Book

The Epic of Gilgamesh (Norton Critical)

Benjamin Foster's Norton Critical Edition presents the Epic of Gilgamesh in a new translation from the Babylonian tablets, framed by the scholarship that makes the poem legible. The translation itself is notably readable, carrying the story of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, Enkidu his wild-made friend, the slaying of Humbaba in the cedar forest, the bull of heaven, Enkidu's death and Gilgamesh's grieving quest past the ends of the earth to Utnapishtim, survivor of the flood. Foster's text is based on the modern editions and incorporates the fragments recovered since, including the Suleimaniyah pieces that restore long-missing lines. The critical apparatus that follows is the reason teachers keep assigning the volume: analogues reprint the older Sumerian Gilgamesh poems, the Hittite version, the Gilgamesh letter and the classical notices, while the criticism section collects Thorkild Jacobsen on death as the journey's end, William Moran on the epic as a document of ancient humanism, Susan Ackerman on its liminal women, Andrew George on individual and collective destiny, and more. A glossary, illustrations from the British Museum reliefs, and a selected bibliography complete a standard scholarly edition of the world's oldest great poem.

Included with membership.