[Jeffrey]

So, as many of you know, I'm a big fan of Near Eastern mythology. I am a roguish Classicist at heart, and I feel that the Greco-Roman canon makes more sense when supplemented with the Near Eastern myths that represents the roots of the familiar tales of Odysseus, Olympus, etc.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of those foundational works that has wormed its way into high school curricula. Two of the most popular editions are those of David Ferry and Stephen Mitchell - neither of whom read cuneiform. Instead, they rely on scholarly translations. Those tend to be daunting to casual readers, as they're full of brackets and ellipses to represent conjectures and broken lines. Sandars' celebrated prose version is used by many, but it doesn't convey the poetic nature of the work as well as a verse rendition (in my opinion).

But the biggest crime? There's really no public domain version available!

So one of my projects is to make a readable version that I will likely post for free on the Interwebbery. After all, I can't hope to compete in the marketplace with noted poets such as Ferry and Mitchell...but I can provide a version that's faithful to the original but at an inviting high school reading level.

Here's Draft 1.2:


Tablet One

A. Proemium

He who knew the depths, of him I shall sing!
He who saw the world, his tales I shall tell!
He ranged far and wide across all the lands.
He gained the furthest extent of wisdom.
He uncovered the greatest mysteries,
recovering the wisdom lost in the Flood.
He traveled far. Then, wearied, he returned,
engraving his exploits on stone tablets.

He raised the high walls enclosing Uruk,
built the House of Heaven for great Ishtar.
See those walls shining like burnished copper!
Behold the ramparts, beyond all compare!
Ascend the ancient steps to Ishtar’s seat,
a temple no other king could have built!
Climb Uruk’s high walls and pace their great length!
Note the foundations, the firm masonry!
Down to the core the walls hold kiln-fired brick!
See this city laid by the Seven Sages!
A square mile of city, one more of fields,
one more of clay-pits, and Ishtar’s temple.
Upon more than three square miles in total
the boundaries of Uruk are established.

Find the cedar chest, unlatch its bronze clasp,
raise the lid to reveal the secrets inside.
Lift out the tablet carved from bright lapis
and read the tale of Gilgamesh and his quests.

Mightiest in all ways, beyond all kings,
a hero, Uruk’s son, the great wild bull,
the leader at the front of the vanguard,
the trustworthy one protecting the rear.
A steadfast bulwark, enclosing his men,
yet also a fierce wave, smashing stone walls.

Gilgamesh, whose sire was Lugalbanda,
whose divine mother was Rimat-Ninsun!
He is Gilgamesh: mighty, unyielding,
splendid one who opened mountain passes,
who sunk wells even in the high mountains,
who crossed the wide waters toward the sunrise,
who quested through the lands for life itself,
coming to the home of Utnapishtim.
He restored the temples wrecked by the Flood,
reestablishing these sacred places.

He is unmatched. Who could be his rival?
Who could say “I am a king like Gilgamesh!”?
‘Gilgamesh’ was the name decreed for him,
a man two-thirds divine, one-third mortal.

The great mother goddess Belet-ili
shaped him in the womb, perfecting his form..
Broad-footed, each leg half a rod in length,
his height and stride were of many cubits.
A thick beard was upon his handsome face.
He grew to great beauty, his locks like barley.

B. The Tyranny of Gilgamesh

In his sheepfold, the great city Uruk,
he paced like a wild ox, head held high.
In weapons and combat he had no match.
His cohorts quaked before his challenges.
The young men of Uruk bowed before him,
each kept from returning to his father.
Gilgamesh was the shepherd of the land,
but each day his tyranny grew stronger.
The maidens of Uruk all submitted,
each kept from returning to her mother,
or to her husband, or to her bridegroom.
Their cries arose and the gods heeded them.

