The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh

Book Description

Adventurers, explorers, kings, gods, and goddesses come to life in this riveting story of the first great epic—lost to the world for 2,000 years, and rediscovered in the nineteenth century

Composed by a poet and priest in Middle Babylonia around 1200 bce, The Epic of Gilgamesh foreshadowed later stories that would become as fundamental as any in human history, The Odyssey and the Bible. But in 600 bce, the clay tablets that bore the story were lost—buried beneath ashes and ruins when the library of the wild king Ashurbanipal was sacked in a raid.

The Buried Book begins with the rediscovery of the epic and its deciphering in 1872 by George Smith, a brilliant self-taught linguist who created a sensation when he discovered Gilgamesh among the thousands of tablets in the British Museum’s collection. From there the story goes backward in time, all the way to Gilgamesh himself. Damrosch reveals the story as a literary bridge between East and West: a document lost in Babylonia, discovered by an Iraqi, decoded by an Englishman, and appropriated in novels by both Philip Roth and Saddam Hussein. This is an illuminating, fast-paced tale of history as it was written, stolen, lost, and—after 2,000 years, countless battles, fevered digs, conspiracies, and revelations—finally found.

Customer Reviews:

Gilgamesh for Dummies?.......2007-07-03

This is a strange sort of an introductory book. It is so very general, in fact that I cannot help but feel that with a little more creativity and work it could have become one more title in the For Dummies series. Now, I like those books, they are often quite good for what they are. This poor book cannot seem to figure out just what it is. Part real history and part literary speculation, it has only two of the Ten Parts of a For Dummies title and they are not at all well melded together. The illustrations don't help to advance the tale much either as they are of very poor quality for the most part. If and only if, the person who reads this book goes on to read some of the other books and articles this book cites does this title earn its keep.

Well researched and an interesting read!.......2007-06-11

I really enjoyed reading "The Buried Book". Unlike some other Amazon readers, I felt it was a lot less tedious than actually sifting through sand and transcribing cuneiform. If you're looking for a book about the translation or the process of archaeology, look elsewhere. If you enjoy reading about personalities within a social context and high adventure, this book is for you. The reader also learns a lot about ancient literature within Mesopotamian culture. David Damrosch's research is impressive. Those that like "The Buried Book" might also like Joseph Alexander MacGillivray's "Minotaur".

The Covers of This Book Are Too Far Apart*.......2007-06-05

A fascinating topic for a book is made tedious and annoying by author David Damrosch. Damrosch, a comparative literature teacher, manages to bury a great story under an avalanche of trite comments. The man simply has no idea how to let a story tell itself. He makes the interesting banal. Damrosch burns through forests-worth of paper impressing himself with his own wit, leaving the reader to sift through his academic prose for the 'good parts' version of the Gilgamesh back-story.

For an author who obviously did a lot of research in putting this book together, Damrosch makes a rookie error in stating that Stanley's expedition to find Livingston was funded by the Daily Telegraph: it was the New York Herald that paid his freight.

"The Buried Book" is in dire need of a ghostwriter, someone who can turn the fruits of Damrosch's research into something readable.

*with apologies to Ambrose Bierce, a man who knew how to tell a tale.

The history of the Gilgamesh tale.......2007-05-30

"The Epic of Gilgamesh" is standard fare in college literature, history and religion courses today. The ancient Mesopotamian tale, which has the earliest known version of the Flood Story, has influenced and inspired Mesopotamians (including the ancestors of the early Hebrews) for centuries, along with possibly Greeks and other Mediterranean peoples. However, but for a chance archaeological discovery in the 19th century, the original tale may have been lost forever.

In THE BURIED BOOK, scholar David Damrosch explores the importance of Gilgamesh for the ancient Mesopotamians as well as how it was discovered in the early days of archeology and translated from cuneiform into English by a self-taught linguist.

The journey of the epic from ancient Mesopotamia to the college classroom and beyond is quite extraordinary, and Damrosch does an excellent job presenting the tale. He cleverly tells the story of the "loss and rediscovery" of Gilgamesh backwards, starting with its translation from the clay tablets by George Smith, who worked for the British Museum, in 1872. Without Smith, Gilgamesh and his story most likely would have been ignored or overlooked.

The actual discovery of the Gilgamesh tablets (no one entire copy has survived, and what we read has been pieced together from tablets at various sites) was made by the Iraqi archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam, a figure who bridged the divide between the Occident and the Orient. Despite his success and important discoveries, he was never fully accepted or respected by most of his European counterparts, even after making England his home and years of dedicated service to the British Museum. Both Smith and Rassam are as interesting as their work, and Damrosch nicely weaves in to his book some of their biography.

Before Rassam uncovered the tablets that ultimately contained "The Epic of Gilgamesh," they were buried for centuries. And, if not for an Assyrian king in the 7th century BCE, the tablets may not have survived at all. Ashurbanipal collected religious and secular literary works, in effect creating the world's first library. Ashurbanipal is also a fascinating character, and as THE BURIED BOOK marches backward through time, Ashurbanipal's name is added to the list of important men who preserved the amazing tale of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh himself predates anything written about him, and Damrosch explores the history and legend of this very ancient hero and leader.

After tracing the story of Gilgamesh back as far as possible, Damrosch returns readers to the present. Saddam Hussein rushes to put the finishing touches on his latest novel as American troops close in on him. That he is a novelist may be surprising to some. But at this point in Damrosch's examination, it is not surprising that Hussein would compare himself to Gilgamesh and use the epic as a cultural, national and religious touchstone. But Hussein is not the only one to borrow from or refer to the great epic; writers such as Philip Roth and, more recently, Joan London have done the same. And, as Damrosch also explains, ancient authors most likely have been doing so for well over a thousand years.

THE BURIED BOOK is smart and compelling, as much for the story of the men who preserved the epic as for the story of the buried book itself. It is an academic subject, but Damrosch's exploration is immensely readable for lay people as well. Whether interested in literature or history, culture or religion, readers will find THE BURIED BOOK enjoyable and enlightening. The author has succeeded in making what could have been a stuffy tale totally exciting.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman

Tedious.......2007-04-06

I shall be brief: tedious. I should like it, I'm an ex-librarian and ex-archaeologist in Near Eastern Studies and actually studied Akkadian for a year at university. I have held cuneiform tablets, transcribed and translated them. This book is all about the personalities and their conflicted Victorian classism. It is not about the translation, or the process of archaeology.

