Hi everybody, from Wondery, welcome to another episode of Tides of History.

I've been incredibly fortunate over the years to get to spend time with a whole bunch

of fascinating people.

When you're fortunate like that, those people stick with you sometimes in ways you didn't

expect.

You fall back on little nuggets of wisdom, you recall ways of thinking about language

or history, or you remember some deep insight into an aspect of the human experience.

And if you're really, really lucky, sometimes your paths cross again.

Today's guest is one of those people.

More than a decade ago, I got to work with him when I was doing my master's degree at the

National University of Ireland, Gullway.

I have so many fond memories of working in his office and translating Saint Augustine.

So as I was researching this current series on prehistory and the early historic period,

I ran across a book titled It Sounded Fascinating.

Achilles beside Gilgamesh, mortality and wisdom in early epic poetry.

And lo and behold, I recognize the author's name.

Professor Michael Clark is established professor of classics at the National University of Ireland,

Gullway.

He's an exceptionally wide ranging and creative scholar who's worked on the Homeric tradition,

Latin literature, Middle Irish literature, technical linguistic questions, and certainly

not least, heroic epic, which is what we'll be discussing today.

Just recently, as I mentioned, he's the author of Achilles beside Gilgamesh, mortality

...