And speaking of Permanence...

Head of a King from Nineveh,

c. 2340-2284 BC
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Been reading several different translations of Gilgamesh, because I like to teach the poem in my literature classes whenever possible.  And every time I am struck by the way students react to it:  they forget that the earliest versions of it are 4000 years old and they treat it like a completely contemporary story.  Despite the alien names and the genuine remoteness of the world brought to life by the poem, the experiences of Gilgamesh and Enkidu really resonate, and it becomes a poem about us, right now. 

I guess however much the world changes, human nature doesn't.