Epic of Gilgamesh

Hello, all!

I'm new to the Epic of Gilgamesh and I was hoping someone could point to the best edition/translation. I would prefer a bilingual edition if possible and recommendation of best scholarship on the Epic wouldn't be amiss, either!

Thanks in advance and stay safe, everyone!

Apparently clay tablets containing bits and pieces of the Gilgamesh epic are still being found. Thus it might be said that it's difficult for anyone to say there is a definitive version in any language. As the first tablets unearthed were also frequently found broken and incomplete, the story has been added to over the years, following the discovery of additional clay tablets.

The English version I have was copyrighted in 2004 by Stephen Mitchell .. and published by the Free Press, a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. As it is the only version I've read ... it's impossible for me to say if it's the "best" edition/translation. However, the book's introduction is 66 pages long, the text is 133 pages long, and notes number 89 pages ...

If you asked about Latin or Greek, I could offer an opinion—but of course not everyone would agree. I suspect that would be true here too, though, if you asked someone who knew the languages.

Stephen Mitchell's was the version my son and I listened to. I enjoyed it enormously. I hope it was accurate enough.

I’ve also read and enjoyed the Mitchell version.

This gentleman offers some interesting info, especially on the Penguin edition: https://youtu.be/WTWxiwIX2F8

And this woman, at about 10 minutes in, talks about various translations: https://youtu.be/stv2yLeLcn4

Andrew George translation: http://www.librarything.com/work/6136605/reviews/48007388
Several translations: http://www.librarything.com/work/6136605/reviews/26576747
John Gardner/John Maier: http://www.librarything.com/work/6136605/reviews/36210664

Michael Schmidt's Gilgamesh: the Life of a Poem discusses various translations as well.

I've just done a search and found this: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-epic-of-gilgamesh-old-babylonian-and-standa... Cannot vouch for its quality, though. Also, it's an eBook.

Thank you, those look like good resources. Much appreciated!

I'll definitely check out the Stephen Mitchell version, much appreciated! And that's a good point about the tablets... Thanks, again!

I both own and enjoyed reading Mitchell's Gilgamesh, but I believe he synthesized prior translations. If you want to hear from someone who's reading straight from the clay tablets, Samuel Noah Kramer would be my choice.

I'd say look at Andrew George's Penguin (and Folio Society) translation, The Epic of Gilgamesh. George was the editor of the enormous Oxford critical text, The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic, and is the expert on the epic. Here's a link to a lecture by George in the epic: The Epic of Gilgamesh, Lecture by Andrew George

I listened to Stephen Mitchell's version via Audible. The repetitive nature of the poem/tale worked very well in this format for me, knowing that it was shared orally for many centuries.

Touchstone: The Epic of Gilgamesh