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Nick Owchar is acting deputy editor of Book Review. Seamus HEANEY isn’t the only one intent on making the classics relevant to our times. Stephen Mitchell’s translation of “Gilgamesh” (The Free Press: ...

German archaeologists working in Iraq have made a partial map of the ancient site of Uruk and discovered that some of its features are just as described in a famous Sumerian epic poem -- "The Song of ...

Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Marvel Comics all owe a debt to Gilgamesh, a hero in Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the world’s first epic story. Gilgamesh was a historic king of the ...

This tale is about the limits of ambition; it is about power, about piety, and about man's inhumanity to man and life's timeless lessons to man. Our tale is also about the beauty of friendship and the ...

During the unrest in Iraq in April 2003, opportunistic looters stole some 15,000 priceless cultural artifacts from the National Museum of Iraq, taking advantage of the evacuation of museum staff until ...

The Gilgamesh epic has often been called the world's oldest surviving story. This isn't strictly true: That distinction probably belongs to the Sumerian epic Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta. Still, ...

An ancient story takes shape in Marin Shakespeare Company’s capacious black box on Fourth Street in San Rafael. A retelling of one of the oldest tales in the historical era — since the advent of ...