Thompson The Epic of Gilgamesh - Old Babylonian and Standard versions (Illustrated)

1. Auflage 2017
ISBN: 978-1-78656-215-9
Verlag: Delphi Classics Ltd
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, Band 73, 1991 Seiten

Reihe: Delphi Poets Series

Regarded by many as the oldest major work of literature, the 'Epic of Gilgamesh' is an ancient Mesopotamian text recorded on stone tablets in the Akkadian language, concerning the adventures of Gilgamesh, King of Uruk. The first surviving version of this combined epic, known as the Old Babylonian version, dates to the 18th century BC, while the later and much longer Standard version dates from the 13th to the 10th centuries BC. The Delphi Poets Series offers readers the works of literature's finest poets, with superior formatting. This volume presents both versions of the 'Epic of Gilgamesh', with multiple translations, related illustrations and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1)
* Beautifully illustrated with images relating to the epic saga
* Concise introduction to the 'Epic of Gilgamesh'
* Images of how the epic was first written, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts
* Excellent formatting of the texts
* OLD BABYLONIAN VERSION translated by Albert Tobias Clay and Morris Jastrow
* STANDARD VERSION translated by R. Campbell Thompson
* Also includes the first ever English translation of the epic by George Smith, appearing in THE CHALDAEAN ACCOUNT OF GENESIS
* Features Leonidas Le Cenci Hamilton's poetic translation ISHTAR AND IZDUBAR
* Easily locate the sections and tablets you want to read with individual contents tables
* Three contextual books to aid your study of Assyrian and Babylonian literature, including Sayce's seminal work BABYLONIANS AND ASSYRIANS, LIFE AND CUSTOMS
* Scholarly ordering of texts
Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to see our wide range of poet titles
CONTENTS:
The Epic of Gilgamesh
BRIEF INTRODUCTION: EPIC OF GILGAMESH
OLD BABYLONIAN VERSION
STANDARD VERSION
THE CHALDAEAN ACCOUNT OF GENESIS
ISHTAR AND IZDUBAR
The Contextual Works
BABYLONIANS AND ASSYRIANS, LIFE AND CUSTOMS by A. H. Sayce
BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN LAWS, CONTRACTS AND LETTERS by C. H. W. Johns
ASSYRIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY: A SOURCE STUDY by A. T. Olmstead
Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of poetry titles or buy the entire Delphi Poets Series as a Super Set

Autoren/Hrsg.