The Epic of Gilgamesh: An English Verison with an Introduction (Penguin Classics)

Average customer rating:

It was horrible.
Yet another Gilgamesh.
the beggining
Outstanding presentation of a world treasure
The origins of civilization

The Epic of Gilgamesh: An English Verison with an Introduction (Penguin Classics)
Anonymous
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 014044100X

Amazon.com

This edition provides a prose rendering of The Epic of Gilgamesh, the cycle of poems preserved on clay tablets surviving from ancient Mesopotamia of the third mi llennium B.C. One of the best and most important pieces of epic poetry from human history, predating even Homer's Iliad by roughly 1,500 years, the Gilgamesh epic tells of the various adventures of that hero-king, including his quest for immortality, and an account of a great flood similar in many details to the Old Testament's story of Noah. The translator also provides an interesting and useful introduction explaining much about the historical context of the poem and the archeological discovery of th e tablets.

Customer Reviews:

It was horrible........2007-08-07

I had to read it for a summer reading book. It was horrible. I mean, who wants to read all about the Ancient Sumarians?

Yet another Gilgamesh........2007-07-24

I was reading these thirty-some reviews of The Epic of Gilgamesh, starting the old Sanders one in prose, which isn't half bad. Almost none of translations and/or reditions (translation made from other translations, rather than from the original Akkadian in cuneiform alphabet)...none are really bad, but you certainly can get different slants on the story, and twisted episodes, and missed tone, and so on.
The scholarly translations by Assyriologists (A.George, Foster, Kovacs, Dalley, and so on) are usually too scholarly, and interrupt the read with all the problems that still abound. (Almost a third of the epic is still missing, for example.) The renditions, poets and wanna-be's like Jackson and Ferry, tend to wander off into their own thing; John Gardner (Grendel) included: he's sexy, but he ain't Sin-leqi-unnini (the supposed 'Homer' of the version found in an ancient library in 600 BC). Stephen Mitchell, a great Rilke translator, doesn't let on that he doesn't really read the Akkadian, so that's a rendition without your knowing whose versions he worked from. There's a lot of fudging going on in the Gilgamesh racket. It's a whole sub-story to the epic itself, and almost as much fun.

But if you wanted to get as close to the original text as possible, dig up the 1948 translation by Alexander Heidel (whose text seems sympathetically ancient: the book's typeface makes it look like a dissertation from that era, font by Underwood). But Heidel is closest to what the original sounds like: The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parellels: "A translation and interpretation of the Gilgamesh Epic and related Babylonian and Assyrian documents."
But really everyone named above, and maybe three times that many in print today, all take it beyond Heidel's crude (albeit with an ancient beauty, almost like an artifact) level, but I think they all err, in going too far, or not far enough, or getting too far from the original, or just keeping a good read going. The politics of getting to the original tablets, by the bye, and the technology of reading the ancient clay fragments covered in cuneiform script three to four thousand years old, is a worthwhile epic in itself. There are 'Gilgamesh wars' out there that you'll never hear about, having to do with careers, withheld translations, transcriptions, etc. And why not, the stakes aren't really that small: this is the very first of work of literature, predating Homer by a thousand years and much longer if you look at earlier versions, the Old Babylonian and the Sumerian mess. Why indeed not lock in the 'definitive translation'?

But enough of human ambition; one final suggestion: if you want to read a version that stays quite close to the original, whatever that is/was, but brings the sensory dimension up to modern taste, and teases out a good deal of the humor that's arguably in the original but which most translations miss, then I'm pleased to inform you that there is yet one more Gilgamesh cropping up in of all places, at Lulu dot com, as a graphic novel. The cartoonist has added his own humor--it feels like/looks like it's for 14 year olds some of the time--but he's also brought out the intrinsic humor of the original, has certainly rendered the scenes vividly, keeps his own contribution distinct from 'the original', and the text for the pure epic reads as well as the best ones above and keeps the reader forefront, not the scholarship. Check it out at Lulu.

Qualifier: It's not finished, but two out of three installments are there, through about Tablet IX (a total of 12), where Enkidu falls sick and then Gilgamesh sets out bereft and alone on his quest for immortality, learning lots of secrets as he goes, including that of the story of the Flood. This is Noah's arc, but written down some one to two millenium before Genesis. When one George Smith first cracked the code, in the 1872, there were riots. It was Darwin all over again, to the literalists of faith, of which there were then as now, many.
A neat new book (2006) on all that is out, listed here in amazon: David Damrosch's The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh.

Back to the graphic version:
A comic book reviewer, former editor at DC Comics, one 'Occasional Superheroine,' begins a pretty favorable revew with something like: Ancient Sumeria meets Krum... This is about right: the epic bleeds through in all its strength and Sumerian-Babylonian wonder and feeling, and the cartoons provide a tongue-in-cheek commentary that's much more sophisticated than it at first appears, with its Ally-Oop hero and his hirsute side-kick. The Bull of Heaven, the giant monster Humbaba, Shamhat and Enkidu out there on the steppes unchaperoned, spoiled little vindictive Ishtar... it's really worth a gander.
Curious note: the artist and writer seem to be brothers, or a father-son team. And in the interest of Full Disclosure, one of them's me!
Occasional Superheroine recommends it; so do I.
~"Sam"

the beggining.......2007-02-13

Almost five thousand years ago. It is unthinkable. To comprehend that ancient time, one would need knowledge and power of imagination that would be no easy to measure or value. Even than, one couldn't possibly be any nearer that time. It is shrouded in mystery.

Origins of entire history of literature, of written words/worlds, emerge from these tablets. And here we find first (written) quest for immortality. And tragedy which is found in fact that that quest cannot ever be successful. That man is forever compelled to roam that vast universe of his, and to raise his voice in vain, constantly fighting for something that is as far away as things can be.

Gilgamesh is a real beaut. Of it's style, importnace, structure numerous books have been written. But those are reserved for scholars and for those of you out there who are burning with desire to know. Gilgamesh greatness lies in a simple fact. It lies in realising that it doesn't matter how far have we gone in comprehending world around us, or how much we advanced technologically. However far we may have traveled, when facing this book, we learned that we are still troubled, and still defined by the same troubles heroes of old had been. What does that teach us? You'll have to answer that one for yourself.

Of this translation I don't know nothing. I haven't actually read it. My comment concernes Gilgames corpus itself. Sorry 'bout that :)

Outstanding presentation of a world treasure.......2006-10-21

N. K. Sandars' presentation of Gilgamesh is an outstanding achievement of editing, interpretation, and paraphrase. "Paraphrase" rather than translation, because she admits that she is unable to read the cuneiform in which the epic was written over four thousand years ago; instead she's compared all the literal scholarly editions available and turned them into very readable and moving English prose. This was easily the finest version for the nonspecialist reader when it was published in 1960, and to my mind it remains unsurpassed.

Readers primarily interested in the cultural background of Gilgamesh will want to look at more recent scholarship, but for the rest of us Sandars's rendition of the text is as powerfully engaging as when it first appeared.

Though tyhe original Gilgamesh is a verse epic, and Sandars writes prose, readers looking for the intensity of poetry will find it here, in what's really a splendid "prose poem." In fact, Sandars's prose strikes me as more, not less, satisfying than David Ferry's currently popular verse translation, which is competent but, to my mind, rather lackluster.

