Doghousesmall
Doghouse
3827111
The Epic of Gilgamesh: The Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian
(2003)
DogstarDogstarDogstarDogstarDogstarDogstarDogstarDogstarDogstarDogstar

Author: Anonymous
Illustrator: Nigel Andrews, Joanna Richards, Jeremy Black, Anthony Green
Publisher: Penguin Books
Language: English
Pages: 228
Series: Penguin classics
Genre: Poetry; Literature
Format: Paperback

Miraculously preserved on clay tablets dating back as far as four thousand years, the poem of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, is the world’s oldest epic, predating 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. In addition to 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.

The Babylonian version has been known for over a century, but linguists are still deciphering new fragments in Akkadian and Sumerian. Andrew George’s gripping translation brilliantly combines these into a fluent narrative and will long rank as the definitve English Gilgamesh.