The Epic of Gilgamesh (originally composed between ca. 2000–1600 BCE) is an important ancient work of Babylonian literature, important because a few of its themes and some of its language is reflected in the book of Ecclesiastes and important because tablet 11 of the epic features an account of the flood which, though corrupted by mythology, is rooted in an oral tradition that may stretch back to the flood event, thereby supporting the Genesis narrative. I mention this because I recently found an audio archive at the University of Cambridge [HT: Wax]. The archive includes a reading of tablet 11 in its original Akkadian. Here’s what it sounds like:
Lines 1-29 (reader: Stephanie Dalley)
Lines 1-163 (reader: Karl Hecker)
Lines 8-44 (reader: Victor Hurowitz)
Lines 1-34 (reader: Nathan Wasserman)
Lines 92-139 (reader: Martin West)
That is really very sweet.
It’s a nerd thing.
Sounds a little bit like the native American languages, at first glance.