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Das Gilgamesch-Epos. Neu Übersetzt Und Kommentiert Von Stefan 9121_BIOR_2006/2-3_02 06-10-2006 13:22 Pagina 272 309 BIBLIOTHECA ORIENTALIS LXIII N° 3-4, mei-augustus 2006 310 (pp. 129-30). The Assyriological reader will also pay close attention to Maul’s treatment of many difficult lines and pas- sages and enjoy numerous new proposals for restorations (Maul is less cautious in this respect than the other German translators). The Commentary noteworthy for its original and thought- provoking exegesis, despite the mass of exegesis in print on the Epic. Some of my favorite passages included Maul’s aeti- ologies, such as to Tablet III, 122-3 (adoption of foundlings) and to Tablet X, 259-65 (crying and playing of animals), as well as comments on humor, for example to Tablet X, 208 (Gilgamesh’s blessing of Utanapishtim), or irony, Tablet XI, 95 (Puzur-Enlil). Difficult explanations are well handled, such as to Tablet XI, 46-7 (the warning of the flood) and to Tablet X, 88 (the Stone Men). No one will agree, of course, with everything Maul says. For example, I still think it is more likely that the wife of the Scorpion-man relents, rather than her husband (Tablet IX, 130). I missed a comment as to why, if Gilgamesh comes out in the East, he feels a north wind in his face as he gets near the end of his run (p. 177); ASSYRIOLOGIE my own idea is that the poet was thinking of the Tigris tun- nel in Armenia. The book is beautifully designed and produced, with pen- MAUL, S. M. — Das Gilgamesch-Epos. Neu übersetzt und and-ink drawings of a choice of Mesopotamian objects, keyed kommentiert von Stefan M. Maul. Verlag C.H. Beck, to the tablets, though this necessitated having both facing München, 2005. (20,7 cm, 192). ISBN 3-406-52870-8. page numbers on the left page. So far as visibility is con- / 20,50. cerned, I would have advocated having the line numbers to Stefan Maul’s brilliant new treatment of the Gilgamesh the right rather than to the left, so as to be a little less obtru- Epic is the latest in a series of important German translations sive. The usual convention, of using italics for conjectural of that work. Three of these, by Jensen (Keilschrift Biblio- restorations, is followed here, and seems vastly preferable to thek 6/I [1901]), Ungnad (Das Gilgamesch-Epos [1911]), and the heavy use of square brackets and explanatory parenthe- Hecker (Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments III/4 ses in some modern treatments. [2001]), were primarily scholarly in their intent. One, Schott- Maul’s Gilgamesch-Epos is a striking success; I felt, as a von Soden, Das Gilgamesch-Epos (Reclam Universal-Bib- non-German speaker, that the translation was beautiful and liothek, revised 1958, 1969, 1981, 1988), was intended pri- compelling and that it was also honest and made sense. The marily for a general audience. Maul directs his book to the German-speaking community has here an expert and elegant general reading public, so there is no philology, brackets, treatment of a great work of world literature. The Assyriolo- dots, or comments on manuscripts. Unlike Schott-von Soden, gist will learn much from this book as well, and admire the Maul’s does not combine different versions into one running learning and sensitive craftsmanship that went into it. text but confines itself to Tablets I-XI of the Standard ver- sion. The material is carefully organized, with a general intro- New Haven, CT, USA, Benjamin R. FOSTER duction, a tablet-by-tablet synopsis, a translation without foot- February 2006 notes, and a commentary at the back. There is no indication in the translation of which lines are commented on, so the ** reader may find himself reading a tablet then the entire com- * mentary on it. There is also a short list of characters and sug- gestions for further reading. The translation has a strongly MARTIN, H.P., F. POMPONIO, G. VISICATO, A. WES- metrical feel and is arranged in four-line stanzas. To a non- TENHOLZ — The Fara Tablets in the Univ. of Penn- German reader it feels modern and straightforward rather than sylvania Museum of A. A CDL Press, Bethesda, 2001. biblical, oriental, or archaizing. There is little editorial mat- (28 cm, XXVII, 162, XVI pls.). ISBN 1-883053-66-8. ter in the translation beyond remarks on gaps in the text. $ 60.00. This work is an outstanding example of how the finest scholarship can be combined with a good sense of what a Le sujet du livre dont je fais cette recension1) est la publi- general reader will want to know. The book reads so cation de 110 tablettes inédites provenant de la ville de Fara smoothly that only a specialist will be aware of the author’s et que l’on peut dater de la période EDIIIa. care and self-discipline, both