The BBC reports “The Epic Of Gilgamesh – written by a Middle Eastern scholar 2,500 years before the birth of Christ – commemorated the life of the ruler of the city of Uruk, from which Iraq gets its name.
Now, a German-led expedition has discovered what is thought to be the entire city of Uruk – including, where the Euphrates once flowed, the last resting place of its famous King.
“I don’t want to say definitely it was the grave of King Gilgamesh, but it looks very similar to that described in the epic,” Jorg Fassbinder, of the Bavarian department of Historical Monuments in Munich, told the BBC World Service’s Science in Action programme.”
In the book – actually a set of inscribed clay tablets – Gilgamesh was described as having been buried under the Euphrates, in a tomb apparently constructed when the waters of the ancient river parted following his death.
“We found just outside the city an area in the middle of the former Euphrates river¿ the remains of such a building which could be interpreted as a burial,” Mr Fassbinder said.
He said the amazing discovery of the ancient city under the Iraqi desert had been made possible by modern technology. “By differences in magnetisation in the soil, you can look into the ground,” Mr Fassbinder added.
“The difference between mudbricks and sediments in the Euphrates river gives a very detailed structure.” This creates a magnetogram, which is then digitally mapped, effectively giving a town plan of Uruk.
“The most surprising thing was that we found structures already described by Gilgamesh,” Mr Fassbinder stated. “We covered more than 100 hectares. We have found garden structures and field structures as described in the epic, and we found Babylonian houses.”
But he said the most astonishing find was an incredibly sophisticated system of canals.
“Very clearly, we can see in the canals some structures showing that flooding destroyed some houses, which means it was a highly developed system.
“[It was] like Venice in the desert.”
Linda B
Cool. 🙂 makes you think, doesnt it. Nice story for a cold snowy Kansas day.
Linda B
Thanks, Wes. 🙂 I always liked the era of Gilgamesh….the old Tarzan movies (woukd always watch them with my dad who would make jokes about the natives (which shall go unmentioned) …the movies had the hidden cities in them, so romantic, with all the lovely women in gorgeous costumes, very mysterious and good for the imagination.
Charles R
I also remember those old Tarzan movies during my youth in the 1960s, especially the ones with the original, Johny Weissmuller, who was the Michael Phelps of the 1920s winning 5 olympic medals and setting over 60 world records. I always gotta kick out of the antics of Cheetah. After Cheetah retired he moved to Palm Springs, sitting at a pool and smoking cigars and drinking highballs, accordiing to my neighbor who went to his owners house. And of course later Johnny Weissmuller made those Jungle Jim movies set in Aftrica, but dressed in Safari outfits. He always had those porters that called him Bwa-na. As a kid us boys would try to imitate that famous Tarzan ululating yell, but always fell short. Maybe a Bigfoot could do it better – they have half of it with the Ohio Howl.
Joyce E
Interesting info thanks Wes.
Melissa P
Wow, what an incredible discovery!! And there’s still so much more discoveries to make. How fascinating, technology has come so far.