49. George Smith: the man behind the headlines

150 years ago, a young George Smith made headlines around the world. He had pieced together an Akkadian version of the Flood story found on fragments of clay tablets. Who was Smith, and why did his discovery have such a dramatic impact? What happened to him next? And what is his legacy?

We're joined by guests Sophus Helle, Gareth Brereton, Strahil Panayotov, Enrique Jimenez, Cornelia Wunsch, Mark Weeden, and Pippa Steele.

3:23Smith finds a marvel
13:46who was Smith?
17:06Smith's 1st and 2nd expeditions
22:02the fateful 3rd expedition
27:43the mysterious Mr Mathewson
33:29Carchemish and the Hittites
40:25quarantine!
42:58to Aleppo by horse
51:10a tragic end
56:22Mathewson's career
58:09Smith's family
1:03:10boo, a ghost
1:06:50Smith's notebooks
1:12:55Egibi tablets
1:16:30statue of Kubaba
1:21:29deciphering Cypriote syllabic script

The sad story of Boscawen can be found in Ruth Horry’s “Assyriology at the Margins. The Case of William St. Chad Boscawen (1855–1913)” in IRAQ 77 (2015) pp. 129-142

You can read more about the Egibit tablets in Strahil V. Panayotov and Cornelia Wunsch, "New Light on George Smith’s Purchase of the Egibi Archive in 1876 from the Nachlass Mathewson", in: Melammu: The Ancient World in an Age of Globalization (2014)

Music by Ruba Hillawi

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