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Oh wow, don’t encounter Lichtheim too often on most parts of the Web! There’s a third volume, too. Nb they were released far enough apart that later volumes co
by vundercind 3y ago
Oh wow, don’t encounter Lichtheim too often on most parts of the Web!
There’s a third volume, too. Nb they were released far enough apart that later volumes contain errata for earlier ones (like calling out fraudulent or mistaken dates on some of the works, which errors weren’t discovered until after the volume was printed)
I’ve read them cover to cover. Tried that with single-volume collections of Akkadian and Sumerian literature, but they were way harder to follow—too fragmentary, too little context. Didn’t finish either.
Gilgamesh is amazing though, and easily the best pre-Homeric work I’ve read, zero competitors are even close.
- huytersd 3y agoNonsense, the Mahabharata is definitely a fantastic epic written around 1500BC. Definitely far superior to the Iliad.
- vundercind 3y agoI haven’t made it to the short list (not just one entry!) of Indian works that, by reputation, may been in that same very-good category :-) I have read a lot more literature from before 1000 BC than most people have, though. That’s just one big blind spot for me, so far.
- SamBam 3y agoI'm not sure how much evidence there is that the actual text of the Mahabharata is anywhere near that old. Wikipedia says > The bulk of the Mahābhārata was probably compiled between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE, with the oldest preserved parts not much older than around 400 BCE. [1] The actual events that it was based on are older. The same article says that the Kurukshetra war was probably around 1000 BCE, and that there may have been events referenced that are older than that. I don't know that there is accepted evidence that it was written much before 400 BCE, though. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabharata https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabharata