Originally the work of an anonymous Babylonian poet who lived more than 3,700 years ago, The Epic of Gilgamesh tells of the heroic exploits of the ruler of the walled city of Uruk. Not content with the immortality conveyed by the renown of his great deeds, Gilgamesh journeys to the ends of the earth and beyond in his search for eternal life, encountering the wise man Utanapishti, who relates the story of a great flood that swept the earth. This episode and several others in the epic anticipate stories in the Bible and in Homer, to the great interest of biblical and classical scholars. Told with intense feeling and imagination, this masterful tale of love and friendship, duty and death, is more than an object of scholarly concern; it is a vital rendering of universal themes that resonate across the ages and is considered the world's first truly great work of literature.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
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Humankind's first literary achievement...Andrew George provides an excellent critical and historical introduction. -- Independant on Sunday
Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
94 of 94 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A peephole into the distant past,
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This review is from: The Epic of Gilgamesh: A New Translation (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)
I ordered the hardcover edition of this book from ... , and it is unfortunate that it is not readily available in the US. At least the softcover edition is now available, and worth acquiring for anyone interested in a glimpse of what life-and thought-was like nearly 4000 years ago. I was unaware, before reading this volume, that Gilgamesh, despite it's significance and popularity in its day, does not come down to us in any complete form. George provides both a background of the civilization that produced Gilgamesh and also a history of the various partial versions that have survived and been found. Throughout the text he is careful to explain where different versions disagree, where he has interpolated fragments from other versions to fill gaps, and where no known version exists. He appends translations of various fragments and of earlier Sumerian poems of "Bilgames". While lacking the completeness, and therefore coherence, of the Homeric epics, George's translation of Gilgamesh offers at least a peephole, if not truly a window, into a civilization very far removed from ours. Despite the distance the desires and fears-particularly the fear of death-expressed seem very human and recognizable. In fact, and in spite of, the archaic structure of the verse, Gilgamesh seems more human to me than many of the semi-divine heros of Homer. Certainly not light reading, but very much worth the time and effort.
42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good book,
By
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This review is from: The Epic of Gilgamesh: A New Translation (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)
Not having read scores of Gilgamesh translations, I really don't know how many stars to give this one, but I am very happy with it. In addition to giving a 'complete' version, mainly from Standard Babylonian texts from the Nineveh library but supplemented from other sources (even Hittite editions) for the sake of having a complete story, the book publishes in separate chapters, older, more fragmentary sources. Even Sumerian versions are covered. Also, in the beginning is an excellent treatment of the history of the rebirth of the Gilgamesh epic and the state of cuneiform translation and research in general. No speculation about the epic on literary or religious levels is given. George doesn't bother to tell us about the literary or historical relationship of Gilgamesh to the bible, nor does he try to use the epic to define for us Mesopotamian religion. He is simply interested in providing a good translation and is very thorough and scientific in cataloguing his sources and judgment calls, yet he hands us a lively and fluid English text.
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Probably the best version out there today.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Epic of Gilgamesh: A New Translation (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)
Andrew George gives you the best of both worlds. He reprints the Old Babylonian version of Gilgamesh, which I find the poetry to be gritty, raw and exciting. (. . . until the maggot dropped from his nose.) He also gives you the newer versions of the story,including tablets 11 and 12. I found that these two additions to the story, written at a later date, did not quite match the OB version. Each version twisted the story from the original Man vs. Hero, into Man vs. King and then Man vs. God. I do believe, though, that this is the best of any Gilgamesh book you will read.
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