Since the Marvel Cinematic Extended Universe entered the movie scene roughly a decade-and-a-half ago, a lot of people were – and many still are – enthralled by the expansive storytelling that was employed. Throughout the cascade of interconnected narratives and characters from different adventures unexpectedly teaming up on other occasions, people never knew what to expect next. They did know, though, that they couldn’t wait!1 Even our old friend Gilgamesh pops up in both Marvel comics and movies.2 But such an extended narrative universe is nothing new. Gilgamesh himself, for example, already figured in a number of tangentially related Sumerian narratives which predate the famous epic that nowadays bears his name.3 Today, though I want to introduce another batch of loosely connected ancient stories: Welcome into the Homeric Extended Universe!
Category Archives: Antiquity
The Cosmic Geography of Ugarit
Many of us have found ourselves, at one point in our lives or another, in a so-called Wikipedia rabbit hole.1 Wherein you try to learn about a certain topic with the help of the popular digital encyclopedia, but end up going from topic to topic through clicking cross references while much more time than anticipated passes by! And despite the regularly suggested shortcomings of Wikipedia, such a pastime is perhaps more useful than many of the other ways in which one can spend one’s time online.2 Because, in this way, you are nonetheless able to learn a lot – a subject that you had previously never heard of might even become a veritable obsession. And one of the subjects that could be a candidate for such an obsession when people would coincidentally stumble upon it is, I think, the ancient city and kingdom of Ugarit and especially the way in which the people who lived there used to imagine the local landscapes.
The Longevity of Gothic and the Importance of Writing Letters
Traveling by train some years ago, I decided that I wanted to learn the Gothic language. And this became one of those things I have sporadically undertaken in my spare time since then. Most of us will associate the term Gothic – as a moniker for a group of peoples and their language, as opposed to the similarly named literary, architectural and vibe genres – with the Roman Empire.1 And this is understandable, as the Goths rose to prominence during late antiquity and most of our sources come from this period.2 And their language, for most intents and purposes, seems to have largely died out in the second half of the first millennium CE.3 But what struck me when researching the Goths, is the longevity of one branch of their language in Eastern Europe, which survived way longer than the commonly perceived end point of Gothic and that we are primarily aware of because of one sedulous letter writer from the sixteenth century CE. Thus, today we will discuss the drawn-out demise of the Gothic language.
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Nature, Culture and the Gilgamesh Epic
What do you do when you have a story about enduring friendship, reckless attempts to win fame and immortality, and the inevitable bleakness of the human condition? You mine it for ecological themes, of course! And that is exactly what we are going to do today with the oldest surviving epic in the world, the ancient Mesopotamian Gilgamesh Epic. Such an undertaking stands in a long tradition, as the Epic both offered its contemporary readers explanations for the world in which they lived, as well as granting us today many insights into the society that conceived of it.1 In this blog we will unearth how the Epic relates to the concept of wilderness and the perceived dichotomy between nature and culture in ancient Mesopotamian thought.
Searching for Ecological Attitudes in Ancient Stories
Last week, spring was in the air: the sun was shining, the birds where chirping, and the cars polluted the air.1 But only two of these observations will presumably enter most stories that feature this season. Except when one writes specifically about pollution, that is. Such as in the famous ‘Fable for Tomorrow’ that opens the 1962 book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.2 And we might wonder whether it will be such specific works that shall survive and determine the reconstructed societal views on nature that will be attributed to our current day by the scholars of the future, when they are trying to glean these from our stories. Though, we do not need to wonder that much, as we ourselves struggle with similar questions regarding our own past.
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The Poignant Meaning of Τύχη in Ancient Greek
Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while now, might have noticed that I am an adept of ancient languages. When others grab their phone, put on the tv, or devour snacks in their downtime, I turn to philology – and often also to those other activities, truth be told.1 And I love them all, from the venerable Akkadian to plain old Latin. Or should I say arâm Akkadian and amo Latin?2 Every aspect of ancient languages is interesting, obviously, but what fascinates me perhaps the most is the morphology and grammar of languages – the forms and structures which give each tongue its own feel and sense of elegance – and their lexicon.3 ,,Big deal!”, you might say about the latter, ,,Who doesn’t like, you know, words?” But words can convey a world of meaning, which is difficult to express in languages with a different vocabulary. And one of these words, which we should therefore immediately adapt in any of the still living languages that wants it, is the ancient Greek τύχη. So, let us play some semantics, without annoying others for a change!4
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How the Eastern Roman Empire Became Byzantine
Apparently the people I’m surrounded by, care more about me than I ever dared hope for. Because, at the beginning of this month I was surprised with the beautiful new book The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium by Anthony Kaldellis.1 Within its tasteful red cover one can find more than a thousand pages of the good stuff: an engagingly written, thoroughly researched and amply annotated history of the Eastern Roman Empire. And already on the first few pages Kaldellis makes a very interesting point. Despite the subtitle of that very volume, he postulates that the moniker ‘Byzantine’ is maybe not a good fit for the Eastern Roman Empire.2 And considering that by all accounts you lot cannot seem to stop thinking about the Roman Empire, I want to take the time today to explain how the Eastern Roman Empire became Byzantine.3
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How the Cuneiform Sign ĜEŠTUG Became the Logo for Bildungblocks
It is seldom riveting when people talk about themselves for an extended period of time. And perhaps the same holds true for blogs. I therefore aim to restrict housekeeping on Bildungblocks to an absolute minimum. But one aspect of this site deserves elaboration, I think, and it also gives me the opportunity to talk about the cuneiform script that was used in the ancient Near East. And if you have been reading for a while, you have probably noticed that I never pass up an opportunity to talk about cuneiform! So, without further ado, here are the rhymes as well as the reasons why the cuneiform sign ĜEŠTUG (𒉿) became the logo for this webpage.
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The Assyrian Elegy: One of the Saddest Texts From Ancient Mesopotamia
Two weeks ago I talked about the impressive scale and epicness of some of the ancient texts that have come down to us. But not every old document contains an Illiad, an Epic of Gilgamesh, or a Mahābhārata. And that is honestly a relief, as our understanding of human life in the distant past would suffer if we had only these kinds of texts at our disposal.1 Luckily we do possess writings from those days that deal with smaller affairs. And these texts can have just as much of an impact on the modern reader as any epic. An especially poignant example is the subject of today: the Assyrian Elegy.2 In this text, a deceased woman tells the story of her death and laments her existence in the hereafter. It is a beautiful composition which, though it was written in a time long since passed, still evokes all too familiar emotions with its musings on love, mortality, and the indifference of fate.
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The Multifaceted Appreciation of Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War
It is impossible to read ancient sources without a sense of awe. And especially the literary efforts of the past. Whether one finds oneself on the battlefield of Troy, treks along with Gilgamesh in search of immortality, or watches with astonishment the rise and fall of mighty dynasties in the Mahābhārata, one cannot but be convinced that it is the sheer quality of these works which preserved them throughout the ages and made it possible to become the affordable paperback editions that we can buy at the local airport.1 However, as you might have gleaned from the tone of that last sentence, the reasons that we admire those ancient texts today, manifold as they are, often have not much to do with the reasons that they used to be appreciated.2 Seldom has this been more obvious than with Thucydides’ famous account of the Peloponnesian War. Some of the modern uses of his text might even have baffled many of those reading it in centuries past!
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