in the translation and in the L’étude de ces textes donne sans doute un nouveau et sti- comments. mulant apport aux connaissances concernant l’organisation The professional Assyriologist will be astonished to de l’ancienne ville mésopotamienne de Suruppak. encounter here, for the first time, important new fragments of C’est un livre en trois chapitres ayant au début une liste the Epic, including, among others, more of the physical des textes publiés qui nous indique le numéro de l’inventaire, description of Gilgamesh in Tablet I (p. 48), a new piece of Enkidu’s curse of Shamhat in Tablet VII (p. 104), and an addi- 1) Je remercie Gianluca Montanelli pour l’aide apportée à la traduction tion to Tablet X restoring Gilgamesh’s assault on Ur-shanabi en français. 9121_BIOR_2006/2-3_02 06-10-2006 13:22 Pagina 273 311 BOEKBESPREKINGEN — ASSYRIOLOGIE 312 les dimensions ainsi que les caractéristiques et l’argument des the methodology followed in the book. The main study is tablettes. arranged in two parts. Au premier chapitre on traite la translittération et la tra- In Part One the author classifies the texts from Ur in var- duction, réalisées par F. Pomponio et G. Visicato, de 97 ious ways. The first classification (pp. 11-36) sorts the mate- tablettes qui ont été découvertes par E. Schmidt pendant les rial following different criteria, such as keywords, contents fouilles organisées par l’Université de Pennsylvanie. A pré- or the administrative function of the texts. Thus we find, for sent elles se trouvent dans le musée de cette Université. G. example, in sequential order, “Merchants and Messengers”, Visicato s’est occupé aussi de la réalisation des copies. “mu-tum2 Deliveries”, “Oaths”, and “Oil, Sesame and Les tablettes traitent plusieurs sujets, mais la plupart nous Lard”. There is no attempt to find an archival coherence in renseignent à propos de l’attribution des denrées alimentaires the documents, as was done, for example, for an important ou bien des listes du personnel. Il s’agit souvent de textes group of tablets by D. Loding (A Craft Archive from Ur, Ph. assez courts et concis. Cette édition est néammoins très soi- D. Diss., University of Pennsylvania 1974), but one has to gnée et on peut facilement consulter le matériel. En outre on recognize that this would have been a very complicated, and remarque quelques intéressantes comparaisons lexicales avec probably controversial, initiative. The variety of the mater- les textes de la ville d’Ebla. ial, and especially the difficulty in understanding the place of Dans le même chapitre, précisement de la page n. 3 à la many documents in their administrative context, often per- page n. 15, H. P. Martin nous offre un récit archéologique suade Sumerologists (the reviewer amongst them) to avoid intéressant et très détaillé à propos de la découverte des this kind of classification when dealing with a large number tablettes. Tout cela est enrichi de graphiques et de tableaux. of Ur III tablets. In any case, we must thank M. Widell for Au deuxième chapitre on trouve la translittération et la tra- the clear and very useful classification he has made, particu- duction réalisées par G. Visicato et A. Westenholz (ce der- larly if we keep in mind that no complete indexes of UET 9 nier est aussi l’auteur des copies) d’une quinzaine de tablettes were provided by its editor D. Loding. qui appartiennent au musée de l’Université de Pennsylvanie. Besides this classification, a complementary one is offered Cette petite collection de textes comprend des contrats, des (pp. 37-90) with the texts arranged according to their publi- attributions de denrées alimentaires (blé et fromages) ainsi cation number, together with the date of the text, and the que des textes lexicaux. number of the excavation campaign in which the tablet was Au troisième chapitre, en faisant une comparaison avec les discovered. This aspect is developed in the following inter- nouvelles données et ce qui était déjà connu, F. Pomponio et esting chapter (pp. 91-101). The author provides here some G. Visicato nous offrent une image complète relative au pan- very useful tables and graphs regarding the assignment of théon et au critère des offrandes ainsi qu’aux caractéristiques texts to the archaeological campaigns, as well as the chrono- de la gestion administrative de Fara en mettant en relation logical distribution of tablets for each campaign. cette ville avec d’autres organisations de la Mésopotamie et Part Two (pp. 103-176) is devoted to the cataloguing and de la Syrie de la même époque. On parle aussi du système transliteration of 105 texts identified by the author as com- pondéral relatif aux boissons. ing from Ur and not published in UET 3 or 9.
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