Gilgamesh: A New English Version
May 2010 · Sold by Simon and Schuster
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6 reviews
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304
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About this ebook
Discover one of the masterpieces of world literature with this acclaimed edition that allows us to see how beautiful, intelligent, and alive it is.
Acclaimed translator Stephen Mitchell’s lithe, muscular rendering of Gilgamesh allows us to enter an ancient masterpiece as if for the first time. His insightful introduction provides a historical, spiritual, and cultural context for this ancient epic, showing that this epic is more potent and fascinating than ever.
Gilgamesh dates from as early as 1700 BCE—a thousand years before The Iliad. Lost for almost two millennia, the eleven clay tablets on which the epic was inscribed were discovered in 1853 in the ruins of Nineveh, and the text was not deciphered and fully translated until the end of the century.
The epic is the story of literature’s first hero—the king of Uruk in what is present-day Iraq—and his journey of self-discovery. Along the way, Gilgamesh discovers that friendship can bring peace to a whole city, that a preemptive attack on a monster can have dire consequences, and that wisdom can be found only when the quest for it is abandoned. In giving voice to grief and the fear of death, perhaps more powerfully than any book written after it, in portraying love and vulnerability and the ego’s hopeless striving for immortality, the epic has become a personal testimony for millions of readers in dozens of languages.
Acclaimed translator Stephen Mitchell’s lithe, muscular rendering of Gilgamesh allows us to enter an ancient masterpiece as if for the first time. His insightful introduction provides a historical, spiritual, and cultural context for this ancient epic, showing that this epic is more potent and fascinating than ever.
Gilgamesh dates from as early as 1700 BCE—a thousand years before The Iliad. Lost for almost two millennia, the eleven clay tablets on which the epic was inscribed were discovered in 1853 in the ruins of Nineveh, and the text was not deciphered and fully translated until the end of the century.
The epic is the story of literature’s first hero—the king of Uruk in what is present-day Iraq—and his journey of self-discovery. Along the way, Gilgamesh discovers that friendship can bring peace to a whole city, that a preemptive attack on a monster can have dire consequences, and that wisdom can be found only when the quest for it is abandoned. In giving voice to grief and the fear of death, perhaps more powerfully than any book written after it, in portraying love and vulnerability and the ego’s hopeless striving for immortality, the epic has become a personal testimony for millions of readers in dozens of languages.
Discover one of the masterpieces of world literature with this acclaimed edition that allows us to see how beautiful, intelligent, and alive it is.
Acclaimed translator Stephen Mitchell’s lithe, muscular rendering of Gilgamesh allows us to enter an ancient masterpiece as if for the first time. H...
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Ratings and reviews
6 reviews
Martin van stein
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May 14, 2023
Every Gilgamesh book has been the same ... 400 pages on what the translator thinks it means... a translation which is barely readable... and then some linguistic mumbo jumbo ... just make it into a story that is readable and differentiate between scholar versions and those who just want to read the story
Selma Tischer
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September 23, 2022
once you start reading this book, you can't close it ! Narrated in a lively way, making the characters real.
About the author
Stephen Mitchell is widely known for his ability to make old classics thrillingly new. His many books include the bestselling Tao Te Ching, the Iliad, Gilgamesh, The Gospel According to Jesus, The Book of Job, Bhagavad Gita, and The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke. His website is StephenMitchellBooks.com.
Stephen Mitchell is widely known for his ability to make old classics thrillingly new. His many books include the bestselling Tao Te Ching, the Iliad, Gilgamesh, The Gospel According to Jesus, The Book of Job, Bhagavad Gita, and The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke. His website is StephenMit...
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