PODCAST · history
The Drumbeat Forever After
by Alex
Season 1: Neolithic domestications & social transformations.Season 2: The Chalcolithic period in Mesopotamia: the first cities & the invention of writing.Currently airing: Season 3, on Early Dynastic Sumer!
Episodes
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41: Presargonic Lagash & Girsu, 2500-2300 BCE (Hymns to Nanshe)
Guest: Annika We've never been more back! We start off this new miniseries on Presargonic Lagash with a series of hymns to Nanshe, patron goddess of Ningen near the Gulf Coast and sister of Ningirsu, patron goddess of the kingdom of Lagash. Then, we take a boat trip up the "Going-to-Ningen canal"...
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40: Royal Tombs of Ur, 2600-2400 BCE (The death of Gilgamesh)
Guest: Sheila We're so back! First, a Sumerian poem about Gilgamesh which mentions his trip to see Ziusudra (also known as Atrahasis, Utnapishtim, and/or Noah), which some have interpreted as evidence for the kind of mass human sacrifice we see in these tombs. Then, the famous Royal Tombs of Ur,...
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Update on the show & beveled-rim bowls
Check out episodes 17-28, most of which I re-recorded and reuploaded recently. New episodes on Early Dynastic Sumer coming soon.
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39: Temples of Early Dynastic Nippur, 2900-2300 BCE (Enlil & Ninlil)
Guest: Stacy First, a story about Enlil, the Sumerian god of kingship, and his future wife Ninlil; he sees her bathing in a canal in their hometown of Nippur, and the narrative isn't especially concerned how consensual the resulting sexual encounter is. Then, we visit Nippur, a temple center…
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38: Abu Salabikh and the first Semitic-language literature, 2600-2500 BCE (Debate between two women, Lugalbanda & Ninsuna)
Guests: Lily, Annika First: a literary debate between two women (much of its meaning hidden beneath several layers of abstraction). It tells us a lot about public expectations of Sumerian housewives, but one could argue that it tells us more about their private anxieties (as envisioned by their...
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37: The decline & fall of Kish, 2600-2300 BCE (Hymn to Shamash, Kesh temple hymn)
(Sorry I disappeared for three months! I burned myself out working on rewriting old episodes and had to focus on other stuff for a couple months. I'm back in the saddle now, with episodes written up to the end of the Sargonic / Old Akkadian period! Also, I switched my scripts from bullet-point...
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36: Interviews: Karrar Sabah on Eridu, Malath Feadha & Jaafar Jotheri on the geology of the Sumerian wetlands
Two interviews with three Iraqi academics! I interviewed Karrar Sabah Al Ramahi, then a PhD student at Baghdad University, about his research on the city of Eridu! Furqan Salam helped with the translation. We talk about its earliest settlement during the Ubaid period, its prominence as a temple...
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35: Shuruppak & the first Sumerian literature, 2600-2500 BCE (Instructions of Shuruppak)
Guest: Lily First: the world's oldest known wisdom literature, in the form of a series of proverbs delivered from the eponymous Shuruppak (king of Shuruppak) to his son Zi-ud-sura (alias Utnapishtim, the Noah figure from the Sumerian flood myth). Only insults and stupid speaking receive the...
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34: The Lower Diyala & the foundation of Mari, 2900-2600 BCE (Ningishzida’s journey to the nether world)
Guest: Annika First, a classic sitcom setup: Ningishzida plans to sail a boat to hell with his friend (an ill-intentioned demon), but his sister Ama-shilama wants to tag along! Then, we visit the construction site of Mari, a city built from scratch in the middle of nowhere around 2900 BCE, along...
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6: Çatalhöyük, the Domuztepe death pit, & Late Neolithic Anatolia, 7400-5500 BCE (Nergal & Ereshkigal)
(Re-recorded as of December 3, 2022) Guest: Victoria First: Having insulted Ereshkigal (queen of the Sumerian underworld) by offending her messenger's honor at a dinner party in heaven, Nergal (god of war, plague, and death) has to travel down to the underworld to apologize to her in person. Will...
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33: The golden age of Kish, 2900-2600 BCE (Gilgamesh vs Aga of Kish)
Guests: Kelten, James First, Gilgamesh ignores the branch of the government standing between him and a unilateral declaration of war on King Aga of Kish, the mightiest kingdom in the Mesopotamian alluvium at the time. Infrastructure is boring, kings are always right, and war is always glorious!...
