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Gilgamesh (Jastrow and Clay, 1920)

Anonymous, c. 1800 BCE

Held by Project Gutenberg, PG 11000read here

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This is the oldest known form of the Gilgamesh story: two clay tablets from the Old Babylonian period, rendered into English. The Pennsylvania tablet has Gilgamesh, king of Erech, dream of a companion; the wild man Enkidu is lured into the city by a woman, then fights Gilgamesh and becomes his friend. The Yale tablet carries the pair toward the cedar forest and its guardian Humbaba, with Gilgamesh set on winning a name even if he dies. Long introduction and commentary by Morris Jastrow place the fragments within the later twelve-tablet epic.

Where it happens

  1. Uruk (Erech) Gilgamesh's city; Enkidu is led here and the two heroes fight in its streets.12
  2. Nineveh Site of the library of Ashurbanipal, where the best copies of the later version were found.1
  3. Kish City tied by legend to Gilgamesh's rivals; its early ruler Enmebaragesi lends the story some historical footing.1
  4. Nippur Source of a collection of tablets in which Gilgamesh appears as a king of Erech.12
  5. Sippar Source of the Sippar tablet, whose Meissner fragment is an Old Babylonian witness to the epic.1
  6. Baghdad Where Meissner picked up an early epic tablet in a dealer's shop.2

Through time

  1. 2100 BCEarliest Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh, some perhaps from the Third Dynasty of Ur.1
  2. 1800 BCOld Babylonian tablets, the earliest surviving single epic narrative, including those printed here.1
  3. 1300 BCStart of the window in which the Standard Babylonian version is compiled by Sin-leqi-unninni.1
  4. 650 BCLibrary of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh gathers copies of the epic.1
  5. 1853Hormuzd Rassam finds the Standard Babylonian tablets at Nineveh.1
  6. 1872George Smith reads translated fragments before the Society of Biblical Archaeology.1

Who is in it, and behind it

Gilgamesh hero

King of Uruk, the two-thirds divine hero of the epic who is shown on these tablets before his long journey after Enkidu's death.12

Enkidu hero

Wild man made by the gods to check Gilgamesh; he is civilised by a woman, brought to Uruk, and becomes the king's friend.12

Shamhat character

The woman who initiates Enkidu and leads him toward the city; the Old Babylonian tablet calls her a courtesan.12

Humbaba character

The guardian of the cedar forest, whom the heroes set out to kill. This book spells his name Huwawa.12

Utnapishtim character

Survivor of the flood whom Gilgamesh later seeks out to learn the secret of life.1

Sin-leqi-unninni editor

Scholar thought to have compiled the later Standard Babylonian version of twelve tablets.1

George Smith scholar

British Museum scholar who read translated fragments of the epic in 1872 and published fuller versions in 1875 and 1876.1

Morris Jastrow author

Pennsylvania Semitist who wrote the introduction and commentary for this edition.2

Albert T. Clay translator

Translated the two tablets into English for this edition.2

What it is about

Friendship across a divide

Gilgamesh dreams of a companion before he meets him, and Enkidu is shaped by the gods to match him.12

Civilisation changes the wild

Enkidu forgets his birthplace after days with the woman.12

Name against death

Gilgamesh insists on facing Humbaba, saying that if he falls he will still have made his name.12

Death as every person's share

The later epic ends on the idea that only the specially chosen live forever and the rest meet death.12

A story that grew in layers

The tablets show an older shorter epic beneath the Assyrian version, with the flood story added later.12

In its own words

The Gilgamesh Epic is the most notable literary product of Babylonia as yet discovered in the mounds of Mesopotamia.
Introduction.. Jastrow's opening judgment of the poem and what survives of it. Read on
Gish sought to interpret the dream; 2Spoke to his mother: 3“My mother, during my night 4I became strong and moved about 5among the heroes; 6And from the starry heaven 7A meteor(?) of Anu fell upon me: 8I bore it and it grew heavy upon me, 9I became weak and its weight I could not endure.
Translation.. Gilgamesh tells his mother of the dream that announces Enkidu. Read on
Six days and seven nights 47Enkidu continued 48To cohabit with [the courtesan]. 49[The woman] opened her [mouth] and 50Spoke to Enkidu: 51“I gaze upon thee, O Enkidu, like a god art thou!
Translation.. Enkidu is drawn from the wild by the woman, and she speaks to him as if he were a god. Read on
The woman leads Enkidu from the outskirts of Erech into the city itself, where the people on seeing him remark upon his likeness to Gilgamesh. He is the very counterpart of the latter, though somewhat smaller in stature.
Introduction.. The encounter of Enkidu and Gilgamesh in the streets of Erech, as summarised by Jastrow. Read on
He declares himself superior to Enkidu’s warning, and in bold terms []says that he prefers to perish in the attempt to overcome Ḫuwawa rather than abandon it. “Wherever terror is to be faced, Thou, forsooth, art in fear of death. Thy prowess lacks strength. I will go before thee, Though thy mouth shouts to me: ‘thou art afraid to approach,’ If I fall, I will establish my name.”
Introduction.. Gilgamesh answers Enkidu's fear of Humbaba with defiance. Read on
Only those singled out by the special favor of the gods can hope to be removed to the distant “source of the streams” and live forever. The rest of mankind must face death as the end of life.
Introduction.. Jastrow's reading of the flood story's lesson on mortality. Read on
Utnapishtim, the survivor of the deluge, is moved through pity for Gilgamesh, worn out by his long wanderings. At the request of his wife, Utnapishtim decides to tell Gilgamesh of this plant, and he succeeds in finding it.
Introduction.. The last stage of the later epic: the plant of youth found and lost. Read on

The shape of the book

24 chapters, 33,399 words. Point at a bar.

How it came to be here

The epic grew from Sumerian poems of about 2100 BCE into an Akkadian poem, and its best-known form was copied for the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh. Hundreds of years older are the tablets here, dated to the age of Hammurabi, long before that version. The Pennsylvania tablet was first published by Stephen Langdon, and Albert Clay made the English translation used here. Jastrow's introduction of 1920 argues these texts show how the story looked before later editors added the flood and the quest for immortality at length.

Free to read elsewhere

Sources

  1. Epic of Gilgamesh (Wikipedia)
  2. An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic (Project Gutenberg)

Text: PG 11000 | translator: Morris Jastrow and Albert T. Clay. US public domain (Project Gutenberg licence).

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