Description
Book SynopsisThis stirring new version of the great Babylonian epic includes material from the recently discovered "monkey tablet" as well as an Introduction, timeline, glossary, and correspondences between lines of the translation and those of the original texts.
"A comprehensive Introduction with a light touch (Beckman), a poetic rendering with verve and moxie (Lombardo): This edition of the colossal Babylonian
Gilgamesh Epic should satisfy all readers who seek to plumb its wealth and depth without stumbling over its many inconvenient gaps and cruxes. A fine gift to all lovers of great literature."
—Jack M. Sasson, Emeritus Professor, Vanderbilt University and The University of North Carolina at Chapel HillTrade Review"Stanley Lombardo’s new
Gilgamesh weighs in at a slim 91 pages, including useful front and back matter as well as newly discovered segments from the middle of the story, the so-called Monkey Tablet. . . . Similar to other books produced by Hackett to serve study in liberal arts and humanities, Lombardo’s work is attractive without being ornate and is easily affordable for the college market. It is furnished with auxiliary materials to enhance the ability of a student (or a nonspecialist instructor) to contextualize and navigate an ancient and non-Western primary text. Gary Beckman's introduction is an excellent overview of the five-millennia-old literary tradition about Gilgamesh, legendary king of the historical ancient city of Uruk, and provides an account of the discovery and decipherment of cuneiform that is remarkably concise and comprehensible. . . . Additional material includes an 'About This Edition' section, a timeline, a glossary of proper names, suggestions for further reading, and a table showing how pages in Lombardo’s version correspond with lines of the original text. . . . Lombardo's contribution to the Gilgamesh tradition offers English-language readers a pleasurable, companionable, and rewarding entryway to a very long and ancient humanistic legacy."
—Kathryn Slanski, Yale University, in
Review of Biblical Literature
