You're Dead to Me - Epic of Gilgamesh (Radio Edit)

Episode Date: June 12, 2026

Greg Jenner is joined in the ancient world by Dr Moudhy Al-Rashid and comedian Marjolein Robertson to learn all about the famous Mesopotamian poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh.Sumerian poems about a legendary king called Gilgamesh began to be composed sometime in the third millennium, and were told and retold throughout Mesopotamia until a Babylonian scholar named Sîn-leqi-unninni wrote down what has become the standard version. The tale he recorded tells of a tyrannical king of Uruk, Gilgamesh, and the transformative journey he takes with his enemy-turned-friend (and possibly more), Enkidu. In the 3100 lines of the poem, they fight forest guardians and celestial bulls, anger the gods, and even challenge death itself.In this episode, we retell the story of Gilgamesh, exploring the history of the epic’s composition, what it tells us about ancient Mesopotamian storytelling and beliefs, and how it was rediscovered in the nineteenth century, written in cuneiform on clay tablets housed in the Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh. We also look at the themes of companionship, community and environmental protection that are still relevant today, and ask the question: is Gilgamesh just a legend, or was he based on a real king?This is a radio edit of the original podcast episode. For the full-length version, please look further back in the feed.Hosted by: Greg Jenner Research by: Katharine Russell Written by: Katharine Russell, Dr Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Dr Emma Nagouse, and Greg Jenner Produced by: Dr Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner Audio Producer: Steve Hankey Production Coordinator: Gill Huggett Senior Producer: Dr Emma Nagouse Executive Editor: Philip Sellars

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. A history of the United States in 100 Objects is a brand new podcast from 99% Invisible in BBC Studios. Each week, we're looking at a different object from across American history with a unique story to tell about who we've been, what we've built, and what we've allowed ourselves to forget. Some of these objects are well known, many are not, but all of them carry the story of how we got to this moment. Find a history of the United States and 100 objects on the 99% of visible feed wherever you get your podcasts. Hello and welcome to You're Dead to Me, the Radio 4 comedy podcast that takes history seriously. My name's Greg Jenner. I'm a public historian, author and broadcaster.

And today we are grabbing our bestie and gallivanting back to ancient Mesopotamia to learn all about the epic of Gilgamesh. And to help us on this daunting quest, we have two very special guides. In History Corner, she's an honorary fellow at Wolfson College. University of Oxford, where she researches and teaches on the history of Mesopotamia, Keneaform and the Acadian language. You might have read her wonderful recent book between two rivers, ancient Mesopotamia and the birth of history. It is glorious.

And you'll remember her from our episodes on the ancient Babylonians and Keneaform. It's Dr. Moody and Rashid. Welcome, Moody. Thank you. Thanks for having me. It's awesome to be back. We love having you back. And in Comedy Corner, she's an award-winning, comedian, actor and storyteller.

You might have seen her sell-out Edinburgh Fringe show or quarter on Breaking the News or Rosie Jones's Disability Comedy Extravaganza or her new Radio 4 show, Human Watch. And you'll definitely remember her from our episode on Scottish hero, Robert Bruce, not Robert the Bruce. It's Marilene Robertson. Welcome back, Mary Lane. Hey, thank you for having me back to teach me more stuff.

Mary Lane, last time you let slip that you have a degree in archaeology. Yes. And we immediately went, uh-oh, this is interesting. How much will she know? Well, that's the thing, because I did not know much about Robert Bruce at all, but I did do my dissertation on the epic of Gilgamesh. But I did my dissertation on how has the imagery from the Epic of Gilgamesh changed according to different power struggles across Bronze Age. And it was so bad that I almost failed my entire degree because of it.

And I thought, oh, Gilgamesh, I remember this. And then I thought in my brain and I don't. So what's really... I can't even remember which one's the Tigris and which ones are Euphrates. I'm really rusty. Okay. So a refresher course for you.

