The Epic of Gilgamesh: An English Version With an Introduction

Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: It is an excellent book. The author gives much fill-in information which is helpful in understanding the Gilgamesh text.

Any one who has taken the time and effort to present Gilgamesh to the general public deserves much more than 5 gold stars!

I can't believe I've lived as long as I have and have never heard of this important literature. Why has it been in the shadows for so long. Is its pre-dating the Bible a factor in its eclipse?

Finding it all fascinating.

Thank you for your enlightening contribution.

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Summary: The Epic of Gilgamesh and Life
Review: Not only one of the best pieces of literature of our time, but a timeless treasure, surviving through the ages. The epic of Gilgamesh, is one of the oldest known scriptures ever written by the human hand. Yet still the epic captivates audiences and the reader while still delivering a powerful and meaningful message about our humanity. The epic itself is one of the most interesting accounts of a Sumerian hero. However the language of the unknown author has the capacity to move, and to entice. The novel continually involves the reader, even from the beginning, with a question. It asks the reader to identify with the characters as if they were the characters and to still remember the ultimate lesson of life, to enjoy. Not only addressing the elements to keep a reader's attention, but revealing powerful and important aspects of being human. Among these is to understand ones place, and to realize that life is only what we make it, and how we live it. The Epic of Gilgamesh remains to be one of the most captivating and enlightening poems that still even today depicts plot, action, and insight.

Rating:
Summary: A great introduction to the oldest known work of literature.
Review: One of the things I like best about this book is not the words but the layout and graphics. Reading it is pleasant and effortless.

Everyone should read The Epic of Gilgamesh and I highly recommend this "version" (not translation) as the best place to start. You will never be able to forget your trip back into the dawn of civilization, the Sumerian world of the ancient ruler Gilgamesh. He did achieve immortality through this Epic.

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Summary: Draws From Different Gilgamesh Texts
Review: Rather than simply relying on the version of the Epic which survived in Assurbanipal's palace in Nineveh, the author picks and chooses her sources, relying usually on the Ninevite Recension but sometimes on other extant Gilgamesh texts such as the Sumerian poems which were a source for the Assyrians.

A disappointing aspect is that the author has not translated the work herself but rather collated and rewritten existing translation. She is quite upfront about it, and views her contribution as having created a very readable version of Gilgamesh to supplement the academic translations available. And that she has.

Rating:
Summary: An intriguing epic journey
Review: The "Epic of Gilgamesh" was one of the first books I read in college last semester and has had a marked affect on the way I view the nature of myths and storytelling. This is a definite must read for fans of mythology and epic heroes. The story centers around Gilgamesh, the partly divine ruler of Uruk, who is troubled by the fact he will one day die. Through the course of his life he goes on great adventures, slaying beasts that dwell in the forest and trekking through darkness in search of immortality. The feats are not without their effects, however. By the end, Gilgamesh will have become a different man than he was before. Symbolically, the story addresses issues of friendship, bravery, how we are changed by living our lives, the relationship between refined culture and nature, and how we constantly deny our own mortality. "The Epic of Gilgamesh" is an excellent, philosophical tale of one's search for meaning in a brief life.

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Summary: A profound and moving tale that holds many mysteries.
Review: THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH : An English Version with an Introduction by N. K. Sandars. Penguin Classics Revised Edition. 128 pp. London : Penguin, 1972 (1964) and Reissued.

Although many perhaps don't realize it, we live in a truly great age of translations, being awash in an abundance of texts that would have been the envy of earlier readers. The classics of every age and every culture - or those that have survived the hazards of time - are freely available in all kinds of versions. These range from the productions of outstanding scholars learned in the ancient languages, all the way the way through to the adaptations and reworkings of non-specialist enthusiasts, some of whom can also be very scholarly in their approach.

I don't really know how many translations of Gilgamesh are currently available, but the newcomer could do worse than select that of Sandars. He freely admits that his "isn't a fresh translation from the cuneiform" because such a translation would require a detailed knowledge of Sumerian, Akkadian and Hittite, a task which he tells us he is not competent to undertake (page 50).

He adds that extensively annotated and accurate scholarly translations exist in English, French, and German, but that these hardly suit the needs of the ordinary reader. He himself, however, has made full use of them in preparing his own version, a version which as an ordinary reader myself I've always found wonderfully readable.

