Gilgamesh in Akkadian


Reposting this amazing recording of the Gilgamesh Epic in its original Akkadian.

I should point out that the earliest version of the Gilgamesh stories were poems written in Sumerian, not in Akkadian. The Akkadian version (written hundreds of years later) is the best known complete version.

 

Hear The Epic of Gilgamesh Read in the Original Akkadian and Enjoy the Sounds of Mesopotamia

in History | October 1st, 2010 37 Comments

Long ago, in the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia, Akkadian was the dominant language. And, for centuries, it remained the lingua franca in the Ancient Near East. But then it was gradually squeezed out by Aramaic, and it faded into oblivion once Alexander the Great Hellenized (Greekified) the region.

Now, 2,000+ years later, Akkadian is making a small comeback. At Cambridge University, Dr. Martin Worthington, an expert in Babylonian and Assyrian grammar, has started recording readings of poems, myths and other texts in Akkadian, including The Epic of Gilgamesh. This clip gives you a taste of what Gilgamesh, one of the earliest known works of literature, sounds like in its mother tongue. Or, you can jump into the full collection of readings right here.

via Heritage Key

 

 

Published by laura

I'm the author of two short story collections, a story cycle, and a collection of short memoirs. I am an educator, literary translator, journal editor, and writing coach.

9 thoughts on “Gilgamesh in Akkadian

  1. Todays discovery inspired by this webpage:
    1267bc April 15 Venus is dead SUPERIOR conjunction behind sun the same day Mars turns in Scorpio at opposition. Significance is 1000-year Nimrod (living 500 years 2270-1770bc dying April 22 he is honored 1000 years in 1269bc) which is 1200-year Shem born 100 before his son conceived on ark lives 500 more to be age 600 when he dies in 1868bc. Thus his 1200th year is 1269bc to be 1200 years in 1268bc, though Egyptian years lack leap days and so is the cause of the shift as 1200th year in 1270bc completing as 1200 in 1269bc. BUT the point is that when king Ninus of Nineveh of Assyria honors 1270-1268bc he has two fathers, the city father Nimrod, and the literal father of Assyr is Shem. Both were called Melkizedek when Noah died (2021bc Greek Xmas Dec 25). Noah the Melkizedek of Ararat died in Kittim Cyprus the island or world in the middle of the sea that is in the middle of the earth, Medi-Terrain after Gilgamesh came to him in 2040bc. Shem Melkizedek had founded Salem in 2030bc with Hyksos Chaldeans of Ur and Hyksos Hattusa Hittites of Ararat, and so was not Melkizedek at foundation but 9 years later. And Nimrod was made Melkizedek politically by joining Egypt’s 42 cities to be a HOUSE or assembly of kings when Noah died and so honored as FATHER (2020bc), the same way he had been in Nineveh (2058bc). Thus the honoring of The Father or The Melkizedek is followed by this poem of Venus death and Mars turned in the Scorpion. There is a difference because the poems of 2040bc Ereck and 1645bc Babylon are 8-day absent inferior conjunction Venus, while 1267bc April 15 is the superior (45-day absent) Venus death. The 8-day death is not always mourning crying for her, because he dressed up brilliant crescent, or her going into hell naked with a brilliant crown is her death that saves the world (as is said of the 40-day Noah’s Flood when she rises for the new world, Quetzalcoatl in Aztec, Kukulkan in Mayan). Confusion exists because Mayan Chichen Itza counts from Shem’s death, not Noah not Nimrod.
    The next incidence in the 13th century BC is Venus sup.conj September 1 of 1253bc with a Mars turn in Scorpio on 1252bc Feb 26.

  2. If a Venus-Mars-Scorpio retains its 395-year span as it does in 2040-1645bc, then i will start to look about 1250bc and 855bc. Okay when you say 13th century (1250bc is applicable) but secular probably places him at 64 years later in 1186bc, when you say 10th century (then the 855bc is 9th century) in which the typical secular would place 56 years later in 799bc.
    (BTW the 855bc is a Marduk of 360-day calendar for 936 years versus the 834bc Thoth Marduk of 365-day where 936 years are 949 Mayan tun 1770-834bc. A mistaken 936 egyptian, or Mayan haab backward from 855bc will appear as Hamurabi’s 1791bc Marduk but actually 13 years later in 1778bc Feb 26 is the 936 of 360-day to 855bc that is Noah’s 1200 in 2256am to his 2136 in 3192am.)

  3. OBTW, Xisuthros is always claimed as the older version but with Noah alive at 930 in 2040bc, the original Gilgamesh version is older than the Xisuthros version (40-day seance of Noah’s death 2021bc Greek Christmas Dec 25 to Egyptian Thoth 24 (2020bc Feb 2 Persian Zoroaster Christmas). King Xisuthros went to heaven the 40 days of the Flood (his rapture is not ark rapture with Noah inside the ark, false Greek Dec 25 in 2958bc on Egyptian date Kayak 25), the rapture of the real Noah at death in 2020bc is confused with the ark rapture thru the Flood because of this 40-day seance at his death. But Chinese and Japanese dates prove this is a confusion in 360-day calendar day-name Chia-Tze (Kiah-RAT / Jia-RAT) 27th day of odd months it is 3-27 in Flood but 5-27 in seance. Compare Japanese 3060bc and Chinese 2953bc. AND Josephus also uses 3460bc because it is 1460 years 365 leap days before 2020bc.

  4. Okay Akkadian in Babylon, so its the version that puts Noah as dead (and throws his wife in there too) because it thinks Kittim Cyprus is an island middle of the earth, a sea in the middle of the earth. Original version doesn’t have the wife because she is dead, and Noah is not, Noah is 930 having reached the age of Adam and so given the name Man-Nu which becomes in some languages the word for to the west. I would like to know if both versions speak of Noah’s body to Babylon and floated down the Euphrates to the island Dilmun in the Persian gulf equated with the paradise Eden back in Ararat. It took me several days to do a sky motion from 2157-1626bc looking for Mars turning in Scorpio when Venus rises and very odd that it narrows only to 2040bc and 1645bc.

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