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MY ⭐️ RATING: 3.5/5
Format: Kindle Whispersync
BOOK DESCRIPTION
The EPIC OF GILGAMESH is the oldest story that has come down to us through the ages of history. It predates the BIBLE, the ILIAD and the ODYSSEY.
GILGAMESH relates the tale of the fifth king of the first dynasty of Uruk (in what is modern day Iraq) who reigned for one hundred and twenty-six years, according to the ancient Sumerian King List.
The EPIC OF GILGAMESH was first inscribed in cuneiform writing on clay tablets by an unknown author during the Sumerian era and has been described as one of the greatest works of literature in the recounting of mankind’s unending quest for immortality.
MY REVIEW
I understand that historically this is how things were written, but the biggest take away from this is how much is repeated. The story is great, but the amount of repetition was pretty annoying, to a point where I skipped clear repeats, that felt like filler. With that said, I think I would enjoy a retelling of this story.
Growing up as a Christian and knowing about the flood, it was cool to see where the story of Noah’s Ark actually originated from. Since this story predates the Bible, significantly, it does make you kinda think about what exactly in the Bible is real or just borrowed and retold with slight variances.
Seeing all the other parallels, like Gilgamesh and Enkidu which felt eerily similar to Adam & Eve from the Bible and even Achilles and Patroclus from Homer’s Iliad. In full honesty, if you change the names and extend the story to two books, you essentially have The Iliad and The Odyssey. One could also say that Dante Allegiri’s The Divine Comedy was inspired by the story, though not directly. Dante, taught by Virgil, who was taught by Homer.
“He had seen all. He all knowledge possessed. Wise was he beyond measure. Gilgamesh was the possessor of all understanding. He had wisdom of all things. He knew of the Secret and of the Mystery. He knew of the time before the Great Flood.”
When it comes to the story itself though, Gilgamesh was not exactly who I was expecting. The story is quite a bit misogynistic and it shows a lot of how the world was back then, and to be honest, how little the world has changed today. While there is that, plus rape, it does show a kinder side where it’s not actually something that goes over well. That leads to where Enkidu enters the story, who I actually like a bit more than Gilgamesh.
To be fair, Gilgamesh’s growth from where he started to where it ends is pretty spectacular and I guess you could say it’s the world’s first character arc from tyrant seeking to live forever to a wise king who realizes immortality doesn’t come from living forever.
I didn’t rate this particularly high, but The Epic of Gilgamesh is a beautiful story if you can get over the repetitiveness of it. I would also recommend reading it rather than listening to a narrator do it. The narration by John Hanks in this whispersync’d version just wasn’t doing it for me, and I had to quickly abandon it and just read it for myself. I highly recommend giving any English Gilgamesh translation a chance if you can, just to open yourself to more historical stories.
Wolfmantula.com 