Archaeology and ancient epic have been natural companions in several different ways from antiquity onwards. This is quite apart from the obvious point that, were it not for archaeology, we would know little or nothing about some ancient epics at all, since in the last two centuries the recovery and decipherment of physical texts in the form of inscribed clay tablets have played a crucial part in our knowledge of the variety, longevity, and capacity for travel of Near Eastern epics such as Gilgamesh and Atrahasis (see Chapters 10, 14-17, by Haslam, Sasson, Noegel, Wyatt, and Beckman respectively). to archaeology, we can trace the history of the Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh, for instance, backwards from its Standard Babylonian version recorded on cuneiform tablets in Ashur-banipal’s Library at Nineveh and other first millennium Mespotamian sites to older versions current in the Old Babylonian period of the early second millennium, and back beyond that to shorter heroic tales composed in Sumerian probably initially during the reign of Shulgi of the Third Dynasty of Ur in the late third millennium (Figure 9.1). Moreover, other texts have provided circumstantial evidence for thinking that Gilgamesh was a real king of Uruk in the earlier third millennium, and yet others give grounds for believing that heroic tales about him were probably already being written down within a few generations of his reign (see Chapter 5, by Raaflaub).
The other thing that the archaeological discovery of clay tablets has made clear about ancient Near Eastern epic, and the Epic of Gilgamesh in particular, is that it had no trouble transferring from one language to another. There are not only Sumerian and Akkadian versions of Gilgamesh, but also second-millennium Hurrian and Hittite versions among the preserved texts from the Hittite capital at Boghazkoy, while during the first millennium it almost certainly also became familiar in Aramaic (Dalley 1989; 1998, esp. chs. 3-8). This often comes as a surprise to students of Greek epic in particular, who, steeped in a long-lived Romantic view of epic traditions as language - (and ‘‘people’’-) specific, consider that the history of epics such as those associated with Homer can be projected backwards only unilineally within a single linguistic line of descent - through early and proto-Greek and possibly back to some form of proto-Indo-European, but not laterally, to other non-Greek (and particularly not Semitic) languages.
Yet there are sufficient reflections of Gilgamesh and other Near Eastern epics, tales, and literary motifs within Homeric epic to make quite clear that Near Eastern epic was probably quite familiar in the Aegean area, and not only at the time (roughly around 700 bce) when
Figure 9.1 Fragmentary tablet inscribed with part of the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, from the Temple Mound at Kish, Old Babylonian period, ca.1800 BCE. This describes the slaying by Gilga-mesh and Enkidu of the monster Huwawa (Humbaba). Reproduced courtesy of the Visitors of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
The Homeric epics themselves are believed to have been composed (see Chapter 20, by Burkert). Indeed, there is some reason for thinking that the version or versions of Gilgamesh reflected in the Odyssey may already have reached the Aegean in the early second millennium. In this case, like other Near Eastern elements eventually incorporated in the Homeric epics, and like the numerous Near Eastern motifs that also entered Aegean art before 1500 BCE, it almost certainly made its Aegean debut in a language or languages (such as those spoken in pre-Greek-speaking Crete and the Cyclades) other than Greek.
One of the defining features of what is commonly classed by modern western scholars as epic (both ancient and more modern) is its unifying thrust - its significance to collective groups of people who seek to identify themselves along tribal, ethnic, religious, or national lines (see Chapter 1, by Martin). This immediately brings it into a political arena which reflects, not only on the contexts in which epics were originally compiled or created and subsequently adopted and reshaped in a variety of new circumstances, but also on the modern ideological and intellectual contexts that formulated this definition in the first place. While its close relationship to politics and history (in the sense of the creation or shaping of a ‘‘past’’) have meant that archaeology, in some sense or another, has probably always been an adjunct of epic, it is only really in the last two hundred years or so that modern archaeology was developed, side by side with philology and this perception of the significance of epic, as parallel handmaidens in the quest for the earliest origins and history of nation-states and their peoples. As such, it is a peculiarly European (and more generally western) phenomenon.