The gods in Heaven came before Anu,
bringing the complaints of Uruk to him:

......................“Why has such a wild bull been created?
......................In weapons and combat he has no match.
......................His cohorts quake before his challenges.
......................Uruk’s young men are kept from their fathers.
......................The maidens of Uruk all must submit.
......................each kept from returning to her mother,
......................or to her husband, or to her bridegroom.
......................Their cries arise and we must heed them!
......................So now let Belet-ili be summoned,
......................lady Aruru who created mankind.
......................Have her produce a rival for Gilgamesh,
......................someone strong who can challenge this king.”

And so Anu summoned Belet-ili,
the lady Aruru, saying to her:

......................“You, goddess of childbirth, produced mankind.
......................Now produce a strong rival for Gilgamesh!
......................Craft a man to challenge the king’s raging heart,
......................so that their contest that may give Uruk peace!”

C. The Advent of Enkidu

Belet-ili took Anu’s word to heart,
fashioning its design in her being.
Washing her hands, she took a mote of clay,
casting it out into the wild country.
There she crafted Enkidu, wild hero,
Anu’s thunderbolt, fierce as Ninurta.
His entire body was thick with hair,
the locks of his head like womanly tresses,
full like grain in goddess Ninsaba’s fields.
His mind ignorant of nation or clan,
bare and free as the cattle god Shumuqan,
he ate of the grasslands like the gazelles,
drank at the waterholes like the wild flocks,
pleased to be among the gathering beasts.

Soon a hunter encountered Enkidu,
watching the wild man watering with beasts.
Day after day for three whole days he came,
finding Enkidu at the waterholes.
The hunter was awestruck, his face frozen,
so he returned to his home in turmoil.
Shaken and fearful, he lapsed into silence,
brooding in anguish, his countenance fallen.
Despair wracked the hunter, body and soul.
He was wearied by this far-ranging foe.

At last he spoke, addressing his father:

......................“Father, a man was at the waterholes.
......................He was powerful, wild, threatening,
......................fierce, strong, like a thunderbolt from Anu!
......................In the open country this man ranges,
......................eating of the grasslands like the gazelles,
......................drinking at the waterholes like the wild flocks.
......................I was struck with fear and did not face him.
......................He fills in the pits I dig to catch game,
......................he tears apart the snares I lay for them.
......................He helps the wild beasts avoid all my traps,
......................and so he hinders all of my efforts.”

So the hunter’s father said:

............................................"Go, my son.
......................Travel to Uruk, city of Gilgamesh.
......................Stand before him, report what you have seen.
......................He too is as fierce as a thunderbolt.
......................Go, my son. Travel to Uruk and its king.
......................Yet this task will take more than a man’s strength.
......................In the city, find the temple priestess.
......................Her beauty can intoxicate the strong.
......................When the beasts arrive at the waterholes,
......................she should disrobe and reveal her splendor.
......................This wild man will be drawn to her, and soon
......................the very beasts he loves will flee from him.”

So the hunter obeyed his father’s words,
undertaking the journey to Uruk.

He stood before Gilgamesh, telling all:

......................“O king, a man was at the waterholes,
......................he was powerful, wild, threatening,
......................fierce, strong, like a thunderbolt from Anu!
......................In the open country this man ranges,
......................eating of the grasslands like the gazelles,
......................drinking at the waterholes like the wild flocks.
......................I was struck with fear and did not face him.
......................He fills in the pits I dig to catch game,
......................he tears apart the snares I lay for them.
......................He helps the wild beasts avoid all my traps,
......................and so he hinders all of my efforts.”

So Gilgamesh replied to the hunter:

......................“Return with the temple priestess of Ishtar.
......................When the beasts arrive at the waterholes,
......................she will disrobe and reveal her splendor.
......................This wild man will be drawn to her, and soon
......................the very beasts he loves will flee from him.”

