Gilgamesh of Uruk

by Tamara Agha-Jaffar

A mythic retelling of the Epic of Gilgamesh from ancient Mesopotamia.
Gilgamesh, son of the goddess Ninsun and the mortal Lugalbanda, is the arrogant king of the vibrant city of Uruk, a sprawling desert metropolis. In an attempt to quell Gilgamesh’s oppressive behavior, the gods fashion the wild man, Enkidu, to be a companion to the king and to calm his errant ways. The two form an inseparable bond, embark on a wild misadventure, and commit a series of blunders that offend the very gods who created Enkidu. What happens next sends Gilgamesh on an epic journey to find his ancestor, Utnapishtim the Faraway, to learn his story of survival and unlock the secrets of immortality.

Genres: Mythology

189 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 19, 2018

About the author

I have been in academia all my professional life, as a professor of English, an academic dean, and a Vice President for Academic Affairs. I retired in July 2013. I finally have time to do what I love best: read and write.

My interest in reading runs the gamut from books on ancient cultures, beginning with the mythology and culture of ancient Mesopotamia; world religions; poetry, especially the poetry of the British Romantics; novels; the classics; and all things feminist.

My awards include the 2004 Kansas Professor of the Year Award from the Carnegie Foundation and the 2010 President’s Call to Service Award for my volunteer work with the local school district, with victims of sexual assault, and with community shelters for battered women.

I have written five books, two of them non-fiction:
Demeter and Persephone: Lessons from a Myth (McFarland 2002), and Women and Goddesses in Myth and Sacred Texts (Longman 2004).

I have written three novels:
A Pomegranate and the Maiden (Anaphora Literary Press 2015) is my first novel. It is a retelling of the Demeter/Persephone myth through the voices of its characters. It is available on Amazon Kindle, Audible, and paperback.

Unsung Odysseys tells the story of Odysseus' return from Troy through the voices of women. It is available on Amazon Kindle, Audible, and paperback.

Gilgamesh of Uruk is the story of the epic hero Gilgamesh from Ancient Mesopotamia. It is available on Amazon Kindle, Audible, and paperback.

The three novels are available in a single collection, Ancient Reflections: A Mythic Trilogy.

My passion is mythology, especially women's role in myths. I write a blog interpreting events and characters in mythology by breathing life into them to unearth their nuggets of wisdom. I have also posted over 550 book reviews on my website.

Check out my website at www.tamaraaghajaffar.com

Reviews

[Jalilah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel by Tamara Agha-Jaffar is an absolutely delightful retelling of the ancient Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh! It is written in a way that it can be understood and appreciated even if one had not read the original, however I highly recommend reading it around the same time as Gilgamesh: A New English Version. I was introduced to it last year and surprisingly it became one of my favourite reads of year. I say surprisingly because I don't always enjoy reading ancient texts, however the epic poem of Gilgamesh feels fresh and very relevant today even though it was written over 4000 years ago. In fact after reading this novel, I feel like reading the poem again!

[Steve Middendorf · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read any ancient mythology in 50 years so I had no idea what to expect. What are the conventions of the genre? How does a modern writer put herself in the head space of antiquity and write about a 4000 year old legend?

What are the themes that make this relevant today? In a word, morality.

Growing out of the situational ethics of decades past and then the worship of greed, we have come to the age of truthiness; a time when everyone CAN have their own facts and a time when the amorality of politics is not only practiced, it is celebrated.

This is a modern retelling of the ancient myths of Gilgamesh with plenty of metaphors to trouble the modern mind. How refreshing it is to return to a tome of absolute morality that gives us pause to examine our own lives.
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[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gilgamesh retold.

A feminist retelling of the Mesopotamian Gilgamesh myth, from which we can see potential origins of The Iliad and The Odyssey, as well as the flood myth and Philemon and Baucis.

Written in a contemporary and accessible style by academic, Agha-Jaffar, this will be of interest to classicists, feminists, mythologists, and for anyone who just loves a good epic tale where the hero finds himself through his journey.

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been reading Gilgamesh translations lately and so I picked up this retelling. All of Tamara Agha-Jaffar’s characters are exquisitely wrought and the story is wonderfully told but what actually won the 5 star rating from me was the wife of Utnapishtim. The Old Woman is given a major role and I love what she brings to the tale.

[Dennis Crotts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had heard of this story but never read the Gilamesh of Uruk version and there are other version not just the one in the Bible which we are taught was true but now we find out it was not and most likely they are stories passed down generation after generation. In so many ways the Bible version and this version are so much alike something are different like the kind of boat and what happen after the flood. Now I am not saying the flood did not happen but we believe things without looking outside of the box and we see stories are told about one God or as in this version many Gods they are the same story a parent would tell a child or group around a fire as we do today. The only difference is the two main characters a man and his wife are given eternal life on an island surrounded by the sea of death. The characters are well written by whoever the original author was the details and the adventures of Gilgamesh was a person like to survive and grow thru happy and bad times. Gilgamesh is young, foolish but a king of Uruk otherwise a brat who needs a good ass spanking and told to grow up but he is blind and can not see all he has as king all he wants to do is blame everyone for his faults. And the journey he takes is a journey we all take in someway as we grow. In the beginning he a child minded king but in the end you see a complete change in him.
The Bible version is good but this one is so much better.