The Epic of Gilgamesh: Quest for Immortality
The Ancients
History Hit
4.7 • 3.5K Ratings
🗓️ 8 February 2024
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest surviving works of storytelling in history. It begins with the tale of Gilgamesh’s friendship with the wild man Enkidu. But after Enkidu is killed, King Gilgamesh embarks on a journey into his distant past in search for immortality.
In this episode of the Ancients, the second part of our series on the Epic of Gilgamesh, Dr Sophus Helle returns to speak to Tristan Hughes about Gilgamesh’s quest and his encounters with a mysterious sage called Ut-napishtim - who some claim may have been the inspiration behind the biblical figure of Noah & his famous Ark.
The first part of our Gilgamesh series, The Epic of Gilgamesh: Rise of Enkidu can be found here
This episode was produced by Joseph Knight and edited by Aidan Lonergan
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | If you're enjoying all the content in this episode and the rest of the ancient series, |
| 0:03.8 | then why not join me on a trip uncovering Pompeii and Herculaneum alongside the legendary |
| 0:09.2 | archaeologist Dr. Sophie Hay. You'll get exclusive access to the Vesuvian sites, |
| 0:14.3 | a Plontis and the Bay of Naples. To book now or find out more about this |
| 0:18.8 | and other historical trips, just go to History Hit.com |
| 0:22.3 | forward slash trips. It's the entrance on history hit. I'm Tristan Hughes your host and today we are |
| 0:41.2 | continuing our special bumper episode on the extraordinary piece of ancient literature that is the epic of Gilgamesh, written more than 3,000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia. |
| 0:52.0 | Now in the last episode we covered the first years ago in ancient Mesopotamia. |
| 0:53.0 | Now in the last episode we covered the first half of this story, |
| 0:56.7 | how King Gilgamesh of Aruk and the wild man Enkidu became great friends, |
| 1:01.3 | fighting supernatural creatures such as Humbaba and the Ball of Heaven. |
| 1:06.6 | We left the story at the halfway point on a cliffhanger. |
| 1:10.0 | Enkudu has had a worrying dream. |
| 1:13.0 | And what happens next? |
| 1:14.8 | Well, it would completely change Gilgamesh. |
| 1:18.0 | Join us as we explore this second and final half of the tale, |
| 1:21.6 | centered around Gilgamesh and his quest for immortality. |
| 1:25.9 | Our guest for this episode once again is Dr Sophus Hell, a writer, translator, a seriologist |
| 1:31.0 | and expert on the epic. I really do hope you enjoy. And he is Sophus. |
| 1:37.0 | Sophus, it is wonderful to have you back on the podcast. |
| 1:43.7 | Wonderful to be here. |
| 1:44.9 | Now we are kicking off from where we left, this cliffhanger, |
... |
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