D. The Arrival of the Priestess

The hunter departed with the priestess,
the magnificent beauty, for his home.
In three days they came to the waterholes,
finding a secluded place in which to wait.
And so a day passed, and then another.
At last the beasts arrived to quench their thirst,
the herds assembling at the waterholes
with the wild man Enkidu among them,
who ate of the grasslands like the gazelles,
and drank at the waterholes like the wild flocks,
pleased to be among the gathering beasts.

She saw this savage, primitive man,
and watched this child of nature with his beasts.
Then the hunter directed the priestess:

......................“This is the man, priestess. Disrobe, reveal,
......................bare your flesh so he will see your beauty.
......................Do not flee him, but allow his approach.
......................This wild man will be drawn to your body.
......................Make a bedding with your cloak for him,
......................and work your womanly wiles upon him.
......................His body will be enflamed by your flesh.
......................Then the wild beasts he loves will flee from him.”

So she disrobed, revealing all her beauty,
and Enkidu was struck by the sight of her.
She did not flee him, and he approached her.
She spread out her cloak and he lay with her.
She worked her womanly wiles upon him,
and he was enflamed with lust for her flesh.
For six days and seven nights they embraced
as Enkidu was caught up in delight.

E. Enkidu’s New Nature

At last he was satisfied and arose,
turning back to the wild beasts that he loved.
Yet at the sight of Enkidu they fled,
racing with fear from the wild man’s approach,
for Enkidu had lost his pure nature,
and when the herd fled he stood motionless.
No longer could he keep pace with the flocks,
yet reason had now come into his grasp.

So he turned to sit at the priestess’ feet,
their eyes meeting, his gaze searching her face.
Then the priestess spoke to wild Enkidu,
and he listened closely to every word.

......................“O Enkidu, you are handsome, god-like!
......................Why should you range the wild lands with these beasts?
......................Let us go to the city of Uruk,
......................where the sacred temple of Ishtar stands.
......................There mighty Gilgamesh is the ruler,
......................and paces like a wild ox, head held high.”

Such were her words, and they pleased him greatly,
knowing in his heart he could gain a friend.

......................“O priestess, let us journey to Uruk
......................where the sacred temple of Ishtar stands
......................and mighty Gilgamesh is the ruler,
......................pacing like a wild ox, his head held high.
......................I will challenge him, for I too am strong.
......................I will boast of my might: ‘I am unmatched!’
......................I will bring new order to the city,
......................for one born of the wild lands is most strong!”

F. Gilgamesh and the Portent of Enkidu

So she replied:
............................................"Go there, Enkidu.
......................In Uruk the young men wear fine sashes.
......................There every day is a festival day
......................with drums resounding across the city.
......................Voluptuous women wear stately clothes,
......................reveling in their beauty before all.
......................Even the aged rejoice at their charms.
......................O Enkidu, so naïve of such life!
......................I will show you Gilgamesh, strong and free.
......................You will gaze upon his handsome features.
......................He is virile and masculine, noble,
......................blessed with beauty from his head to his feet!
......................Surely his mighty strength exceeds your own,
......................and he is ever-watchful day and night!
......................So, Enkidu, reconsider your plans!
......................Gilgamesh is loved by the sun god Shamash.
......................High Anu, crowned Enlil, clever Ea:
......................all blessed with Gilgamesh with great wisdom.
......................Before you even arose in the wilds,
......................Gilgamesh saw your coming in a dream.

......................He rose to take counsel with his mother,
......................asking her to unravel his vision.

............................................‘O mother, a dream came to me last night.
............................................The stars sparkled in the Heavens above
............................................and something like a meteor crashed down.
............................................I tried to lift it, but it taxed my strength.
............................................I tried to roll it, but it would not move.
............................................All the people of Uruk encircled,
............................................all the people of the land gathered near.
............................................Yes, a great crowd assembled around it,
............................................the men both young and old pressing near it.
............................................Gently they knelt as if to kiss its feet.
............................................As if it were a wife I embraced it.
............................................At last I lifted it, brought it you,
............................................and you treated this rock as my equal.’

