Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld and the Sumerian Gilgamesh Cycle (eBook)

Alhena Gadotti (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF | EPUB

2014 | 1. Auflage
446 Seiten
De Gruyter (Verlag)
978-1-61451-545-6 (ISBN)

Infos

Providing a new perspective on the Sumerian Gilgamesh stories, Alhena Gadotti argues that a Sumerian Gilgamesh Cycle was developed as early as Ur III, and that Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld was the first, not the last story of this cycle. Prompted by several texts that have come to light since Aaron Shaffer's 1963 publication of the text, this book offers a new edition and a re-examination of the composition.

Alhena Gadotti, Towson University, Towson, MD, USA.

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Alhena Gadotti offers a much needed new edition of the Sumerian composition Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld, last published by Aaron Shaffer in his 1963 doctoral dissertation. Since then, several new manuscripts have come to light, prompting not only a new edition of the text, but also a re-examination of the composition. In this book, Gadotti argues that Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld was the first, not the last of the Sumerian stories about Gilgamesh. She also suggests that a Sumerian Gilgamesh Cycle, currently only attested in old Babylonian manuscripts (ca. 18th century BCE), was in fact developed during the Ur III period (ca. 2100-2000 BCE). Providing a new way to look at the Sumerian Gilgamesh stories, this book is relevant not only to scholars of the ancient Near East, but also to anyone interested in epic and epic cycle.

