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[(The "Epic of Gilgamesh")] [Author: Benjamin R. Foster] published on
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About the author
Benjamin R. Foster
27 books14 followersBenjamin R. Foster is Laffan Professor of Assyriology and Babylonian Literature. His research interests focus on cuneiform literature and the social and economic history of Mesopotamia.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 5, 2025
A better, more honest translation than the N.K Sanders’ Gilgamesh. (I already love Benjamin R. Foster for his translations in “Before the Muses”)
The epic is moving in a meta-textual way for dealing with the theme of ~doomed striving for immortality~ while itself achieving a sort of immortality by being revived from obscurity after being lost for 2000 years (while also being 5000 years removed from the time of the historical Gilgamesh)
It’s a story about growing up. The rapacious Gilgamesh strives for immortality, finds only despair, then returns to his city “weary, but at peace”
The most delicious bits in this book were the translations of the Sumerian Gilgamesh poems, older stories in a “Gilgamesh cycle” which existed before the scribe Sin-Leqi-Unninni compiled the stories into an epic.
Plus analysis of the epic by Assyriologists who traced the lifetime of Gilgamesh stories to their beginnings with the ritual exploits of the archaic EN (lord) of Uruk - who would move between life and death by a symbolic union with a priestess (as between the gods Dumuzi and Inanna)
PLUS lovely notes on the translation which made the story feel so much more human. There were bits of dialogue where certain characters were speaking colloquially (literally in one case like how Mark Twain altered the spelling of words to imitate a country drawl). There were also certain words which carried punny double-meanings (in one case to say without saying that Gilgamesh and Enkidu were lovers - by using homophones with words for “male prostitute” or “male impersonating a female”)
I love this story. It’s so weird, and so evocative, like when Gilgamesh runs through the tunnel where the sun goes beneath earth, to find a garden of jewel-laden trees, and an innkeeper waiting there for him at the end of the world.
The epic is moving in a meta-textual way for dealing with the theme of ~doomed striving for immortality~ while itself achieving a sort of immortality by being revived from obscurity after being lost for 2000 years (while also being 5000 years removed from the time of the historical Gilgamesh)
It’s a story about growing up. The rapacious Gilgamesh strives for immortality, finds only despair, then returns to his city “weary, but at peace”
The most delicious bits in this book were the translations of the Sumerian Gilgamesh poems, older stories in a “Gilgamesh cycle” which existed before the scribe Sin-Leqi-Unninni compiled the stories into an epic.
Plus analysis of the epic by Assyriologists who traced the lifetime of Gilgamesh stories to their beginnings with the ritual exploits of the archaic EN (lord) of Uruk - who would move between life and death by a symbolic union with a priestess (as between the gods Dumuzi and Inanna)
PLUS lovely notes on the translation which made the story feel so much more human. There were bits of dialogue where certain characters were speaking colloquially (literally in one case like how Mark Twain altered the spelling of words to imitate a country drawl). There were also certain words which carried punny double-meanings (in one case to say without saying that Gilgamesh and Enkidu were lovers - by using homophones with words for “male prostitute” or “male impersonating a female”)
I love this story. It’s so weird, and so evocative, like when Gilgamesh runs through the tunnel where the sun goes beneath earth, to find a garden of jewel-laden trees, and an innkeeper waiting there for him at the end of the world.
October 31, 2025
After seeing the Epic of Gilgamesh referenced so many times over the decades it was good to finally cross this off my curiosity list. It is so referenced mostly because it is the oldest extant story we know of, written in cuneiform on clay tablets that have miraculously survived being buried in the sands of time all these thousands of years. It is also mentioned frequently for containing the original flood story which was lifted almost verbatim in the later Biblical account of Noah’s Flood. So, those things make it interesting from a historical perspective.