It will be. It'll also be like me bringing shame to the university. I don't know if I should even name the university I went at this point. Because when you said about it, I was like, I'd love to hear about this again, but I don't remember anything about it. Okay. Well, we can fix that.

I remember Bronze Age. So, what do you know? Okay, this is the Sawadier Know. This is where I have a go at guessing what you are. A lovely listener might know about today's subject, and you might have heard that the epic of Gilgamesh features a great flood narrative, similar to the biblical story of Noah. Or maybe you've encountered Gilgamesh as the King of Heroes from the Fate anime series,

or if you've read Leifshifshafax's 2024 novel, There Are Rivers in the Sky, or listen to Johnny Flynn and Robert McFarlane's Gilgamesh-inspired album lost in the Cedarwood. But if you're a movie buff, like me, you're plain out of luck, because no one's done any kind of movies about Gilgamesh, which is very disappointing. So who exactly was Gilgamesh? Was he really that epic? And what are the consequences of rejecting a goddess?

Let's find out. Right, Dr. Moody. We'll start with some basics for my benefit and perhaps Mary Lane's benefit, although I'm sure it all come floating back to you. What exactly is the epic of Gilgamesh? So it's a long poem from ancient Mesopotamia that tells a transformative journey of a king called Gilgamesh, who ruled the city of Uruk.

It's originally about 3,000 or 3, 300 lines long, but only about 2,400 or 2,500 remain, compared to, for example, 15,000 in the Iliad. It's written in Cuneiform on 12 tablets, and we have to remember that Ceneoform was a script, not a language, used in ancient Mesopotamia, which is the region between and around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in one is now Iraq, Syria, and parts of Turkey,

which was home to a succession of civilizations like the Sumerians, the Acadians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. Well, that's a very good summary. Well done. Okay, Mary Elaine, you've already said Bronze Age. How long ago do you think the epic of Gilgamesh was first written down? I should know that the Bronze Age was around 3,000 BC. Is that right?

That's about right, yeah. But we probably go a little later with our first recording of the actual story. Yeah, so we don't actually know how old this story itself is because it has these oral roots that we have hints of in the language and in other references. So it was probably recited, for example, in the course, courts of kings, including the kings of O'R, around 2,000 B.C.E. But it's probably older than that. And then some of the earliest tablets written kind of records of versions of this story come around that time period, the 3rd millennium BCE, or the 2000s BCE. There's an old Babylonian version,

and then there's a kind of standard Babylonian version, which is the one that gets copied over and over and over and over again that comes from around probably 1,100 B.C. written by a scholar named seen likei unini. He named in a later literary catalogs, we're not too sure to what degree we can call him the author. Does he just establish the most popular version? This raises fun in the nerdy sense questions about authorship in ancient Mesopotamia where it's more like people are links in a chain in the life story of a story. The tale itself, the story itself is more important than the author. Gilgamesh was not always the name of the character. Do you want to guess what his original name was.

Stephen. Stephen. Stephen King of O'Rook. It wasn't Gilgamesh. No. Woody? What was his name? It was Bilgamesh.

Bill Gamesh. Yes. Oh, no. That's funnier than Stephen. The boring question you probably get asked a lot is, is Gilgamesh a real guy who then gets turned into a literary folk hero? Or is this pure speculation, pure fantasy? Nobody really knows the answer to that.

He's on what we would, he's referenced in what we would consider a semi-historical document, which is called, we call it the Sumerian king list, basically a list of kings in southern, what is now southern Iraq, what we would call Sumer. But it begins with these mythical primordial kings like Alulim who ruled for 30,000 years or Atana who ruled for 400 years. So we know that these are probably not real people, or maybe they are based on real people, but these are not their real reigns. There are real kings on the list. though, that we know existed that are corroborated from other sources like King Sargon. So is he a literary character who moved into the history books or is he a historical figure who took on legendary proportions? That's interesting. Moody, how does our story of Gilgamesh begin? Do we meet him in adulthood? Do we meet him as a king? We do. He's the tyrannical king of Uruk. He exhausts the men and boys by forcing them to build a humongous wall, which is real.

an archaeological wall and play violent sports. And finally, the women beg the gods and goddesses to create a match or an equal for Gilgamesh to challenge him and just calm this guy down, really. Right. I studied this at university, and the version I learned was, he's lonely needs of friend. Which makes me question what source I used. But I'll tell you this, when I did my course in Romans, I used to use Rotten Romans. Did you? A horrible history books.

