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Epic of Gilgamesh a New Translation P EN GU IN @CLASS I CS THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH A NEW TRANSLATION TRANSLATED WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ANDREW GEORGE WIth tb ••ar!i." fr.gm.n" dating t...ok O,'et four thou.and yea .., Gi/ga"""h unqu<niOll.b!y n.nk ••• 'th, world ', fint truly gr • ., work of li'''31ure' (I"dtPt"d.",), Anticipating epi.oo .. from Horn" and ,h< Bihle, ,he Epic of Gilga~,h contain. nuny " .. nge .d,'enture, and intriguing incid.n". Among the un i.. ",,1 them .. the porm If.,,, ore fri.nd.hip, fam ily .nd the duti .. of_i"S', Above .11. it is the "le of on. m.n ~ muggl. with the f.ar of death, •• he <lnp<ratdy ",eks immonality through gloriou. deed •• nd the ddu.ive promis< of rtrrn.l li!r. Th. ".od.rd &tbyloni.n version ha ' been known for Over. ccnrury, bu, lingu;' ...... "'ill disco"c,i ng .nd Mdp",,;ng new frogmen" of long· bu,i«l cI.y "bl«. in An ,di,n .nd Sum"i.", And ..", Gcorgo', s'ipping uc'" ".n,Io,;on b,illi.",ly bring. '''II<,h« all rhe v:"i.m 'radi,ion. and tran,farm. " damag«l m'''''pi<c<' into 0 flu.nt coh«cnt nomHive. Ir ",;11 long t:,"k • • [he d.fini,;," English Gilg~m.,h. n..~ '"'-' . ........... R"" ........ ""..... kW • ...,.. , ~ _ I ""--...... ............ "'-,-. n......;...~" '" M[ " ... CoI'o._. I'£NGIJIN '-~- U, K. ..... ~ u , 111," u, .... ..... PENGUIN @ CLASSICS THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH 'Humankind's first literary achievement ... Gilgamesh should compel us as the well-spring of which we are inheritors ... Andrew George provides an excellent critical' and historical introduction' Paul Binding, Independent on Sunday 'This volume will endure as. one of the milestone markers ... [Andrew George] expertly and easily conducts his readers on a delightful and moving epic journey' Samuel A. Meier, The Times Literary Supplement 'Appealingly presented and very readably translated ... it still comes as an exhilarating surprise to find the actions and emotions of the Sumerian superhero coming to us with absolute immediacy over 30-odd centuries' Scotsman 'Andrew George has formed an English text from the best of the tablets, differentiating his complex sources but allowing the general reader a clear run at one of the first enduring stories ever told' Peter Stothard, The Times 'An exemplary combination of scholarship and lucidity ... very impressive ... invaluable as a convenient guide to all the different strands which came together to produce the work we now call Gilgamesh' Alan Wall, Literary Review WINNER OF THE BRITISH-KUWAIT FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY PRIZE IN MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES ABOUT THE AUTHOR The Epic of Gilgamesh is best known from a version called 'He who saw the Deep', which circulated in Babylonia and Assyria in the first millennium BC. The Babylonians believed this poem to have been the responsibility of a man called Sin-liqe-unninni, a learned scholar of Uruk whom modern scholars consider to have lived some time between 1300-1000 BC. However, we now know that 'He who saw the Deep' is a revision of one or more earlier versions of the epic. The oldest surviving fragments of the epic are the work of an anonymous Babylonian poet writing more than 3700 years ago. The Babylonian epic was composed in Akkadian, but its literary origins lie in five Sumerian poems of even greater antiquity. The Sumerian texts gained their final form probably as court entertainments sung for King Shulgi of Ur of the Chaldees, who reigned in the 21st century BC. ANDREW GEORGE was born in 1955 in Haslemere, Surrey. He was educated at Christ's Hospital, Horsham, and the University of Birmingham, where he studied Assyriology. For a while he kept a public house in Darlaston. He began teaching Akkadian and Sumerian language in 1983 at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies, where he is now Professor of Babylonian. He is also an Honorary Lecturer at the university's Institute of Archaeology. His research has taken him many times to Iraq to visit Babylon and other ancient sites, and to museums in Baghdad, Europe and North America to read the original clay tablets on which the scribes of ancient Iraq wrote. He has published extensively on Babylonian literature and religion. THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH The Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian Translated and with an introduction by ANDREW GEORGE PENGUIN BOOKS PENGUIN BOOKS Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Books Ltd, 2.7 Wrights Lane, London w8 