The Epic of Gilgamesh

Dallas1942 · Post by **Dallas1942** » June 7th, 2008, 1:46 am

Hello LibriVox community!

Has anyone attempted to undertake a recording of the Epic of Gilgamesh? My search turned up no solid result.

If you have no idea what the Epic of Gilgamesh is, here's a good primer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Gilgamesh

I think this is one of the most fundamental pieces of literature of the ancient world and it should definitely be recorded on audio format.

If anyone knows of an existing recording, please let me know so I need not dig deeper.

If this recording has not been attempted, I call to arms all willing and able LibriVox-ers to help me make it a reality!

-Dallas1942-

[Six Gilgamesh threads merged together - moderator]

PaulW · Post by **PaulW** » June 7th, 2008, 2:35 am

Gutenberg etext for An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic, edited by Morris Jastrow, can be found here: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/11000. Gutneberg's copyright status is "not copyright in the US."

Steampunk · Post by **Steampunk** » June 7th, 2008, 12:43 pm

PaulW wrote:Gutenberg etext for An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic, edited by Morris Jastrow, can be found here: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/11000. Gutneberg's copyright status is "not copyright in the US."

Hmmm... Looks like this only deals with two particular tablets in the Epic. Most of it is scholorly comments and transliteration of the "Yale" and "Pennsylvania" tablets. There is also a translation of these.

It would be nice if a PD full translation of the epic could be found, but I haven't been able to find one (not that my search should be considered authoritative or exhaustive). Barring that, maybe a truncated version, including only the translated bits, would be an interesting project. I'm not sure if that would be LV-kosher, however...

Jim

LeonMire · Post by **LeonMire** » June 9th, 2008, 11:16 am

This is the only full text version of Gilgamesh I've ever seen: http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/eog/index.htm

The person who runs Sacred Texts searches relentlessly for that kind of stuff, so if he says it's the only complete English translation, I believe him. Unfortunately, he admits that the copyright is shady. He's not 100% sure that it's not copyrighted, and the author died in 1941, meaning that his translation would be unavailable to anyone in European countries, whose copyrights expire 70 years after the author's death.

I just don't think we could do the complete version, and the Gutenberg text doesn't look usable for our purposes. Way too many sentence fragments, scholarly notes, and words in ancient languages. We'd need a coherent story for an audiobook version to be listenable, though I won't stop anybody from recording it if they like.

I'd love to record the Epic of Gilgamesh, as it's one of my all-time favorites. But it looks like it'd be very difficult to do. If anyone can find a public domain re-telling of the story, produced for a general audience rather than Assyrologists, I'd definitely jump right on board.

Dallas: There is a professionally produced audio version of the Stephen Mitchell translation of Gilgamesh (which, in my opinion, is equal to the Seamus Heaney Beowulf). We can't do it 'cause it's copyrighted, but here's its entry on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Gilgamesh-English-Version-Stephen-Mitchell/dp/1402597665/ref=ed_oe_a

Or maybe you can find it at a local library.. like I did!

-Leon

markalanvb · Post by **markalanvb** » September 27th, 2008, 9:36 am

Hello everyone,

I am new to Librivox and have been excited by the work being done. I would like to recommend the Epic of Gilgamesh for inclusion on this site. Other than the obvious reason (Gilgamesh is the world's oldest known written text) this myth is important because it is a timeless tale of love, death, and the meaning of life. I am surprised that it has yet to be included and I would be honored to add it to the Librivox catalog.

Mark

A link to the Gutenberg file can be found below

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/11000

markalanvb · Post by **markalanvb** » September 27th, 2008, 9:46 am

After looking through the forum a second time I did come across a thread on Gilgamesh. Sorry for the repeat. It is a shame a full translation is not yet avaliable in PD. How curious.

Well, how about Darwin's "Descent of Man"?

September 27th, 2008, 10:27 am

markalanvb wrote:
Well, how about Darwin's "Descent of Man"?

This is available online: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2300

A good suggestion, but at ~277000 words, it would be an ambitious undertaking. At an average reading speed of say 150 wpm, this equates to somewhere in the vicinity of 30 h of audio or about 6 h longer than the recording of Origin of Species that is currently in the catalog.

markalanvb · Post by **markalanvb** » September 27th, 2008, 10:58 am

I am certainly willing to begin this project and see how it goes.

