Sunday 8 March 2015

Sat 14 March - Jenny Lewis in conversation with Jude Cowan Montague - the goddess Ishtar

Poet and musician Jenny Lewis returns to discuss her work translating the Epic of Gilgamesh and create a special audio experience dedicated to Sumerian poetry, believed by many to be the oldest written poems in the world.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a great work of early written literature. Gilgamesh, king of Uruk and Endiku, a wild man created by the gods to help prevent Gilgamesh oppressing his own people, become close friends. The poem resembles contemporary 'buddy' movies as the friends embark on exciting adventures together, journeying to the Cedar Mountain and defeating Humbaba, its monstrous guardian. They kill the Bull of Heaven which the goddess Ishtar sends to punish Gilgamesh for spurning her advances. To punish these actions the gods sentence Endiku to death.

This first part of the epic will be revisited in a dramatic audio rendition in the studio.

It is possible to read the epic as an assertion of patriarchy over the matriarchal religion personified by the goddess Ishtar. Jenny and Jude will discuss the work from a modern feminist perspective and reimagine the struggle of Ishtar in the Resonance FM studio.



 

Queen of the Night relief from the Old Babylonian period, often considered to represent an aspect of Ishtar.


1 comment:

  1. Is there a podcast feed for this show available anywhere?

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