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32: Early Sumerians in Ur, 2900-2600 BCE (Gilgamesh vs the Bull of Heaven)
Guest: James First: To punish Gilgamesh, Inanna sends the massive Bull of Heaven to ravage Unug. But, as it destroys farmland and drinks the rivers dry, Gilgamesh sits idle, drinking beer and listening to music! Then, we visit Ur during the Archaic period (2900-2600 BCE) and finally take a look…
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31: Introduction to Early Dynastic Sumer (& the historical Gilgamesh), 2900-2350 BCE (Gilgamesh vs Huwawa, version B)
Guest: Lily First, we finally meet Gilgamesh! Cherished in Unug, heroic bearer of a scepter of wide-ranging power, noble glory of the gods, angry bull standing ready for a fight, etc. We read one of two Sumerian poems dealing with Gilgamesh's conquest of the remote Mountains of Cedar-felling and...
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30: Late Chalcolithic metallurgy & the dawn of the Bronze Age, 4500-3000 BCE (Copper vs Silver)
Guest: Sheila First, strong Copper casts his legitimate insults, insults of a miserable dog, against Silver. In my delusional hubris, I've arbitrarily pieced this particular debate text together from disparate fragments and granted it unnatural life beyond death via galvanic abominations beyond…
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29: Wool & weaving in Mesopotamia, 3500-3000 BCE (Sheep vs Grain)
Guests: Jojo, Sami First, at the dawn of cosmic time, Sheep and Grain descend from the abode of the gods, get drunk, and start a fight. Then, after a quick historical introduction, we take a thorough look at the Uruk-period wool industry, from gathering sheep in one place for shearing to spinning...
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28: The Proto-Elamite period in Susa, 3200-2800 BCE (Lugalbanda, part 3)
Guest: Kelten First: Anzu, the mythical bird guarding the mountains at the edge of the world, comes home to find that Lugalbanda has treated his beloved chick with the utmost generosity. In return, he makes several attempts to grant Lugalbanda his destiny. Another fully new (as of Nov 2024)...
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27: The Jemdet Nasr period in the land of Akkad, 3200-3000 BCE (Lugalbanda, part 2)
Guest: Kelten First, we continue the story of Lugalbanda as he leaves his mountain cave. After he submits to the country of oppression, Zangara, the god of dreams, asks him for a space knife and goats of varying quality. Then, we head up to central Mesopotamia to visit the land of Akkad during…
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26: Uruk III Unug, 3200-3000 BCE (Lugalbanda, part 1)
Guest: Kelten First, the fragile peace has collapsed, and the virtuous king Enmerkar leads the army of fair Unug in an invasion of the faraway mountain kingdom of Aratta. However, en route to otherwise certain victory, the king's mightiest warrior, Lugalbanda, falls sick! His fellow soldiers,...
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25: The invention of writing in Uruk IVA Unug, ca 3300-3200 BCE (Babel, Hymn to Nisaba)
Guest: Kelten First, a familiar story that just happens to involve monumental construction projects, clay bricks, and universal language. Behold! Then, we take a look at Unug around the 3200s BCE, when the Uruk expansion came to a close and the city center underwent another monumental renovation....
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24: The Late Uruk industrial revolution in Unug, 3500-3200 BCE (Hoe vs Plow)
Guest: Liyan First, another debate poem! Hoe, child of the poor, bereft even of a loincloth, starts a quarrel with the Plow. A surprising amount of Sumerian literature boils down to the logistical complexity of various tasks facing early state institutions, not least among them the upkeep of...
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23: Unug (Uruk) and Late Uruk Sumer, 3500-3200 BCE (Hymns to Inanna)
Guest: Kirra First, we sing the praises of Inanna, patron goddess of the city of Unug, whose home temple complex was the epicenter of the Uruk-period world system. Which god compares with her? Then, we finally visit the namesake of the Uruk period, the city of Unug (or Uruk) itself. We continue…
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22: The Uruk period in Susiana, 3900-3200 BCE (Enmerkar vs Ensuhkeshdanna)
Guests: Kirra, Jojo First, Ensuhkeshdanna, the haughty lord of faraway Aratta, demands the submission of our hero Enmerkar, the wise king of noble Unug. When Enmerkar refuses to so debase himself, the lord of Aratta plots a campaign of economic sabotage by means of dark sorcery. We finish up our...
