The Drumbeat Forever After

<p>(Sorry I disappeared for three months! I burned myself out working on rewriting old episodes and had to focus on other stuff for a couple months. I'm back in the saddle now, with episodes written up to the end of the...

<p>I interviewed Karrar Sabah Al Ramahi, PhD student at Baghdad University, about his research on the city of Eridu! Furqan Salam helped with the translation.</p> <p>We talk about its earliest settlement during the...

<p>Guest: Lily</p> <p>First: the world's oldest known wisdom literature, in the form of a series of proverbs delivered from the eponymous Shuruppak (king of Shuruppak) to his son Zi-ud-sura (alias Utnapishtim, the Noah...

<p>Guest: Annika</p> <p>First, a classic sitcom setup: Ningishzida plans to sail a boat to hell with his friend (an ill-intentioned demon), but his sister Ama-shilama wants to tag along!</p> <p>Then, we visit the...

<p>(Re-recorded as of December 3, 2022)</p> <p>Guest: Victoria</p> <p>First: Having insulted Ereshkigal (queen of the Sumerian underworld) by offending her messenger's honor at a dinner party in heaven, Nergal (god of...

<p>Guests: Kelten, James</p> <p>First, Gilgamesh ignores the branch of the government standing between him and a unilateral declaration of war on King Aga of Kish, the mightiest kingdom in the Mesopotamian alluvium at...

<p>Guest: James</p> <p>First: To punish Gilgamesh, Inanna sends the massive Bull of Heaven to ravage Unug. But, as it destroys farmland and drinks the rivers dry, Gilgamesh sits idle, drinking beer and listening to...

<p>Guest: Lily</p> <p>First, we finally meet Gilgamesh! Cherished in Unug, heroic bearer of a scepter of wide-ranging power, noble glory of the gods, angry bull standing ready for a fight, etc. We read one of two...

<p>It's the podcast's first interview!</p> <p>I talk to Malath Feadha and Dr. Jaafar Jotheri, two Iraqi archaeologists studying ancient Mesopotamia at Al-Qadisiyah University, about the relationship between the early...

<p>New update, as of July 18:</p> <p>Episode 17 is entirely new, and episodes 18-20 are mostly new.</p> <p>I've rearranged the order of episodes 22-26, and I've re-recorded audio for episodes 23-26 that I haven't edited...

<p>(Update: I'm still working on re-records. This will eventually be episode 20, the third of three episodes on the Uruk expansion. The myth is partially new audio, but the historical narrative is all new audio & mostly...

<p>(Update: I'm still working on re-records. This will eventually be episode 19, the second of three episodes on the Uruk expansion. The myth is partially new audio, but the historical narrative is all new audio &...

<p>(Update: I'm still working on re-records. This will eventually be episode 18, the first of three episodes on the Uruk expansion. The myth is mostly old audio, but the historical narrative is all new audio & lots of...

<p>(Update: I'm still working on re-records. This will eventually be episode 17, followed by three episodes on the Uruk expansion, followed by Metals, Textiles, and four episodes recut from what are now episodes 17, 19...

<p>Guest: Kelten</p> <p>First: Anzu, the mythical bird guarding the mountains at the edge of the world, comes home to find that Lugalbanda has treated his beloved chick with the utmost generosity. In return, he makes...