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The Epic of Gilgamesh

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Start date: July 1, 2019

Finish date: July 31, 2019

Discussion: Current Group Reads

Why we're reading this: July 2019 Old School Group Read
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May 12, 2012 David S. T. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: religion

My interest in ancient religions lead me to Gilgamesh. This is the Mitchell version, he's unable to read or translate from the cuneiform but instead took several literal and not so literal English translations, using them he created his own "version". From reading other reviews this has lead to mixed opinions, it seems that he was very loose with the translations and being so free bothers some of the purists. For me personally, I don't mind a very loose rendering, I plan to follow this up with t My interest in ancient religions lead me to Gilgamesh. This is the Mitchell version, he's unable to read or translate from the cuneiform but instead took several literal and not so literal English translations, using them he created his own "version". From reading other reviews this has lead to mixed opinions, it seems that he was very loose with the translations and being so free bothers some of the purists. For me personally, I don't mind a very loose rendering, I plan to follow this up with the Andrew George edition and I got this easier to read version as a sort of commentary.

The introduction on this edition is some what long about 65 pages and he gives the entire plot summary for Gilgamesh, so if one is worried about spoilers then this should be saved for the end. I read it first and knowing the plot before hand didn't seem to hurt my opinion of the story. Most of the end notes are the more literal translations of certain passages that Mitchell was very free with, I read them but since I'm about to read another edition, I don't think it was worthwhile.

As for the Epic of Gilgamesh itself, it was a great read. The version was very easy to read and the story itself was pretty interesting. I got way more into this one that some of the other early texts I've read. I think the most common thing known about Gilgamesh is that it contains its own version of the flood. Of course this brings comparisons to the Genesis account of the flood and the two stories are surprisingly similar, even down to both Noah and Utnapishtim sending out some sort of bird to see if the land was yet dry. One of the main differences between the two is that the boat in Gilgamesh is smaller and cubed, which reminded me of one Genesis commentary I read/heard which pointed out that the boat in Gilgamesh couldn't possibly float so therefore this has to be myth and the Genesis account is the true one, which caused me to chuckle a little. Anyways, the flood account was less than a tenth of this book and the rest was equally fascinating. I'm looking forward to read this one again.

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