The first surviving version of this combined epic, known as the 'Old Babylonian' version, dates to the 18th century BC and is titled after its incipit, Shūtur eli sharrī ('Surpassing All Other Kings'). These independent stories were later used as source material for a combined epic. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian poems about 'Bilgamesh' (Sumerian for 'Gilgamesh'), king of Uruk. It was published in New York by The Free Press in 2004, ISBN 978-0-7432-6164-7. Gilgamesh: A New English Version is a book about Gilgamesh by Stephen Mitchell. Gilgamesh: A New English Version, Anonymous, Stephen Mitchell An intriguing tale.īlog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube This love leads him on a long and strange journey in the hope that he can find a way to defy death. Whether they were lovers or not - and no one really knows how the Ancient Sumerians would have felt about a gay couple - the intensity of Gilgamesh's love for Enkidu, whom he loves 'as a woman', is the driving force of the epic. I definitely find myself leaning towards agreeing with the homoerotic interpretations of their relationship, and they almost certainly served as an inspiration for pairings such as Achilles and Patroclus, and Jonathan and David. My favourite part is, not surprisingly, the relationship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. I should point out that, though a little dry, it's not difficult to read at all - at least not in the English translation that I read - and can be read in a single sitting if you have a couple of hours to spare. The translation is a little wooden, and the rather dramatic series of events reads almost like a textbook. This is one of those cases where I really wish I could read and understand the original text. And I get chills just thinking about how this narrative reaches across the millennia and takes us inside the minds of people who lived so long ago. One of the most fascinating things about The Epic of Gilgamesh is how you can easily see the influence it has had on Homer and Judeo-Christian-Islamic mythology. There is something very humbling about reading stories written more than 4,000 years ago. “I will reveal to you a mystery, I will tell you a secret of the gods.”

The Epic of Gilgamesh by Anonymous