Decoding the Story of the Flood
Member Exclusive Lectures
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1h 38m
Join world-renowned Assyriologist Professor Irving Finkel as he unveils an extraordinary real-life detective story that began at the British Museum in 2008 with the arrival of a humble clay tablet—one that would rewrite our understanding of one of the world’s most famous flood myths. In this captivating lecture, Professor Finkel takes us deep into ancient Mesopotamia to explore a 4,000-year-old cuneiform tablet inscribed with the Babylonian Story of the Flood.
Far from a simple forerunner to the biblical account, this remarkable artefact reveals a far older, surprisingly detailed version of the Ark story—including instructions for building a vast, circular boat made of reeds and bitumen. Drawing from his acclaimed book The Ark Before Noah, Professor Finkel invites us to reconsider where sacred stories begin, how they evolve, and what they can tell us about the ancient world and its enduring influence on our beliefs today.
Dr Irving Finkel is Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian (i.e. Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian) script, languages and cultures Department: Middle East at the British Museum. He is the curator in charge of cuneiform inscriptions on tablets of clay from ancient Mesopotamia, of which the Middle East Department has the largest collection - some 130,000 pieces - of any modern museum.
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