Wolfgang Röllig Books

Das Gilgamesch-Epos ist eines der ältesten Dokumente der menschlichen Fähigkeit zu erzählen. Es schildert die Taten und Erlebnisse des jungen Königs Gilgamesch und seines Freundes Enkidu als weite Reisen durch die Welt und die Erfahrung des Lebens. Die Neuübersetzung von Wolfgang Röllig basiert auf einem durch spektakuläre archäologische Funde wesentlich ergänzten Text. Einleitung und Kommentar erleichtern das Verständnis, ein Anhang bietet ergänzend die noch viel älteren Bruchstücke der altbabylonischen Versionen.

The ancient Sumerian poem The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest written stories in existence, translated with an introduction by Andrew George in Penguin Classics. Miraculously preserved on clay tablets dating back as much as four thousand years, the poem of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, is the world's oldest epic, predating Homer by many centuries. The story tells of Gilgamesh's adventures with the wild man Enkidu, and of his arduous journey to the ends of the earth in quest of the Babylonian Noah and the secret of immortality. Alongside its themes of family, friendship and the duties of kings, The Epic of Gilgamesh is, above all, about mankind's eternal struggle with the fear of death. The Babylonian version has been known for over a century, but linguists are still deciphering new fragments in Akkadian and Sumerian. Andrew George's gripping translation brilliantly combines these into a fluid narrative and will long rank as the definitive English Gilgamesh. If you enjoyed The Epic of Gilgamesh, you might like Homer's Iliad, also available in Penguin Classics.