Stephan Mitchell provides a gripping English version of the Epic of Gilgamesh combining all of the known fragments of this ancient story into a compelling narrative while taking some liberties with the text. He also offers extensive commentary on the book explaining and offering various interpretations of the text including references to the 2003 Gulf War. Warning: some sections of the text contain graphic material that is not suitable for children.
The earliest portions of the text date back more than 4,000 years ago various versions were written or interpreted over a 2000 year period. The text was discovered in 1853 and translated from the cuneiform logographs. When the section of Gilgamesh that contains a story very similar to a biblical Noah the translator could not contain his enthusiasm. Update: 20 new lines of the poem describing the Cedar Forest and its destruction have been recently discovered as summarized by Fox News reporter Elizabeth Palermo.
Gilgamesh offers a complex tale of personal discovery and a post modern view of false heroism. It also is a cautionary tale against the unintended consequence of preemptive strikes against monsters guarding the forest.
The epic suggest that finding your complementary opposite can make you a better person or it can cause you change into that person. Gilgamesh the king of Uruk finds this in his friend Enkidu, an uncivilized man created by the gods to distract him from being cruel to the people he rules.
Gilgamesh early on treats death with dismissiveness as nothing to be feared because life is short. But when confronted with the death of a dear friend he becomes inconsolable, eloquently expressing the agony of loss. He then sets out on a quest to find the one man who cheated death and learn his secret.
Some references in the Babylonian Epic have references to real people which suggests that this may be in part a fictionalized account of a real king and a real city of Uruk. I found the text to be thought provoking and emotionally honest.
Animated version of the story - 11 minutes
This Wikipedia article provide more information on the blue rock known as lapis lazuli referred to in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
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