Although Penguin has issued a newer translation in verse by Andrew George, I hope they keep N. K. Sandars's version in print. It's brilliantly done.

The origins of civilization.......2006-07-14

This poem is perhaps the oldest "book" known so far. It is supposed to have been first conceived by the end of the Third Millenium B.C. It tells, in a direct and somewhat naive way, the adventures of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, in Mesopotamia. In the beginning we are told of how Gilgamesh got to be king, and how he felt lonely, since he lacked a friend worthy of him. The gods listen to him, and tell him to send a whore to seduce Enkidu, a savage man who lives with the beasts and behaves as such. He is the "good savage", totally in a natural state and without a civilizatory stain. It is chilling to think of this particular story as an ancient memory of our life in pre-civilization times. The prostitute manages to seduce him (any resemblance to Adam and Eve is granted), and then the beasts reject him. He has become fully human. This passage is a wonderful metaphore of the civilizatory process which we humans experienced in immemorial ages. Enkidu has to learn to drink milk from a jar and not directly from the breasts of animals. He has to learn to wear clothes, drink wine and sleep on a bed.

Enkidu fights Gilgamesh, showing him his strength and courage, which makes him the inseparable friend. After that, Gilgamesh feels the urgency to leave his legacy in this world before his inevitable death, another humanizing feature, since the individual already shows a full conscience of his mortality and of himself, and thinks of the future. So, both friends depart for the Woods, presumably current Lebanon (the Cedar Forest), where Ancient Mesopotamians got their timber, so scarce in their country. To conquer the Woods, they must kill the giant Humbaba, guardian of the forest, incarnation of Evil and presumably the first reference to the Devil in literature. In doing so they infuriate all the gods except one, and one of them must die. This is how Enkidu gets sick and dies after an excruciating agony. This fact turns out to be devastating for Gilgamesh, because it confirms the inevitability of his own demise. Ravaged by his friend's death, Gilgamesh sets out on a journey to try and find a way to escape from mortality. He travels to the East, beyond the mountains, to the Country of Sun, to try to cross the Sea and reach the land of Dilmun (kind of a preserved Garden of Eden), where Utnapishtim lives, the only human to have survived the Flood (it raises your hair to see a reference to this cataclism, centuries before the Bible), and consequently granted immortality by the gods. Gilgamesh reaches the "garden by the sea" where a young female vineyard tender lives. She tells him frankly that he will never find what he's looking for, since Death is unavoidable. It is humans' Fate, but to humans it has also been granted the possibility of happiness, and so the girl advises him to "fill your belly with good things... have fun and rejoice. Wear clean clothes, bathe in fresh water, caress yout little cildren and embrace and make your woman happy", for that is also the Fate of Man. Gilgamesh can't give up and convinces the oarsman to take him to Dilmun. Utnapishtim, puzzled, receives him and tells him he'll live forever if he stays awake six days and seven nights. Of course he can't make it, and when he wakes up Utnapishtim tells him the story of the Flood, suprisingly and suspiciously similar to that told later in the hebrew Genesis (let's not forget the long years of Hebrew exile in Babilonia). Gilgamesh makes a final effort, ripping from the bottom of the sea the "plant that gives you your youth back" but later, while bathing in a well, a snake steals the plant, changes skin and leaves. Unconsoled, Gilgamesh returns to Uruk and dies.

It is difficult to exaggerate the historical and literary importance of this work, since in its brief span it collects all that makes us human: civilization, glory, the conscience of Death. It also gathers primeval memories, the process of going out of the African plains and building cities, the search for supplies and the fear of the beasts of the forests. The tale of the Flood confirms for us the memory of cosmic catastrophes which since the remote past left an indelible mark upon us. Indispensable reading.

The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts 2 Volumes

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The REAL Gilgamesh Epic

The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts 2 Volumes
A. R. George
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh

ASIN: 0198149220

Book Description

The Babylonian Gilgamesh epic is the acknowledged masterpiece of ancient Mesopotamian literature. Nevertheless it has to be re-edited periodically to take account of the enormous increase in primary sources that occurs every generation. Since the last critical edition of the epic seventy years ago the known fragments of the epic have almost doubled. This book collects all the extant texts in one place again, including twenty-three fragments published for the first time. The author has studied personally every available fragment to produce a definitive edition and translation. Four introductory chapters place the epic in its context and examine the name, person and traditions of Gilgamesh and other characters in the poem. The plates present the cuneiform text of all the extant fragments of the epic. The result is a publication which is a standard academic resource.

Customer Reviews:

The REAL Gilgamesh Epic.......2007-01-03

The best edition available. Not cheap, but worth the
price for those interested in the original.

Average customer rating:

"The epic of the fear of death"
A modern way of telling an ancient tale
Ever Ancient, Ever New!
I Hate This Narrator!!!!!!
World Litrature

Gilgamesh: A New English Version
Stephen Mitchell
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0743261690

Book Description

Gilgamesh is considered one of the masterpieces of world literature, but until now there has not been a version that is a superlative literary text in its own right. Acclaimed by critics and scholars, Stephen Mitchell's version allows us to enter an ancient masterpiece as if for the first time, to see how startlingly beautiful, intelligent, and alive it is.

Customer Reviews:

"The epic of the fear of death".......2007-09-24

I read Mitchell's freer version immediately after Andrew George's Penguin Classic (also reviewed by me). Readers need to remember how incomplete our Gilgamesh story remains for us today. The plot breaks or perplexing contexts are not the fault of its translators or retellers. George-- editor of the first scholarly edition in English-- meticulously keeps the brackets and the italics that expose modern concessions to our ignorance. The two-thirds of the epic estimated that we have today fills with conjectures; the spaces, and the breaks intervene over thousands of years to keep us from the complete epic that once existed. I wonder if may still be revived among the thousands of untranslated tablets that keep being unearthed.

Mitchell admits his lack of Akkadian and his reliance on experts. Many criticize Mitchell's attempt; he has a long career -- reminding me of Ezra Pound's efforts to render the archaic Chinese into vibrant English despite his lack of academic training-- in popularizing scholarly effort so a wider audience can enjoy the tales vigorously and fluently told. So, be warned that this is not a crib or a line-by-line equivalence. This being said, in his defense, the endnotes Mitchell provides often show carefully how he has changed the original word-for-word translations into more poetic form. He retells, therefore, an exciting and moving tale.