......................Rimat-Ninsun, Gilgamesh’s mother,
......................exceedingly wise in all things, said:

............................................‘The stars sparkled in the Heavens above,
............................................and something like a meteor crashed down.
............................................You tried to lift it, but it taxed your strength.
............................................You tried to roll it, but it would not move.
............................................At last you lifted it, brought it me,
............................................and I treated this rock as your equal.
............................................As if it were a wife you embraced it,
............................................showing that a strong, faithful friend now comes.
............................................He will be among the mightiest ones,
............................................fierce, strong, like a thunderbolt from Anu!
............................................As close as a wife he will be to you,
............................................and he will keep you safe in your travails.’

......................A second dream came, and he told his mother:

............................................‘O mother, a new dream has come to me.
............................................In the city square of my realm Uruk
............................................a great axe was embedded in the ground.
............................................All the people of Uruk encircled,
............................................all the people of the land gathered near.
............................................Yes, a great crowd assembled around it,
............................................the men both young and old pressing near it.
............................................As if it were a wife I embraced it,
............................................and you treated this axe as my equal.’

......................Rimat-Ninsun, Gilgamesh’s mother,
......................exceedingly wise in all things, said:

............................................‘The axe is your dream is that coming friend.
............................................As close as a wife he will be to you.
............................................I will treated this firm friend as your equal,
............................................and he will keep you safe in your travails.
............................................He will be among the mightiest ones,
............................................fierce, strong, like a thunderbolt from Anu!’

......................So Gilgamesh replied to his mother:

............................................‘Let this come to pass as Enlil decrees.
............................................I will gain a friend who will counsel.
............................................Yes, a close comrade to grant me advice.’”

After the priestess finished her tale,
she and strong Enkidu embraced anew.

[Pauler]

man...that is good work my friend.

[slap_j]

Will you be Gilgamesh's Heaney?

[Role Modlin]

As always...I am impressed.

What process do you use when doing something like this?

[SupaNova]

Excellent work Jeffrey. I look forward to reading more as you make progress.

[Jeffrey]

Originally Posted by slap_j

Will you be Gilgamesh's Heaney?

Man, I wish. His version of Beowulf is the best. At the school where I worked, the curriculum guy allowed me to order that version (specifically the paperback that had the Old English text on the facing page). It was expensive but worth it. In previous years (and future years, I suspect, now that I am gone) they only read summaries.

This bothers me, because the great canon of ancient works is important not simply for the stories but for the language used. Sure, one can watch "Troy" and get a basic (though greatly-altered) presentation of Homeric themes. But a good translation highlights the wonderful lines, the very worldview behind the text. Likewise, I used a prose translation of the Aeneid for my students that was readable but faithfully rendered each Latin line.

We don't just read Virgil to learn about the pious Trojan hero who overcame many challenges in order to found the Roman bloodline. It's lines like "the descent to the grave is easy...but to retrace your steps to the stars is hard" (paraphrase) or "Learn to be just and respect the gods" that are important. Likewise, the story of Beowulf is wonderful, but the many proverbs on kingship, on loyalty, on the foolishness of paganism are part of the reason it needs to be read in a solid translation.

Heaney's work in translation is a model for me, because he tries to not only capture the story, but the feel of the poetic style. This is my beef with some translators: trying to make a work accessible, they strip away many of the defining features of that era's poetry. I think translations of ancient works should attempt to give us a feel for how these folks wrote poetry.

This isn't easy to do with many Indo-European works. Old English at the time Beowulf was composed used alliterative verse broken into two segments for sake of meter. I translated one section of Beowulf for my own amusement and found it a major challenge to find modern words to express each line as well as alliterative ones.

Likewise, Greek and Latin verse didn't use rhyme but had complex meters. This is why solid verse translations often use English blank verse meter or something similar to convey the feel of structured, rhythmic poetry.

