An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic

Prefatory Note

Reading edition

The Introduction, the Commentary to the two tablets, and the Appendix, are by Professor Jastrow, and for these he assumes the sole responsibility. The text of the Yale tablet is by Professor Clay. The transliteration and the translation of the two tablets represent the joint work of the two authors. In the transliteration of the two tablets, C. E. Keiser’s “System of Accentuation for Sumero-Akkadian signs” (Yale Oriental Researches—VOL. IX, Appendix, New Haven, 1919) has been followed.

Notes in this chapter

Note 1 · The Gilgamesh Epic is the most notable literary product of Babylonia as yet discovered in the mounds of Mesopotamia. It recounts the exploit Note 2 · For the sake of convenience we may call the form of the Epic in the fragments from the library of Ashurbanapal the Assyrian version, though