Most beginners-- thus educated-- may find a "version" such as Stephen Mitchell's easier to start with for an overview of the storyline, and a briefer introduction-cum-commentary and helpful textual notes that follow the story proper. The poem itself is not lengthy, and can be read easily. From here, moving on to more accurate translations could reward the still curious. But, for many who want the story and not the scholarship, the sufficient introduction, comments, and glossary here will satisfy the curious first-time reader. I returned to this after thirty-plus years and profited from a mature encounter with a text that for a teenager proved too enigmatic. Intriguingly, talking with my own fourteen-year-old son who had read the poem for school, he found Gilgamesh and Enkidu far more recognizably like ourselves than stoic Beowulf or stern Aeneas! Many want also to bowdlerize or censor the few sexual encounters, but I defend Mitchell's claims for the primacy of the civilizing power of the erotic as dramatized sparely but evocatively in the suggestive verse. Speaking of relevance for teens, the slanging sparring verbal showdown between Inanna and Gilgamesh rivals any rapper's challenge today.

George aimed for precision in his translation, and while I liked the careful results, they did aim at academics in their vocabulary. which tended occasionally towards the overly technical or remained awkward. Mitchell chooses more explicit terms for action; he shows an awareness to entertain the reader whereas George may seek to inform the student. Mitchell's also considerably more erotic and develops passages that in their original state, reading George, remain terse. So, be aware of these crucial differences between the more accurate and the more vivid words.

Reviewers have shown surprise that Mitchell makes reference to the current destruction in Iraq. Yet, the irony that this tale is set amidst death, the longing to be one with the gods, battles with fearsome foes, contentious marketplaces, angry citizens, and terrifying journeys shows how narratives of human concerns age but little. The story cannot be properly blamed for its leaps in events or jumps between settings. We must remember that a third of the tale is not in our possession, so neither Mitchell or the anonymous tellers can bear fault for the ravages of time and our own lack of understanding of the nuances of Sumerian!

George observes that this epic is still, amazingly and poignantly, one in progress as we await trained Assyriologists able to decipher not only the later Akkadian but the considerably more challenging and often cryptic Sumerian sources. Mitchell reminds us in what Rilke called "the epic of the fear of death" how mortality in its cradle, here amidst one of the earliest civilizations in the Middle East, remains open to violence and ravages today. It's humbling and necessary to learn from such a fragile literary moral and a long-attenuated cultural heritage. It's a shame that in a region where so many billions have been spent to destroy the area between the Tigris & Euphrates that a few thousands can not be provided for the study and restoration of the oldest story text we have ever found.

A modern way of telling an ancient tale.......2007-09-14

Having read several versions of this story over the years I think this is the best of the lot. Mitchell does not pretend to be translating this ancient story from ancient civilizations and languages, but he has done a wonderful job of interpreting an interesting fable that has only been recently found and pieced together with various versions from different societies spanning several millennia. He has made this an understandable epic even though taking many liberties with the many literal translations he used to assemble this tale. Not exactly "West Side Story" vs. "Romeo and Juliet" treatment, but readable, enjoyable, and not much of a "violation" of the original, which still has missing fragments, and has been made unnecessarily stuffy by literalists who may have understood ancient languages but didn't really understand that a classic like this should also be as readable and understandable to today's societies as it was to those that existed thousands of years ago when it was originally told.

Ever Ancient, Ever New!.......2007-08-28

Although reputed to be the oldest story extant, "Gilgamesh" shows that human nature remains constant through the ages. The story of King Gilgamesh and his friend, Enkidu, record the age-old tale of rivalry and friendship, death and remorse and, ultimately, the search for immortality. These themes of daily life and parallels to modern statecraft render Gilgamesh as fresh as today's news.
Some features of "Gilgamesh" bear such a resemblance to the Bible as to clearly establish the Bible as a book of its time and culture. Gilgamesh contains a reference to seven years of famine (Joseph in Egypt), a flood story (similar to, but in critical ways different from Noah's) and sections of repeated dialogue, so reminiscent of Biblical sections. The explanatory essay by Stephen Mitchell helps the reader to understand the significance of portions of the tale's subtleties.
As the oldest surviving example of the literature of civilization, "Gilgamesh" should be within the ken of every civilized person. Besides that, it is entertaining reading.

I Hate This Narrator!!!!!!.......2007-08-03

I love the print edition of this book. It is the most accessible version of the story I have ever read.
But the audiobook version, why oh why do publishers continue to use this man to read books?! He is absolutely awful. He must be blackmailing someone with secret photos to keep getting this type of work.
There have been at least four different audiobooks I was very excited to listen too until I found out this man was the narrator. Two others I quit midstream because I couldn't stand listening to him anymore.
Avoid the displeasure of this audiobook version, get a print edition and enjoy this great story.

World Litrature .......2007-07-21

I had to read this book for my world litrature class and it was very easy to understand. The story line was alright, but Stephen Mitchell did a great job re-writing this book.

The Epic of Gilgamesh (Penguin Classics)

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Exhaustive, scholarly, for advanced readers
Fragmentary Visions
A non-historian's view of the "Epic of Gilgamesh."
Penguin Epics (review)
Exceptionally good verse translation

The Epic of Gilgamesh (Penguin Classics)
Anonymous
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140449191
Release Date: 2003-04-29

Book Description

Translated with an Introduction by Andrew George.

Customer Reviews:

Exhaustive, scholarly, for advanced readers.......2007-09-24

I recommend this Penguin Classic, but it offers more thorough scholarly apparatus than usual for the series. This is not meant as a criticism! But, a beginner may find a "version" such as Stephen Mitchell's easier to start with for an overview of the storyline, and a briefer introduction and helpful endnotes. The poem itself is not lengthy, but the ancillary texts and sources, as Andrew George shows us, do take up considerable space which may please enthusiasts but discourage newcomers to this epic poem.

George prepared for Oxford UP in 1999 a two-volume edition, and this Penguin adapts the core of the English translation for a wider audience. It appears ideal for a college classroom or the reader wanting to learn more about the lacunae, the gaps, the language, and the editorial decisions made by George and fellow translators. A fascinating appendix shows how out of grammatical markers, syllabic, and half-syllabic cuneiform incisions the sounds and rhythms and absences that fill this most ancient of narratives turn into what we can understand. To a point.

Terms such as "louvre-door," "glacis-slope," "hie to the forge," and notably Ishtar's exhortation to "stroke my quim" give a rather archaic diction to parts of the translation. George aims obviously for precision in such terminology, but this does clash with the more demotic vernacular chosen by Mitchell in his popularization. Mitchell's also considerably more erotic and develops passages that in their original state, reading George, remain terse. Again, George approaches the thousands of fragments that are still being assembled nearly 150 years after their discovery and observes that this epic is still, amazingly and poignantly, one in progress as we await trained Assyriologists able to decipher not only the later Akkadian but the considerably more challenging and often cryptic Sumerian sources. It's a shame that in a region where so many billions have been spent to destroy the area between the Tigris & Euphrates that a few thousands can not be provided for the study and restoration of the oldest story text we have ever found.

