It will be obvious that plagerism is not a recent phenomenon. When you are aware of Gilgamesh, the supposed wise sages of books like the Torah, Bible, what ever the Arabs call their drivel, you will realize that you have been duped as the authors of those works merely ripped-off the Greeks, Egyptians and other cultures that pre-dated them. I, for one, have no wish to perpetuate the supposed divinity of Middle-Eastern religions. I never quite got the vengeful God only to later take anger management classes and become a loving God thing! There is definitely something more to the Universe than random chance, but Mankind does not yet have a handle on that knowledge, certainly not the rediculous, violent, crimes against Humanity, Middle East.

I had to read it for a summer reading book. It was horrible. I mean, who wants to read all about the Ancient Sumarians?

You wouldn't think a 4000-year old story about a dead king would be that interesting or exciting, but actually, I enjoyed this book. The story is the archetypal heroic epic, and has been useful for learning about everything from ancient Mesopotamian beliefs and customs to tracking changes in the traditional scribal curriculum in ancient Akkadia and Sumeria.

Speaking of people getting excited, one story about the Epic of Gilgamesh concerns a dignified and emminent 19th-century British archaeologist who ran naked through his lab when he realized he was the first person in perhaps 2000 years to read an original copy of the story of Noah, once thought to be part of the Epic of Gilgamesh (we now know this isn't true). Unfortunately, I don't recall the guy's name anymore, but it's true.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is notable for the fact that it's considered the oldest text understandable by a modern reader without special knowledge. I found this was borne out by the actual reading, as Gilgamesh's actions and motivations are very easy to understand--since his concerns are easily understandable to a reader of any day and age. He is motivated by several concerns, such as his fear of mortality and death, the ephemerality of life on earth, the desire to accomplish heroic feats to prove himself worthy of immortality, to protect his friends and loved ones, and to destroy evil and preserve the good. He is also concerned with honor, loyalty, friendship, fear, loss, and happiness.

It's also the most ancient text for which we have an author attribution. Around 1200-1300 BC, a Mesopotamian by the name of Sun-Liq-Unnini compiled the well-known "Standard Version" of the epic. He wasn't actually the "author" of the text, but it seems likely he was steeped in the historical tradition and the different versions of the text which had come down over the years in both the Sumerian and Akkadian traditions, and he seems to have gone to some trouble to gather and compile the best versions of the various stories and legends about Gilgamesh in his "edition," which became the most widespread and popular version.

We also know that he was employed as an exorcist, an important job in Mesopotamian society, since they were called on for everything from driving out evil spirits in the ill and sick, to making sure dwellings and new buildings were free of evil spirits, to blessing farmland that was about to be planted for the new season.

By 1800 BC, during the time of Hammurabi, Sumerian, which had once been the dominant language in the more advanced, urban south, had died out, leaving only Akkadian, which had been more prevalent in the more rural north. Up till that time, most citizens in the area were accustomed to speaking both languages in their day-to-day affairs. Sumerian still retained the prestige of the scholarly and historical language, however, and in the written scribal curriculum.

We actually have clay tablets that go back as far as 2600 B.C., but these texts are very difficult to translate and understand. It's thought that this is because the language was still making the transition to a full written language, and that this process was incomplete at that time, an interesting theory.

Another interesting historical character is the ancient King Shulgi, who lived around 2000 BC. Shulgi prided himself on both his educational and cultural accomplishments, as well as his athletic and physical prowess, bragging about about his excellence as a student in the scribal schools and as the patron and creator of important public libraries. Shulgi is reminiscent of Gilgamesh and perhaps the king consciously modeled himself after the legendary hero of the famous epic.

Overall, a decent rendition. I was looking more for a direct translation of the poetry though, whereas this is a rendition of the already-translated poetry into prose form. I felt like it was dumbed down for the reader, but it's still Gilgamesh, and therefore a great story.

I've owned a copy of the N.K. Sandars translation for approximately 31 years now - not nearly as long as this tract has been around. I probably don't have to inform you (if you've dug this deep into Amazon checking out Gilgamesh) that our discovery of its existence - a little over a century ago caused quite a stir - we actually found there was a text, scribed in the middle east no less, that was indisputably of greater antiquity than the Bible. Many opine that the inception of comparative religious studies was the result.
Nowadays - we have a plethora of Gilgamesh translations from which to choose - the Gardner, most notably, perhaps. But the Sandars volume still has value. The text reads well - and the extensive 50 + page introduction is informative, remarkably free of interpretation - large in the scope and range of its research - yet, like the translation itself - economical and to the point.
Before the reality of resource limitations became common knowledge (not so long ago), Gilgamesh had interest mainly for scholars and literati. Now, a quarter century later, Gilgamnesh is required reading for all. Our debt to our Mesopotamian culture is substantial, and its recognition demanded. The Occident's oldest story has enduring relevance.
Has Iraq become America's Enkidu? Or what?

I had to read this book for school. I was tired of it after the first page. How was this story so popular back then? It's boring and unreal. C'mon! One guy lived with animans most of his life anf Gilgamesh was part god. I know a story of a real hero, Neo from The Matrix. That guy is cool and interesting. Also, he is cool to watch. Gilgamesh would never become a movie. People would fall asleep. Besides, any school book isn't fun to read.

This "book" was a bit hard to read. The introduction was longer than the actual story. It provided some good background information, but also gave away much of what was to come. Perhaps some of it could have been saved for the end of the book? The story itself is very confusing. Gilgamesh, a god-king, is hated by his people so they pray to the gods to make an equal for him. His equal and him basically fight, go on "adventures" that seem to have no meaning, and visit people/gods with similar hard to pronounce names. If you are studying Mesopotamia, you should probably check out this epic. Otherwise, try something else...

