The Epic of Gilgamish

About the book

Stephen Langdon's volume is an edition and discussion of a particular Babylonian tablet, rather than a continuous modern retelling of the entire Gilgamesh epic. Its introduction explains the tablet's relationship to other surviving versions and examines what its passages contribute to the story. Dreams, their interpretation, and Enkidu's movement toward human society receive close attention as the characters approach their consequential encounter. Translation is accompanied by philological discussion, references, and the uncertainties created by damaged or difficult readings. The result makes the recovery of ancient literature visible as an act of comparison and argument. Readers encounter both a portion of the narrative and an early twentieth-century scholar's attempt to establish how its scattered witnesses belong together.

• Ancient textual recovery
• Civilization and encounter
• Interpretation and evidence

Why read it

Read it to see the material and scholarly problems behind a familiar epic, rather than expecting a complete narrative translation.

English scholarly edition and discussion by Stephen Langdon