His book falls into two parts. First we are given a 50-page Introduction which I personally found to be quite interesting and informative, although predictably conventional in its interpretations. Sandars accepts the standard definition of the Sumerian word DIN.GIR as meaning "god" or "gods," as do almost all others who write on Ancient Mesopotamia, though readers of Zecharia Sitchin will have their doubts (see Sitchin, 12th Planet, p.169).

Following the Introduction we are given the text of Gilgamesh, mainly in Sandars' lucid and sensitive prose, though with a few passages in verse. The book is rounded out with a 'Glossary of Names,' and an 'Appendix of Sources' which gives full bibliographical details of the scholarly sources utilized by Sandars. It also includes a useful map, and is printed in a large and easy-to-read type.

As a non-specialist Sumerophile I like Sandars' text and have re-read it several times. Here is an example of his verse, with my obliques added to indicate line breaks:

"Hear me, great ones of Uruk, / I weep for Enkidu, my friend, / Bitterly moaning like a woman mourning / I weep for my brother. / O Enkidu, my brother, / You were the axe at my side, / My hand's strength, the sword in my belt, / The shield before me, / A glorious robe, my fairest ornament; / An evil fate has robbed me..." (page 94).

Others may have rendered this passage better, but to me it effectively communicates the despair any man would feel at the loss of his closest friend. There are other similarly moving incidents in this strange and compelling story, a story which is essentially tragic though not unrelieved with an occasional bit of humor.

Here is an example of Sandars' prose:

"My friend, I saw a third dream and this dream was altogether frightful. The heavens roared and the earth roared again, daylight failed and darkness fell, lightnings flashed, fire blazed out, the clouds lowered, they rained down death. Then the brightness departed, the fire went out, and all was turned to ashes fallen about us. . . . (page 79).

Gilgamesh was sleeping when this experience occurred, but I wonder if "dream" here really means "dream"? Perhaps, but what this passage evokes vividly for me is an ancient man's experience of being very close to the site of the launching of a huge rocket (See Zechariah Sitchin, 'The Stairway to Heaven,' p.127). Everything seems to be there - the roarings, the flashings, the dark clouds of smoke from the exhaust, the fall of a residue of "ashes" from the firing. I wonder if a modern witness of a Cape Canaveral launch could do as well . . .

Gilgamesh's tragedy is that he was partly human : "... the great gods made his beauty perfect.... Two thirds they made him god and one third man" (page 61). But who were these "gods" whose lifespans were so much longer than those of humans? And how did they make Gilgamesh two thirds "god"? Did the Sumerians just dream all this up for purposes of 'entertainment' ? Or were they more accurate reporters than they are credited with being ?

The Sumerians were adamant in asserting that they themselves created nothing at all, neither agriculture nor irrigation nor architecture nor engineering nor astronomy nor mathematics nor writing nor anything else, but that their _entire_ civilization was given to them by the "gods."

Of this civilization we find Gilgamesh lamenting : "Here in the city man dies oppressed at heart, man perishes with despair in his heart" (page 72). But would human beings have deliberately created a system in which widespread despair was unavoidable? Or was something else responsible for establishing the civilizational patterns that, as a reading of Samuel Kramer's 'History Begins at Sumer' will convince anyone, are still ours? Is "civilization" a euphemism for a non-human system of exploitation?

There are many mysteries in this profound and moving tale of Gilgamesh's friendship with the wild man Enkidu, his frustration over the human lot, and his courageous attempt and failure to discover a solution. But whether you read his story in Sandars' version or in some other, make sure to read it. It's a story you will not easily forget.

Rating:
Summary: The epic tale of Gilgamesh, the great king of Uruk
Review: The Epic of Gilgamesh dates from the third millennium B.C., making it the oldest epic poem in world literature. It is a relatively short work, which explains why over half of this little volume introduces the ancient text of the first ancient hero. The fullest extant text of the Gilgamesh was found in the Akkadian-language on 12 incomplete clay tablets found at Nineveh in the library of the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal. The narrative gaps have been filled in, somewhat, by fragments found elsewhere. Historians think that Gilgamesh might have been a ruler in southern Mesopotamia, although there is no historical evidence for any of the exploits covered in this narrative or the five poems written about the hero. Cultural anthropologists believe that Gilgamesh was a great king whose name became associated with pretty much every major legend or mythical tale in that culture.