This edition contains both the Babylonian and Hittite accounts of the epic, each with the latest research on new findings as of 2019, as well as several of the supplemental poems relating to the story, such as The Death of Gilgamesh, which is not included in the epic. There are also two essays and some analysis. If you already know the story but want more, this is definitely the edition to get. But I wouldn’t recommend it for the first-time reader. This is intended as a reference tool for historians, philologists, and literary scholars. Every paragraph is preceded by an explanation of which of the primary sources was used and why or when there are words or entire sections missing in the original tablet how they pulled from later versions copied by students. It seems the story was liked well enough that in later generations students were invited to riff on the details to see who could be the most imaginative. Therefore, when reading this edition, the story is interrupted at every turn, and the text is riddled with notations like [missing word here] or [unreadable section]. Also noticeable is the entire missing section after Gilgamesh kisses Enkidu and knows him like a woman. You have to wonder if this was scratched out due to censorship.
I think a more reader-friendly version would simply have the translator make his best guess and use small reference numbers to annotated notes that the reader can investigate if curious.
This translation by Benjamin Foster brings to fore the homo-erotic element of the Babylonian account more so than the translations by Sandars or Mitchell which are content with just winks and nods on the matter. The Hittite version does not convey any of the homo-erotic references found in the Babylonian version, as when Gilgamesh and Enkidu kiss it is merely an embrace and kiss (on the side of the face) like many men do around the world today as a sign of affection. We can’t really know definitively how either society viewed male homosexuality, but lesbianism seems unlikely, as the choice available to women was either to be married and have children or become a harlot (or priestess). This is one thing that bothers me about the story: Gilgamesh uses his social status and unrestrained virility to bully adolescent boys, wrestling with them and leaving them battered and bruised (one has to assume this didn’t include buggery), and was notorious for deflowering virgins on their wedding night, initiating the bride to her sexual awakening before the groom ever got his hands on her. The Babylonian version suggests this was because as a tyrannical king he took advantage of his subjects. But the Hittite version says that the mothers of the brides would secret the virgins off to Gilgamesh before the wedding, the motivation or consent of the girl unclear. Did good ole Gil throw them a few coins, or did the mothers secretly hope for a royal bastard? Unknown.
Any way you look at it I don’t find the character of Gilgamesh himself worthy of lionizing as some heroic role model. From the slain Humbaba “he plucked teeth from his head as a trophy.” Some of the elaborate curses are full of unwarranted fury, as when he wishes the harlot Shamhat to live the rest of her life miserable in a mud pit. In that sense I much prefer the more honorable and noble-spirited Beowulf. But, as the translator says in the introduction: “The significance of Gilgamesh’s story lies not so much in the deeds themselves as in the lessons his experiences offer to future generations.” The trouble is I’m not sure the value of those lessons – that even powerful people experience loss and suffering, and none of us can escape death – really outweighs the destructive wake of his megalomaniacal manner.
Besides the off-putting character of Gilgamesh I was also disturbed by the foraging for giant cedars in order to make a gigantic wooden door. Felling huge quantities of the giant trees, Enkidu brags of how they have made a wasteland of the forest. In real life the near-total destruction of Lebanon’s giant cedar forests is yet another example of mankind’s shortsighted appropriation of natural resources.
It was difficult for me view all the bad behavior passively, so just three stars for historical interest.
This edition contains both the Babylonian and Hittite accounts of the epic, each with the latest research on new findings as of 2019, as well as several of the supplemental poems relating to the story, such as The Death of Gilgamesh, which is not included in the epic. There are also two essays and some analysis. If you already know the story but want more, this is definitely the edition to get. But I wouldn’t recommend it for the first-time reader. This is intended as a reference tool for historians, philologists, and literary scholars. Every paragraph is preceded by an explanation of which of the primary sources was used and why or when there are words or entire sections missing in the original tablet how they pulled from later versions copied by students. It seems the story was liked well enough that in later generations students were invited to riff on the details to see who could be the most imaginative. Therefore, when reading this edition, the story is interrupted at every turn, and the text is riddled with notations like [missing word here] or [unreadable section]. Also noticeable is the entire missing section after Gilgamesh kisses Enkidu and knows him like a woman. You have to wonder if this was scratched out due to censorship.
I think a more reader-friendly version would simply have the translator make his best guess and use small reference numbers to annotated notes that the reader can investigate if curious.
