire left its borders more open to intrusion by Christian visitors. Originally intending to simply visit the "Holy Land", the influx included people who wanted to know more about the various peoples living in Biblical times. Their quests led them to the earliest sites of human civilisation, ancient Mesopotamia. The Land of Two Rivers hinted at early complex societies and a bit of scratching around at enigmatic mounds revealed immense potential for new knowledge. David Damrosch, a scholar of literature, focusses on one element of that vast store, the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Damrosch organises his material around the diggers, their findings and the stories revealed. There are several notable figures, with the author striving to give credit where that has been lacking - or purposely dismissed. Austen Layard was the prime mover in the revelation of Nineveh. After him, a self-taught enthusiast, George Smith, became among the earliest translators of ancient Akkadian, the language engraved on the multitude of clay shards uncovered. A third, more tragic figure is that of Hormuzd Rassam. With family and cultural ties to the area, Rassam kept teams of excavators working, sometimes in the face of obstructions by Ottoman authorities. His finds were significant, but, according to Damrosch his origins made him "suspect". The British attitude toward "Orientals" led to his work being dismissed as unimportant or even false. Yet, between them all, a legend buried for two millennia came into view - the epic of Gilgamesh.
The real purpose of this book is revealed at Damrosch examines and assesses the Gilgamesh story. Apart from its seeming verification of the Noachian Flood, Gilgamesh offers insight to how ancient peoples viewed their relationship to the gods. The epic also demonstrates how myths and legends, especially those dealing with social norms and major events, were neither conceived nor accepted in isolation. Each culture passed its myths to its neighbours, the process often blurring origins beyond identification. Damrosch sees Mesopotamian floods of cities on the plains as inspiring others. To those ancient peoples, the loss of a mud-brick city to floodwaters was tantamount to the end of the world [as a literary scholar, Damrosch is apparently unaware of William Ryan's thesis on the flooding of the Black Sea as a source for these legends]. Far more significant, however, is Damrosch's explanation of the persistence of the Gilgamesh story both in its homeland and as a part of Western society's outlook. The book, although narrowly focussed, is a major contribution. The writing is a touch laborious, but flows smoothly enough to remain informative and entertaining.
Damrosch organises his material around the diggers, their findings and the stories revealed. There are several notable figures, with the author striving to give credit where that has been lacking - or purposely dismissed. Austen Layard was the prime mover in the revelation of Nineveh. After him, a self-taught enthusiast, George Smith, became among the earliest translators of ancient Akkadian, the language engraved on the multitude of clay shards uncovered. A third, more tragic figure is that of Hormuzd Rassam. With family and cultural ties to the area, Rassam kept teams of excavators working, sometimes in the face of obstructions by Ottoman authorities. His finds were significant, but, according to Damrosch his origins made him "suspect". The British attitude toward "Orientals" led to his work being dismissed as unimportant or even false. Yet, between them all, a legend buried for two millennia came into view - the epic of Gilgamesh.
The real purpose of this book is revealed at Damrosch examines and assesses the Gilgamesh story. Apart from its seeming verification of the Noachian Flood, Gilgamesh offers insight to how ancient peoples viewed their relationship to the gods. The epic also demonstrates how myths and legends, especially those dealing with social norms and major events, were neither conceived nor accepted in isolation. Each culture passed its myths to its neighbours, the process often blurring origins beyond identification. Damrosch sees Mesopotamian floods of cities on the plains as inspiring others. To those ancient peoples, the loss of a mud-brick city to floodwaters was tantamount to the end of the world [as a literary scholar, Damrosch is apparently unaware of William Ryan's thesis on the flooding of the Black Sea as a source for these legends]. Far more significant, however, is Damrosch's explanation of the persistence of the Gilgamesh story both in its homeland and as a part of Western society's outlook. The book, although narrowly focussed, is a major contribution. The writing is a touch laborious, but flows smoothly enough to remain informative and entertaining.
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