Customer Reviews

The Epic of Gilgamesh

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I would draw the attention of readers to the story of the flood, as related by the Book of Gilgamesh.In particular, "for six days and nights the wind blew, torrent and tempest and flood raged together like warring hosts. When the seventh day dawned the storm from the south subsided, the sea grew calm, the flood was stilled: I looked at the face of the world and there was silence; all mankind was turned to clay. The surface of the sea stretched flat as a rooftop." This is not a river flood. This is the breach of the Black Sea basin - then inhabited - by the ocean waters of the Mediterranean Sea - as is attested by recent geological documentation. Fresh water mussels are succeeded by salt water mussels at precisely 5500 BC: also, the remains of fresh water mussels occur only at great depths where fresh water lakes previously existed. Only fishermen with boats could have survived the flood when the Bosporus was breached. The historical implications of this geological cataclism have not yet been absorbed into the thoughts of philologists in search of the origins of the Indo-European languages nor by historians of the pre-history of the Middle East. I believe this information adds to an appreciation of the significance of this early epic, insomuch as it incorporated an oral legend of an actual geological event two thousand years after the fact. Lest the survival of such remembrances in the oral tradition be doubted, the Oregon Indians preserved the oral tradition of the eruption of Mount Mazuma (Crater Lake) eight thousand years afterward.

I teach Gilgamesh every year in my Freshman Honors Seminar, and it has always been one of my and my students' favorite texts. That is, until the anthology I was using put out a new edition and switched from David Ferry's to Jackson's translation. I found that Jackson managed to obscure (or just ignore) most of the important themes of the work. He gives his reader no sense of the bond between Gilgamesh and Enkidu; his account of Enkidu "becoming human" through his interactions w/ the temple harlot focuses almost completely on sex, with no hint of Enkidu's growing self-consciousness. Next year I'm bagging the anthology and going w/ a self-contained copy of Ferry.

Danny Jackson's Gilgamesh is the best translation out there for 21st century American readers. It captures the essence of what may be the first and most important work of fiction in human history, yet his modern language brings the story alive in a way no previous translator has done. He does this by treating it as what it was written to be: the ancient world's version of a modern blockbuster movie, not a dry-as-dust study in how boring a professor can make literature or history. (For those of you who wonder, I have a Ph.D. in history from the University of California, and a love of and healthy respect for both literature and history, which I teach.) I was surprised to read the review from Tempe, AZ (a prof at AZ State?) who denigrated Jackson's work. I have taught Gilgamesh at four seperate colleges and Universities over 14 years, and the one universal complaint I got from students was: this is boring! The only translation students unanimously enjoyed, actually read all the way through, and learned from, was Jackson's. I first used his text in 1993, and it has been a priceless part of my teaching arsenal ever since. My students love it. I recently switched teaching jobs and found myself stuck with my predecessor's choice of Gilgamesh texts: Sanders' translation. My students, predictably, found it obtuse, dry, and lifeless. I am now sent to teach Gilgamesh again this fall, and using Jackson, I know the story will be well received AND useful to my students. BOTTOM LINE: If you want to read a smashing, exciting, and readable heroic epic from the dawn of time, the first ever written, buy Danny Jackson's translation of Gilgamesh. It is the best.

I first sought out this book when I was studying the story of the flood from the book of Genesis in a New Testament course. I heard that the theme of a great flood of the world had appeared in many different cultures across time - Native American Indian, Ancient Roman, German, Scandinavian, Chinese, and Hindi myths, to name a few, all recount a similar myth of a great deluge that was sent down to wipe out mankind. The Epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient Babylonian tale that tells of the adventures of its two heroes, Enkidu and Gilgamesh. The Babylonian flood myth is but one part of their journey which takes place toward the end.

This edition includes beautiful original illustrations, pictures of relevant Babylonian artifacts, necessary background information, literary discussion, and glossary of names and places in back. This particular translation itself is simple to understand while retaining the original intention as best as possible. The story itself is easy to understand and the more thoughtful reader will find many themes for further analysis. Passages of the epic are easily located; it is labeled by tablet, column, and line number.

I just wanted to take the time and give proper acknowldgement for this wonderful rendition. This past year I have had the opportunity to study mythology under the direction of Mr. Jackson, and he furthermore discussed this literary work into a living, breathing organism. The easily comprehensibile text paired with the beautiful artistry and reproductions of ancient Sumer have created a delightful reading environment. It is throught the interventions of art and mythology that people can begin to see a distinction of time and place. Mr. Jackson has accomplished this in his beautifully translated literary epic! Thanks for a great read!!

I feel guilty only giving this story three stars, given its immense historical significance. The problem I had with "Gilgamesh" is that I never felt moved by the story (reportedly the oldest story ever told). The Biblical flood is there (with minor significant differences) and the Potiphar's wife theme is interesting (if ultimately only marginally convincing), but I was never even remotely drawn into the tale. My difficulty is not with the translator (Danny P. Jackson) but is instead with the original story and stone tablets themselves. Quite simply, as described by Robert D. Biggs, the discovered tablets are too fragmented to allow for a story with a satisfying logical flow. This makes the story no less important, but it makes it an unsatisfying read. The temporal aspects are a problem as well. I'm aware of the differences between values as shared between different cultures, and these differences can only be magnified across time. Nevertheless, even with a reasonable Bibical background from which to draw, I found Gilgamesh's motivations to be beyond my ken. Both Biggs and James G. Keenan do an excellent job of introducing and describing "Gilgamesh," but I still found myself unsatisfied upon completion. Maybe I'd be more sympathetic were I reading it for study, but as a work read for my own enjoyment and fulfillment, it didn't quite do the trick.

I was not happy with my order, my boyfriend took the package out of the mailbox and it seemed fine until he opened it and about 50 ants came out of the package! The ants were sealed inside and were starting to eat the book. This was the other book in the package of ants.

After reading this book, I understood the themes and sections of the book well enough to write an essay, and compose a piece of music directly related to the book's themes.

"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.

The epic breaks down into six main narratives, the two most famous of which 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." "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.

When I found that this work dated back further than 2000BC, I though, "This is going to be awful!" But because it has been translated into English, the story is clear (or clearer than the original version on clay tablets) and has you wondering what is going to happen next. Excellent story!