Gilgamesh: A Verse Narrative

By Herbert Mason and John H Marks

National Book Award Finalist: The most widely read and enduring interpretation of this ancient Babylonian epic.
 
One of the oldest and most universal stories known in literature, the epic of Gilgamesh presents the grand, timeless themes of love and death, loss and reparations, within the stirring tale of a hero-king and his doomed friend.
 
A National Book Award finalist, Herbert Mason’s retelling is at once a triumph of scholarship, a masterpiece of style, and a labor of love that grew out of the poet’s long affinity with the original.
 
“Mr. Mason’s version is the one I would recommend to the first-time reader.” —Victor Howes, The Christian Science Monitor
 
“Like the Tolkien cycle, this poem will be read with profit and joy for generations to come.” —William Alfred, Harvard University

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jul 8, 2003
• ISBN: 9780547526607

Book preview

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Table of Contents

Title Page

Table of Contents

Copyright

GILGAMESH

I

II

III

IV

Names and Places Appearing in the Narrative

About the Gilgamesh

An Autobiographical Postscript

Gilgamesh: An Afterword by John H. Marks

Notes to Afterword

Afterword to the Mariner Edition

About the Author

Footnotes

FIRST MARINER BOOKS EDITION 2003

Copyright © 1970 by Herbert Mason

John H. Marks Afterword copyright © 1972 by Penguin Putnam Inc.

Herbert Mason Afterword copyright © 2003 by Herbert Mason

All rights reserved

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.

www.hmhco.com

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Mason, Herbert, date

Gilgamesh: a verse narrative / Herbert Mason.—

1st Mariner Books ed.

p. cm.

A Mariner book.

ISBN-13: 978-0-618-27564-9 (pbk.)

ISBN-10: 0-618-27564-9 (pbk.)

1. Erech (Extinct city)—Kings and rulers—Poetry. 2. Epic poetry, Assyro-Babylonian—Adaptations. 3. Epic poetry, American. I. Gilgamesh. II. Title.

PS3563.A7923G5 2003

811'.54—dc21 2003050853

eISBN 978-0-547-52660-7

v2.0315

A portion of this book appeared in The American Scholar.

GILGAMESH

A VERSE NARRATIVE

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It is an old story

But one that can still be told

About a man who loved

And lost a friend to death

And learned he lacked the power

To bring him back to life.

It is the story of Gilgamesh

And his friend Enkidu.

I

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Gilgamesh was king of Uruk,

A city set between the Tigris

And Euphrates rivers

In ancient Babylonia.

Enkidu was born on the Steppe

Where he grew up among the animals.

Gilgamesh was called a god and man;

Enkidu was an animal and man.

It is the story

Of their becoming human together.

As king, Gilgamesh was a tyrant to his people.

He demanded, from an old birthright,

The privilege of sleeping with their brides

Before the husbands were permitted.

Sometimes he pushed his people half to death

With work rebuilding Uruk’s walls,

And then without an explanation let

The walls go unattended and decay,

And left his people dreaming of the past

And longing for a change.

They had grown tired of his contradictions

And his callous ways.

They knew his world was old

And cluttered with spoiled arts

That they defended but could not revive.

Enkidu was ignorant of oldness.

He ran with the animals,

Drank at their springs,

Not knowing fear or wisdom.

He freed them from the traps

The hunters set.

A hunter’s son one day

Saw Enkidu opening a trap:

The creature was all covered with hair

And yet his hands had the dexterity of men’s;

He ran beside the freed gazelle

Like a brother

And they drank together at a pool

Like two friends

Sharing some common journey

Not needing to speak but just continue.

Gilgamesh was a godlike man alone

With his thoughts in idleness except

For those evenings when he went down

Into the marketplace to the Family House

To sleep with the virgins, or when

He told his dreams to his mother, Ninsun.

The hunter listened to his son’s

Description of Enkidu

And was both angry and afraid.

He told his son to go to Uruk

And to tell what he had seen

To Gilgamesh and to ask him

To send a prostitute

Who would sleep with Enkidu

And make the animals ashamed of him.

Gilgamesh would understand, for he was king.

The hunter’s son made the day’s journey

To Uruk and told what he had seen

To Gilgamesh, showing him

His father’s anger and his fear

And praising the strength of the strange

Creature who had come to his father’s plains

And freed the animals from the traps

And lived as one of them

And threatened the livelihood of men.

Gilgamesh listened but he had heard

So many stories of the Wondrous

Creatures of the Forest and the Steppe

That he could hardly be aroused.

He sent the prostitute but then forgot

What he had listened to.

The hunter left the prostitute alone

At the spring. When evening came,

Enkidu appeared among the animals

And drank with them and rested at their side.

When he awoke he saw a creature

Unlike any he had seen before

Standing near the water, its skin smooth, tan

And hairless except for its head

And between its legs.

He wanted to touch it, but then

It made sounds he had never heard,

Not like the sounds of his friends, the animals,

And he was afraid. The prostitute

Came close to him and the animals withdrew.

She took his hand and guided it

Across her breasts and between her legs

And touched him with her fingers

Gently and bent down and moistened

Him with her lips then drew him

Slowly to the ground.

When he rose again

Looking for his friends who had gone,

He felt a strange exhaustion,

As if life had left his body.

He felt their absence.

He imagined the gazelles raising the dry dust

Like soft brush floating on the crests of sand

Swiftly changing direction, and the serpents

Asleep at the springs, slipping effortlessly

Into the water, and the wild she-camel

Vanishing into the desert. His friends

Had left him to a vast aloneness

He had never felt before. The lions returned

To the mountains, the water buffalo

To the rivers, the birds to the sky.

Gilgamesh woke anxiously from a dream

And said to Ninsun: I saw a star

Fall

Reviews for Gilgamesh

[smiley91123 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was ok. good for an essay.

[ritaer_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It is rather confusing that this page displays reviews of multiple renderings and translations of the eipic. This review is of the version by David Ferry. It is hard to judge when I have not read any actual translations that do not attempt to reahape the text, only another interpretation by Stephen Mitchell.

[alexandraseaha · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As a history buff, I proudly rated the Epic of Gilgamesh a 5/5. Since the author(s) is long dead and unknown, I don’t expect much blowback. This story is really timeless and while it has a niche audience, I do recommend everyone reads at least part. It is, after all, the first poem in recorded history. It provided great insight into the human mind and society as it has been for thousands of years.

[alanteder · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was intrigued to read a "closer to the source" edition of Gilgamesh after my recent discovery of Stephen Mitchell's "Gilgamesh: A New English Version" which is considered controversial as Mitchell was not translating it but simply adapting it based on the translations of others and fills in any missing sections with his own poetic extrapolations on the text. Mitchell does use this present 1999/2003 edition by A.R. George as his primary source.Andrew George has done a spectacular job assembling here as complete an edition with all variant sources as existed 20 years ago. It is evident from the missing sections and the continued discoveries that even further reconstruction is possible in the future. The notes and the pictures (some photos, some drawings) are a bonus enhancement of the experience.It is fascinating to know how this has all been assembled from thousands of clay tablet fragments found throughout mostly present-day Iraq. The work and its variants was so popular that it was a standard text used in scribe schools for reproduction, thus increasing the likelihood of 4,000+ year old fragments being discovered in recent centuries.

[bookomaniac-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Zeer interessante inleiding. Prozavertaling, bewerkt, van het gedicht, zowat het oudste fictiegeschrift dat bewaard is gebleven.

[benjaminhahn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I am taking on the subject of Babylonian Civilization this summer. To get started, I'm rereading the oldest story ever written by humans. How old? Try 4000 years old. Not only is it the oldest, but it is written in a dead language and it was buried for a couple thousand years before some British archaeologists dug it up in the Iraqi desert in the mid 1800's. It took another 50 years before it was translated into English. I've read an adaptation of Gilgamesh before but never a scholarly translation that was directly translated from the cuneiform tablets. Andrew George's translation is considered one of the standards and I found it very readable even though there are gaps here and there to represent where the tablets are broken. In a sense, this made the work of translation more apparent and interesting. In fact, there is a whole system in place that emphasizes when and where certainty and speculation are used in the story. Italics and brackets are all over the place, but once you figure out the code, it adds a lot to the reading experience. In addition to the standard Gilgamesh tablets, there are older Sumerian tablets that are translated and included in this Penguin edition. The Sumerian tablets are older but translated from Sumerian and not Akkadian. They tend to be less standardized, with characters switching names or roles here and there. The notes help sort all this out. The introduction is also very interesting and helps lay some crucial groundwork for placing this story in context to the history of the Babylonian Empire. If you are like me and love Homer and all the other early epics you will want to familiarize yourself with this most excellent story. Just as interesting is the story of its discovery. Check out The Buried Book by David Damrosch to learn more about that. If you want to learn more about the ancient history of the area in audio format, check out Dan Carlin's podcast "Hardcore History -King of Kings" series.

[auntieclio · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the grandmama of all written epic stories. Its influence can be read in Judeo-Christian and Roman stories. The Flood story is of particular interest to many since the bible story very nearly mirrors every detail as found in Gilgamesh.Gilgamesh goes on a quest to find eternal life and commits heroic deeds, only to discover there is no such thing as eternal life to those not fully gods.Worth reading if you really like epic stories. Also worth reading for the historical influence on literature through the ages.

[regularguy5mb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When I was a student teacher, I actually taught my students the Gilgamesh Epic. I used it to then go into the various creation and flood stories of various world religions. In fact, when I was in high school, my tenth grade English teacher also taught Gilgamesh, which is probably why I decided to follow his lead. Of course, every version I've ever seen is a simple breakdown of each section of the story, not the actual translation of the poem that this is (or, at least, the translation of what has been found of it so far). So, this particular version was a first time read for me.The Epic of Gilgamesh presents one of the earliest recorded tales. It includes the first known example of a written creation story, a flood story, and even a version of the temptation of man by woman and a betrayal by a serpent. The Biblical parallels are so many that it can't be mere coincidence, especially when you learn that the early Semites (who would become the Jewish people) were at one time indoctrinated by Babylonian religion, which copied many of their stories from the Sumerian, including Gilgamesh, already an historical figure turned mythic hero by the time Babylon became a power.To me though, the most important element of the Gilgamesh epic, is that it's not only the first "on the road" story, but also the first buddy story. Gilgamesh literally has a best friend made for him by the gods, and the two go on amazing adventures together. As a fan of the road movie and the buddy picture, this is something that always stayed with me about Gilgamesh and Enkidu. This brand of buddy adventure has always been around and has always been popular, since the literal beginnings of civilization.

[katieloucks · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I need to reread this - last time I read this I was in 5th grade and didn't really understand it.

[renaemcbrian · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was interesting, but not my thing. I liked that it dealt a lot with dreams and how they are interpreted (or misinterpreted), because I know a lot of cultures hold dreams as a sort of communication power.

[questbird · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Epic literature. Interesting because of its origin on Babylonian clay tablets and its biblical flood story.

[atimco-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was my first experience of Gilgamesh, the ancient Sumerian epic that predates Homer's Odyssey by about 1500 years. What a brilliant, simple story; no wonder it has survived. I found Herbert Mason's verse narrative brief and easy to read, but deeply impactful. Gilgamesh is a king of Uruk (historically, fifth in line after the Great Flood, which the poem mentions). He lives a self-absorbed life, driving his people harshly or neglecting them, using the women, building the walls, but mostly just being idle. He awakens from this life when he meets Enkidu, a man from the wild who has been tamed by a prostitute. Enkidu and Gilgamesh become friends in the most inseparable sense, equals in all. When Gilgamash is possessed by a desire to destroy the brutish god Humbaba, Enkidu is seized with fear. He knows from his time in the forest of Humbaba's dark power, and pleads with his friend not to go. But Gilgamesh is resolved, and Enkidu accompanies him. Enkidu is killed, and Gilgamesh finally discovers what human sorrow is. Spent with grief, he embarks on a winding quest to bring his friend back to life. What will be the end?I love the prayer of Ninsun, Gilgamesh's mother who was a minor goddess. She says to the god Shamash, ...Why did you give my sonA restless heart, and now you touch himWith this passion to destroy Humbaba,And you send him on a journey to a battleHe may never understand, to a doorHe cannot open. You inspire him to endThe evil of the world which you abhorAnd yet he is a man for all his powerAnd cannot do your work. You must protectMy son from danger. (33)It captures the futility of humanity in our quest for transcendence, our spiritual discontent which we cannot remedy. All our good deeds come to nothing, and the last appeal is always to the deity. Striking also to me was the monotheism of Utnapishtim, the wise man Gilgamesh seeks out to save his friend. Mason hints in the afterword that this expression of monotheism may cause some controversy among scholars... interesting. Casual readers like me always wonder, when we pick up a work like this of which there are so many versions and translations, if we have chosen The Right One. If we have maximized our reading experience, if we have latched on to something of which those who know would approve. I have to let worries like this go and simply enjoy the book, whichever version it is, that has fallen to me. I don't know what other translations are like, but I found this one intensely human and accessible. Strangely powerful, from across thousands of years Gilgamesh draws us into its story and remains with us. It is, of course, the universality of loss, the desperation of sorrow, and the long road home of acceptance that make Gilgamesh's journey ours. Recommended.

[maxernst11 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Zeer interessante inleiding. Prozavertaling, bewerkt, van het gedicht, zowat het oudste fictiegeschrift dat bewaard is gebleven.

[benuathanasia · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Different than I remember. It was an actual translation, rather than a literary interpretation, which was both good and bad:Good, because it was faithful and does away with flowery embellishments.Bad, because the original is in fragments, and what does remain is awfully repetitive.On the whole, the story was pleasant and a prototypical hero myth - a foundation of literature, if you will.

[cecrow · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this only for the sake of saying I did, but it's on par with Greek mythology for entertainment and has actual plot twists that surprise. Not bad for a story that went missing for more than two millenia until it was rediscovered in the 19th century. Gilgamesh has the strength of a god but the mortality of a man. This anguish leads him to unjustly lord it over his people until a friend almost equal to him in strength is sent to correct his ways. Adventures ensue, and Gilgamesh learns more bitter lessons about loss and death. There's some intriguing parallels to stories from the Bible and echoes of Homer. I took the epic as a whole to be the story of human grappling with mortality: we feel like gods in our youth, strive to make names for ourselves, then endure the humbling of our pride and the hollows of tragedy that weather us, leading to maturity and eventually an acceptance of death.

[dabble58 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's the ultimate story, filled with everything: battles, friendship, hubris, shame, loss, joy, gods, human-gods, creation, sacrifice, love, hate, quests, sex.
It's mostly about men, of course.
Cos we women basically ran about and tempted men to ruin them. Poor Enkidu, once mighty until he slept with a woman.
Regular theme, methinks.
However, it's the first story in the Western tradition, and worth exploring as a view of the world in which we once lived.
I urge you to read the story before the introduction - I didn't and nearly gave up on the book before I got to the actual story. This would have been a mistake. It was worth the reading.
I can't help but think of Tom Harpur's The Pagan Christ when I read it. There are such similarities in creation stories that sometimes I wonder if our brains have a specific synapse devoted to them.

[heidip_38 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I finished The Epic of Gilgamesh. The hardest thing I had to deal with was picking a translation! The library had two choices: a translation by N. K. Sandars or one by Maureen Gallery Kovacs. I chose the Sandars one which translated the text into prose. I wish it were translated into poetic form, but with this one I got a real sense of the story.The Kovac version was great as a reference because there were pictures from the British Museum with the Epic of Gilgamesh in art form from Ancient Assyria. There was also a map. Also, Kovac translated it into poetic verse with line numbers. However, the translator used ellipses whenever there was a break in the tablet or missing lines, so it made the translation more jagged.This epic has it all: a creation by the Ancient Assyrian gods, an epic battle against the evil monster Humbaba, long journeys, an ancient flood story, and the search for eternal life. The flood story is similar to the Biblical account, except the ark is square and seven stories high which doesn't make sense because it would tip over. Also, it only rains for 7 days instead of 40. But, it is interesting to read the parallels.

[nosajeel · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Gilgamesh is a real illustration of progress. It's the world's oldest story--about a thousand years before The Iliad and even longer before the Bible. Which makes it a fascinating historical document. But, to me, much of it read like immature nonsense. Sure there were neat parts, battles, floods, etc. And sure it was interesting that the mind thousands of years ago went through many of the same emotions and issues that we go through today. And sure it is an interesting historical document. But much of it is also a slog. It's possible the experience would have been different if, like Greek Mythology or the Bible, one had a grounding and came into it knowing who Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim and Enkidu. But I didn't.

[06nwingert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Every religion in the world has a great flood and human redemption narrative, but The Epic of Gilgamesh beat them all. In in attempt to be as philosophical as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, The Epic of Gilgamesh tells the tale of Gilgamesh, a human attempting to become immortal. When the gods send a great flood, Gilgamesh is saved, and during the flood, Gilgamesh has an enlightened moment.

[malarchy_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the earliest recorded stories, arising out of the ancient civilization of Sumeria. The Penguin Epics version is a narrative translation of the original tablets and is a reproduction of a 1972 version by NK Sanders. The Epic is a must-read for those who have an interest in the ancient though it is perhaps more satisfying to have read it than it is during the reading. It is fascinating to pick out elements that feature in later works elsewhere in the world not least the description of the great flood that features in the Old Testament of the Bible. What the Epic of Gilgamesh is not is a gripping tale or insightful moral fable.Gilgamesh himself is a great king who is so powerful he can test the gods. Gilgamesh dominates his society to such an extent that he claims first right to every new bride in his city. Partly as punishment, the gods create a rival from the wilds to challenge him. The rival, Enkidu, is designed to be as strong as Gilgamesh but Gilgamesh defeats him. Reading the tale as it unfolds with a modern eye would identify two main themes - the intense bond between two powerful men and the futility of the eternal search to conquery mortality. The former of these two themes may or may not have been intended by the original crafters of the legend but there is no doubt that Gilgamesh's love for Enkidu is a powerful motivation for his later actions. Gilgamesh is not a round or deep character and he displays few graduations of action but his love for Enkidu and his own fear of death are his most notable features.As with many ancient epics, it is between the lines where most fascination lies. The allusions to events and legends that stretch back thousands of years is what excites about the Epic of Gilgamesh. The references to older narratives that would have been familiar to listeners at the time but now are harder to understand are tantalising glimpses into a world order long gone. The tale of the flood which is an historical event that also features in the Old Testament is a powerful reminder that these stories are rarely just the imaginings of talented bards but are often the closest to a record of the times they and their predecessors knew.However, it must be said that the Epic of Gilgamesh is not much of a story. Apparently the versions with greater depth of explanation of character and place as side notes by modern authors are more interesting but the core narrative as described in the Penguin Epics version is not particularly interesting. Gilgamesh engages in a couple of adventures, mostly with his sidekick Enkidu, and defeats legendary opponents mostly through sheer strength. The role of women in Sumerian society is fascinating, the insight into what comprised a hero in those times, and the tales that are alluded to are nice snippets of history but the Epic of Gilgamesh should not be mistaken for a magnificent tale.

[jefware · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow! This is a wondrous story from the dawn of civilization. It brought a tear to my eye several times as I read of the love of Gilgamesh for his friend Enkidu, and how he grieved for him after his death. It includes the story of Utnapishtim and the Babylonian flood, which was the basis for the Genesis flood story. The differences between the two of the are stark. Utnapishtim is a man who morns for the loss of his fellow human beings and rails against the capriciousness of the gods.

[jasmyn9 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The tale of Gilgamesh and how he becomes friends with Enkidu after a horrible fight. Eventually Gilgamesh begins his search for immortality, only to have it stolen right out from under him at the end.I read this story in my humanities class. Much of it was humorous and I can see how it would be instructive to tell people the mistakes made by Gilgamesh as they eventually teach him to be a better person. However, we've talked the silly thing to death so my brain is a bit fried out to write much more about it. I did rather enjoy it though.3/5

[jchancel_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The most astonishing fact about Gilgamesh is its ancientness. It was written so long ago, yet its themes harp on the same life qualities written about today and it really shows the immortality of the human spirit. Also, it is fascinating and eerie to compare the similarity of its tales to mythology from all over the world, in particular the Great Flood. Most people will be required to read this at some point in their education, but for those who weren't, I encourage you to read this. You will be astonished how over the millennia so little about man has changed.

[lcbrooks_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Herbert Mason's edition of the Gilgamesh Epic is a very easy-to-read translation of the Babylonian epic. It is a beutiful tale of friendship, human vulnerability, and grief.As a stand-alone read it is fabulous. It does not, however, have the depth of other versions of the epic such as D.P. Jackson's. I rate the book highly for its entertainment value. From an academic perspective it is woefully inadequate.

[endersreads · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This makes for a quick and illuminating read. Gilgamesh (the city boy and King of Uruk)and Enkidu (the child of the wilderness who becomes domesticated by the introduction of the Harlot who is most likely a Priestess of the Temple of Ishtar) kill the Guardian of the Cedar Forest, Humbaba, kill the Heavenly Bull (most certainly marking the end of the age of Taurus), and become legendary in turn. Enkidu dies leaving Gilgamesh to ponder over his own mortality. This is where it gets interesting. In the last tablet, tablet 11, we are witness to Utanapishtim's story of the Flood and we hear of the Anunnaki, which those of you who have delved into the world of Zacharia Sitchin will recognize. There are many Sumerian Gods that you will learn about in these texts. Their incompleteness is a bit annoying, but today we have a much more completed version than in the past. Indeed Gilgamesh, even in the ancient world, was a widely recieved work. Perhaps soon we will have a completed text.

[otterlake_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Amazingly modern. Or perhaps, amazing that the same things are still to the fore.

[jmcdbooks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Rated: C+The New Lifetime Reading Plan: Number 1Mesopotamian mythological version of the biblical account the Noah's flood.

[hannahj26 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Though this is not as sophisticated as many other books out there the historical value is huge. Older than the bible it tells the story of Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Many can find parallels with the Old Testament and other religious works, such as the great flood. A short book and definitely worth reading, I beleive it's only totals at about 60 pages.

[moonchildoxo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was really supprised at how easy to read this was, and I always thought that it would be a LONG epic, but it is not.

[stbalbach_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a review of The Epic of Gilgamesh (Penguin Epics) published 2006, a prose translation by N.K. Sandars, first published in Penguin's 1960 edition, re-printed here under the "Penguin Epics" series, without the book-length editors introduction and notes. Just the meat, no potatoes or desert. It took me about 2 hours to read as an average reader, was clear and easy to understand. The book is physically tiny, 4x8 inches and a quarter-inch thick, it would disappear on a book shelf.I purchased this at the same time as The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh, however I wished I had waited, as 'Buried Book' has a good overview of more recent translations available. However I am not disappointed as Sandar's translation is good and easy and understandable - it may not be scholarly level, but perfectly acceptable for most readers who just want to read the epic and enjoy it in prose format.