Inhalt

Table of Contents 9
Acknowledgements 7
Abbreviations 13
On Transliteration and Conventions 15
CHAPTER I. “Gilgameš, Enkidu and the Netherworld”: An Overview 17
1. Status Quaestionis 19
2. Summary of the Composition 20
CHAPTER II. The Prologue of “Gilgameš, Enkidu and the Netherworld” 23
1. Status Quaestionis 23
2. The Cosmology of the Prologue: GEN 1-13 26
3. The Journey of Enki to the kur: GEN 14-26 30
3.1 The Destination of Enki’s Journey 31
3.2 The Outcome of Enki’s Journey 33
3.3 The Reasons for Enki’s Journey 33
3.4 The Waters to the Netherworld 34
3.5 The Attack against Enki 35
3.6 The Function of the Story 37
4. The Function of the Prologue I: GEN 37
5. The Function of the Prologue II: The Sumerian Gilgameš Cycle 39
6. Conclusions 41
CHAPTER III. The .alub-Tree 43
1. Introduction 43
2. The .alub-Tree in Lexical Lists 44
3. The .alub-Tree in the Third Millennium BCE Royal Inscriptions 45
4. The mes-.alub-Tree in the Administrative Texts from Early Dynastic IIIb Girsu 47
5. The .alub-Tree in the Administrative texts from Ur III Period 48
6. The .alub-Tree in Ur III Incantations 51
7. The .alub-Tree in Sumerian Literary Compositions 52
8. The .a-lu-úb .ar-ra-an 58
9. The .uluppu-Tree in Akkadian Sources 60
10. Conclusions: The Epigraphic Evidence 62
11. .alub = Mahlab Cherry 63
12. Conclusions 64
CHAPTER IV. Narrative and Poetic Structure 67
1. Status Quaestionis 67
2. Poetic Structure 69
3. Narrative Structure 75
4. Analysis of the Narrative Units 78
4.1 Prologue 78
4.2 The ?alub-tree episode 80
4.3 The Ballgame 84
4.4 The Descent to the Netherworld 86
4.5 The Description of the Netherworld 91
4.6 The Return of Gilgameš and Enkidu to Uruk (Ur tradition) 95
5. Conclusions 96
CHAPTER V. Enkidu Redivivus 99
1. Introduction 99
2. Bringing Enkidu Back from the Dead 99
3. The Meturan Catch-Line 104
4. Conclusions 106
CHAPTER VI. The Sumerian Gilgameš Cycle 109
1. Introduction 109
2. Status Quaestionis 112
3. The Internal Evidence 115
3.1 The Prologue 115
3.2 Doxologies and Colophons 115
3.3 The End of GEN According to the Ur Tradition 118
3.4 The Meturan Catch-line 120
3.5 Gilgameš’s Deeds According to the “Death of Gilgameš” 120
4. External Evidence: Archaeological Evidence 122
5. Evidence Against a Cycle? 122
6. Conclusions 124
CHAPTER VII. Enkidu’s Return and The Catalogue of Ghosts: GEN ll. 255-end 125
1. Introduction 125
2. Mesopotamian Ghosts and How to Deal with Them 127
3. If One has Heirs …: GEN 255-268 129
4. If One has No Heir: GEN 269-278 130
5. If One Dies … not Whole? GEN 279-286a and 305-306 131
6. The Man whose Corpse Lies in the Steppe: GEN 289-289a 133
7. The Disrespectful Ghosts: GEN 295-300 134
8. The Respectful Ghost: GEN 301-302 135
9. The Still-Born: GEN 303-304 136
10. The Pedagogical Purposes of GEN 255-end 136
11. The Underlying Message of GEN 255-end: Nippur, Ur and Meturan 137
11.1 Nippur Tradition 137
11.2 Ur Tradition 138
11.3 Meturan Tradition 142
12. Conclusions 143
CHAPTER VIII. The Manuscripts 145
1. Introduction 145
2. Provenience, Archaeological Context and Date of the Manuscripts 145
2.1 Nippur 145
2.2 Ur 146
2.3 Meturan 147
2.4 Sippar 147
2.5 Isin 147
2.6 Uruk 147
2.7 Unknown Provenience 148
2.8 Dating of GEN Manuscripts 148
3. Tablet Types 148
3.1 Excerpt Tablets (Type S) 148
3.2 Multicolumn Tablets (Type M2/3) 148
3.3 Prism (Type P) 149
4. The List of the Sources 149
5. Manuscripts and Textual Variants: Introduction 157
5.1 Nippur Features 159
5.2 Ur Features 159
5.3 Meturan Features 159
5.4 Sippar (Si1) 160
5.5 Isin (Is1) 160
5.6 Uruk (Uk1) 161
5.7 Unknown Provenience: X1 161
6. Variations in GEN: An Overview 162
6.1 Omission of Signs 162
6.2 Omission of Words 162
6.3 Omission of Lines 163
6.4 Addition of Morphemes 164
6.5 Addition of Lexemes 165
6.6 Addition of Lines 165
6.6.1 Line Sequence’s Variation 165
6.7 Substitution of Morphemes 166
6.8 Substitution of Lexeme 167
6.9 Substitution of Lines 167
The Edition 169
Translation 170
Gilgameš Enkidu and the Netherworld 170
Ur4 (UET 6/1 58, rev 6´–16´) 177
Ur6 (UET 6/1 60, rev 1´–18´) 177
Me2 (Mt2 27–29) 177
Eclectic Text 178
Ur4 (UET 6/1 58, rev 6´–16´) 184
Ur6 (UET 6/1 60, rev 1´–18´) 184
Me2 (Mt2 rev 27–29) 185
Textual Matrix 187
Ur4 (follows GEN l. 306) rev. 6´–16´ 258
Ur6 1´–18´ 258
Me2 rev. 27–29 258
Commentary 259
Ur4 = UET 6/1 58 rev. 6´–16´ 318
Ur6 = UET 6/1 60 rev. 1´–18´ 321
H 157 = Me2 rev. 27–29 324
Colophons and Doxologies 324
Appendix 325
Reconstruction of Problematic Manuscripts 325
1. N44 325
2. Ur5 326
3. Ur6 327
4. X1 328
Bibliography 331
Indexes 345
Plates 373

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 8.8.2014
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Archäologie
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Vor- und Frühgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft
• ISBN-10: 1-61451-545-X / 161451545X
• ISBN-13: 978-1-61451-545-6 / 9781614515456