Originally Posted by Leboman

What process do you use when doing something like this?

I have many translations and commentaries on the epic. Before I begin (I've done with the same with my personal translations of many Near Eastern myths, segments of the Aeneid, and segments of Beowulf) I read up on the style of the era.

For instance, Akkadian verse. Akkadian was the language that the most familiar and most complete version of Gilgamesh used. By the time the standard text was composed (in the 7th century BCE, in the empire of the brutal conqueror and laudatory patron of the arts Ashurbanipal), Akkadian was a Classical language. The poet of the standard text (Sin-Leqi-Unninni) had a number of versions to draw from. He or his predecessors seemed to have followed a practice of consciously imitating Sumerian poetry, which involves a great deal of repetition.

Akkadian poetry also seems to have used couplets of paired ideas or descriptions, though occasionally it delved into longer forms (tripled lines, etc.). Some translations attempt to render the whole poem in couplets, others just as "free verse" literal translations.

This is just a rough draft, but originally I used the couplet form. However, many scholars disagree on which lines should be joined, so I'm going for this longer stanza style for now. I think the coupled style is obvious when read even in longer stanzas, and I don't run into the problem some translations have of awkwardly pairing lines in order to keep to a structure. I don't think the Akkadian composers would want that type of strictness, as their poetry was more like Hebrew poetry (structured, but not hemmed-in). In any case, they didn't have punctuation and didn't skip lines on the tablets they inscribed.

I usually translate ancient works into syllabic verse of 10 syllables per line. Not all ancient works had meter, but most were designed to be read aloud. This restriction on syllables forces me to be economical with my words and also to represent the idea of modern English free verse (namely, that a line should match the average sentence that can be uttered with one breath). My goal is the tightrope walk of conveying the ancient tone of these poems but also bringing the style into a familiar place for modern English readers.

After reading up on the style of the era and making some general notes of how I will attempt to convey that feel in my rendering, I begin outlining the text in question. I compare where the experts disagree and what ideas are agreed upon as essential for each stanza.

For instance, when I translated the Baal epic (imagine if Zeus had to slay Poseidon and Hades to be king of the gods) I went down to a university library and spent hours with a literal, word-for-word translation, alongside a number of scholarly paraphrases and more readable translations. I took note of what the paraphrases or accessible translations omitted, because often I think what they omitted for sake of modern audiences (long chunks of repetition) ought not be removed.

By the time I start writing this rough draft of the first tablet of Gilgamesh, I'd read many, many translations. As with all my renderings, I had to pick and choose what I thought was important based on scholarly precedents.

Some very quality Gilgamesh editions leave out allusions to unfamiliar Mesopotamian gods, which struck me as something that I as a reader would want access to. For instance, Andrew George's edition as opposed to the Gardner/Maier version. I recommend George's for folks who have some background in ancient poetry, but I didn't draw from him as much because his version fits the poem to four-line stanzas. He's doing what I'm doing -- making a decision on conflicting or broken lines. In the same way, I didn't draw from Ferry's version or Mitchell's, because both were in my boat and didn't read cuneiform. Thus, their decisions will be like mine and I don't want to be influenced by theirs. George's I consult occasionally to see how he dealt with a disputed line, since he has a background in the language.

Anyway, George has this of Enkidu:

All his body is matted with hair,
he bears long tresses like those of a woman
the hair of his head grows thickly like barley


but Gardner/Maier has:

His whole body was covered thickly with hair, his head covered with hair like a woman's;
the locks of his hair grew abundantly, like those of the grain god Nisaba.

meanwhile, Dalley's version has:

His whole body was shaggy with hair, he was furnished with tresses like a woman,
his locks of hair grew luxuriant like grain.

First off, you'll notice the similarities. Two use the word "tresses," two use "locks." Some identify the grain, others are generally.

My version:

His entire body was thick with hair,
the locks of his head like womanly tresses,
thick like grain in goddess Ninsaba’s fields.

