Epic of Gilgamesh : The Babylonian Epic and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian

by Andrew George

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Poetry, Mythology

Unknown Binding

Reviews

[Trelawney]

It's hard to give a star rating to something like this. How does one assign a 1-5 value to something written before we even had the concept of literature.

Though I didn't find it gripping in the way I do many dramatic stories, it was certainly interesting. An incredible snapshot of a time in history and the way stories were once told. It's also a reminder that though humanity has come far, we're dealing with the same themes as we always have.

[Sumaiyah Bhaiyat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a review that said how can you really rate this when it was written before a concept of literature existed, and it makes sense. However, for possibly being the first book ever, it was pretty decent.

Katabasis prep #1

[Gokce Atac · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest stories in the world.
It was written in Mesopotamia more than 4000 years ago on clay tablets. The story is about King Gilgamesh of Uruk and his adventures with his friend Enkidu. They fight monsters, meet the gods, and search for immortality. In the end, Gilgamesh learns important lessons about life and death.

The messages the Epic of Gilgamesh gives me:
For me, the Epic of Gilgamesh says that real immortality is not living forever but leaving good things behind. Friendship makes people better and gives life meaning. Power must come with responsibility because what we do affects others. If we harm nature, we also harm ourselves. So, the purpose of life is not to escape death but to be remembered with love, kindness, and the works we create.

I scored 20 out of 15.91 on the second course exam and directly moved on to the third course.😉🙏🎉

[Owen Townend · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dip into myth that proved rewarding.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient text predating Greek epics, featuring a classic demigod hero archetype. Gilgamesh starts as quite a tyrant to the people of Uruk but the Babylonian Gods settle him into a worthy king eventually. Of course, this takes a few reckless adventures, a few brushes with death to achieve. The cuneiform tablets academics have salvaged and deciphered over the years share just a few of these tales, but I can plot a clear trajectory that shows Gilgamesh to be a faulted but redeemable protagonist.

Mind you my favourite character has to be Inkidu, another God-forged being built to rival Gilgamesh in strength. While Gilgamesh seems to begin in a position of privilege, Inkidu is raised by the beasts of the wilderness and has to be coaxed to Uruk via a trapper and a prostitute. Once he arrives, the big men have a dust up where Gilgamesh comes out on top and Inkidu agrees to become his constant companion. I shan't spoil the rest of their relationship but suffice to say it is weighted in Gilgamesh's favour. Rather unfair if you ask me but compelling all the same.

George's translation is a wonderful entry point for both the Akkadian and Sumerian versions of the epic. He shares a clean transcription that doesn't fill every gap and manages to keep to the quatrain metre of a culturally relevant epic style. It's repetitive and my eye glazed over whole pages though that is more due to ancient storytelling practice than George's interpretation.

In any case I feel like I came away from reading this book with a decent grasp of the plot and characters, which is more than I expected. What's more, I have even developed a soft spot for one of the supporting characters. A marvellous thing when you consider he was created over 4000 years ago.

In short, I am pleased to have taken time to read such a classic. I recommend The Epic of Gilgamesh (Andrew George translation) to those who prefer their hero's journeys to be redemptive as well as daring.

[Sunday]

As another reviewer noted - “not gripping” and yet still powerful in its essence. Four thousand years later - just like Gilgamesh- humanity is still grappling with what it means to live in harmony with others, the power of friendship (vs isolation), how to deal with grief, what makes a life well lived and so on.

Book #1 in Kenneth C Davis’s book The World in Books: A Year of Reading—Wisely (which will take me YEARS to finish ;)

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

this has a lot of drama for a story written thousands of years ago

[Sanjeeva Shukla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Books are mirrors of a time. This was the first ever for humans. The world’s first ever novel, if I may.

How would you feel holding the world’s oldest surviving work of literature that predates the Iliad, Odyssey, Bible, the Gita and even the Vedas? One, that was written on 12 cuneiform tablets, and took decades-long, backbreaking work to dig out – sometimes one paragraph at a time on a broken piece of tablet, not even a chapter!

When I did, I was thrilled to hold a copy of the Andrew George translation of The Epic of Gilgamesh published by Penguin. Anonymously authored by several Sumerian and Akkadian poets, and believed to be finally complete around 2100–1200 BCE, Gilgamesh is also the very first philosophical text that asks the human question – “How can a man live knowing he must die?”

