Christopher Hartnett 46989714

CHRISTOPHER HARTNETT 46989714

AHIS3241 DIALOGUE OF CULTURES IN THE ANCIENT WORLD

LITERATURE REVIEW

TOPIC 4: THE GILGAMESH EPIC: THE WORLD’S GREATEST SOAP OPERA

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Story telling is one of humanity’s earliest but most important progressions which allowed

history, mythology and cultural tales to be created and recorded. Beginning as a verbal

practice of stories being told from person to person, stories would later become written and

recorded as to better preserve them with minimal changes, as well as making it more

accessible to a wider audience once reading became a more commonly taught ability. The

Epic Of Gilgamesh is considered to be one of, if not the most oldest known written story in

history detailing not only Mesopotamian mythology but also possibly grains of historical

truth as well as moral messages. The text by Andrew George, The Babylonian Gilgamesh

Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition, and Cuneiform Texts Volume 1 investigates the Epic Of

Gilgamesh in detail from the history and origins of the story, to the contents and themes

present within the Epic, as well as investigating other case studies and research done

surrounding the Epic and other versions and retellings of the Epic itself. Many papers have

been written on the Epic Of Gilgamesh and the text by Andrew George will be analysed for

the purpose of the work and the emphasis on the work, how well it is written and presented,

what sources he has used, as well as if the author has any personal biases or beliefs that come

through in his writing.

The purpose of text The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition, and

Cuneiform Texts Volume 1 (George, 2003), is to take an in-depth look and examination of the

Epic Of Gilgamesh by having a detailed breakdown of context of the story and the meaning

behind how and why it was written as it was. The text over several chapters dissects the

varying aspects beginning firstly with a small history on the Epic as well as the different

versions there are of the text, all while without re-telling the Epic unless a specific part of the

story is needed to provide reference to the point being made. The text also serves as a

replacement and an updated version of a previous edition volume as well as updating

information on the dozen tablets of the Epic Of Gilgamesh (George, 1999), as further
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translation work had been done on and around the Epic by the time this text was printed. The

text also places a strong emphasis on examining possible double or previously misinterpreted

paragraphs from the Epic that might have been overlooked or not fully understood but

scholars.

The text is presented in a textbook format split into chapters separated by theme, content and

the idea and explanation being explored in that chapter. The early chapters examine the

history of the Epic Of Gilgamesh and also state some possible concepts and ideas about

certain paragraphs that can be interpreted in multiple ways, before moving onto chapters that

examine the characters in depth. The middle chapters examine the older versions of the Epic

and talk about the original tablets of the story, whilst the later and last chapters examine the

manuscripts of the Epic. The writing of the text is in an academic style, with very detailed

explanations of the of the questions and inquiries it sets out to answer. The writing style is a

common style that has been used for many years in historical textbooks, because it is very

easy to read and has self-contained ideas within each chapter which keeps it neat and

constricted to that specific paragraph. This can also be seen in the textbook Myths from

Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others (Dalley, 1989), which was

written 14 years before the text The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical

Edition, and Cuneiform Texts, showing that the format and technique of this writing style is

an incredibly effective way of presenting information.

The sources that Andrew George used for his text aside from the Epic Of Gilgamesh and its

tablets and manuscripts, were a large variety of texts on history and anthropology from across

the world and all were related to Gilgamesh and Assyria, Babylonia, Sumeria and

Mesopotamia. The sources are all scholarly in nature, with many being written by long time

experts on the subjects of Gilgamesh and the history of the cultures around the supposed time

period of the Epic, as well as being experts in the anthropological nature of communities and
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the understanding of messages being contained within a culture’s stories. Many prominent

museums, archaeological journals, textbooks and studies were combined and analysed to be

used as parallels and explanations for the questions that George asks about the Epic in his

text. An issue with a large amount of the texts that George used is that many are extremely

old, coming from around the first half of the 20th century which runs the risk that many may

be potentially outdated, as further studies might replace or update the information or

discoveries they cover, meaning that George’s textbook could possibly be at risk of having

dated information.

Andrew George when writing his text has managed to keep his biases out and remain

impartial as he manages to focus on writing and answering the questions about the Epic. The

points he sets out to investigate remain academic and professional, as they purely use the

information from other sources, studies and excavated artefacts, without ever crossing into

any personal theorising. George does at many points throughout the text use personal

language such as “I”, but this allows him to explain to the reader as to why he included and

structured parts of the text the way he did, thus flowing and reading better contextually.

The text The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition, and Cuneiform

Texts Volume 1 is a good source of information and explanation for the Epic Of Gilgamesh,

that step by step and in detail examines the sources and the idea and concepts surrounding the

Epic. It also explains and studies the characters in greater detail and explains why they play

the roles they do within the story and why it is contextually important in the Babylonian

culture. There are very little gaps left by the text as it is quite comprehensive, although the

sources used by George would also be good alongside to expand on certain parts and chapters

of information. Overall the textbook by Andrew George covers and investigates the Epic Of

Gilgamesh in detail and in an easy to follow and understand manner.

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Bibliography

George, A. (2003). The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition, and

Cuneiform Texts, Volume 1. Oxford University Press.

https://books.google.com.au/books?

id=21xxZ_gUy_wC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

George, A. (1999). The Epic of Gilgamesh: A New Translation. Barnes and Noble.

https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/1604/1/Gilg%20I-III.pdf

Dalley, S. (1989). Myths from Mesopotamia, Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, and

Others. Oxford University Press. https://books.google.com.au/books?

id=7ERp_y_w1nIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false