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Strongly agree. I order most of my books chronologically. In the far top-left are English translations of works from ~5000 years ago. They're so remote that, t
by ashark 12y ago
Strongly agree.
I order most of my books chronologically. In the far top-left are English translations of works from ~5000 years ago. They're so remote that, though bits and pieces of them survive as faint echoes through the centuries scattered across a hundred peoples, these are dead cultures. These pre-date early dates for the composition of the Torah by better than a millennium. Some of the authors were as ancient to Homer as Julius Caesar is to us. Their literature is often quirky and even alien to a modern reader.
The broad strokes, though? The themes, the underlying humanity of the characters and the author? Rarely do they not feel entirely familiar.
Honoring, pleading with, boasting to, daring, threatening the gods. Terrified of death and eager to make a lasting mark on the world. Writing propaganda, hagiographies, libel and honest praise. Teaching and exploring. Full of doubt, hope, love, hate, pride, jealously, and a sense of justice.
Funny, clever, evil little humans.
Just like us.
- stelonix 12y agoWhat are some of the books in the far top left? I'm interested in translations of very old scriptures.
- ashark 12y agoSorry for the delay, busy few days. 1) The three volumes of Lichtheim's Ancient Egyptian Literature 2) Stephen Mitchell's Gilgamesh 3) Black et al, The Literature of Ancient Sumer 4) Foster's From Distant Days (Akkadian) After that there should be some major works from India, but I haven't gotten around to that yet, so it's, uh, (counts) 14 volumes of Greek lit, philosophy, and math instead. A few Chinese authors ought to be represented along with the Greeks, but again, haven't gotten to it. I usual prefer accuracy over readability in translations if I have to choose between the two, but I make an exception for some epic verse. Mitchell's Gilgamesh is one of those cases. It's not an abridgment or a retelling, but it errs on the side of readability. Great read, I'd definitely recommend it. Lichtheim's introductions leave me wanting more, but those books are still very good, and they make the Sumerian and Akkadian volumes seem really bad in comparison. AFAIK there's not much out there better than those two, so those literatures may be in need of a good, well-edited anthology. The Literature of Ancient Sumer is serviceable, but I wasn't even able to finish From Distant Days and I'm considering getting rid of it. Part of that's the literature itself (seems like a big step down from Sumer, IMO) but part of it's the poor work of the editor, annotator, and translator, Foster. Only the first few works in Vol. 1 of Lichtheim predate the Sumerian and Akkadian literature, and most of the stuff in Vol. 3 is all the way up in the first millennium BCE, but I keep the trilogy together anyway. (1) http://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Egyptian-Literature-Middle-Kingdoms/dp/0520248422/ http://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Egyptian-Literature-Middle-Kin... (2) http://www.amazon.com/Gilgamesh-English-Version-Stephen-Mitchell/dp/0743261690/ http://www.amazon.com/Gilgamesh-English-Version-Stephen-Mitc... (3) http://www.amazon.com/Literature-Ancient-Sumer-Jeremy-Black/dp/0199296332/ http://www.amazon.com/Literature-Ancient-Sumer-Jeremy-Black/... (4) http://www.amazon.com/Distant-Days-Poetry-Ancient-Mesopotamia/dp/1883053099/ http://www.amazon.com/Distant-Days-Poetry-Ancient-Mesopotami... [EDIT] formatting [EDIT 2] If you're only going to buy/read one volume of Lichtheim I'd recommend Vol. 2 (not the one I linked)
- Retric 12y agoFinding connections is not what I am talking about. The issue is no specific example is universal. Even pain might seem universal, but some people simply lack that sensation. As in antithetic while getting a cavity filled would be pointless. This might all seem pedantic, but it's really important to remember that people don't necessarily think the way you do.
- locopati 12y agoThe specific instantiation might vary but suffering is universal. We all suffer in various ways to various degrees depending on the circumstances around us.