Fragmentary Visions .......2007-08-30

I recently ordered this version to prepare for teaching Giglamesh in a Humanities I course. I had read the famous Sandars version, which compiles the various tablets into one coherent prose narrative. However, Andrews' new version attempts no similar gloss: the work is revealed as a fragmentary masterpiece, with gripping passages of narrative trailing off into maddening gaps and uncertainties. The Introduction offers a very informative, concise overview of Gilgamesh scholarship and the state of the work itself. It is truly humbling to realize how little we have of this great work, yet what we do have literally changed our understanding of the ancient world. And as Sandars suggested in his Introduction to the earlier Penguin volume, it is amazing that such an old, fragmentary work from a forgotten culture still has the power to move us. This sounds like academic hyperbole, but even in its most authentic state, the work is powerful; we see Gilgamesh's grief, his desperation, and his bitter defeat upon losing Enkidu and the possibility of eternal life. The translation carries some powerful imagery that somehow surpasses the more fluid prose translation; perhaps this is a bit of chiaroscuro (sp?), the lost passages showing the more complete, brilliant ones in greater relief.

Even better, this translation includes all the various fragments of the Gilgamesh story, as well as the ealrier Sumerian version of the epic, which is much different than the Standard version. It's a remarkable volume which is fun to pour through and reconstruct this ancient world on the dawn of civilization. It truly inspired me to teach this work to my students, emphasizing how such a powerful work can rest on only a handful of broken tablets.

A non-historian's view of the "Epic of Gilgamesh.".......2007-06-14

I had heard a lot about this story and knew something of what it was about. The particular rendition in this book seemed to leave some points made by other reports of other translations in doubt.I am reading another book about this epic ("Buried book") which I hope and think will cover more than this translation. If it doesn't satisfy my interest I will look for other translations.

Overall it was an interesting book.

Penguin Epics (review).......2007-04-03

This is a review of The Epic of Gilgamesh (Penguin Epics) published 2006. This is a prose translation by N.K. Sandars, which was first published in Penguin's 1960 edition of Gilgamesh, re-printed here sans the book-length editors introduction. Just the meat, no potatoes or desert. It took me about 2 hours to read as an average reader, was clear and easy to understand. The book is physically tiny, 4x8 inches and a quarter-inch thick, it would disappear on a book shelf.

I purchased this at the same time as The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh, however I wished I had waited, as 'Buried Book' has a good overview of more recent translations available. However I am not disappointed as Sandard's translation is good and easy and understandable - it may not be scholarly level, but perfectly acceptable for most readers who just want to read the epic and enjoy it.

Exceptionally good verse translation.......2006-05-30

This was the first translation of Gilgamesh that ever really grabbed me. I had waded through plodding, tedious translations (mostly in prose) before, and been left feeling like Assyriologists must be the most bored people in the world.
George's translation, however, is in verse and adds vigor to what appeared to me, for years, to be a bland jumping off point for bigger and better epics of later eras. I flew through this translation, hanging on every word, and was almost sad to see it end.
The notes and critical bits were nice as well, and the numerous lacunae showed me just how little of the full story we really have. Heartbreaking, really, and it made appreciate those bored people I used to pity.
If you're new to The Epic of Gilgamesh and want an engaging, readable verse translation of it, this is the one to buy.
Highly recommended.

Average customer rating:

Gilgamesh for Dummies
False teeth
Read this again and again
Nothing needed to be said
A clear and precise rendering of the world's oldest epic

Gilgamesh: A Verse Narrative
Herbert Mason
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0618275649

Book Description

Herbert Mason's best-selling Gilgamesh is the most widely read and enduring interpretation of this ancient Babylonian epic. One of the oldest and most universal stories known in literature, the epic of Gilgamesh presents the grand, timeless themes of love and death, loss and reparations within the stirring tale of a hero-king and his doomed friend. A finalist for the National Book Award, Mason's retelling is at once a triumph of scholarship, a masterpiece of style, and a labor of love that grew out of the poet's long affinity with the original.

Customer Reviews:

Gilgamesh for Dummies.......2007-09-22

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an important literary work to study. It provides the opportunity to contrast our worldview to that of the ancient Babylonians. As a Christian, it confirmed to me the selfless and consistent love of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ in stark contrast to the flawed, self-seeking, and non-covenantial gods in the epic. The culture's examination of mortality and the afterlife also attempts to explain the historical worldwide flood.

Mason's version of Gilgamesh is a wonderful starting point for the beginning student of classical literature. The text is easily attainable while maintaining an enjoyably lyrical style. Our course's study questions revealed that the version did lack some particulars and thoroughness, but managed to catch the key points adequately.

Caution: There is a segment of the book that was inappropriate, in my view, for even a middle/high school grade student. I sought a solution through other versions which were dramatically worse! The segment amounted to a few lines in this version, which we successfully blacked out without affecting the storyline.

False teeth.......2007-09-20

The well meaning Mr. Mason does not represent the Epic of Gilgamesh well in his verse narrative. In fact, it is not a translation of the Epic, rather has he cooked up his own version of somebody else's translation. He did this in times when few knew much about Gilgamesh, and made many novices belive it was the Epic. I have even heard of a small country where the most prominent philosopher translated Mason's narrative into the native language. The literature professor entered it into the curriculum for early literature and everyone thought they were reading the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Mason's verse narrative is strikingly purged of place and time specific references. In his hands this complex monument of Babylonian literature has become just "an old story... that can still be told" about friendship, loss and human mortality. In Mason's popular retelling, the character Gilgamesh has been reduced to a sentimental simpleton, who cannot deal with the facts of life. Such a retelling can be recommended for children, but it is too full of anachronistic references to "thoughts" (unheard of in early texts) and other modern phenomena to deserve the attention of grown-ups. From Mr. Mason's recreation of the poem alone it would seem unlikely that the Epic of Gilgamesh had held the fascination of generations of writers and scholars, ever since it was rediscovered in the 19th century.

One former reviewer states: "If this wonderful epic were familiar to everyone in our culture, as it was to the Babylonians who made it their national epic back in the third millenium B.C., we would be the richer for having a wealth of images to sustain us as we encounter our tragedies and walk through our dark valleys." I do essentially agree, but in that case it is imperative to keep closer to the Epic itself, not to rely on an imitation. My recommendations: For those who need textual supplementary information and variant readings I recommend either of Maureen Gallery Kovacs or Andrew R. George's translations. Stephen Mitchell's New English Version should be easy to use for those who are looking for a simplified translation for a clear understanding.

Read this again and again.......2007-09-16

Mason's translation of the epic can be easily read in one sitting, but it is worth savoring and pondering passages filled with beautiful imagery and timeless meaning. This is a simple story of hubris, friendship, and loss. It is a tale of accepting both the limitations and beautiful power of being human. I have read this translation yearly, and I plan to continue to do so, to remind me of the univeral pain but ultimately triumphant power of the human spirit.

