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In this absorbing book, Nicholas Bateman draws together 70 poems spanning 35 centuries, all of which had become lost before being rediscovered by archaeologists or archivists. Ranging from epic texts to fragments, they include religious and romantic writings, as well as laments for lost youth, friends, and lovers, and characterful creations such as a poem composed by a bored Irish monk watching his cat hunt mice. They were preserved on papyri and pottery sherds, cuneiform tablets and jewellery, and were scratched into wall plaster in Pompeii and left as Roman-era graffiti at the top of the Great Pyramid in Egypt. Each poem is accompanied by details of its rediscovery, and their contents highlight how universal human hopes, fears, and desires really are. The book includes the earliest surviving poem, written c.2300 BC in what today is Iraq. Wonderfully, we even know the name of its author: Enheduana, a High Priestess from the city of Ur.
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Unearthed: rediscovered poetry from ancient times to the Middle Ages
Nicholas Bateman
Batsford, £20
ISBN 978-1837330058
