The Man Who Discovered Gilgamesh

George Smith accomplished much in his thirty-six years, becoming one of the Nineteenth Century’s leading Assyriologists, that is, an expert on the ancient peoples of the Fertile Crescent, one of the birthplaces of civilization. A leading figure in the study and translation of cuneiform script, he led in the discovery and translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh, including the Babylonian version of the Flood which predates the Noah version by a thousand years, give or take.

We’re not entirely sure how much education George received, but we know it wasn’t much. His family was very poor, and he only received a little schooling here and there. When he was fourteen, he was apprenticed to an engraver who specialized in bank notes, a fussy, fussy, finicky and exacting trade focused on the most tiny details. George became very good at this, and enjoyed his work. But that was not the love of his life.

Somehow George discovered ancient history and archeology, and had the good fortune to work not very far from the British Museum where he began to spend every spare moment. In particular, he absolutely fell in love with the writings of the Mesopotamians, called cuneiform, an alphabet created by pressing the end of a triangular reed into soft clay, then baking the clay to create a permanent record, the original hard disk.

George taught himself these ancient languages and became quite adept at their translation. At first, museum authorities thought it a bit odd that a common workingman would spend so much time poring over exhibits and making notes, but as they got to know him, they realized that he had made himself an expert.

So, they offered him a job: cleaning up broken tablets held in storage, and trying to reassemble them, much like a jigsaw puzzle. It turned out that his self-education, together with the fussy attention to detail he had acquired as an engraving apprentice, made him perfect for the job, as mundane as it may have been.

But it didn’t stay mundane. As George was working his way through the scraps and pieces, putting them back together again, of course he was reading them and went from excitement to excitement at what he was discovering.

The story has a mostly happy ending. George was taken into the ranks of the leading professionals and made several voyages to the Middle East to search for and retrieve more of these ancient records, finding and translating, among other things, the Epic of Gilgamesh, remaining to this day one of the towering figures of the discipline.

Sadly, George took ill and died on his last voyage, aged thirty-six. One wonders what he might have achieved had he enjoyed his three score and ten, or more.

One could not find a clearer example of a man of humble beginnings discovering and following his Giftings, that is, his innate (inborn) attributes, shaped by experience, and perfected by training. Clearly, his sharp mind, curiosity, and talent for language were part of who he was, but it was the experience as a bank-note engraver which ingrained a finicky attention to detail, and then all that was perfected by his strenuous self-learning.

You, too, were born with a unique kit of abilities and attributes, your life has exposed you to experience which has shaped your attributes, and your training has further perfected the very unique individual you are. And now you are enabled and obligated to serve your fellow humans in important ways.

Here’s to the very best “you”!