Nothing needed to be said .......2005-10-19

Words fail. I love this book, this translation, especially. It's not verbose; it relies on detail to express pathos. The lack of embellishments enhances the story and characters. I'm afraid to talk about this book too much. Simply elegant, and heartbreakingly honest.

A clear and precise rendering of the world's oldest epic .......2005-08-27

When I read this version, I wanted to buy and I did! I loved this simplified translation and Herbert Mason provided a clear understanding of the Mesopotamian story. I loved the use of the blank verse style, Mason has done well in this abridged version of the epic. I'd like to see more abridged works of ancient epics by Mason! I loved the Babylonian relief on the front cover too. I would have appreciated Mason to provide to ending where Gilgamesh finally dies. Get this version of Gilgamesh.

The Epic of Gilgamesh (Norton Critical Editions)

Average customer rating:

Not Up To Snuff
Nice Starting Point
Didn't do much for me
New Translation
An excellent tool for understanding the ancient epic

The Epic of Gilgamesh (Norton Critical Editions)

Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0393975169

Book Description

The Epic of Gilgamesh (ca. 2500-1500 B.C.E.) is one of the world's greatest epic narratives and, quite possibly, its oldest epic poem. Our text is based on a new English translation from original sources. An introduction, interpretive headings, explanatory annotations, and illustrations guide readers through the text and help them explore Near Eastern history and culture. Analogues includes two related groups of ancient poetry. The first is a collection of shorter, older Sumerian poems about the hero Gilgamesh, some of which appear in The Epic of Gilgamesh. The second collection includes material about Gilgamesh from the Hittite language, translations or paraphrases of Babylonian versions of the epic that have not been preserved in the same form. Criticism provides introduction and analysis in essays by William Moran, Thorkild Jacobsen, and Rivkah Harris. A Glossary of Proper Names and a Selected Bibliography are included.

About the Series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehenive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide.

Customer Reviews:

Not Up To Snuff.......2007-01-05

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a difficult text, both to translate and to read. I'm not a fan of translating Shamat (the woman who seduces & helps civilize Enkidu) as a "harlot." It's better than "prostitute" or "temple prostitute," but I think it has a very particular (negative) connotation in modern English that it probably didn't carry in Sumerian, Akkadian, and Bablylonian civilizations. On the other hand, Foster is the one who "knows" the language, not me. The ancillary material that Norton Critical editions contain, however, is the real problem with this edition. I very much enjoyed the inclusion of individual texts and stories from earlier epochs (i.e., Sumerian texts before the epic was "compiled"). And there is a useful discussion about the various "stages" of the text we read today (actually a first millennium BCE compilation - some 2000 years later than the first stories about Gilgamesh!). But the essays require more guidance, especially since many of them directly contradict Foster's introduction/translation, and unlike (e.g.) reading Shakespeare, only a handful of people in the WORLD can justly be referred to as experts on this material. So there needs to be some discussion of the included texts BY Foster (or another modern scholar) in order to give us wee non-experts some sort of ground to stand on.

Nice Starting Point.......2006-04-20

This is the "Standard" version as recorded by Sin-leqe-unninni with some gaps filled in by translations of other versions. Introduction, analogues and critical essays notwithstanding, the lack of contextual or other contemporary material necessitates additional research for a better understanding of the lay. Perhaps other translations for comparison would benefit the reader as well.

Didn't do much for me.......2004-10-17

I have the Penguin translation of the Epic, and I enjoy it very much. I picked up this book to get a more recent translation. I can't question the accuracy of the translation, since I'm not an expert but, from a literary standpoint, I found this translation lacking.

First, the tone shifts for no apparent reason. In some sections the characters speak like they're orating and then, all of a sudden, the language is peppered with slang.

Second, I find it inappropriate for translators to insert Christian mythological terms in ancient texts. For instance, this book calls the underworld "hell." While the Mesopotamian afterlife was hardly a keg party, to equate it with the Christian hell is simply inaccurate.

Finally, and most important, the translation fails to capture any sense of the power of the original. The language is dry. The structure of the sentences is stiff and the pacing is dull. Perhaps that's because this translation is academic in nature? Whatever the reason, the Epic won't continue to enthrall people for another several thousand years with translations like this.

As a side note: I didn't find the critical essays particularly interesting, so the book didn't work for me that way either. I'd pick the Penguin translation over this one in a heartbeat.

New Translation.......2004-07-21

The Norton Critical Edition of "The Epic of Gilgamesh" is a fairly recent translation of what is currently the oldest known epic. The epic was translated by Benjamin R. Foster. The book also includes "The Sumerian Gilgamesh Poems", translated by Douglas Frayne, and "The Hittite Gilgamesh", translated by Gary Beckman. In addition, there is "The Gilgamesh Letter", several essays discussing the epic, and an Introduction section which helps those who are new to the Epic with their first reading. The translation uses the "standard version" associated with Sin-leqe-unninni as its base, and supplements it with parts from other versions where there are gaps. There are also comments in the text to help the reader follow the passages easier.

An area of weakness of this book was in the area of editorial comments. For example, Mr. Foster states in the introduction:

"There is no evidence that The Epic of Gilgamesh began as an oral narrative performed by bards or reciters and coalesced into a written text only later. In fact, the poem as we now have it shows many signs of having been a formal, written, literary work composed and perhaps performed for well-educated people, especially scholars and members of a royal court."

This is in sharp contrast with other opinions which I have read regarding the origins of the Epic. While it may be that there is no conclusive proof one way or another, there clearly is some evidence to support the theory that it did begin as an oral narrative, just as there is evidence that it may not have. If Mr. Foster completely disregards the evidence on the other side of the argument, then one is left to wonder if there are other "facts" provided by the editor that are equally suspect. When comparing this translation to those by Alexander Heidel and Stephanie Dalley, one can see significant differences at the start of the epic where the other editors use as evidence which suggests that this was an oral narrative originally. Mr. Foster's translation though is worded in a way that does not suggest an oral origin.

On the whole, this was a very readable translation of the Epic. The supplementary material included is also very good. While I may disagree with some of the editor's opinions about the history of the work and the way he presents the evidence, this is still a good choice to read.

An excellent tool for understanding the ancient epic.......2003-01-17

Norton Critical Editions are known for providing authoritative texts or notable translations of important texts, and their edition of The Epic of Gilgamesh is no exception. The translation is easy to read without being simplistic, and is heavily (and helpfully) notated.

Where this edition really shines, though, is in providing a context for the work, not only in providing a variety of other Gilgamesh poems and critical interpretations, but in the excellent introduction on how to read the work. The introduction answers questions readers may have about the historical basis for the character of Gilgamesh, the history of the text itself, and provides general information on its style (such as why it continually repeats itself).