One, it's clear that the lines about womanly tresses and hair like grain fit the Semitic poetic device of "colons" (doubled or tripled descriptions: Psalms is filled with them).

"Matted" and "shaggy" struck me as words that come not directly from the Akkadian but as the attempts of George and Dalley to make the image vivid. Thus, I cannot use those words without plagiarizing them. This, as David Ferry noted, is one of the tricky aspects of rendering ancient poetry. There are particular lines from versions of Gilgamesh I've read that I love, but I must omit because they are clearly that translator's interpretation and thus must be reserved for their version alone.

However, while Enkidu is being shown as savage, he's also being shown as majestic and Other. So I chose the more staid "thick with hair" for a strong, masculine image, to contrast with the feminine image. Remember, I am keeping an early high school reading level in mind.

Also, I am with Gardner/Maier. I think listing the goddess is important. Here's why:

There she crafted Enkidu, wild hero,
Anu’s thunderbolt, fierce as Ninurta.
His entire body was thick with hair,
the locks of his head like womanly tresses,
thick like grain in goddess Ninsaba’s fields.
His mind ignorant of nation or clan,
bare and free as the cattle god Shumuqan,
he ate of the grasslands like the gazelles,
drank at the waterholes like the wild flocks,
pleased to be among the gathering beasts.

I think it's clear that the underlying structure here is comparing Enkidu to the gods, setting up him as a rival to the demi-god Gilgamesh. George's version omits Ninsaba and refers just to "the god of cattle" though the text names Sumuqan (I included the "Sh" to show how it sounded according to my sources).

The Greeks also makes a great deal of asides concerning their various gods. This, I think, is important to keep in translation to convey the religious mindset of these ancients.

Having the god-names at the end of the lines shows the structure and the worldview that I think is important to emphasize. Unfortunately, in my current draft, I don't identify "Ninurta" as the god of war. Still figuring out how to do that and keep my rough meter.


This is a process with a great deal of revision. Lines I love I had to excise because I felt they were too close to other translations (and not just because they come from a scholar's literal reading of the text) or because I felt that the scholarly interpretation that led to those lines doesn't match the current consensus.

I have access to the text via the scholars, so when I find the experts in disagreement I consult the very word in question. Akkadian and Sumerian are both rich languages (I want to learn them with mastery one day ;_; ) with subtlety like ancient Greek, so it's not unusual to find vastly different translations for a particular line.

These lines from the beginning went through a great deal of revision, and aren't even finalized yet:

He raised the high walls enclosing Uruk,
built the House of Heaven for great Ishtar.*1
See those walls shining like burnished copper!
Behold the ramparts, beyond all compare!
Ascend the ancient steps to Ishtar’s seat,
a temple no other king could have built!
Climb Uruk’s high walls and pace their great length!
Note the foundations, the firm masonry!
Down to the core the walls hold kiln-fired brick!*2
See this city laid by the Seven Sages!
A square mile of city, one more of fields,
one more of clay-pits, and Ishtar’s temple.
Upon more than three square miles in total
the boundaries of Uruk are established.

I grouped these together because a big part of this epic is the praise of civilization.

*1 the text refers to the Eanna, a temple for Anu (sky-god) and Ishtar (Sumerian Inanna, goddess of love and war, from which the Greek goddess Aphrodite partially derives). The Eanna is literally the "House of Heaven," and by the time of the standard text Ishtar had eclipsed Anu in worship in many regards. Since there are many moments in the text where Ishtar plays a role credited to others in earlier versions, and because she is a big part of this story, I decided to omit Anu, put the name of the temple, and emphasize Ishtar.