The Eurocentric origins of modern archaeology have had some interesting effects on its relationship with ancient Near Eastern epic. Biblical archaeology (specifically the archaeology of the biblical ‘‘epics’’; see Chapter 19, by Niditch), which was first initiated in the days of Constantine and carried on throughout the Crusades of the Middle Ages, was transformed relatively seamlessly into modern archaeology at around the beginning of the nineteenth century, because of the fundamental importance of biblical tradition to European identity and history. In other parts of the Near East, however, the relationship between archaeology and epic has generally been rather more low-key. True, various attempts were made by early archaeologists to pinpoint the Flood, recorded on a Sumerian King List of the late third millennium (as well as in the Epic of Atrahasis) as having taken place in the remote past, long before Gilgamesh reigned at Uruk (Mallowan 1964; Lloyd 1978: 91-93). But even this was at least partly driven by its biblical implications and the interest these aroused in a western public. However, although we have reason to believe that a character like Gilgamesh was probably originally a real person, there has been little interest in using archaeology (in the spirit of either a literal or rationalizing approach) to demonstrate the existence of some essential historical core underlying his epic adventures, as has been the case with the Bible or certain forms of European (including Homeric) epic. This is partly because in much of the ancient Near East for much of the time we have a wealth of written history and literature, which has relieved scholars of the need to create ‘‘history’’ out of the non-textual archaeological record as they have sometimes been tempted to do in other areas. More importantly, it is also because ofthe lack ofemotional and ideological involvement on the part of Europeans with the deep history of an East conceived as the permanent ‘‘other’’ with which the West habitually contrasted itself. Even modern Middle Eastern states, which have in general not hesitated to use archaeology in the service of political agendas, have seen little need to develop an archaeology specifically devoted to epic, since there is plenty of scope in the documented historical record to harness archaeology in this way. Instead, archaeologists have tended to confine themselves to identifying artistic representations of epic characters or episodes, which provide a subsidiary medium in which to track their currency and spread (Figure 9.2). Where epics such as that of Gilgamesh have been looked at more recently through archaeological eyes, it is in the matter of the reconstruction, with the help ofarchaeology, ofmore general contexts which provide the ideological or social matrix for the development of such tales.
In areas to the west, however, where history (even in the classical world) is comparatively short, and where written texts go back a few millennia at most, the scope for modern archaeology to forge a close relationship with epic ‘‘histories’’ has traditionally been much greater, as has the motivation to harness archaeology in this way. There is no doubt that epics of all sorts and all ages have probably had a long relationship to archaeology in a loose sense, in that accidentally found ‘‘relics,’’ or ancient ruins or peculiarities in the landscape, will prompt stories which then live on to be incorporated in grander epics, or will be related to personae or events already familiar from widely circulated epic or quasiepic accounts, whether written or oral (see Chapter 13, by J. Foley and Chapter 4, by Jensen). Thus it is possible for characters such as King Arthur or St Patrick to have several
Figure 9.2 Gilgamesh and Enkidu slaying Humbaba, from a moulded clay plaque of the Old Babylonian period. British Museum, London. Drawing by T. Rickards.
Different seats or birthplaces or for figures such as Robin Hood to have frequented an impossible range of habitats - which did not matter as long as travel was generally difficult and restricted (or at least as long as those who cared most did not travel).
To some extent, however, the invention of modern archaeology in the nineteenth century imported a new seriousness into this relationship, turning it into a quasi-scientific endeavor to establish (among other things) the ‘‘truth’’ between rival claims, particularly where nationally or ethnically significant epics were concerned. The seriousness and continued longevity of this relationship varied according to the nature and content of the epics concerned and the nature of the societies which wished to relate to them. Within the small and self-contained island of Iceland, for instance, first settled (according to historical sources) by Norsemen in the ninth century ce, archaeology and the sagas developed an intimate relationship, which encouraged the population to identify the initial homesteads of their ancestors by means of archaeology illuminated by the saga literature (fantastic though much of this was) - a relationship that continued well into the twentieth century. In many other cases, however - such as the epic Beowulf - where the content was either so fantastic, or the need for continued historical self-definition on the part of the interested parties (in this case the Anglo-Saxon English) so attenuated, the relationship was neither so committed nor so long-lived. In the case of most of the epics of the ancient classical world, their self-consciously contrived literary nature, their evidently derivative status, or their lack of direct relevance to modern political concerns also seemed to place them beyond the bounds or interest of archaeological investigation. There was, though, some antiquarian enthusiasm for tracing, through ancient iconography, the earliest date at which the legend of the suckling of Romulus and Remus by the she-wolf might have existed in recognizable form (Figure 9.3). The exceptions to this were the Homeric epics - the Iliad and Odyssey - the earliest, most intriguing and most monumental of all ancient European epics, and from which the very notion of epic was largely seen to derive (see Chapters 11, 21, 22, and 29, by Lamberton, Edwards, Slatkin, and Due respectively).
Figure 9.3 Bronze figure of a she-wolf. The wolf is probably of Etruscan workmanship dating to around 500 BCE. The figures of the children were added during the Renaissance, but there is reason to think that some such figures formed part of the original. If so, it shows that the legend of the suckling of Romulus and Remus by a she-wolf already existed by the end of the sixth century. Museo Capitolino, Rome. Archivo Fotografico.
Of all relationships between archaeology and epic, that between archaeology and the Homeric epics is, if not the longest, at least the longest traceable and almost certainly the most complex, and has probably existed in some form or another as long as the epics themselves. This relationship has an interesting history of its own, which not only reflects the unique status these epics enjoyed in the ancient world, but also encapsulates much of modern European intellectual history, including the history of archaeology and its relations with ancient historical and literary scholarship, over the last 150 years or so. In what follows, I shall attempt to outline a few of the main stages in this history, suggest why it took the course it did, and offer some thoughts about where a relationship between archaeology and ancient (above all, Homeric) epic can now most usefully lead us.
World History
