Epic Poetry: Did you mean...?

Gilgamesh is a semi-mythical king of Uruk, an ancient city of Mesopotamia, and is best known as the star of the first epic poem ever written, the Epic of Gilgamesh, where he searches for immortality after the death of his friend Enkidu. Even...

The Epic of Gilgamesh is among the most popular works of literature in the present day and has influenced countless numbers of readers but, for the greater part of its history, it was lost. The Assyrian Empire fell to a coalition of Babylonians...

The Old Norse word saga means 'story', 'tale' or 'history' and normally refers specifically to the epic prose narratives written mainly in Iceland between the 12th- and 15th centuries CE, covering the country's history as well as Scandinavia's...

The Mahabharata is an Ancient Indian Epic and is the longest epic poem in the world. It was believed to have been composed as early as the 4th c. BCE or even earlier by the sage Vyasa (who is also a character in the story). As a whole, the...

The cuneiform inscription on this clay tablet (VAT 12890) narrates part of the Epic of Gilgamesh (written c. 2150 - 1400 BCE). The obverse of this tablet relates the second dream of Gilgamesh on the journey to the Forest of Cedar, and part...

This is the newly discovered Tablet II of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The upper surface is the obverse. The image was intentionally shot focusing on the center because the tablet has not been published yet. The cuneiform text has been transliterated...

This is the reverse of the newly discovered Tablet II of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The cuneiform text (on the obverse) has been transliterated by Professor Farouk Al-Rawi and an article will be published by him soon. The cuneiform inscription...

Noted translator and poet Coleman Barks, a Distinguished Visiting Fellow in the UCSB College of Creative Studies, presents the poetry of 13th century Afghan-born Sufi mystic and poet, Jelaluddin Rumi. Bark's intense and artful translations...

This is the 11th tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The cuneiform text on this tablet is startlingly similar to the Biblical story of Noah and his ark in the Book of Genesis. When George Smith, an assistant in the British Museum first read...

Mesopotamian clay tablet with the episodes of the epic of creation. It narrates how the god Anshar summons the gods together for a banquet. They celebrate Marduk's appointment as champion; Marduk defeated Tiamat in the primeval chaos. From...