Yes. And my professor said, how did you know that? Because I used to come out with facts that the professors didn't know. And I'd have to be like, cool. Terry, dearie. And he's been my references. Okay, so he needs a friend or he needs an equal to sort of match him in the ring. Who is created or, you know, who is sent down to match or fight or play with Gilkamesh?

So the gods create Enkidu from clay and divine blood. There's a really beautiful description. He's born in silence, in other words, not with the cries of childbirth. He's at first a wild man. He's described as being very hairy and almost animal-like. And he lives among the animals, the gazelles. And he causes grief to hunters because he's constantly foiling their traps and rescuing the animals. Yeah.

So Gilgamesh learns about this when the hunters complain, effectively. He learns about Enkidu from the complaints. So he's an animal rights activist. He's going along sabotaging traps and things. Exactly. Okay. And Gilgamesh is like, this guy's ruining my hunting. Okay, I'm going to go sword and now.

Okay. How do you think tyrannical Gilgamesh? addresses this new threat? This is the one time I think I'll get this bit right. This is the one thing I remember from the story, which take from that what you will. They get a really attractive lady. They do. Yes.

They cover her nice smelling oils. And they're like, show him why he wants to enter society. And she seduces him. And Anki-Doo is like, I'd rather be with humans and animals. And thus ends my knowledge. Beautifully put, and suitable for Radio 4. So well done. Moody, I mean, Mary Lane did a very beautiful, elegant description.

So who is the woman who is sent along? Yeah, so he sends, Gilgamesh sends a woman called Shamhat to seduce Enkidu effectively. She's a temple worker, maybe a sex worker, a priestess of Ishtar. And afterwards, he comes to Uruk and confronts Gilgamesh, but they turn out to be equally matched and become friends slash lovers. So what is the first adventure? they go on? And what spurs the adventure? Why don't they need to go on a quest? We have this scene where Enkidu is feeling sad. I'm keeping in mind that lots of bits are missing

from the epic. We're not 100% sure why. And to cheer him up, Gilgamesh decides they need to make a name. He needs to make a name for himself. But Enkidu's not so keen. They go on a quest, effectively, to kill the guardian of the Cedar Forest, Humbaba. So Enkidu and Gilgamesh primarily has killed an important forest guardian. What do you think of the repercussions for Gilgamesh, having to committed this crime. I just feel like Gilgamesh has shown no remorse so far that I just don't seem showing remorse now. Also, I feel like Gilgamesh, if he's really not, has had a real hand and rank his tail.

So I'm like, Gilgamesh does something bad, but he's still great. Oh, you think he authors his own quest narrative? For sure. Oh, okay. My name's out with a G. I defeat the forest monster. I don't know. Do they fall out?

Does I think he do fall out for Gilgamesh? I want Gilgamesh to grow and learn and go to therapy like I was promised, but maybe they have to break up. Well, that's how rom-coms work. So is it a rom-com, Moody? What happens next? Not quite. Although there is a third party who enters the scene,

who is quite a powerful one. So after the fight, the goddess Ishtar, who's again the goddess of love and war violence, those two things don't seem like the same remit. No, she's quite a, she's a very volatile goddess. Sure. So, yeah, she takes the same pleasure in lovemaking and murderer, I guess. Yeah, she's an interesting figure.

Sure. And she sees Gilgamesh and falls in love and proposes marriage. But Gilgamesh rejects her listing all her dead or otherwise diminished former lovers, one of whom gets turned into like an earwig or something like that. And she gets pretty angry and calls on her father, Anu, the sky god, to send down the bull of heaven, which is the consolation tourist, to kill Gilgames. Me. I'm Torres. Are you?