JoeD · Post by **JoeD** » October 10th, 2008, 8:11 am

Has any progress been made on this edition of the Epic of Gilgamesh?

JoeD · Post by **JoeD** » October 10th, 2008, 8:27 am

markalanvb asks:

"Well, how about Darwin's "Descent of Man"?

That would certainly be worth doing, but I think it would be really tough to record properly. The edition I have has loads of illustrations that the text is constantly referring to. It would be interesting to try and work around that in an audio version.

Post by **annise** » October 10th, 2008, 2:30 pm

JoeD wrote:Has any progress been made on this edition of the Epic of Gilgamesh?

We can't record anything not in PD and there isn't a public domain translation - pity but that's the way it is - and the translator is entitled to his royalties , it would have been a lot of work. ( I guess we could read it in its original language

)

As for Darwin - big projects do get done but they are a big commitment - probably 18 months or more and it is a volunteer group so it may well be on someone's "may do " list . If you are interested in reading come and try some small works and then you'll have some idea of what such a commitment would involve - and it is fun here

Anne

Post by **Leni** » October 10th, 2008, 7:44 pm

A full translation of Gilgamesh doesn't seem to be available now - except for the "shady" 1928 one mentioned by Leon in the other thread. However, a translation of the episode of the Deluge is online, as a paper read by its author entitled "The Chaldean account of Genesis, containing the description of the creation, the fall of man, the deluge, the tower of Babel, the times of the patriarchs, and Nimrod". It's the 11th tablet of Gilgamesh - still, as it deals with one very famous episode, it might be of interest to someone. The link is: http://dlxs2.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=cdl;cc=cdl;idno=cdl205;view=toc;node=cdl205%3A4

The author died in 1872, so I think this one is very much PD.

JWMcCalvin · Post by **JWMcCalvin** » October 12th, 2008, 9:21 pm

Noting as I did that the version of the Epic at sacred-texts was published in England, I wondered if there ever had been a US printing and how I could find out, when suddenly I was inspired to loc.gov myself in to the Library of Congress, and this is what I found in the catalog under 'Thompson, R. Campbell':

LC Control No.: 78072736
Type of Material: Book (Print, Microform, Electronic, etc.)
Uniform Title: Gilgamesh. Assyro-Babylonian.
Main Title: The epic of Gilgamish / [text, transliteration, and notes by R. Campbell Thompson].
Published/Created: New York : AMS Press, [1981]
Related Names: Thompson, R. Campbell (Reginald Campbell), 1876-1941.
Description: 92 p., 59 p. of plates : ill. ; 29 cm.
ISBN: 0404181759
Notes: Text in Assyro-Babylonian, introduction and notes in English.
Reprint. Originally published: Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1930.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Subjects: Epic poetry, Assyro-Babylonian.
LC Classification: PJ3771 .G5 1981
Dewey Class No.: 892/.1 19

So, a copy of The epic of Gilgamish [sic] by R. Campbell Thompson was published in 1981 by the AMS Press. If it is the same work as the 'shady' one on the website, one might speculate AMS Knew What They Were Doing when they published it... in other words, they either got permission, or didn't have to.

Of course, maybe there were two Thompson translations-- the 1928 Luzac & Co at sacred-texts, which has never been reprinted; and the 1930 Clarendon Press, which has. Even so, of course, it can't be Librivoxed.

benpadiah · Post by **benpadiah** » January 20th, 2009, 11:21 pm

available on Project Gutenberg:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/11000

I will read this solo, but if it gets too tough, I might need help.

Peace,
- Jon

Post by **annise** » January 21st, 2009, 1:31 am

Hi
Welcome to Librivix
there are some comments in this thread that you might like to check

http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=247456#247456 - this isn't to stop you , it just to explain why no one else has attempted to do it . Remember that although the copyright on the original expired centuries ago , the translator holds copyright and so date of publication etc has to be taken into account before LibriVox can accept it.

Before embarking on a solo we ask that you submit a short piece so that technical specs can be checked and you have some idea how everything works round here -
Anne