This is a 5,000 year old poem, the first traces of which were discovered in 1839 by a young Englishman, Austen Layard, who was
intent upon working in Ceylon but on the way there he and a friend stopped at Nineveh, on the Tigris River, and began an excavation hoping to find inscriptions. They
found a library of clay tablets! What was to have been a few days excavation became
years. He subsequently brought back to London thousands of clay tablets with their wedge shaped cuneiforms, which were eventually
deciphered, including part of The Epic of Gilgamesh.

New finds in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by others, and their laborious interpretation followed. One of the results was this ancient epic poem, which contains,
among other things, one of the earliest tales of a great deluge and flood which is eerily similar to the flood described in the Hebrew Bible. The perpetrators of the flood,
though, were not the solitary God of the Hebrews, but one of the multiple Gods worshipped in those days, Enlil, god of earth, wind and air, and counselor to the other
Gods, of which there were a multitude.

Gilgamesh was the king of Uruk, a great city in Mesopotamia (present day Iraq.) Although blessed with remarkable beauty ("a perfect body") and great strength, he was
but two-thirds god and one third mortal--which does present some serious questions! The poem was his epic, and there was indeed an historical figure of the same
name.

This is an interesting artifact for its insight into human history, if nothing else. This particular translation is more bland in the explicit ... references, etc., than others,
but it faithfully retains the story.

A valuable piece of literature.

This is a 5,000 year old poem, the first traces of which were discovered in 1839 by a young Englishman, Austen Layard, who was
intent upon working in Ceylon but on the way there he and a friend stopped at Nineveh, on the Tigris River, and began an excavation hoping to find inscriptions. They found a library of clay tablets! What was to have been a few days excavation became
years. He subsequently brought back to London thousands of clay tablets with their wedge shaped cuneiforms, which were eventually
deciphered, including part of The Epic of Gilgamesh.

New finds in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by others, and their laborious interpretation followed. One of the results was this ancient epic poem, which contains, among other things, one of the earliest tales of a great deluge and flood which is eerily similar to the flood described in the Hebrew Bible. The perpetrators of the flood, though, were not the solitary God of the Hebrews, but one of the multiple Gods worshipped in those days, Enlil, god of earth, wind and air, and counselor to the other Gods, of which there were a multitude.

Gilgamesh was the king of Uruk, a great city in Mesopotamia (present day Iraq.) Although blessed with remarkable beauty ("a perfect body") and great strength, he was but two-thirds god and one third mortal--which does present some serious questions! The poem was his epic, and there was indeed an historical figure of the same name.

Recently, in my home town, 8th-grade students were assigned the poem to study, in this very translation, but because of a rather innocuous passage referring to a "harlot" who used her blandishments, including a reference to her nakedness, to
influence a friend of Gilgamesh (Enkidu), the teacher was persuaded by an angry parent to black out the offending phrases, resulting a dispute over censorship which made headlines here.

Mountains out of molehills!

This is an interesting artifact for its insight into human history, if nothing else. This particular translation is more bland in the explicit sexual references, etc., than others, but it faithfully retains the story.

A valuable piece of literature.

Joe Pierre

Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk (and in real life he was the king of Uruk), is the first tragic hero recorded by the human race. Though many of the epic's tablets were discovered in Assurbanipal's Assyrian library (7th century B.C), parts of this book appear to originate from around 3000 B.C. Long before the Assyrians, 1800 years before the Hebrews, and, in fact, before anybody as this story originated with the hard-bitten people of Sumer, the first civilization, who happened to have been utterly lost from history until the 19th century A.D. The very civilization to invent the wheel, the city, the sexigesimal system governing the sweep of hands on your watch and, most importantly, writing. Say "alcohol", and you speak Sumerian - as they apparently invented that too, while the word has not changed for over 5000 years. "Hard-bitten" because while the Egyptians would celebrate Nile floods, Sumerians cursed themselves for having deserved such punishment as a flooded Tigris or Euphrates. To Egyptians the sun was life. To Sumerians the sun was relentless. Suffering is an excellent source of creativity (though the Egyptians did well with less) and Gilgamesh reflects this in both its creativity and diagnosis.

Although very old, his story is forever new. Gilgamesh is - as stated in the introduction - emblematic of our concern with mortality, the struggle for knowledge and escape from the common lot of man. As a mortal, Gilgamesh is condemned to death, but he doesn't take his fate lying down. So, like all good mythologies, he sets out on a great adventure to rectify his problem, encountering gods, monsters and his best friend, Enkidu, the "savage man", who is at home with the animals, until enticed by the civilized Gilgamesh with a woman - something he never saw before. Perhaps a symbol of man's complications when leaving his natural state.

Most interestingly Gilgamesh reaches "where the sun rises" to meet Upnapishtim. Upnapishtim is by now famous for saving "the seed of all living creatures" on a boat, whose dimensions are given by a rogue god friendly to man, all before a great worldwide flood sent by other capricious gods because humans were making too much noise, keeping the gods from sleep. (That Noah mimics the Upnapishtim myth should be no surprise as Sumer influenced the Levant for thousands of years after its passing.)

When Enkidu dies Gilgamesh morns, "How can I rest when Enkidu, whom I love is dust and I too shall die and be laid in the earth forever." In the end Gilgamesh is "mocked by fate, lost opportunities, wasted hopes and swallowed by death". Apparently, no matter how many gods you have - and the Sumerians had hundreds, one even for the pick-axe - death remains a mystery and confidence of reward a hunch.

A wonderful journey into the mind of humanities first civilization, greater understanding of scriptures to follow and a clear signal that the deepest concerns of our human condition remain unaltered no matter where or when.