Unlike some translations that go tablet by tablet, this translation by N. K. Sandars breaks the epic down into six main narratives. The two most famous of these would be "The Story of the Flood," with its obvious parallels to the stories of a great flood in the Bible and Ovid's "Metamorphoses," and "The Coming of Enkidu"/"Ishtar and Gilgamesh, and the Death of Enkidu," which Captain Jean-Luc Picard narrates in the Star Trek: Next Generation episode "Darmok." Both of these are relevant points because in working from the known to the unknown they are both avenues of introducing Gilgamesh to which students will readily await. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the fundamental mythic tale in Western Civilization, but tends to be relegated to the shelf in most classes unless in happens to be included in an anthology. His quests for the Spring of Youth and immortality have been echoed in so many other tales. I have always thought that Gilgamesh is a more important figure than Beowulf, but that would be a decidedly minority opinion. I just wish this little volume was not so expensive because I think that hurts its utility in classes dealing with mythology, legend and/or folklore.

Rating:
Summary: The epic tale of Gilgamesh, the great king of Uruk
Review: The Epic of Gilgamesh dates from the third millennium B.C., making it the oldest epic poem in world literature. It is a relatively short work, which explains why over half of this little volume introduces the ancient text of the first ancient hero. The fullest extant text of the Gilgamesh was found in the Akkadian-language on 12 incomplete clay tablets found at Nineveh in the library of the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal. The narrative gaps have been filled in, somewhat, by fragments found elsewhere. Historians think that Gilgamesh might have been a ruler in southern Mesopotamia, although there is no historical evidence for any of the exploits covered in this narrative or the five poems written about the hero. Cultural anthropologists believe that Gilgamesh was a great king whose name became associated with pretty much every major legend or mythical tale in that culture.

Unlike some translations that go tablet by tablet, this translation by N. K. Sandars breaks the epic down into six main narratives. The two most famous of these would be "The Story of the Flood," with its obvious parallels to the stories of a great flood in the Bible and Ovid's "Metamorphoses," and "The Coming of Enkidu"/"Ishtar and Gilgamesh, and the Death of Enkidu," which Captain Jean-Luc Picard narrates in the Star Trek: Next Generation episode "Darmok." Both of these are relevant points because in working from the known to the unknown they are both avenues of introducing Gilgamesh to which students will readily await. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the fundamental mythic tale in Western Civilization, but tends to be relegated to the shelf in most classes unless in happens to be included in an anthology. His quests for the Spring of Youth and immortality have been echoed in so many other tales. I have always thought that Gilgamesh is a more important figure than Beowulf, but that would be a decidedly minority opinion. I just wish this little volume was not so expensive because I think that hurts its utility in classes dealing with mythology, legend and/or folklore.

Rating:
Summary: 1500 years before Homer
Review: The Epic of Gilgamesh is a fascinating tale of great historical importance. Composed 1500 years before Homer's epics, the story is one that modern man can readily understand and appreciate. Gilgamesh was the more than capable ruler of the ancient town of Uruk; his strength and physical beauty were unmatched by any in the land, and his subjects adored him. Although he possessed so much, Gilgamesh wanted desperately to live forever like a god. He was two-thirds god and one-third human, but he refused to accept his destiny to die. If it were his lot to die, he wanted to perform great deeds so that his name would never be forgotten.

The story opens with the story of Enkidu, a wild man of nature who was to become Gilgamesh's best friend and accompany him on his dangerous journeys. The first trip takes them to the Land of the Cedars where Gilgamesh sets out to kill Humbaba, the guardian of the forest. When he later slays the Bull of Heaven, the anger of the gods is turned upon him and Enkidu, leading to new suffering by Gilgamesh. In desperation, he seeks Utnapishtim in the land of the gods; Utnapishtim was granted eternal life after preserving mankind in the wake of a great flood. Gilgamesh again finds only heartache for his troubles. Returning to Uruk, he preserves the story of his journeys and deeds in writing, and it is, perhaps ironically, in this written record that Gilgamesh is recognized today for the great man he was.

One learns much about the ancient gods in this tale, and the story of the great goddess Ishtar's role in the related events is pretty amazing. When Ishtar invited Gilgamesh to be her husband, he issued forth a litany of former lovers whom Ishtar had turned out and cursed, boldly rebuffing Ishtar's advances. It is this brave act that led to most of Gilgamesh's later troubles. Even Enkidu, whose reported bravery is belied by his reluctance to aid his noble friend in several situations, is rather astonishingly disrespectful to the goddess.