Yeah. Okay. Well, you might not like what happens next in this story then. Why? Well, because the ball of heaven is sent down to kill Gilgamesh, to kill Gimish. And Gilgamesh, he's not being punished for slaughtering the innocent forest guardian. He's being punished for rejecting a sex god. I feel like he's learned nothing. But he's going to fight now a celestial bull.

Mary Lane, how would you go about defeating a celestial ball? You take it to a celestial abattoir in the heavens. Right, killing time. Yeah. Humane gun on the head. Okay. Spoken like a true farmer. Yeah.

Yeah. Moody, can you give us the gory details of the goring? Yes, so they work together, essentially, because the Bull of Heaven is quite a destructive creature. And as he approaches Uruk, everything he does essentially ends up killing huge amounts of people. Every, you know, every time he breathes, a huge gulf opens up in the ground and swallows people up, et cetera. From memory, Enkidu grabs him, and then Gilgamesh stabs him in the... the head between the horns.

So, yeah. Bolt gun's pretty accurate then. Yeah, just a sword in this one or a blade of some kind. Okay. They cut out the heart? Yes, they cut out the heart. They offer it to Anu, the Sky God, and then they throw its penis at Ishtar. I mean, that feels like a very childish move.

Yeah, yeah, it's quite the move. And she's the goddess of love and desire and stuff. Yeah. Very petty. It is. There's no growth here emotionally, is there? No. It takes a while for that to happen.

So I think I was right, he doesn't learn anything. There's nothing. Okay. But to be honest, I suppose here he's just defending himself from a bill that is attacking him. But he did really shame Ishtar for that to happen. He did. So then what happens to Gilgamesh and Enkidu? So the gods are pretty angry.

I mean, they've killed a whole constellation, which is bad. They sentence Enkidu to death, and he actually dreams of being in the underworld. So why not Gilgamesh? Yes. Because Enkado is just like the guy who's been dragged along. Gilmish is sort of like that typical, like, entitled guy that just never has to face consequences for anything he does. But he's about to face the ultimate consequence in a way because Enkidu does die. He dreams that he's in the underworld and he dies.

And Gilgamesh is utterly grief-stricken. Right. To the point where he won't even let them take the body. away. And there's all this imagery of him of him mourning. And some of it compares him to like a lioness. So there's like some women, like a woman mourning her cubs. I mean a female lion mourning her cubs. So it's such a loss. He won't let them take the body away until a maggot crawls out of Enkidu's nose. And he's finally like, okay, yes, you are dead and I have to let go. And he arranges this huge funeral and lists tons of gifts given in Enkidu's memory. Wow. Gilgamesh has been punished by having the one thing.

he loves taken from him. Yeah. What would you lock away to explain your country to the future? In 1876, as America turned 100, a group of citizens sealed their answers inside a safe, meant to be opened a century later. But when the Century Safe was finally unlocked, what the world saw didn't tell an obvious story. It raised a question. What do the objects we choose to remember reveal about who we really are?

This is the Century Safe, on a history of the United States and a hundred-year-old. 100 objects. Find it in the 99% of visible feed wherever you get your podcasts. Mary Lane, what do you think Gilgamesh, a grieving Gilgamesh, does after the funeral? I mean, I still don't think he's learned time. You don't think he's grown from this? No. Okay. I think he wants revenge.

Oh, so you think he's going to go John Wick? Would you go after Anu? Wow. That would be a power move, I mean, that's, yeah. I mean, I wouldn't put it past this guy. Okay, so Mary Lane thinks that the sort of revenge mission he's going to go. I mean, to be honest, if he did go for revenge mission, that would probably be the most coherent structural journey thing

he's done so far in this story. So maybe he doesn't. But coherently, he'd go for revenge. Okay. Interesting. Yeah, I mean, you're right that there's no growth in that he then... Instead of being like, I should be less horrible and calm down, he becomes really anxious about death and he embarks on this new quest to attain immortality.

