The structure of the Gilgamesh Epic

Abstract

N.K.SANDARS, in the Introduction to his English translation of the Gilgamesh Epic (Penguin Books, 1960, reprinted 1962), describes it as 'the finest surviving poem from any period until the appearance of Homer's Iliad' (p.8). And there will be general agreement with this judgement. Yet there have been surprisingly few attempts made to provide an analysis of its structure that sounds satisfactory. I suspect that this may be due on the one hand to the caution of scholars which keeps them from adventuring on ground where hypotheses have to be advanced on not completely solid evidence; and on the other to the haste with which writers who are not specialists in Semitic literature but want to use the material of the poem relevant to their own interests (e.g. depth psychology) accept or advance interpretations which cannot survive any close examination of the text. Hence, I think, the Epic has not been generally appreciated for its own sake, but has tended too often to be discussed either because of incidental features, such as the family-resemblance between its Deluge story and that in Genesis, or because of certain themes taken in isolation from their precise place in the structure of the poem. Sandars's Introduction not only avoids this, but also provides the right kind of background information and sensible comment which the reader requires in order to appreciate the poem. But even he considers that from a structural point of view, it is merely 'divided into loosely connected episodes covering the most important events in the life of the hero' (op. cit. p.30). In his account of the story, he does bring out the central features of the episodes and provides a generally illuminating commentary on them. However, I think the poem has a much greater unity of structure, corresponding to a greater coherence of conception, (despite its being a compilation) than would appear even from Sandars's most useful introduction.