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21: The Late Uruk expansion in the north, 3500-3200 BCE (Enmerkar & the lord of Aratta, part 2)
Guest: Kelten First: the lord of Aratta devises a series of challenges to demonstrate his superiority over our hero Enmerkar, the august king of Unug, who casually invents written language two-thirds of the way through the story. Can he outsmart his nemesis in the mountains? Or, at the very…
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20: The Middle Uruk expansion in the north, 4000-3500 BCE (Enmerkar & the lord of Aratta, part 1)
Guest: Kelten First: Our hero Enmerkar, grandson of the sun-god Utu, demands tribute (in the form of labor and precious minerals) from the anonymous lord of faraway Aratta, with the blessing of his lover (and Utu's sister), the goddess Inanna. Then, we kick off our mini-series on the Uruk...
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19: Tell Brak, the first city in West Asia, 4500-3600 BCE (Antigone, the Death of Enkidu)
Guest: Annika First, Antigone gets caught burying her brother, a foolish judge arraigns her folly, and we wonder whether the good might actually desire a like portion with the evil. Then, we visit Tell Brak in northeastern Syria (most famous for its "eye idols"), as it becomes southwest Asia's...
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18: The foundation of Susa, 4500-3900 BCE (Inanna & An)
Guest: Kelsey First, Inanna sets her mind to capturing the House of Heaven (that is, the E-anna) from her father, the sky-god An, after including it on her wedding registry proved too subtle of a request. Then, we visit Susiana, the alluvial plain just east of the Ubaid homeland, just in time to...
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17: The first Sumerian cities, Early-Middle Uruk periods, 4200-3500 BCE
Guest: Matt I actually have recorded a myth for this one, but I haven’t edited it yet. Stay tuned for “Enki & Ninhursanga”, with listener Matt! This episode kicks off Season Two with an all-new (as of Nov 2024) look at the Early Uruk period (ca 4200-3800 BCE). We start in Eridu, where we have the...
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16: Ubaid society & the first Mesopotamian temples, 5300-4200 BCE (Thersites vs Odysseus)
Guest: Kelten First, one of the common soldiers at Troy tells Agamemnon what everyone else is thinking and Odysseus threatens to smack him upside the head for it. Then, in our last episode of Season One, we visit one of the other most famous cities in Mesopotamia. Unug, alias Uruk, alias Erech,...
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15: Season One review
This is a quick review of everything so far, to prepare for a discussion about social complexity during the Ubaid period in episode 16. Perfect for anyone who wants to skip straight to all the interesting stuff starting in the late 4000s BCE. Questions? Feedback? Email us at...
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14: Ubaid Northern Mesopotamia, 5300-4400 BCE (Nanna-Suen’s journey)
Guest: Kelsey First, we meet the moon god Nanna-Suen (alias Sin, alias Ashimbabbar), as he prepares to journey from Ur upriver to the city of his father Enlil. Then, a brief look at the Halaf culture (early-mid 5000s BCE) in late Neolithic upper Mesopotamia, which managed to avoid social…
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13: Ubaid sea trade with the Persian Gulf, 5400-4500 BCE (Flood story, Home of the fish)
Guest: Annika First, we start with the Sumerian flood story (which later inspired the flood stories in the Bible and the Epic of Gilgamesh), pieced together from fragmentary tablets. What does this have to do with the Arabian Neolithic? Then, we meet the shepherds & fishers of the Arabian…
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12: Ubaid culture and the golden age of Eridu, 5300-4200 BCE (Enki & the world order)
Guests: Kelsey, Michaela First, Enki, patron god of Eridu, creates the world, invents agriculture, blesses foreign lands, and produces the Tigris and the Euphrates as part of an extremely convoluted and mildly unsettling metaphor. Then, a look at the Ubaid material culture, including pottery and...
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11: The early Ubaid period in the southern delta, 6500-5300 BCE (Bird vs Fish)
Guest: Annika First, we visit the chronological beginning of Sumerian cosmology again. As soon as Enki transforms the Tigris-Euphrates alluvial plain into marshland, our two combatants make themselves at home and immediately start insulting each other. Then, an introduction to the Ubaid period in...