So it's quite a self-involved anxious reaction. Okay. So he goes on a quest for immortality. Yes. And he seeks out the wisdom from one of the sole survivors of the great flood, the only immortal living man. There is an immortal living woman alongside him that doesn't really get mentioned, unfortunately. She's just his wife.

And bird. Pretty much. So he goes in search of a man called Uta-Napisti, in broad brush strokes. The gods forgot, basically, to build death into him. human DNA. And so population just explodes. Really? Yeah, and it's just too loud. And they're like, we can't sleep. We've got to get rid of these people. So they decide to send down a deluge that will wipe out all life on Earth.

He's the lone survivor of the flood. And because his software doesn't have death built in, he's just living forever with his wife. Yeah. And Gilgamesh is like, he must know how to live forever. So I'm going to go find him so that I didn't have to suffer the way Enkidu did. Gilgamesh is desperately trying to sort of get the secret of knowledge. Does he sing call swim in his quest to live forever. So Uttanapisti basically takes one look at him and says, you're on the wrong quest. He recounts the whole flood story, explains that Gilgamesh can't and shouldn't follow this path to immortality. And he challenges Gilgamesh to stay awake for seven nights. This conquering sleep is sort of like conquering death and Gilgamesh fails. And I think he wakes

up to seven loaves of bread that have been baked each day, just to prove. Just seven breakfasts that he hasn't eaten. Yeah. Exactly. And so Uttana Pichti explains that eternal life is not an individual survival. It's not the survival of Enkidu. It's not Gilgamesh. It's not even his own survival, but the survival of the whole community. And because life can end in an instant, you should make the most of what time that you do. That's really beautiful. Yeah. Will Gilgamesh see the beauty in there? You're worried he's not going to learn. I throw a willie at someone else. It's a good point. Does our violent, sad king, finally go, oh, I've been chasing the wrong thing all the long? Nope. Gilgamesh, come on.

I know. So he's... I think I don't remember it because I've blocked it. I was just so disappointed in this guy. Relentless. He's just so refusing to grow as a person. Exactly. Not yet.

Not yet. Okay. So Uttu and Apichita is like, well, okay, fine. There is something called the plant of heartbeat, which you can find at the bottom of the bottom of the bottom of the ocean, basically. Right. In the Apsu, this sort of subterranean lake or freshwater source, which is a mythical source of kind of nourishment, of groundwater, but also of wisdom.

So there's this connection between water, wisdom, and memory. This story is like Babylonian. So it's very, very far away from the Hittites. They had versions of it, though, so it traveled. Because in Hittite, in Hattusili, is that right? Hattushia, yeah. their capital, there was the bit beside it, they called it like a liminal space

where they had this like water going into this tunnel and they thought it was something to do with like a passage to internal the realm or that kind of wisdom. Oh, interesting. Is an interpretation in archaeology, which is the classic, we don't know. We don't know. Ritual. Could be ritual.

Ritchal. Could be ritual. I was like, that's where we washed our hands. Yes. So strike that from my notes. That's lovely. Yeah. Yes, because the Hittites would come along later, I suppose.

The Hittites are... They're around the same time. Oh, yeah. And they are using cuneiform as well. So the myth does travel and they have versions of the Gilgamesh epic. Although I don't know when they date. Sure. Yeah, they were like, he was three foot five.

And his name was Stephen. Okay, so the water and wisdom, the kind of plant of heartbeat, Gilgamesh knows where to get it. Does he pop on his scuba gear and go diving? How does it, you know? It does, yeah. He ties these heavy stones to his feet and he goes and retrieves the plants of heartbeat. He does.

Resurfaces and he takes a shower and a snake steals a plant. Oh, don't you hate it when that happens. It's a yonk goes straight over to eat and it's like, you're Eve. Let's try some of this apple. It's another one. But the apple can't think we did. I mean, snakes are quite, you know, they're good and bad in mythology of ancient Mesopotamia. Sure.

