The Epic of Gilgamesh: The Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian (Penguin Classics) - Softcover

Anonymous, Anonymous

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140449191 ISBN 13: 9780140449198

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2002

Synopsis

The definitive translation of the world's oldest known epic, now updated with newly discovered material

Miraculously preserved on clay tablets dating back as far as four thousand years, the poem of Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, predates Homer by many centuries. The story tells of Gilgamesh's adventures with the wild man Enkidu, and of his arduous journey to the ends of the earth in quest of the Babylonian Noah and the secret of immortality. Alongside its themes of family, friendship and the duties of kings, the Epic of Gilgamesh is, above all, about mankind's eternal struggle with the fear of death. This new edition of Andrew George's translation has been extensively revised to include recently discovered fragments and new sources.

Translated and revised with an introduction by Andrew George

'Our first recognisable epic poem. What is exhilarating, the more we learn of it, is how directly it speaks to us' Literary Review

About this title

About the Author

Andrew George is Professor of Babylonian at SOAS (the School of Oriential and African Studies), part of the University of London. His research has taken him many times to Iraq to visit Babylon and other ancient sites, and to museums in Baghdad, Europe and North America to read the original clay tablets on which the scribes of ancient Iraq wrote.

From the Back Cover

The definitive translation of the world's oldest known epic, now updated with newly discovered material.

Miraculously preserved on clay tablets dating back as far as four thousand years, the poem of Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, predates Homer by many centuries. The story tells of Gilgamesh's adventures with the wild man Enkidu, and of his arduous journey to the ends of the earth in quest of the Babylonian Noah and the secret of immortality. Alongside its themes of family, friendship and the duties of kings, the Epic of Gilgamesh is, above all, about mankind's eternal struggle with the fear of death. This new edition of Andrew George's translation has been extensively revised to include recently discovered fragments and new sources.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0140449191
• ISBN 13: 9780140449198
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304