In 1849 Austen Henry Layard started excavating the mound of Kuyunjik on the banks of the Tigris River. It was there that he discovered the fabulous city of Ninevah, previously known only through the Old Testament. He discovered the palace built by the bloody emperor Sennacherib. Assurbanipal, a grandson of Sennacherib by one of his concubines, had added a library to the palace; he then sent emissaries out to comb his kingdom for original tablets worthy of being in his library, and had the emissaries borrow the tablets and bring them to the palace. Assurbanipal had exact copies made of each one, and returned the originals to their rightful owners. He had some 30,000 copies made on clay tablets, and put them all in his library. These were the tablets which Layard found.
Among the tablets were twelve comprising the Epic of Gilgamesh – a man who was, at that time, a legendary king of the first dynasty of Erech, closely following the great deluge. He has since been shown to have been a real human being.
Gilgamesh sought the secret of eternal life, driven to do so by the death of his friend Enkidu. He was told that he should find a man by the name of Utnapishtim, who had been granted eternal life by the gods.
He found Utnapishtim, whom Gilgamesh successfully persuaded to tell his story. Utnapishtim stated that indeed, he had been granted the secret of eternal life, and was told by the gods:
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“O man of Shuruppak, son of Ubar-Tutu, possessions, save thyself;
Teardown thy house and build a ship;
Let be well-measured.”
He describes the ship he built, and from all Principles of naval architecture, it was a ship which
Could not be tipped over – square! (Probably meaning Oblong).
After he built it, he launched it on no less than
Eight shake down cruises; each time he would bring it back caulk it with bitumen, and check it out again,
Finally he had it shipshape, so he held a real Belshazzar’s feast to celebrate its completion, with beer, wine,
Venison and mutton served to all who came.
Imagine this in your neighborhood! Some of his neighbors must have thought he was a real nut.
On the very next day after the feast, he decided
That it was time to load the ship and set it to sea on the cruse for survival.
“I then boarded the ship.
The whole harvest of life I loaded
– My family, my friends,
The beast of the field, the cattle of the field,
The craftsmen and the tools of their trades –
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