So they're ambiguous. It's a cheeky snake. It's a very cheek. It's a yonk moment, as Mary Lane said. Okay, so the snake has stolen his eternal life. Yeah. gutting. Yeah.

Does Gilgamesh now get the memo and go, okay, I'll give up on the whole Living for Everything. At long last. Ory! Personal development. Yes. Okay, Moody, tell us about Gilgamesh's personal growth. Yeah, so he finally returns to Uruk,

and we have this scene that reprises the very beginning of the myth where he's looking, he's surveying the city. And he seems far more aware now of what's at stake. He looks at different elements that make up the city, civilization, human life. and sees it it's more important than his own ego and individual success. And he is wiser. He finally brings that wisdom back to Uruk and will ideally incorporate it into how he rules. And this kind of personal growth narrative has led some scholars to call it wisdom literature. But who knows exactly? He kind of has everything. Oh, yeah. I would like to point out that he went to his adventure when he killed Special Forest Guardian, his best friend died. killed the bull of heaven,

offended so many gods, troubled all these different people. And it feels like when he got out of city, he just said, you know what, guys, let's be peaceful. And the women of the city were like, this is what we said from day one. The women were like,

we were always like, let's be peaceful. Yes. I do remember the end bit of the story. Was it the secrets that he learns is to build structures that stand for all time, have a lineage of offspring that carry on your bloodline

and have great stories that are told forevermore. Yeah, he writes his quests down on a, I think it's a lapis lazuli tablet, and he buries it somewhere in the wall, and he says someone will find this someday and remember me. And lo and behold, here we are remembering Gilgamesh. Because those walls of Uruk, Uruk, are still standing. They are, yeah. And they're like nine kilometers long, and they're very thick, and they're very real. I think an archaeologist estimate 300 million bricks in this thing.

So he did it. Eternal life. He nailed it. Did he build those walls before, after the adventure? Because it sounded like before he's working the men and the boys to the bone. And he's going to say, yeah. So once again, has he learned? Yes, my lasting memory is this thing where I forced everyone to slave labour.

We should talk about how the story of Gilgamesh, the epic of Gilgamesh was rediscovered in modern times. This is how the ancient world understood it. This is how it was passed down through their generation. but I guess we then received it much later on. Could you talk us through the modern text history? Yes, so the first Acadian texts were found in 1849 by Austin Henry Laird in Nineveh and the Library of Usher Bonapal. And these were ones that were copied down by scribes.

And obviously with the death of scribal training, no one copied them down anymore, so they just get buried. Once Kinnaforen was deciphered, parts of it got translated. And in the 1870s, a self-taught working class Londoner, called George Smith, who was studying clay tablets at the British Museum. He was the first to translate the epic into English, producing a translation of this flood tablet, Tablet 11, that was quite an exciting discovery at the time. And Mary Lane, George Smith, our working class self-taught Londoner, he was so thrilled to have, you know,

produced this translation. How did he celebrate? Oh. Did you do it Gilgamesh style? Or go on a killing spree. Oh, no. He didn't like have to. much to drink, did he?

He certainly let go of his inhibitions. Oh, no. Did he just like an Enkidu and get naked and run through Carvin Garden? He literally did. No, I do. Really? Really? He ran naked through the, was it the British Museum? That's right, yeah. Stripped off his clothes and just ran screaming naked through shouting, I did it. I did it. That might be the one I'd have got right this whole time and it was a total stab in the dark. The nuance window!