This version also includes a number of additional Gilgamesh stories from several different cultures, many of which are close parallels to the epic itself. Perhaps the most interesting (and certainly the weirdest) of these is Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld, in which Gilgamesh loses his prized ball-and-stick game and Enkidu goes down to the Netherworld to get it.

Book Description

The story of Gilgamesh, an ancient epic poem written on clay tablets in a cuneiform alphabet, is as fascinating and moving as it is crucial to our ability to fathom the time and the place in which it was written. Gardner's version restores the poetry of the text and the lyricism that is lost in the earlier, almost scientific renderings. The principal theme of the poem is a familiar one: man's persistent and hopeless quest for immortality. It tells of the heroic exploits of an ancient ruler of the walled city of Uruk named Gilgamesh. Included in its story is an account of the Flood that predates the Biblical version by centuries. Gilgamesh and his companion, a wild man of the woods named Enkidu, fight monsters and demonic powers in search of honor and lasting fame. When Enkidu is put to death by the vengeful goddess Ishtar, Gilgamesh travels to the underworld to find an answer to his grief and confront the question of mortality.

Customer Reviews:

Best Translation Possible.......2006-12-02

This is the best translation into English of The Epic of Gilgamesh I've encountered, and I've read six. I don't imagine a better one will ever be written, either.

This ancient story is best interpreted as a successful -- not a failed -- quest for immortality. Gilgamesh's love of life and contempt for the rules of the gods continue to inspire many who seek to beat mortality, either figuratively or literally, and might inspire you to seek life as well.

A wonderful story, among the oldest known.......2005-02-07

Gilgamesh was a hero from the earliest days of Western civilization. His story was told for a thousand years, in many parts of the mid-East. This book renders into English one of the latest versions of that story, from about 2000BC.

The book's layout follows the format of the clay tablets on which it was inscribed, twelve tablets each divided into six columns of text. After roughly 4000 years, much of the original text has been damaged or lost, and that is part of the excitement of reading this book. The translator shows just which parts were illegible, giving a sometimes broken form of the story. It really gives me, a modern reader, a sense of time's ravages and a better appreciation for the parts that remain.

According to notes in this book, other translators have often tried to patch a whole story together from different texts of the Gilgamesh epic. Since the story changed so many times over its active life, that practice is suspect - almost like filling in a Brothers Grimm fairy tale with scraps of a Disney version. The editor does sometimes show alternative versions, especially where this text was most damaged. That is very different. It preserves the integrity of the current translation, but still gives some idea of what might have been lost.

In other ways, though, I generally found the footnotes to be pedantic. They helped in a few places, in understanding the role of the temple courtesans in that society and religion. Most often, however, debates about the meanings of specific words and the ancient poetic forms added very little to my reading. I skipped most of that esoterica, of interest primarily to other translators.

What I did get was a deeper appreciation of the canon of Western literature. This story includes an early story much like Noah and the ark. This version is so similar to the biblical one that the differences are more striking. That pre-Noah saved "the seed of all living creatures", an evocative phrase in this era of DNA banking. He also saved "the children of all the craftsmen", preserving not just life but knowledge. A later part of the epic foreshadows Charon the ferryman, crossing the river Lethe to the Greek world of the dead. There is also the snake that deprived mankind of eternal life, with echoes of a Prometheus story and the Edenic snake.

Despite the academic commentary, the translation is modern and comfortable - even crude, when there was crudity in the original text. Parts of the story are missing, as they are in the historical record, but what's left is enjoyable and enlightening.

//wiredweird

Beginning and End of literature.......2003-12-16

"Gilgamesh" was Gardner's last project, according to co-author Maier; he died just after completing the typescript. "Gilgamesh" is not a playful reworking of the story like "Grendel" or "Jason and Medeia" (serious play there): this is a line by line translation of a single version of the poem. Where only one word of the original clay tablet was legible, this book has one word on the page. Where there were enough words to work with, Gardner has given us some powerful poetry. It is hard-hitting, primal stuff. Hypnotic repetitions pull the reader along, then crash into the pit of dismembered or missing fragments. What's not-there is very much a part of this "Gilgamesh." The notes supply the missing story line from alternate versions of the poem, but reading the fragments as fragments is part of Gardner's and Maier's "Gilgamesh": even poetry itself is mortal.

My opinion may be skewed--this was the first translation of "Gilgamesh" that I had read. My other experience with it is an old, yellowed Penguin version in academic prose. I came to this after "Grendel" which is another 5-star epic.

Unfiltered translation and insightful commentary.......2003-06-02

The epic of Gilgamesh would, of course, be of historical interest regardless of its content, since it seems to be the oldest written narrative in human history. Its relevance, however, goes far beyond the purely archival -- the story is engaging and powerful, and addresses fundamental questions of humanity. The combination of these two important characteristics makes for a classic creation of human culture; it is somehow comforting and at the same time humbling to know that people 3000 years ago struggled with the same questions with which we struggle still today.

I have read several renderings of the Gilgamesh epic, and in my opinion this version by John Gardner and John Maier is the best overall. It is probably the most direct translation you will find. The original text from which this translation is drawn (the "Sin-leqi-unninni" version) is written on 12 stone tablets, each of which has 6 columns of cuneiform. (The appendix includes pictures of some of the tablets, along with commetnary about the translation process.) Gardner and Maier have preserved this format, dividing their text according to the tablet and column divisions of the original. They have also, for the most part, translated line-by-line from the original, rather than reorganizing it as many other renderings have done.

The result is a work of disarming simplicity. Taking little or no poetic license, Gardner and Maier allow the text to speak for itself. Not being a reader of Akkadian myself, I cannot say how literal or accurate this translation is; I can, however, say that, to me as a reader, it FEELS authentic, and I think that is at least as important. The story has a timeless quality which, in other renderings, is sometimes obscured by excessive verbal flourishes on the part of the "translation" -- not so here.

On its own, the text would make this book a worthwhile purchase, but there's more to this translation than just the story. Extensive commentary follows each column, providing a wide range of helpful information. Since this translation draws only from the Sin-leqi-unninni original tablets, which are damaged in some places, the commentary gives occasional pointers to other versions, and attempts to piece together missing sections. There is also historical and cultural background where appropriate, explaining for instance the various gods referenced, and more literary commentary on the story itself.

And, though I have not addressed it specifically as yet, the story is remarkable. It covers a broad range of emotions, and manages to tug at the heart in several ways. In some places, the action is simply stated without emotional exposition; in other places, the language becomes more expressive, and probes the souls of the characters.

Some readers may be deterred by one byproduct of the translation's careful adherence to the original: where there are gaps in the original text (due to damage to the stone tablets), Gardner and Maier have simply left the gaps in their translation. This is unusual; most renderings attempt to smooth over such gaps by drawing from other sources. This is only a superficial problem, however. Gardner and Maier DO draw from other sources to complete the picture, but they wisely do so in the commentary rather than attempting to patch the text itself. This allows the reader to assemble the whole picture himself where necessary, rather than having it handed to him preassembled from undisclosed fragments.

