The Epic of Gilgamesh. An English Translation with an Introduction by N.K. Sandars. FIRST APPEARANCE IN PENGUIN CLASSICS

by trans. GILGAMESH. SANDARS (N.K)

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1960

Reviews

[Vansa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like ancient epics, and I’ve heard of this but have never actually read it. Now that I actually have, it’s very clear that the Bible is Gilgamesh fan fiction. Pretty much the oldest surviving work of epic literature, this is beautiful and lyrical, an interesting adventure story and also a meditation on mortality. It’s got the seeds of so many later epics/myths/stories-a man tempted into civilization, from his untouched life with nature, by a woman, over the course of 6 days and 7 nights ( only this isn’t presented as a bad thing necessarily, just another stage of life), a God who causes a flood (merely because he’s irritated by an increasingly noisy populace) and saves one man and his family, along with representatives of the plant and animal kingdom, on a huge wooden boat that comes to rest on a mountain , and 3 different birds are sent to check for dry land ( also over the course of 7 nights), a man traveling to the underworld in grief over the death of his best friend, deeply interfering Gods who spend a lot of time obsessing over the activities of humans while also wanting to wipe them out now and then, a man losing the gift of immortality to a serpent, a man being explicitly told what not to do in the Underworld, but going ahead and doing exactly that anyway and being unable to return, a description of the Underworld with the activities of the denizens mirroring their behaviour up above-for instance, ungrateful sons and daughters doomed to eat and drink but never be sated, but also babies eating “honey and butter all day and playing with each other” ( which is a rather sweet thought, really).
I found this epic fascinating because the catalysing incident is Gilgamesh exercising his droit de seigneur, with the lamentations of his harassed populace reaching the Gods, who decide to get Enkidu to defeat him in battle-what I found interesting was the acknowledgement that this was a terrible thing, which is quite radical for many parts of the world even in the 21st CE, and these were scribes in the 21st Century BCE. Gilgamesh decides to seek his fame by killing a demon, but the demon turns out to be a kindly environmentalist, a guardian of the forest who is deeply anguished at trees being burnt and cut down, and his murder is a tragedy, not a triumph for arrogant warriors. It’s very reflective of the concerns and anxieties of the time-there’s a God of wells and canals, Inanna threatens to overwhelm the land with the shades of the dead to get her way(Malthus would be pleased with her foresight), when Inanna(always causing chaos) wants the Bull of heaven to punish Gilgamesh, the first thing she’s told is that her people will suffer from drought, famine and earthquake if she does that, and she’s planned beforehand and stocked warehouses with grain-I can see why this civilization developed writing and maths and used it to make lists at warehouses! I also like the rhythm of it, with the repetitions-it shows how all our literature started in the oral tradition. The musings on mortality are quite moving-what does all this mean if everyone and everything you love will end? As Siduri, guardian of the vines at the garden of the Gods tells him, “‘Gilgamesh, where are you hurrying to? You will never find that life for which you are looking. When the gods created man they allotted to him death, but life they retained in their own keeping. As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man”. Which is as good an answer as any.