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10: Late Neolithic Iran & the Susiana plain, 6800-4700 BCE (Sumerian proverbs)
(Re-recorded as of December 19, 2022) Guests: Kirra, Sheila First: Sumerian proverbs, encompassing both practical advice and obscure references to shepherds' staves. To stand and to sit, to spur on the donkeys, to support the prince: who has the breath for that? Then, some Samarran towns in…
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9: Late Neolithic daily life: farming, herding, cooking, weaving, & brewing, 7000-5300 BCE (Inanna & Dumuzi, part 3)
(Re-recorded as of December 18, 2022) Guests: Kirra, Victoria First: Dumuzi, doomed by his wife Inanna to spend the rest of his life in the underworld, has a prophetic dream, and his sister Geshtinanna helps him interpret it. Can she save him from the galla-demons? Then, we take a look at the...
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8: Gender, marriage, & property in Late Neolithic Syria, 7000-5300 BCE (Inanna & Ereshkigal, part 2)
(Re-recorded as of December 18, 2022) Guests: Kirra, Victoria First, we continue the story of Inanna's descent to the underworld, from last episode. She's dead and hanging from a hook on a wall in hell, so her vizier Ninshubur takes charge of the rescue effort! Then, we visit Sabi Abyad in…
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7: Life, death, dinner parties, & the first pottery in Syria, 7000-5300 BCE (Inanna, Enki, & Ereshkigal, part 1)
(Re-recorded as of December 18, 2022) Guests: Kirra, Victoria First: Inanna, patron goddess of Unug, visits Enki in his hometown of Eridu and they start drinking. Will he make any ill-advised decisions vis-a-vis all the abstract concepts he's god of? Will he, having sobered up, send a cavalcade…
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5: Early Neolithic Iran & livestock domestication, 8200-6500 BCE (Animal proverbs, Enkidu)
(Re-recorded as of November 29, 2022) Guests: Annika, Kelten First, some Sumerian proverbs about animals, including written language's first merciful lion and Mr. Monkey's plaintive cry to his mother Lusalusa. Pigs, foxes, donkeys, mongeese, elephants— they're just like us! Then, we learn how...
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4: Jericho & Early Neolithic Palestine, 9600-7000 BCE (Joshua, Jesus & Satan)
(Re-recorded as of November 29, 2022) Guest: Kelten First, we look at the Hebrew Bible's narrative about the destruction of Jericho: the Israelites cross the Jordan, an angel alludes to Moses's first theophany, and Joshua orders his soldiers to kill every man, woman, & child in the city (except...
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3: Early Neolithic Upper Mesopotamia, 9600-7000 BCE (Telipinu)
(Re-recorded as of November 28, 2022) Guest: Jojo First, we sing the wrath of Telipinu, which brought down countless ills upon the mortal world and ruined dinner in Hittite heaven. Then, we continue our tour of the northern Fertile Crescent (alias Upper Mesopotamia, alias southeastern Anatolia,...
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2: Göbekli Tepe & Early Neolithic cereal domestication, 9600-8000 BCE (Ninurta vs Asag)
(Re-recorded as of November 28, 2022) Guest: Kelten First, the warrior-prince of an orderly Sumerian heaven hears of a challenge to his authority and sets out to meet it with his obsequious talking mace. Then, we begin our look at the agricultural revolution with a look at the domestication…
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1: Introduction & Natufian Syro-Palestine, 13000-9600 BCE (Atrahasis)
(Re-recorded as of November 26, 2022) Guests: Kelten, Annika First, a brief introduction to the focus of the podcast: ten episodes on the Neolithic, about ten more on the Chalcolithic period (the Ubaid and Uruk periods), and then at least twenty episodes on Early Dynastic Sumer. Then, after a…
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Drumbeat Forever After have?
The Drumbeat Forever After currently has 42 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Drumbeat Forever After about?
Season 1: Neolithic domestications & social transformations.Season 2: The Chalcolithic period in Mesopotamia: the first cities & the invention of writing.Currently airing: Season 3, on Early Dynastic Sumer!
How often does The Drumbeat Forever After release new episodes?
The Drumbeat Forever After has 42 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Drumbeat Forever After?
You can listen to The Drumbeat Forever After on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Drumbeat Forever After?
The Drumbeat Forever After is created and hosted by Alex.
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