Gilgamesh Chen Translation.pdf

More documents

Recommendations

Info

REFERENCES The Epic of Gilgamesh, trans. by Maureen Gallery Kovacs (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990) Gilgamesh, translated by John Maier and John Gardner (New York: Vintage, 1981) SOME SOURCES Diakonoff, I.M. “Ancient Writing and Ancient Written language: Sumerian,” 1982 Hayes, T. “Sumerian,” 1997 Jacobsen, Thorkild. “The King List”, 1939 Jones, T. “The Sumerian Problem,” 1969 Kramer S.N. Many books but for this page we read “Gilgamesh and the Huluppa Tree,” 1938 (Text and Translation, Chapter 1) Pritchard J.B., ed. “Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament,” 1969 Saunders, N.K. “Gilgamesh: The Epic of Gilgamesh,” 1972 (this is a literary translation) Thomsen, M. “The Sumerian Language,” 1984 Tigay A. “The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic,”1982 Notes for Translating the Epic of Gilgamesh © 1995-2001 Untangle Incorporated Last Updated: Monday, October 29, 2001 The Epic is not one story written one time by one person. It was many different stories (Tigay, Chapter 1) which were brought together and extensively rewritten so as to make a story. When was this done? It seems that in what scholars of the area call the old Babylonian period (2000- 1600 years ago. Tigay pp 11). The first tablets found contain what has become the Standard Version of the Epic. These are Babylonian tablets written in Akkadian, found in the remains of the library (668-627 B.C.) at what used to be a city of Ninevah in what is now Iraq. They were found by A.H. Layard in 1839 (Saunders, pp 9) and no one could understand then what they said at all. From other tablets listing the Kings of Sumer (Jacobsen pp 84-89 & Pritchard pp 266) we find Gilgamesh listed as a king of the city of Uruk about 2700 B.C. So the story occurred at least 2000 years before the tablets were in the library in Ninevah. The earliest Sumerian tablets are about 3100 years ago, or about 400 years after Gilgamesh reigned. According to Tigay these early stories were about Gilgamesh the man and heroic king. The standard version has revised these entertaining stories into generalized statements about mankind illustrated by Gilgamesh‟s life.
The difficulties in translating [are] given in Explaining Translation There are several careful transliterations and grammar only translations. There are also translations that take the grammar only translations and convert them into literary translations so they sound smooth and entertaining. At every level, transliteration, translation by grammar and literary translation there are controversies. Hayes, Jacobsen, Tigay, and Thomsen all describe the many problems and uncertainties there are in the translations in any of the forms of the Epic that you wish to cite ( I mean transliteration, grammar translation or literary translation, but there are controversies in each published translation as well. ). The MythHome translation was done by Yanita Chen who was in Middle Eastern Studies in 1994. Her translation was from the printed cuneiform plates of Sumerian, Old and Middle Babylonian tablets. From this grammar translation she produced the literary translated text shown on the Gilgamesh pages of MythHome. The Characters and References in Gilgamesh Characters GILGAMESH: The hero and king of Uruk. ENKIDU: His new friend. NINSUN: Wise goddess and mother of Gilgamesh SHAMHAT: Sacred temple girl who brought the two friends together. ANNU: Father of the Gods and patron of Uruk. HUMBABA: Monster god who must be killed. ISHTAR: The King‟s spurned and vengeful suitor, and goddess. ENLIL: The god who unleashes the great flood. SIDUR: The bar maid with worldly advice. URHANIBAI: The boatman who gives passage to paradise. UPNAPISHTIM: Man who holds the secret of eternal life.
Page 1: A Translation of The Epic of Gilgam
Page 5 and 6: P a g e | 5 Tablet I Tablet I: Gilg
Page 7 and 8: P a g e | 7 Tablet I Thus did Enkid
Page 9 and 10: P a g e | 9 Tablet I 170 180 Enkidu
Page 11 and 12: P a g e | 11 Tablet II 40 50 60 70
Page 13 and 14: P a g e | 13 Tablet III Tablet III:
Page 15 and 16: P a g e | 15 Tablet III 90 100 Colu
Page 17 and 18: P a g e | 17 Tablet IV 40 50 And ye
Page 19 and 20: P a g e | 19 Tablet V Tablet V: Hum
Page 21 and 22: P a g e | 21 Tablet V 80 So Enkidu
Page 23 and 24: P a g e | 23 Tablet VI 40 50 60 Whi
Page 25 and 26: P a g e | 25 Tablet VI 130 To Gilga
Page 27 and 28: P a g e | 27 Tablet VII Tablet VII:
Page 29 and 30: P a g e | 29 Tablet VII 80 90 Reali
Page 31 and 32: P a g e | 31 Tablet VIII Tablet VII
Page 33 and 34: P a g e | 33 Tablet IX Tablet IX: G
Page 35 and 36: P a g e | 35 Tablet X Tablet X: Sid
Page 37 and 38: P a g e | 37 Tablet X 80 90 100 110
Page 39 and 40: P a g e | 39 Tablet X 170 180 190 2
Page 41 and 42: P a g e | 41 Tablet XI Tablet XI: T
Page 43 and 44: P a g e | 43 Tablet XI 80 90 100 In
Page 45 and 46: P a g e | 45 Tablet XI 170 180 190
Page 47 and 48: P a g e | 47 Tablet XII Tablet XII
Page 49 and 50: P a g e | 49 Tablet XII 60 The king

Gilgamesh Chen Translation.pdf

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?