This translation by Benjamin Foster brings to fore the homo-erotic element of the Babylonian account more so than the translations by Sandars or Mitchell which are content with just winks and nods on the matter. The Hittite version does not convey any of the homo-erotic references found in the Babylonian version, as when Gilgamesh and Enkidu kiss it is merely an embrace and kiss (on the side of the face) like many men do around the world today as a sign of affection. We can’t really know definitively how either society viewed male homosexuality, but lesbianism seems unlikely, as the choice available to women was either to be married and have children or become a harlot (or priestess). This is one thing that bothers me about the story: Gilgamesh uses his social status and unrestrained virility to bully adolescent boys, wrestling with them and leaving them battered and bruised (one has to assume this didn’t include buggery), and was notorious for deflowering virgins on their wedding night, initiating the bride to her sexual awakening before the groom ever got his hands on her. The Babylonian version suggests this was because as a tyrannical king he took advantage of his subjects. But the Hittite version says that the mothers of the brides would secret the virgins off to Gilgamesh before the wedding, the motivation or consent of the girl unclear. Did good ole Gil throw them a few coins, or did the mothers secretly hope for a royal bastard? Unknown.
Any way you look at it I don’t find the character of Gilgamesh himself worthy of lionizing as some heroic role model. From the slain Humbaba “he plucked teeth from his head as a trophy.” Some of the elaborate curses are full of unwarranted fury, as when he wishes the harlot Shamhat to live the rest of her life miserable in a mud pit. In that sense I much prefer the more honorable and noble-spirited Beowulf. But, as the translator says in the introduction: “The significance of Gilgamesh’s story lies not so much in the deeds themselves as in the lessons his experiences offer to future generations.” The trouble is I’m not sure the value of those lessons – that even powerful people experience loss and suffering, and none of us can escape death – really outweighs the destructive wake of his megalomaniacal manner.
Besides the off-putting character of Gilgamesh I was also disturbed by the foraging for giant cedars in order to make a gigantic wooden door. Felling huge quantities of the giant trees, Enkidu brags of how they have made a wasteland of the forest. In real life the near-total destruction of Lebanon’s giant cedar forests is yet another example of mankind’s shortsighted appropriation of natural resources.
It was difficult for me view all the bad behavior passively, so just three stars for historical interest.
May 9, 2025
What can I say about a 4,000 year old piece of literature that is still around. I was interested in learning more after reading "There are Rivers in the Sky." This is a pretty good translation with explanations as you go thru the Tablets and a few pieces of criticism/review of the epic at the end.
What I found particularly interesting, is how similar life was 4,000 years ago to today. I often think that Mesopotamian life is one foot still in a cave, but it seems very civilized and while most of the epic is about gods and supernatural feats, there are so many instances of insight into life in the cities of Mesopotamia.
What I found particularly interesting, is how similar life was 4,000 years ago to today. I often think that Mesopotamian life is one foot still in a cave, but it seems very civilized and while most of the epic is about gods and supernatural feats, there are so many instances of insight into life in the cities of Mesopotamia.
September 11, 2024
This is the best translation I’ve read. I love the heavy citations and artwork included, it sets up the historical context well.
October 31, 2025
my high school history teacher had me believing Enkidu and Gilgamesh were just good friends.
Read
December 6, 2025Why should my cheeks not be emaciated, nor my face cast down,
Nor my spirit wretched nor my features wasted?
Nor my spirit wretched nor my features wasted?
April 13, 2024
10/10 plot
10/10 characters
10/10 good life lessons
Probably the best piece of Sumerian literature I've read.
10/10 characters
10/10 good life lessons
Probably the best piece of Sumerian literature I've read.
September 25, 2025
Great translation, clear, especially admire Foster's editorial frankness when excluding and including sources, and believe ultimate decision was fine. Selection of essays and interpretations included at back would certainly be of interest and introduction offers good highlight of them all. Being 2007 incorporates sources not known to the other definitive edition by George despite high acclaim therefor.
August 29, 2025
After reading Elif Shafak's There are Rivers in the Sky, I reading wanted to read The Epic of Gilgamesh. I really enjoyed Foster's translation. It was easy to read and understand. The oldest known epic (4000+ years old), it is easy to see how other stories/epics flowed forth from this one. Was blown away that Noah's Ark and the Flood in the Bible is lifted (practically word for word) from Gilgamesh.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews