{"product_id":"2940012444776","title":"An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic","description":"INTRODUCTION.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Gilgamesh Epic is the most notable literary product of Babylonia as\u003cbr\u003eyet discovered in the mounds of Mesopotamia. It recounts the exploits\u003cbr\u003eand adventures of a favorite hero, and in its final form covers twelve\u003cbr\u003etablets, each tablet consisting of six columns (three on the obverse\u003cbr\u003eand three on the reverse) of about 50 lines for each column, or a total\u003cbr\u003eof about 3600 lines. Of this total, however, barely more than one-half\u003cbr\u003ehas been found among the remains of the great collection of cuneiform\u003cbr\u003etablets gathered by King Ashurbanapal (668-626 B.C.) in his palace\u003cbr\u003eat Nineveh, and discovered by Layard in 1854 [1] in the course of his\u003cbr\u003eexcavations of the mound Kouyunjik (opposite Mosul). The fragments of\u003cbr\u003ethe epic painfully gathered--chiefly by George Smith--from the _circa_\u003cbr\u003e30,000 tablets and bits of tablets brought to the British Museum were\u003cbr\u003epublished in model form by Professor Paul Haupt; [2] and that edition\u003cbr\u003estill remains the primary source for our study of the Epic.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor the sake of convenience we may call the form of the Epic in the\u003cbr\u003efragments from the library of Ashurbanapal the Assyrian version,\u003cbr\u003ethough like most of the literary productions in the library it not\u003cbr\u003eonly reverts to a Babylonian original, but represents a late copy of\u003cbr\u003ea much older original. The absence of any reference to Assyria in\u003cbr\u003ethe fragments recovered justifies us in assuming that the Assyrian\u003cbr\u003eversion received its present form in Babylonia, perhaps in Erech;\u003cbr\u003ethough it is of course possible that some of the late features,\u003cbr\u003eparticularly the elaboration of the teachings of the theologians or\u003cbr\u003eschoolmen in the eleventh and twelfth tablets, may have been produced\u003cbr\u003eat least in part under Assyrian influence. A definite indication\u003cbr\u003ethat the Gilgamesh Epic reverts to a period earlier than Hammurabi\u003cbr\u003e(or Hammurawi) [3] i.e., beyond 2000 B. C., was furnished by the\u003cbr\u003epublication of a text clearly belonging to the first Babylonian\u003cbr\u003edynasty (of which Hammurabi was the sixth member) in _CT_. VI, 5;\u003cbr\u003ewhich text Zimmern [4] recognized as a part of the tale of Atra-hasis,\u003cbr\u003eone of the names given to the survivor of the deluge, recounted on\u003cbr\u003ethe eleventh tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic. [5] This was confirmed\u003cbr\u003eby the discovery [6] of a fragment of the deluge story dated in the\u003cbr\u003eeleventh year of Ammisaduka, i.e., c. 1967 B.C. In this text, likewise,\u003cbr\u003ethe name of the deluge hero appears as Atra-hasis (col. VIII, 4). [7]\u003cbr\u003eBut while these two tablets do not belong to the Gilgamesh Epic and\u003cbr\u003emerely introduce an episode which has also been incorporated into the\u003cbr\u003eEpic, Dr. Bruno Meissner in 1902 published a tablet, dating, as the\u003cbr\u003ewriting and the internal evidence showed, from the Hammurabi period,\u003cbr\u003ewhich undoubtedly is a portion of what by way of distinction we may\u003cbr\u003ecall an old Babylonian version. [8] It was picked up by Dr. Meissner\u003cbr\u003eat a dealer's shop in Bagdad and acquired for the Berlin Museum. The\u003cbr\u003etablet consists of four columns (two on the obverse and two on the\u003cbr\u003ereverse) and deals with the hero's wanderings in search of a cure\u003cbr\u003efrom disease with which he has been smitten after the death of his\u003cbr\u003ecompanion Enkidu. The hero fears that the disease will be fatal and\u003cbr\u003elongs to escape death. It corresponds to a portion of Tablet X of\u003cbr\u003ethe Assyrian version. Unfortunately, only the lower portion of the\u003cbr\u003eobverse and the upper of the reverse have been preserved (57 lines\u003cbr\u003ein all); and in default of a colophon we do not know the numeration\u003cbr\u003eof the tablet in this old Babylonian edition. Its chief value,\u003cbr\u003eapart from its furnishing a proof for the existence of the Epic\u003cbr\u003eas early as 2000 B. C., lies (a) in the writing _Gish_ instead of\u003cbr\u003eGish-gi(n)-mash in the Assyrian version, for the name of the hero,\u003cbr\u003e(b) in the writing En-ki-du--abbreviated from dug--\"Enki is\u003cbr\u003egood\" for En-ki-dú in the Assyrian version, [9] and (c) in the\u003cbr\u003eremarkable address of the maiden Sabitum, dwelling at the seaside,\u003cbr\u003eto whom Gilgamesh comes in the course of his wanderings. From the\u003cbr\u003eAssyrian version we know that the hero tells the maiden of his grief\u003cbr\u003efor his lost companion, and of his longing to escape the dire fate of\u003cbr\u003eEnkidu. In the old Babylonian fragment the answer of Sabitum is given\u003cbr\u003ein full, and the sad note that it strikes, showing how hopeless it\u003cbr\u003eis for man to try to escape death which is in store for all mankind,\u003cbr\u003eis as remarkable as is the philosophy of \"eat, drink and be merry\"\u003cbr\u003ewhich Sabitum imparts. The address indicates how early the tendency\u003cbr\u003earose to attach to ancient tales the current religious teachings.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Why, O Gish, does thou run about?\u003cbr\u003e The life that thou seekest, thou wilt not find.\u003cbr\u003e When the gods created mankind,\u003cbr\u003e Death they imposed on mankind;\u003cbr\u003e Life they kept in their power.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47073427980528,"sku":"2940012444776","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012444776_p0.jpg?v=1763569046","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012444776","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}