Time now for the nuance window. This is the part of the show. show where Marianne and I sit silently to contemplate our mortality for two minutes while Dr. Moody regales us with something we need to know about the epic of Gilgamesh. My stopwatch is ready. So take it away, Dr. Moody. The epic of Gilgamesh has meant and will mean different things to me throughout my life. It's about power, grief, community, death, love. But right now, as we watch one interconnected crisis after another unfold, I want to tell you what I think it could mean in this moment. Humbaba was the guardian of the Cedar Forest, appointed by the God Enlil to keep the ancient cedars safe. He had the face of a raging lion. He breathed fire. His cry was a deluge. In ancient Mesopotamia,

people sometimes used sheep entrails to predict the future. And one omen says that intestines shaped like Chumbaba's face foretell the arrival of a usurper king. Imagine the face of this monster, like the coiled intestines of a dying animal, slippery, bloody, palpitating. I used to wonder why create such a terrifying creature to guard trees. Like many of you, I bear witness daily to the of a once thriving world to line the pockets of a handful of people with already full pockets. It has helped me understand the mythology of Chumbaba. But the Gilgamesh, who slayed Chumbaba and chopped down trees as tall as the sky, was not the same broken man who clawed his way to Uttanapisti, the oldest man in the world. He was looking for the key to eternal life, but he found instead

a lesson in how to live. I think the crux of Uttinapisti's message is this. Instead of trying to live impossibly long lives, let us do more with the short time that we have. For Gilgamesh, this means acting as a shepherd to the people in his care, and by extension the places they rely on. When he returns to Uruk and surveys the city, he sees people's homes, the date orchards, the clay pits, and the temple which represent domestic life, agriculture, crafts, and religion. This is worth fighting for, he realizes. The survival of each successive generation confers immortality on the whole. Our well-being is tied to the well-being of those around us. and to the places that sustain us, to the waters that give us life, to the trees that give us air,

the land that Humbaba gave his life to guard. I think there is a timeless lesson in these 12 tablets and their unexpectedly flawed hero, selfish, cowardly, violent, vulnerable, relentless, and eventually enlightened. What are the chances that this story has survived from its earliest oral tellings to a fragmentary translation over 4,000 years later? And what are the chances that it might contain just the call to survival, community, and care that we need? Amazing. Beautiful. Thank you so much. Thank you.

So nice. That's such a nice way to take a message well, make it hopeful. I think it's what you need is hope. Yeah. I think so too. I hope so anyway. Yeah, absolutely. Definitely need more of the humanity and less of the monsters. Well, thank you so much, Mary Lane. Thank you so much, Dr. Moody.

And listener, if you want more ancient history with Dr. Moody, check out our episodes on the Babylonians and the one on the history of Cuneiform, which people love. People really, really love that episode. It's one of our most popular ever. It's lovely. For more epic myths, we've got one on King Arthur, of course. And for more Mary Elaine, we have the episode on Robert Bruce, not Robert the Bruce.

If you enjoyed the podcast, please share the show with friends. Subscribe to Your Dead to Me on BBC Sounds to hear new episodes 28 days earlier than anywhere else. And yeah, I just like to say a huge thank you to our guests in History Corner. We have the magnificent Dr. Moody Al-Rashid from University of Oxford. Thank you, Moody. Thank you, Moody. Thank you, Moody. And in Comedy Corner, we have the marvellous Mary Elaine Robertson.

Thank you, Mary Elaine. Cheers, very much. Thank you. And to you, lovely listener, join me next time as we delve into another dramatic historical epic. But for now, I'm off the go and grab a mate to help me beat up a tree. Bye! Do the wonder products that you see on your social media and supermarket shelves really deliver on their bold claims? Dehumidify it.

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I would tend to lean towards it being a positive. All our suggestions come from your emails or voice notes, even if you're a bit under the weather. Hello, Greg. I want to know about cough mixture. I'm finding out the answers in my new series of sliced bread, available first on BBC Sounds. What would you lock away to explain your country to the future? In 1876, as America turned 100, a group of citizens sealed their answers inside a safe meant to be opened a century later. But when the century safe was finally unlocked, what the world saw didn't tell an obvious story. It raised a question. What do the objects

we choose to remember reveal about who we really are? This is the Century Safe on a history of the United States and 100 objects. Find it in the 99% of visible feed wherever you get your podcasts.