Just in case you didn't, know that, The Epic of Gilgamesh is also widely acclaimed as human civilization’s first ever literary expression of friendship, grief, heroism, hubris, and self-awareness. Yes, Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (for its spiritual introspection); Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey; and Beowulf (for its blend of myth and mortality), are the few works that you may instantly recollect, but for it’s sheer originality, The Epic of Gilgamesh is a masterclass in storytelling of the philosophical kind.

Since most of us would have likely never read The Epic of Gilgamesh , here’s a quick no-spoilers lowdown of the story. Set in Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq), The Epic of Gilgamesh follows the adventures of Gilgamesh, the semi-divine King of Uruk — arrogant, beautiful, restless - and his wild counterpart Enkidu, a man of nature created by the gods to humble him. Their friendship transforms both men, until Enkidu’s death drives Gilgamesh into an obsessive quest for immortality. In the end, he learns that human greatness lies not in eternal life, but in legacy, civilization, and the shared search for meaning.

Now go, start collecting all the classics and those great stories you may have read all these years. And then tell me if The Epic of Gilgamesh isn’t the blueprint for every story about mortality ever told since!

The quest for meaning. Civilization versus wilderness, and the acceptance of human limits. Mortality. Friendship. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a world of gods, kings, monsters, and floods. It’s mythic, yes, yet deeply human reflecting how early civilization morphed from the natural to the urban, from instinct to intellect.

There’s Gilgamesh, the two-thirds god, one-third man, entirely brilliant, but vain and restless too, and, ultimately, wise. There’s Enkidu, his equal and opposite, the wild man of the steppe, innocent yet fierce, the conscience Gilgamesh didn’t know he needed. Then you have Shamhat, the temple woman who “civilizes” Enkidu, embodying the bridge between nature and culture. And the tongue-twisty Utnapishtim, the survivor of a great flood (call him Noah’s precursor, if you may), and who holds the secret to immortality. You can’t miss Siduri, the wise alewife who, I think delivers one of literature’s earliest carpe diem speeches.

Stylistically, The Epic of Gilgamesh is told in verse, and is astonishingly sophisticated - moving from adventure myth of slaying monsters, to existential reflection facing mortality. I’m told, litterateurs (I’m not one) feel its poetic repetitions and rhythm mirror oral storytelling - cyclical, incantatory and eternal. I do, however realize that The Epic of Gilgamesh is mythology with emotional realism – an impossible-looking feat for 2000 BCE. The first half of the epic stories Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s heroic exploits, like slaying Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven. The second half details Gilgamesh’s spiritual crisis and futile search for eternal life. The Epic of Gilgamesh has a marvelously contemporary structure mirroring life’s arc: glory to grief to growth .

Philosophically, The Epic of Gilgamesh is proto-existentialist, proto-humanist, decidedly the earliest recorded confrontation with the absurd: humanity’s yearning for permanence in a transient world. For the first time ever, death-scared humans are told that immortality is not divine, but cultural. You find it in what we build, create, and love. Sounds familiar? Camus and Saramago would nod in approval.

Indeed. Mortality gives life its urgency and beauty. Civilization is humanity’s defiance of death. Friendship is the bridge between arrogance and empathy. And the real “epic” is self-awareness, not conquest.

The Epic of Gilgamesh evokes at once, awe, melancholy, admiration, and a weird, humbling intimacy — you’re reading the first time a human ever worried like you do. It valiantly and confidently addresses moral and ethical dilemmas: is the pursuit of immortality noble or vain? What defines greatness: conquest or compassion? Can civilization exist without the wild — or the wild without civilization? How do we live knowing death is inevitable?

And after all of Gilgamesh’s pursuits, we learn that mortality is the price of consciousness; friendship humanizes power; legacy, not eternity is humanity’s answer to death.

And, the oldest story ever told is still our story.

[Ian Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This, in my opinion, is probably the first recorded story. It was present in ancient Sumer, then in Akkad, and told on clay tablets with cuneiform writing. There appear to be a variety of versions, and the author shows a lot of them and also tells of the problems in bringing the story to the present. Leaving aside the fact it is a poem and poems generally do not translate well there is another major problem: most clay tablets are broken. Fortunately, the story has been recorded very many times so often the breaks are in different places, and also there is a tendency in the poem for repetition, so lost spaces can be estimated given the bits we can see.

There is no point in discussing the story as it was written up to 5000- years ago, and in my opinion, it is even older, back to the filling of the Black Sea. The book gives several versions, but oddly enough I have seen one version that is not included, although much is the same but merely with some minor twists. I have no idea whether these came from yet more tablets, or whether the translator either added something or saw something different in the text and translated it differently. Either way, this is an excellent presentation of the epic, and it also gives some other interesting information of the times.

[Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could not decide if it wanted to be literary or academic. In other words, it struggled between presently a text for readers to enjoy or presenting a text how these admittedly difficult texts resist presentation at all.
I would have wanted a clean story to immerse myself, though I realize how difficult if not impossible that is. I also would have wanted more information about the history of cuneiform, history of the region, the literary history of the poems, the preservation, the translation of these poems.
However, I understand how difficult this would be.
Still, the book intrigued me.

[Brie Hiller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book on the recommendation of the new book 52 short Non fiction books and was hoping my son would read with me. I will preface by saying that I have not always found old texts very accessible and the epics of war often bore me. This however was beautiful. As the oldest poem, an understanding of life death, friendship/(or as some interpretations suggest-queer love). This translation was wonderful--the introduction to each section was helpful and then the well crafted poetic cadence was lovely to read.

[DrBabić · Rating 5 out of 5]

Said the tavern-keeper to him, to Gilgamesh,
'O Gilgamesh, where are you wandering?
'The life that you seek you never will find:
when the gods created mankind,
death they dispensed to mankind,
life they kept for themselves.
'But you, Gilgamesh, let your belly be full,
enjoy yourself always by day and by night!
Make merry each day,
dance and play day and night!
'Let your clothes be clean,
let your head be washed, may you bathe in water!
Gaze on the child who holds your hand,
let a wife enjoy your repeated embrace!
'For such is the destiny [of mortal men,]
that the one who lives ...........'

[Annmarie Garcia Sheahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My friend Aidan and I recently decided to read or reread a compendium of historically, culturally, or socially relevant texts. The oldest epic poem counts definitely counts as such.

What struck me most about Gilgamesh was its humanness. Thousands of years ago, the ever-present reality of mortality existed just as it does today, serving as both an inescapable bane and a constant reminder to live life fully and passionately, leaving behind something meaningful in our wake.

[Paul Besley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read as part of reading list on a Humanities course.

I know my rating is out of line with the others and I know this is/could be a very important text. I am probably not up to speed on this age of historical literature, I get the flood, and the epic, and connections to old testament and Homer. But so much is repeated or missing it makes for hard going unless read as a research document. This is my opinion

[Sunaina Paudel · Rating 5 out of 5]

was purely curious about the epic as it’s the earliest recorded literature. surprised by how engaging the story still is. This specific translation had a good flow, made it an easy and enjoyable read. Also the first I’ve read a character like Shamhat, the “sacred prostitute”, which was apparently common in Mesopotamia

Other key interesting things:
- the parallel to story of Noah’s ark
- the parallel to the Greek underworld

[Daniel]

Seeing the stories of the oldest human literature is a treat to read. How much of ourselves has not change in the millenniums? Not a whole lot. This text is not a compressive story. Extremely fragmented so you get only raw action that is known. Many things change over the years as one lives but friendship and drinking are contents in the world.

[Bernard English · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, if the Bible can't unify Westerners, including Christians, Moslems and Jews, as the Chinese canon unites Chinese people, perhaps Gilgamesh can do the job. Familiar Western themes are found here, such as the number 7, the flood (which is translated as deluge), the ark, and some version of Noah. I'd recommend watching the lecture by Andrew George as well.

[Nadine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrew George's second edition from 2020 adds some new material to a poem that is ever-growing as more and more fragments are rediscovered and translated. His introduction to the history of the poem and the different versions are both interesting and enjoyable to read, as well as his brief touching on the poetic metre.

[Caelan Winans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like most epics, it's a weird read that's not normal to modern Western eyes. It is the first major epic, though, and it does earn respect for that alone. Andrew George gave a very well written introduction and compiled the the epic and the other adjacent poems in a very easy to digest manor.

[Sani Akbar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally I understand the different versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh, either Akkadian and Sumerian version. This book contain academically things about the epic translation, but still a joyous-readable book.

[Stacy Clayton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an interesting read which opens the readers eyes to ancient thinking.

[Pete Castleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting how this ancient epic has such clear parallels to Genesis.

[Angel Dudek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for University.

[Katie Downing · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Babylonian king has adventures across his land with gods and mortals. I don’t know if it is as the way they were described or the way women were depicted but I did not find these stories particularly compelling. 2/5 stars.

[Jarod · Rating 4 out of 5]

My copy (published 2020) preserves the epic with many lacunas included. It made me feel up-to-date on the state of the recovery of the complete work, plus it has a pronunciation guide! However, the fragmentary presentation pales in comparison with the gapless pastiche published in 2006 with the foil cover.