Gilgamesh by Reader In Classics Stephen Mitchell

Gilgamesh by Reader In Classics Stephen Mitchell

Discover one of the masterpieces of world literature with this acclaimed edition that allows us to see how beautiful, intelligent, and alive it is.

Acclaimed translator Stephen Mitchell's lithe, muscular rendering of Gilgamesh allows us to enter an ancient masterpiece as if for the first time. His insightful introduction provides a historical, spiritual, and cultural context for this ancient epic, showing that this epic is more potent and fascinating than ever.

Gilgamesh dates from as early as 1700 BCE--a thousand years before The Iliad. Lost for almost two millennia, the eleven clay tablets on which the epic was inscribed were discovered in 1853 in the ruins of Nineveh, and the text was not deciphered and fully translated until the end of the century.

The epic is the story of literature's first hero--the king of Uruk in what is present-day Iraq--and his journey of self-discovery. Along the way, Gilgamesh discovers that friendship can bring peace to a whole city, that a preemptive attack on a monster can have dire consequences, and that wisdom can be found only when the quest for it is abandoned. In giving voice to grief and the fear of death, perhaps more powerfully than any book written after it, in portraying love and vulnerability and the ego's hopeless striving for immortality, the epic has become a personal testimony for millions of readers in dozens of languages.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780743261692
ISBN 10	0743261690
Title	Gilgamesh
Author	Reader In Classics Stephen Mitchell
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Simon & Schuster
Year published	2006-01-01
Number of pages	304
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.