3 ms·

I dunno about "canonical", but, as others have mentioned, Stephen Mitchell's version is good. It reads very easily without, as I understand it, taking too many

I dunno about "canonical", but, as others have mentioned, Stephen Mitchell's version is good. It reads very easily without, as I understand it, taking too many liberties with the text. I'm sure there are retellings that are even smoother, but I doubt you can do much better for casual reading with anything else that's at least fairly faithful to the original. Mitchell's careful to (accurately) frame his as a new version, not a new translation, though, because he does not read the original language and is leaning on several existing translations to assemble his version. You probably don't want it for, say, deep scholarly purposes. My copy of Mitchel's version has what's effectively a 60 page retelling at the beginning—which I've not read, so maybe it sucks, I dunno—as the Introduction, then a brief author's note about the book (in which he explains that it is not a new translation, among other things), and ~140 pages of Gilgamesh itself, in largish type. It's very long for a (mostly) surviving pre-classical near eastern story, but it's still pretty short. The rest of the volume is notes.

thaumasiotes 5y ago
> It reads very easily without, as I understand it, taking too many liberties with the text. I'm sure there are retellings that are even smoother, but I doubt you can do much better for casual reading with anything else that's at least fairly faithful to the original. For something much closer to the other extreme, I have a version by Stephanie Dalley which seems to prioritize being faithful to the original over basically everything else. Here's a (particularly unsmooth) extract: [Shamash] heard the words of Gilgamesh, Scion of Uruk, [and said], 'As soon as a loud voice from the sky calls down to him, Rush, stand up to him, let him not [enter the forest (?)], Let him not go down to the wood, nor [ ]. [Humbaba] will [not] be clothed in seven cloaks, He will be wearing [only one]; six are taken off (?). Like a charging wild bull which pierces [ ] He shouts only once, but fills one with terror. The guardian of the forests will shout [ ] [ ] Humbaba like [ ] will shout. (gap of uncertain length) As soon as the swords [ ] [ ] from the sheaths [ ] Streaked with verdigris (?) [ ] Dagger, sword, [ ] One [ ] They wore [ ] Humbaba [made his voice heard and spoke (?)] 'He will not go (?) [ ] He will not go (?) [ ] (7 lines illegible) May Ellil [ ].' It's not the easiest thing to read, but I like being so close to the actual text. If it's in this translation, it's there on a cuneiform tablet somewhere. (Or guessed in a very conservative way, like guessing that "Humbaba [______________]" should be filled in as "Humbaba made his voice heard" when that line is immediately followed by quoted speech.)

thaumasiotes 5y ago

> It reads very easily without, as I understand it, taking too many liberties with the text. I'm sure there are retellings that are even smoother, but I doubt you can do much better for casual reading with anything else that's at least fairly faithful to the original. For something much closer to the other extreme, I have a version by Stephanie Dalley which seems to prioritize being faithful to the original over basically everything else. Here's a (particularly unsmooth) extract: [Shamash] heard the words of Gilgamesh, Scion of Uruk, [and said], 'As soon as a loud voice from the sky calls down to him, Rush, stand up to him, let him not [enter the forest (?)], Let him not go down to the wood, nor [ ]. [Humbaba] will [not] be clothed in seven cloaks, He will be wearing [only one]; six are taken off (?). Like a charging wild bull which pierces [ ] He shouts only once, but fills one with terror. The guardian of the forests will shout [ ] [ ] Humbaba like [ ] will shout. (gap of uncertain length) As soon as the swords [ ] [ ] from the sheaths [ ] Streaked with verdigris (?) [ ] Dagger, sword, [ ] One [ ] They wore [ ] Humbaba [made his voice heard and spoke (?)] 'He will not go (?) [ ] He will not go (?) [ ] (7 lines illegible) May Ellil [ ].' It's not the easiest thing to read, but I like being so close to the actual text. If it's in this translation, it's there on a cuneiform tablet somewhere. (Or guessed in a very conservative way, like guessing that "Humbaba [______________]" should be filled in as "Humbaba made his voice heard" when that line is immediately followed by quoted speech.)