All in all this is a wonderful book. It concisely provides a clear version of the story and a wealth of relevant commentary.

Great translation of a beautiful epic.......2003-01-02

This is one of the oldest known heroic poems, with some versions dating back to the Old Babylonian age about 2000 BC. What survives of the twelve tablets that make up the Gilgamesh epic tells a story about a king of Uruk, named Gilgamesh, who goes on an epic search for immortality with his companion Enkidu which leads him through many adventures and eventually takes him to a Noah-like sage who tells him the story of the flood.
Much of the twelve tablets on which the poem were written has been lost, but enough survives (through various copies and versions of the work) to be able to piece it together into a fairly coherent form. Gardner and Maier do an excellent job here of presenting the text, of translating it in a reliable and enjoyable manner, and of providing sufficient notes (actually, over half this book is notes!) to give the reader a very good feel for this beautiful poem.
This is an epic in many senses of the word, but it differs somewhat in scope from the Greek and Medieval heroic poems that we have. Still, for fans of the epic, for those interested in Homer, Virgil, Dante, or Milton, Gilgamesh provides an interesting look at an early Babylonian/Sumerian text.

Average customer rating:

Interesting but misses the points

The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic
Jeffrey H. Tigay
Manufacturer: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0865165467

Book Description

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the world's oldest known epics-it predates Homer by several centuries and is recognized as seminal to the cultural history of the Ancient Near East. Interpretation and decipherment of the story of Gilgamesh--fragmentary and contradictory as its several variants are--has been a monumental scholarly task, spanning more than a century...until Jeffrey Tigay teased out the epic's evolution. In this volume, Tigay traces the development of the composition of The Gilgamesh Epic over nearly two millennia and through the several languages in which it has been transmitted. The result is a study both comprehensive in breadth and impressive in methodology. The author breaks from his scholarly predecessors in relying on documented textual evidence rather than on critical analysis and hypotheses.

The immense contribution represented by this study has been acknowledged since its first publication in 1982. This reprint edition once again makes Tigay's groundbreaking work readily available to humanists, historians of literature and religion, biblical and classical scholars, anthropologists, and folklorists.

Special Features

* Aims to show how The Gilgamesh Epic developed from its earliest to its latest form
* Systematic, step-by-step tracking of the stylistic, thematic, structural, and theological changes in The Gilgamesh Epic
* Relation of changes to factors (geographical, political, religious, literary) that may have prompted them
* Attempts to identify the sources (biographical, historical, literary, folkloric) of the epic's themes, and to suggest what may have been intended by use of these themes
* Extensive bibliography
* Indices

Customer Reviews:

Interesting but misses the points.......2005-07-28

It is ashame Tigay does not respond to his e-mail. He fails to make important Biblical connections in his dissecting of redaction techniques. Also he fails to notice the importance of the politics of Naram-Sin in its realtionship to the original text. He also fails to mention the significance of the cosmic myth and its realtionship to the overall story.

However, he does dare to take on an interesting topic. He shows us how religious texts evolve as a living document, even if he fails to make the all important conclusion.

Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels (Phoenix Books)

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An Older Translation Of The Gilgamesh Epic
Wonderful for such an old epic
very interesting if somewhat heavy going at times

Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels (Phoenix Books)
Alexander Heidel
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0226323986

Book Description

Cuneiform records made some three thousand years ago are the basis for this essay on the ideas of death and the afterlife and the story of the flood which were current among the ancient peoples of the Tigro-Euphrates Valley. With the same careful scholarship shown in his previous volume, The Babylonian Genesis, Heidel interprets the famous Gilgamesh Epic and other related Babylonian and Assyrian documents. He compares them with corresponding portions of the Old Testament in order to determine the inherent historical relationship of Hebrew and Mesopotamian ideas.

Customer Reviews:

An Older Translation Of The Gilgamesh Epic.......2004-08-22

This is the second translation of the Gilgamesh epic that I have read recently, the other being translated by Benjamin R. Foster. Each of them has their strong points, but overall I prefer the Foster translation. The Foster translation is much more recent(2001), and benefits from additional pieces of the epic being found. The Heidel translation is from 1946 and for that reason has more gaps than the Foster translation. Heidel also translates the racier portions of the epic into Latin rather than English which is troublesome for non-scholars.

That being said, there are some very good things about this book which make it worthwhile. Heidel does an excellent job of informing the reader of what the source is for each part of the translation, as well as for the related material that he presents. His sections on 'Death and the Afterlife', and 'The Story Of The Flood' where he compares the Mesopotamian works with those of the Old Testament are much better than the discussion given with the Foster translation in my opinion. In addition, Rivkah Scharf Kluger uses Heidel's translation for most of her work presented in "The Archetypal Significance of Gilgamesh", which give those interested in a large amount of discussion all based on the same translation.

One last comment on the book itself is that the typeface used is rather small, and not very easy on the eyes.

Wonderful for such an old epic.......2001-06-06

I read Gilgamesh after I read the Iliad and they Oddyssey, and now i see where Homer got most of his ideas. I sat down with the notion that Gilgamesh would be a hard read; that it would take me forever to finish. However, it turns out that the actual epic is only a 100 pages, and version i got was filled with other poems that corresponded with the epic.

I thought that this was a wonderful story, and a worthwhile read if you've ever read anything by Homer or even the Bible, because this is the root of it all. The story is sad, erotic and wonderful all at the same time, and i highly recommend it for any age reader.

very interesting if somewhat heavy going at times.......2000-10-31

I was interested in this book as I had heard a lot about the influence of Mesopotamian literature on the Ancient Greek and Egyptian civilisations as well as some parts of the bible.

First the good points. Heidel wrote this book in order to appeal to a wide audience rather than just students of Akkadian, so there is no cuneiform or transcripted Akkadian, just the English translation. He introduces us to the background and then takes us through the Epic of Gilgamesh. Further chapters very carefully contrast parts of the Gilgamesh and other Mesopotamian literature to the stories of the bible. Heidel concentrates on the view of death and the afterlife and the Mesopotamiam Flood stories versus Noah. I found it very interesting if somewhat heavy going at times as I'm not a student in this field, and just familiarising myself with this type of literature. Luckily, Heidel was extremely careful to present a well annotated and referenced book so that readers can check up on each detail for themselves.

However, there is one problem: the whole look of this book is off-putting. Written in double-spaced, small Arial font, it looks like a research paper that has inexplicably been wrapped in a glossy cover. It's not easy on the eye at all and I found the presentation quite distracting. Also, compared to some of the more recent translations, (eg Stephanie Dalley)this particular translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh is not very reader friendly as the English is very old fashioned.

Overall I would say that the content will appeal to a wide range of readers, but the overall look of the book could do with a bit of an overhaul.

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