*2 This line illustrates why my final version will need footnotes. Many ancient walls across the world were brick surrounding rubble. For instance, the Mayans (no slouches; they discovered the concept of "zero" and built stunning monuments rivaling those of the Greeks but with Stone Age tools) would lay brick around rubble and cover the entire wall with stucco so it would look entirely solid. The fact that the text emphasizes that the entire wall was made of bricks baked in an oven would have been pregnant with meaning to the original audience: Gilgamesh didn't cut any corners, but used cutting-edge architecture of his day. Having an entire wall built not just of brick reinforced by rubble but expertly-baked brick testifies to his prowess and the strength of Uruk.

[beanbag]

really nice job.

nitpicky, but i'll point it out anyways: in the young man's description of enkidu to his father and to gilgamesh, you have a difference in words used. in the fourth line of his statements, you have "lives" and "grazes," respectively. i wasn't sure if that was on purpose.

i like the rich way you have interpreted it. for a line like "built the house of heaven for great ishtar," my sumerian prof would probably say something like, "built for ishtar her great house of eanna"--he's very much into literal and formal translations. i like that this reflects the poetry of the original composition.

[Jeffrey]

Originally Posted by beanbag

nitpicky, but i'll point it out anyways: in the young man's description of enkidu to his father and to gilgamesh, you have a difference in words used. in the fourth line of his statements, you have "lives" and "grazes," respectively. i wasn't sure if that was on purpose.

Please be nitpicky! Now that I'm done with my hellish job (and looking for a new one) I wanted to get together again...not necessarily for Gilgamesh but when I'm done I may beg you to peruse it and improve it. Consider it a possible resume builder...

i like the rich way you have interpreted it. for a line like "built the house of heaven for great ishtar," my sumerian prof would probably say something like, "built for ishtar her great house of eanna"--he's very much into literal and formal translations. i like that this reflects the poetry of the original composition.

The original line only refers to the House of Eanna, I believe, but I would like to try to communicate some of the phrasing of the original. This is one of the reasons I'm trying not to eliminate the repetition that some translators excise from Near Eastern texts. It may be tedious at first read, but it reflects their worldview. In our ADD-culture, we vaguely echo the practice by having choruses in songs.

Sometimes I think translators/renderers try to bring the ancient works in line with modern novels when they're really more like modern poems or modern songs.

[Jeffrey]

I've made a couple tweaks: I changed "lives" to "ranges" both times it is used to refer to Enkidu (the idea, from what I can glean, fits "ranges" better), changed "protecting his men" to "enclosing" (since I already used "protecting" in a previous line), and changed "thick" to "full" when describing his hair in relation to grain fields.

As you all can probably tell, I don't plan on finishing this anytime soon. There are eleven tablets in total and I'm still just revising my version of the first.

The standard text has an addition that baffles readers: an extra tablet where, despite the events of the main story and Enkidu's "canon" death, a Sumerian myth is appended when Enkidu travels to the Underworld and is seized by the forces there. His spirit is called up by Gilgamesh to explain what life is like in the Underworld, giving us great insight into ancient views of the afterlife (the Homeric afterlife is very much the Mesopotamian afterlife).

There's a line at the end of Tablet XI that makes it fairly clear that the story continues to this odd Tablet XII where suddenly Enkidu is alive and undergoes an adventure that contradicts the main story in a way that cannot be resolved.

I've got a thought however: why can't we speculate that the Assyrian writer was sophisticated enough to not believe the contents of the myth? I mean, he and countless hands before him had tweaked the myth stylistically and also in terms of content.

I wonder if the standard text from Nineveh was meant as a compilation of Gilgamesh's greatest exploits. His many adventures were codified into a finalized myth that was not a major departure from the main tradition of Gilgamesh, but the scholarly author also appended a wonderful yet contradictory tale because he was recording the myth as part of a body of literature, not as a religious document.

We do this all the time in our books on Greek mythology. Edith Hamilton's Hellenic apologia aside, the Greek myths were very contradictory. If I were to record the Orpheus myth, I would want to record all of his deaths - though they clash with each other. Was he struck by Zeus for revealing secrets of the Underworld? Was he torn apart by crazed followers of Dioynsus? Did he die of grief for losing his love Eurydice? All of these -- it's a myth after all.

