#EPIC OF GILGAMESH FULL#
#EPIC OF GILGAMESH CODE#

Then, along comes Enkidu: part man, part beast. You know, nobody who understands what it's like to be part man and part something else. Sure, he probably has guys in his kingdom to play ball with after work, but he doesn't have anyone who gets him. Gilgamesh may be part god, he may have goddesses throwing themselves at him, and he may be the king of the most civilized and technologically advanced place on earth-but he doesn't have a friend. But, the big things that Gilgamesh cares about are the same things you care about: having somebody-anybody-in this world who really 'gets' you and trying to make your time on this earth meaningful and as long as possible. Sure, it has sex, monsters, gods, death, adventures to the end of the world. And, not to ruin every other work of literature and film for you, but The Epic of Gilgamesh is pretty much the foundation of all those other stories. What is The Epic of Gilgamesh About and Why Should I Care?

If that doesn't give you chills, Shmoopers, we don't know what will.

#EPIC OF GILGAMESH CODE#

At Shmoop, we are using a translation by Maureen Gallery Kovacs to find a happy medium between these styles.Д«ut whichever one you choose to read, think about this: from cuneiform and clay tablets to binary code and Shmoop. making stuff up) to create a smooth, unbroken narrative. Some translators use brackets or blanks to identify the gaps in the original text. Since this is a matter of choice, no two translations of The Epic of Gilgamesh feature exactly the same text. So, when producing translations, scholars sometimes use pieces from earlier versions to fill in the gaps in the Standard Version. Solution: we know the author of the Standard Version was a scribe named Sinleqqiunninni-but we also know he based his work on lots of earlier poems about Gilgamesh (he lived about 1500 years after the real king Gilgamesh).

Some tablets are mostly complete, while some are mostly unreadable. Problem #2: all of the tablets of The Epic of Gilgamesh are broken or worn in many places.

#EPIC OF GILGAMESH FULL#

It's full of clay tablets inscribed using a writing system known as 'cuneiform.'ДЄll eleven tablets of what we know as the Standard Version of The Epic of Gilgamesh were found in the ruins, but-as you might imagine-anything found 'in the ruins' isn't going to be in great condition. Jackpot, right? Problem #1: this library isn't full of books. They uncover the library of the last great Assyrian king. So, how did we get our hands on this fantastical story? Okay, picture this: two archeologists (perhaps wearing Indiana Jones-like hats) go digging in the city of Nineveh (along the Tigris River in Mesopotamia). In other words, the text you're reading is sort of the equivalent of a Hollywood blockbuster that claims to be 'based on actual events'-something that wants to seem like the real deal when it really isn't. But the Gilgamesh featured in The Epic of Gilgamesh is a bit more sensational: he is part man and part god he opts out of being a goddess' boy-toy he then goes to the ends of the earth and finds the secret of eternal life. You know, featured on the Uruk equivalent of Mt. The version you're reading was composed around 1200 BCE (that makes it about 400 years older than Homer's Iliad and Odyssey) but the story of Gilgamesh dates back nearly 3,000 years-when a man named Gilgamesh was actually king of Uruk, a magnificent Sumerian city-state in what is now Iraq.ДЄs far as we know, Gilgamesh-the historical king of Uruk-was just a regular guy, albeit probably a pretty stinkin' good king who did lots of important stuff. Yes, you got that right: the epic tale of action and adventure you are about to read is really, really, really old. Because The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest surviving work of literature in the world.

You can't get a more classic story than that. Want more deets? We've also got a complete Online CourseВ about The Epic of Gilgamesh, with three weeks worth of readings and activities to make sure you know your stuff.ДЄ man tragically loses his best friend and goes on a journey to find the secret of immortality.

Epic of gilgamesh