Please donate to Aseel in Gaza here: https://chuffed.org/project/128660-help-aseel-her-family-escape-gaza

Guest: Annika

We've never been more back! We start off this new miniseries on Presargonic Lagash with a series of hymns to Nanshe, patron goddess of Ningen near the Gulf Coast and sister of Ningirsu, patron goddess of the kingdom of Lagash.

Then, we take a boat trip up the "Going-to-Ningen canal" from the coastal town of Gu-abba, past Nanshe's hometown of Ningen, to the major Early Dynastic city of Lagash and then to its administrative capital of Girsu, where we have thousands of texts from the Presargonic dynasty of Ur-Nanshe and the queens who ran the temple of Baba, both of whom we'll examine more in future episodes.

Then, we finish up as Nanshe's Sirara temple in Ningen appears to address some allegations of temple employees leaving work while on the clock, failing to clean the dough trough, eating from temple storerooms and lying about it, and so on. As my old history professor liked to say, the more things change...

Questions? Feedback? Email us at drumbeatforeverafter@gmail.com.

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Works cited

Please donate to Aseel in Gaza here: https://chuffed.org/project/128660-help-aseel-her-family-escape-gaza

Guest: Sheila

We're so back! First, a Sumerian poem about Gilgamesh which mentions his trip to see Ziusudra (also known as Atrahasis, Utnapishtim, and/or Noah), which some have interpreted as evidence for the kind of mass human sacrifice we see in these tombs.

Then, the famous Royal Tombs of Ur, first excavated a century ago, with their famous treasures and aforementioned mass human sacrifice! For the first time, we're able to look at the royal family through the generations rather than dealing with isolated kings' names. We might even be able to identify some of their bodies, unlike their dozens of unlucky victims.

Then, we look at several of the famous artifacts which these tombs produced: the Standard of Ur, the Royal Game of Ur, and several bull-head lyres, including the Great Lyre, along with other musical instruments. We finish up with a look at four tombs: Personal Grave (PG) 1236, possibly the early king Aya-Anzu; PG 1237 (or the Great Death Pit), possibly King Meskalamdu; PG 755, possibly a later member of the royal family also named Meskalamdu; and PG 800, tomb of the famous Pu-abi with her famous jewelry.

Then: Gilgamesh, he of well-proportioned limbs, has lain down and is never to rise again! Sheila (who had just got back from visiting family in India when we recorded this way back in 2023) compares modern Hindu practices with the style of Sumerian oral performances like this one.

Questions? Feedback? Email us at drumbeatforeverafter@gmail.com.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @drumbeatforever

Works cited

Aseel and her family desperately need your help surviving the war on Gaza! Please donate to her here: https://chuffed.org/project/118973-save-aseels-family-from-genocide-in-gaza

Donate to Aseel's sister Tahrir here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-doaas-family-escape-to-safety?utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link

Also, check out episodes 17-28, most of which I re-recorded and reuploaded recently.

New episodes on Early Dynastic Sumer coming soon.