So if someone dug up just my account of the Orpheus myths, with no preface, they might be frustrated that I don't present a seamless narrative. But the goal is to record the tradition, not give it a structure it didn't have!

Despite this, I may omit the last tablet, because Tablets I-XI have a clear narrative structure that I want to emphasize.

[beanbag]

there's a chance i might be moving back to cali within the next month and a half or so, so it would have to be soonish. of course, if i don't move back, it can be whenever. =)

also, i know you're working with akkadian versions, but have you looked at the original sumerian at all? i may have sent you this link before, but here it is again: ETCSLhomepage

here is the list of categories: ETCSL:ETCSLcorpus

you'll see gilgamesh right at the top--if you're unfamiliar with the site and the way things are formatted, use unicode. ascii can't handle the special symbols, so c = sh, j = ng, etc. if you know how to read it, it's not a big deal, but otherwise it's annoying.

anyways, the reason i shared this with you is because you can hover your mouse over any of the words in a line (ex: ud re-a ud su3-ra2 re-a) and it will pop up a little window that gives you a translation of the word. keep in mind that some morphemes have multiple meanings, so what you see might not be what it actually means contextually, but at least it's a good launching point, especially with the verbs. unfortunately, there are only certain narratives available, but i suppose it's better than nothing.

i don't know if this is helpful or not, but there it is. =)

also, i think the changes are good. it's funny that you mention repetition in narrative, and how we modern americans can't really handle it well. in assyrian, our version of "once upon a time," is "there was, there wasn't..." we also have repeating stanzas, etc, but that one has always amused me.

[Jeffrey]

Originally Posted by beanbag

there's a chance i might be moving back to cali within the next month and a half or so, so it would have to be soonish. of course, if i don't move back, it can be whenever. =)

Are you done with the teaching job in Austin? Why the return to California?

also, i know you're working with akkadian versions, but have you looked at the original sumerian at all? i may have sent you this link before, but here it is again: ETCSLhomepage

Yeah, that's how I originally read the Sumerian Gilgamesh myths. I was really impressed by him assembling a team of youths from Uruk instead of just striking out with Enkidu. Gilgamesh really evolved as a hero in the same way (or rather, setting a model for) Herakles.

HOWEVER...

anyways, the reason i shared this with you is because you can hover your mouse over any of the words in a line (ex: ud re-a ud su3-ra2 re-a) and it will pop up a little window that gives you a translation of the word. keep in mind that some morphemes have multiple meanings, so what you see might not be what it actually means contextually, but at least it's a good launching point, especially with the verbs. unfortunately, there are only certain narratives available, but i suppose it's better than nothing.

!!!!! I've used that database many times but never noticed that feature. That's a god-send. When I was doing the Inanna myth for my class (and hopefully for an eventual book) I spent a lot of time buying books and traveling to the UT library, but this feature would have aided me greatly. It'll be invaluable in the revision process.

also, i think the changes are good. it's funny that you mention repetition in narrative, and how we modern americans can't really handle it well. in assyrian, our version of "once upon a time," is "there was, there wasn't..." we also have repeating stanzas, etc, but that one has always amused me.

I like that, it's a coy verbal shrug. "Let me tell you this thing I've heard...maybe it's something, maybe it's nothing."

[beanbag]

i just wanted to let you know that i am moving back to california, so if you do still want to meet up and have me read over things, it'll have to be in the next two weeks. the good news is that my time is almost completely unrestricted, so basically whenever is fine with me.

also, one of my coworkers gave me one of those frequent buyer card thingies for dimassis before she left; i think it's one of those deals after a certain number of purchases you get free food--do you want it?

ps: at the very end of your first post, in your translation, you have a line that says "i will treated" and i don't know if you meant to say "i will treat" or "i treated." just a heads up.