5TZ, England Penguin Pumam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcom Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2. Penguin Books India (P) Ltd, 11, Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110017, India Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd, Private Bag 102.902., NSMC, Auckland, New Zealand Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 5 Watkins Street, Denver Ext 4, Johannesburg 2.094, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England First published in Great Britain by AlIen Lane The Penguin Press 1999 Published in Penguin Books 2.000 2. Copyright © Andrew George, 1999 All rights reserved Map on pp. lviii-lix by Nigel Andrews Illustrations on pp. iii, 2.6,45, 53, 60,72.,92., 103, 110, 117, 12.1, 12.5, 130, 146, 160, 175, 185 and 200 by Joanna Richards nlustrations on pp. 2.6, 117 and 160 after drawings by Tessa Rickards from Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia by Jeremy Black and Anthony Green © the British Museum, British Museum Press nlustrations on pp. xxix, 3, 13, 3 I, 64, 87, 12.8, 134, 2.13 and 2.16 by Andrew George The moral right of the author has been asserted Printed in England by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher'S prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser Contents List of Figures Vl1 Preface x Introduction X111 A Note on the Translation Iiii Further Reading Ivii Map of the Ancient Near East Iviii Time Chart Ix Dramatis Personae Ixii I. The Standard Version of the BabyIonian GiIgamesh Epic: I 'He who saw the Deep' Tablet I. The Coming of Enkidu I Tablet 11. The Taming of Enkidu 12 Tablet I I I. Preparations for the Expedition to the Forest of Cedar 22 Tablet IV. The Journey to the Forest of Cedar 30 Tablet V. The Combat with Humbaba 39 Tablet VI. Ishtar and the Bull of Heaven 47 Tablet VII. The Death of Enkidu 54 Tablet VIII. The Funeral of Enkidu 62 Tablet IX. The Wanderings of Gilgamesh 7 0 Tablet X. At the Edge of the World 75 Tablet XI. Immortality Denied 88 Tablet XI I. Appendix 100 2. BabyIonian Texts of the Early Second Millennium BC 101 T he Pennsylvania tablet: 'Surpassing all other kings' Tablet I I 101 The Yale tablet: 'Surpassing all other kings' Tablet III 107 Another fragment in Philadelphia 115 The Nippur school tablet 116 VI Contents The Tell Harmal tablets 118 The Ishchali tablet 119 A tablet in Baghdad, of unknown provenance 122 A tablet reportedly from Sippar 122 3. Babylonian Texts of the Late Second Millennium BC, from 127 Sites in Babylonia The Nippur exercise tablet 127 The Ur tablet 127 4. Babylonian Texts of the Late Second Millennium BC, from 13 2 outside Babylonia The fragments from Hattusa 132 T he fragments from Emar 135 The Megiddo tablet 138 The Ugarit tablet 139 5. The Sumerian Poems of Gilgamesh 141 Bilgames and Akka: 'The envoys of Akka~ 143 Bilgames and Huwawa: 'The lord to the Living One's Mountain~ 149 and 'Ho, hurrah!' Bilgames and the Bull of Heaven: 'Hero in battle~ 166 Bilgames and the Netherworld: 'In those days, in those far-off days' 175 The Death of Bilgames: 'The great wild bull is lying down~ 195 Appendix: From Tablet to Translation 209 Glossary of Proper Nouns 222 Publication of the Sources of the Babylonian Texts 226 List of Figures I Cuneiform text, seventh century BC, Ashur. The left third of the tablet is in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin (tablet V AT 9667); the right part, reconstructed from fifteen pieces, is in the Archaeo­ logical Museum, Istanbul (tablet A 122+123). Line drawing by the author. 2 Cuneiform text, late first millennium BC, Babylon. British Museum tablet fragment WARm 785+Rm 1017+34248+34357. Line drawing by the author. 3 Cuneiform text, late first millennium BC, Uruk. Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago, tablet fragment A 3444. Line drawing by the author. 4 The Sun God enthroned in his temple. Detail from the limestone tablet of King Nabu-apla-iddina, ninth century BC, Sippar. British Museum W A 91000. Line drawing by Joanna Richards. 5 Cuneiform text, late first millennium BC, Babylonia. British Museum tablet fragment W A 93052. Line drawing by the author. 6 Gilgamesh and Enkidu slay Humbaba. Engraving on a bronze situla, early first millennium BC, Babylonia? Line drawing by Joanna Richards (after E. Strommenger-Nagel). 7 Gilgamesh and Enkidu despatch the Bull of Heaven with Ishtar looking on. Cylinder seal impression, early first millennium BC, Baby­ lonia. British Museum seal WA 89435. Line drawing by Joanna Richards. 8 Ishtar, the goddess of sex and war, standing on a recumbent lion.
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