In another life (circa 1995), this server was called `Gilgamesh'. Periodically, people would find it via web-searches for ``The Epic of Gilgamesh'' so I thought it might be worth adding this page so they don't waste too much time hunting for a document here that doesn't exist. Since then, it appears that someone liked the page enough to submit it to Yahoo! under the category (surprise, surprise) of ``Epic of Gilgamesh''.
My page is not actively maintained and is not laid out in a very useful fashion (I just append new stuff that people tell me about to the end of the page). Perhaps I'll fix that at some point. For now, for a more coherent introduction, I suggest:
I don't know much about the subject; It's not something I study. My main contact has been:
In September 1995, Lycos directed me to these online resources:
In mid-March 1996, I came across Erich Boleyn's home page on www.uruk.org which pointed to a description of the story, apparently taken from the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Erich cites the ``tablet by tablet parallel text translation with notes and commentary by the late author of Grendel'', Gilgamesh: Translated from the Sin-Leqi-Unninni Version, by John Gardner and John Maier, published by Vintage Books, Random House, New York, 1984.
In mid-July 1996, Alta Vista turned up some more:
Looking through the server's referer log in June 1998, I noticed that the transcript of episode 1992 of a radio series entitled ``Engines of Our Ingenuity'' points here. (I'm famous!)
In September 1998, I received an email message informing me of an outline of the Epic (defunct but mirrored) maintained by the History Department of the University of North Texas. (Thank you Sara.) A year later, their page contained significantly more pointers than mine - including to complete translations of the Epic - and was better arranged to boot. Unfortunately, the page's maintainer, Lee Huddleston, has died. UNT have deleted the page from their server, so I have put up a mirror of the page as it appeared circa January 2003. (Thank you, Wayback Machine.)
Then, in October 1998, someone pointed me at Arthur A Brown's essay on Storytelling, the Meaning of Life, and The Epic of Gilgamesh .
In February 1999, I was told that a book called `Myths from Mesopotamia' was about to be printed. It ``contains the full (as far as possible) epic of Gilgamesh, both SBV and Babylon, from tablets found at Nineveh''. From the description, this seems likely to be the Oxford University Press paperback published in 1998: ``Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others (Oxford World's Classics)'' by Stephanie Dalley (Translator). ISBN-0192835890
In June 1999 another correspondent directed me to Dave Savarese's web-project, part of his "Star Trek, Philosophical and Cultural Explorations"" coursework. It includes an excerpted translation of the Epic.
In October 1999 I was sent URLs for two complete online English translations of the Epic. (Thank you Michelle.) One, part of the `Untangle Incorporated' Mythhome website, is a plain tablet by tablet translation. The other is an extensively annotated translation in verse by Robert Temple and is a part of the Gateways to Babylon site.
I've mentioned Alta Vista, Lycos, and Yahoo! already. A reference to the Google search engine in another context caused me to take a look at it out of curiosity just now. The webpages that it finds are remarkably relevant. This page is no longer listed at the top, which is probably just as well, although it does still appear on the first page of results.
The Paper Store appears to sell essays on a whole range of subjects. In November 2000, they asked me to link to their site of essays about Gilgamesh. Please note that I do not endorse the company; I merely provide this link in case someone finds it useful.
October 2004: I've been somewhat tardy. Here are some more links that people have sent me:
February 2006: A few more contributions. Thank you to Mary-Hannah and George&Dana.
I don't actively maintain this page. However, if any of these links have become defunct, or if you know of any other references that you think would be worth a mention, you are welcome to email them to <jc254@newton.cam.ac.uk>.