Thompson, R. Campbell

Leseproben

Commentary on the Pennsylvania Tablet.
Line 1. The verb tibû with pašâru expresses the aim of Gish to secure an interpretation for his dream. This disposes of Langdon’s note 1 on page 211 of his edition, in which he also erroneously speaks of our text as “late.” Pašâru is not a variant of zakâru. Both verbs occur just as here in the Assyrian version I, 5, 25. Line 3. ina šât mušitia, “in this my night,” i.e., in the course of this night of mine. A curious way of putting it, but the expression occurs also in the Assyrian version, e.g., I, 5, 26 (parallel passage to ours) and II, 4a, 14. In the Yale tablet we find, similarly, mu-ši-it-ka (l. 262), “thy night,” i.e., “at night to thee.” Line 5. Before Langdon put down the strange statement of Gish “wandering about in the midst of omens” (misreading id-da-tim for it-lu-tim), he might have asked himself the question, what it could possibly mean. How can one walk among omens? Line 6. ka-ka-bu šá-ma-i must be taken as a compound term for “starry heaven.” The parallel passage in the Assyrian version (Tablet I, 5, 27) has the ideograph for star, with the plural sign as a variant. Literally, therefore, “The starry heaven (or “the stars in heaven”) was there,” etc. Langdon’s note 2 on page 211 rests on an erroneous reading. Line 7. ki?ru šá Anim, “mass of Anu,” appears to be the designation of a meteor, which might well be described as a “mass” coming from Anu, i.e., from the god of heaven who becomes the personification of the heavens in general. In the Assyrian version (I, 5, 28) we have kima ki-i?-rù, i.e., “something like a mass of heaven.” Note also I, 3, 16, where in a description of Gilgamesh, his strength is said to be “strong like a mass (i.e., a meteor) of heaven.” Line 9. For nuššašu ûl iltê we have a parallel in the Hebrew phrase ??????????? ??????? (Isaiah 1, 14). Line 10. Uruk mâtum, as the designation for the district of Erech, occurs in the Assyrian version, e.g., I, 5, 31, and IV, 2, 38; also to be supplied, I, 6, 23. For pah?ir the parallel in the Assyrian version has iz-za-az (I, 5, 31), but VI, 197, we find pah?-ru and pah?-ra. Line 17. mi-in-di does not mean “truly” as Langdon translates, but “some one.” It occurs also in the Assyrian version X, 1, 13, mi-in-di-e ma-an-nu-u?, “this is some one who,” etc. Line 18. Cf. Assyrian version I, 5, 3, and IV, 4, 7, ina ?iri âlid — both passages referring to Enkidu. Line 21. Cf. Assyrian version II, 3b, 38, with malkê, “kings,” as a synonym of itlutum. Line 23. ta-tar-ra-as-sú from tarâ?u, “direct,” “guide,” etc. Line 24. I take uš-ti-nim-ma as III, 2, from išênu (??????), the verb underlying šittu, “sleep,” and šuttu, “dream.” Line 26. Cf. Assyrian version I, 6, 21 — a complete parallel. Line 28. Uruk ri-bi-tim, the standing phrase in both tablets of the old Babylonian version, for which in the Assyrian version we have Uruk su-pu-ri. The former term suggests the “broad space” outside of the city or the “common” in a village community, while supûri, “enclosed,” would refer to the city within the walls. Dr. W. F. Albright (in a private communication) suggests “Erech of the plazas” as a suitable translation for Uruk ribîtim. A third term, Uruk mâtum (see above, note to line 10), though designating rather the district of which Erech was the capital, appears to be used as a synonym to Uruk ribîtim, as may be concluded from the phrase i-na ri-bi-tum ma-ti (l. 214 of the Pennsylvania tablet), which clearly means the “plaza” of the city. One naturally thinks of ??????? ???? in Genesis 10, 11 — the equivalent of Babylonian ri-bi-tu âli — which can hardly be the name of a city. It appears to be a gloss, as is ??????? ??????? ?????????? at the end of v. 12. The latter gloss is misplaced, since it clearly describes “Nineveh,” mentioned in v. 11. Inasmuch as ??????? ???? immediately follows the mention of Nineveh, it seems simplest to take the phrase as designating the “outside” or “suburbs” of the city, a complete parallel, therefore, to ri-bi-tu mâti in our text. Nineveh, together with the “suburbs,” forms the “great city.” Uruk ribîtim is, therefore, a designation for “greater Erech,” proper to a capital city, which by its gradual growth would take in more than its original confines. “Erech of the plazas” must have come to be used as a honorific designation of this important center as early as 2000 B. C., whereas later, perhaps because of its decline, the epithet no longer seemed appropriate and was replaced by the more modest designation of “walled Erech,” with an allusion to the tradition which ascribed the building of the wall of the city to Gilgamesh. At all events, all three expressions, “Erech of the plazas,” “Erech walled” and “Erech land,” are to be regarded as synonymous. The position once held by Erech follows also from its ideographic designation (Brünnow No. 4796) by the sign “house” with a “gunufied” extension, which conveys the idea of Unu = šubtu, or “dwelling” par excellence. The pronunciation Unug or Unuk (see the gloss u-nu-uk, VR 23, 8a), composed of unu, “dwelling,” and ki, “place,” is hardly to be regarded as older than Uruk, which is to be resolved into uru, “city,” and ki, “place,” but rather as a play upon the name, both Unu + ki and Uru + ki conveying the same idea of the city or the dwelling place par excellence. As the seat of the second oldest dynasty according to Babylonian traditions (see Poebel’s list in Historical and Grammatical Texts No. 2), Erech no doubt was regarded as having been at one time “the city,” i.e., the capital of the entire Euphrates Valley. Line 31. A difficult line for which Langdon proposes the translation: “Another axe seemed his visage”!! — which may be picturesque, but hardly a description befitting a hero. How can a man’s face seem to be an axe? Langdon attaches šá-ni in the sense of “second” to the preceding word “axe,” whereas šanî bunušu, “change of his countenance” or “his countenance being changed,” is to be taken as a phrase to convey the idea of “being disturbed,” “displeased” or “angry.” The phrase is of the same kind as the well-known šunnu ?êmu, “changing of reason,” to denote “insanity.” See the passages in Muss-Arnolt, Assyrian Dictionary, pp. 355 and 1068. In Hebrew, too, we have the same two phrases, e.g., ??????????? ?????????????? (I Sam. 21, 14 = Ps. 34, 1), “and he changed his reason,” i.e., feigned insanity and ????????? ??????? (Job 14, 20), “changing his face,” to indicate a radical alteration in the frame of mind. There is a still closer parallel in Biblical Aramaic: Dan. 3, 19, “The form of his visage was changed,” meaning “he was enraged.” Fortunately, the same phrase occurs also in the Yale tablet (l. 192), šá-nu-ú bu-nu-šú, in a connection which leaves no doubt that the aroused fury of the tyrant H?uwawa is described by it: “H?uwawa heard and his face was changed” precisely, therefore, as we should say — following Biblical usage— “his countenance fell.” Cf. also the phrase pânušu arpu, “his countenance was darkened” (Assyrian version I, 2, 48), to express “anger.” The line, therefore, in the Pennsylvania tablet must describe Enkidu’s anger. With the brandishing of the axe the hero’s anger was also stirred up. The touch was added to prepare us for the continuation in which Gish describes how, despite this (or perhaps just because of it), Enkidu seemed so attractive that Gish instantly fell in love with him. May perhaps the emphatic form h?a?inumma (line 31) against h?a?inu (line 29) have been used to indicate “The axe it was,” or “because of the axe?” It would be worth while to examine other texts of the Hammurabi period with a view of determining the scope in the use and meaning of the emphatic ma when added to a substantive. Line 32. The combination amur ù ah?tadu occurs also in the El-Amarna Letters, No. 18, 12. Line 34. In view of the common Hebrew, Syriac and Arabic ????? “to love,” it seems preferable to read here, as in the other passages in the Assyrian...