What was the name of the Ancient Greek group of leaders who either came after Pericles or came after the Athens-Sparta War? Were they called “The Seven”?

Thirty Tyrants, (404–403 bc) Spartan-imposed oligarchy that ruled Athens after the Peloponnesian War. Thirty commissioners were appointed to the oligarchy, which had an extremist conservative core, led by Critias. Their oppressive regime fostered a bloody purge, in which perhaps 1,500 residents were killed.

Why were the Thirty Tyrants bad?
Although they maintained power for only eight months, their reign resulted in the killing of 5% of the Athenian population, the confiscation of citizens’ property, and the exile of other democratic supporters.

Wow! To have Matthew LaCroix grace my book Historical Accuracy is exciting.

– Steve Campbell

FYI

The Great Courses:

Ancient Mesopotamia: Life in the Cradle of Civilization
Amanda H. Podany, Ph.D. / California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
$44.95 Instant Video
$49.95 DVD

Dear Dr. Ehrman,

Question 1

You say you read Gilgamesh.

I’m at amazon dot com.
Do you like the Gerald J. Davis translation or the Benjamin R. Foster translation which is a Norton Critical Edition?

The Norton Critical Editions I have used in the past:

1) The House of Mirth by Edit Wharton
2) The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
3) The Brothers Karamazov

So, I’m leaning towards the Foster Gilgamesh.

Would you like to share with us the Gilgamesh translation that would be acceptable today or maybe the version you read?

Thank you,
Steve Campbell author of
Historical Accuracy
(currently developing the 2nd edition)

= = =

Question 2

With Homo sapiens sapiens being 150,000 years old. Our notion of a Father-Son god in early Christianity is obligated and our sacred text must embrace all civilizations, not just the most recent 10,000 year period. We could have had 15 civilizations of 10,000 years. That is the challenge to Christianity and why I am looking at Sumer and more to replace Noah and Adapa to replace Adam.

Posted for approval here:
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Pick up at 1:02.10 of 1:09:04 where he gets into genetic proof.

Would you like to share with us the Gilgamesh translation that would be acceptable today or maybe the version you read?

Well your question wasn’t directed to me but since I have read almost all translations of the Epic since first I was introduced to it, let me weigh in.

The finest translation of the ones produced recently in my not at all humble opinion is from Danish scholar Sophus Helle:

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Also don’t miss his translation of the poems of the Sumerian Priestess Enheduana.

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Helle also has a really cool website with lots of supplemental materials.

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Is someone is interested in the current scholarly critical edition see Andrew George’s work for Penguin. It is available in both a cut-down single volume inexpensive version (hooray!) and a hardcover multi-volume commentary that is to be had at whimsical prices. Most of us will go here-

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I still have a soft spot for Naomi Sandars’ version of the epic. In the very first Western Lit survey I ever attended in school the professor came in holding a box. After introducing himself he commented that while the syllabus began with Homer we were going back a bit earlier. He proceeded to hand out copies of Sandars’ version. I’ve been in love with the Epic ever since. Note that this version is not a true line by line translation. Although it closely follows the original text it is a retelling of the story eliding over textual difficulties and gaps in the narrative. A perfect introduction to the Epic still.

** you do not have permission to see this link ** (N K Sandars)

Dear Dr. Ehrman,

Question 1

You say you read Gilgamesh.

I’m at amazon dot com.
Do you like the Gerald J. Davis translation or the Benjamin R. Foster translation which is a Norton Critical Edition?

The Norton Critical Editions I have used in the past:

1) The House of Mirth by Edit Wharton
2) The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
3) The Brothers Karamazov

So, I’m leaning towards the Foster Gilgamesh.

Would you like to share with us the Gilgamesh translation that would be acceptable today or maybe the version you read?

Thank you,
Steve Campbell author of
Historical Accuracy
(currently developing the 2nd edition)

= = =

BDEhrman:

I don’t have a huge preference, especially since I can’t read the original language in order to gauge accuracy.

It seems the Epic of Gilgamesh (read by Dr. Ehrman) deals with him seeking immortality.
But the Myth of Adapa has the same search:

The Myth of Adapa (also known as Adapa and the Food of Life) is the Mesopotamian story of the Fall of Man in that it explains why human beings are mortal. The god of wisdom, Ea, creates the first man, Adapa, and endows him with great intelligence and wisdom but not with immortality, and when immortality is offered Adapa by the great god Anu, Ea tricks Adapa into refusing the gift.

Though it is not expressed directly in the myth, Ea’s reasoning in this seems similar to Yahweh’s in the Genesis story from the Bible where, after Adam and Eve are cursed for eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Yahweh casts them out before they can also eat of the Tree of Life:

Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever; Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden. (Genesis 3:22-23)

Steefen, author of Historical Accuracy by Steve Campbell:
Note: he would become as one of US plural.

Back to World History dot org:

If Adam and Eve were immortal they would be on par with Yahweh and there would be a loss of status for the god; and this is Ea’s same reasoning in the Adapa myth. In the Genesis myth, man takes knowledge for himself by eating of the tree; in the Mesopotamian myth, the god Ea grants man knowledge in the process of creation. Knowing that Adapa is already wise, Ea (like Yahweh in the later story from Genesis) needs to keep the man in his place.