N. K. Sandars does a remarkable job of putting the epic in its proper historical and literary perspective. A glossary of relevant gods and characters is particularly helpful. Along with providing a short history of the man, the gods, and the epic itself, she goes to great lengths to explain her method of producing this modern translation. There is no one extant copy of the Epic of Gilgamesh; a number of tablets, in varying degrees of condition and legibility and differing somewhat in the details of the story, have been compared and contrasted in order to produce the story as she presents it. Perhaps the most useful part of the introduction is an explanation of the form and style of the text. The text was originally told in verse, and Sandars explains that she chose to produce the text in narrative form in the interest of readability. As the order of events is not universally agreed upon, she explains why she chose the order she did for events. One annoying feature of the text, at least to the modern reader, is the constant word for word repetition of speeches between characters, and Sandars does the reader a great service by alerting him/her to this and explaining the rationale behind its use by the ancient writers.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest written texts in history, yet its theme is timeless, its characters all too human, and its appeal universal. Sandars' modern, narrative translation transforms the historically important epic into an eminently readable, quite enjoyable story. The tale of a great flood in this incredibly ancient tale has raised eyebrows ever since the text was discovered. The parallels to the Biblical tale of Noah are obvious, adding great strength to the argument that the legend or memory of a cataclysmic flood was common to diverse cultures in the ancient Near East. Those familiar with the ideas of Zechariah Sitchin will find this story especially fascinating and illuminating.

Rating:
Summary: 1500 years before Homer
Review: The Epic of Gilgamesh is a fascinating tale of great historical importance. Composed 1500 years before Homer's epics, the story is one that modern man can readily understand and appreciate. Gilgamesh was the more than capable ruler of the ancient town of Uruk; his strength and physical beauty were unmatched by any in the land, and his subjects adored him. Although he possessed so much, Gilgamesh wanted desperately to live forever like a god. He was two-thirds god and one-third human, but he refused to accept his destiny to die. If it were his lot to die, he wanted to perform great deeds so that his name would never be forgotten.

The story opens with the story of Enkidu, a wild man of nature who was to become Gilgamesh's best friend and accompany him on his dangerous journeys. The first trip takes them to the Land of the Cedars where Gilgamesh sets out to kill Humbaba, the guardian of the forest. When he later slays the Bull of Heaven, the anger of the gods is turned upon him and Enkidu, leading to new suffering by Gilgamesh. In desperation, he seeks Utnapishtim in the land of the gods; Utnapishtim was granted eternal life after preserving mankind in the wake of a great flood. Gilgamesh again finds only heartache for his troubles. Returning to Uruk, he preserves the story of his journeys and deeds in writing, and it is, perhaps ironically, in this written record that Gilgamesh is recognized today for the great man he was.

One learns much about the ancient gods in this tale, and the story of the great goddess Ishtar's role in the related events is pretty amazing. When Ishtar invited Gilgamesh to be her husband, he issued forth a litany of former lovers whom Ishtar had turned out and cursed, boldly rebuffing Ishtar's advances. It is this brave act that led to most of Gilgamesh's later troubles. Even Enkidu, whose reported bravery is belied by his reluctance to aid his noble friend in several situations, is rather astonishingly disrespectful to the goddess.

N. K. Sandars does a remarkable job of putting the epic in its proper historical and literary perspective. A glossary of relevant gods and characters is particularly helpful. Along with providing a short history of the man, the gods, and the epic itself, she goes to great lengths to explain her method of producing this modern translation. There is no one extant copy of the Epic of Gilgamesh; a number of tablets, in varying degrees of condition and legibility and differing somewhat in the details of the story, have been compared and contrasted in order to produce the story as she presents it. Perhaps the most useful part of the introduction is an explanation of the form and style of the text. The text was originally told in verse, and Sandars explains that she chose to produce the text in narrative form in the interest of readability. As the order of events is not universally agreed upon, she explains why she chose the order she did for events. One annoying feature of the text, at least to the modern reader, is the constant word for word repetition of speeches between characters, and Sandars does the reader a great service by alerting him/her to this and explaining the rationale behind its use by the ancient writers.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest written texts in history, yet its theme is timeless, its characters all too human, and its appeal universal. Sandars' modern, narrative translation transforms the historically important epic into an eminently readable, quite enjoyable story. The tale of a great flood in this incredibly ancient tale has raised eyebrows ever since the text was discovered. The parallels to the Biblical tale of Noah are obvious, adding great strength to the argument that the legend or memory of a cataclysmic flood was common to diverse cultures in the ancient Near East. Those familiar with the ideas of Zechariah Sitchin will find this story especially fascinating and illuminating.