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George, Andrew (translator).
The Epic of Gilgamesh.
Publisher: The Folio Society, London;
Date of Publication: 2011
Stock Code: 14960
Second Folio Printing. Large Octavo, pp., 212. Eight illustrated plates by Frances Mosley. Burnt sienna cloth with black and gilt illustration to upper board and black and gilt titles and illustrations to spine. Housed in a plain black slipcase. A near fine copy in a very good slipcase. Although widely mythologised Gilgamesh is generally recognised as an historical king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk in ancient Mesopotamia, and The Epic of Gilgamesh as the original narrative poem. Originally five Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh’s exploits pieced together from fragments of stone tablets, these poems were later combined into one great saga. Regarded as a foundational work in mythology and the tradition of heroic sagas, Gilgamesh forms the prototype for later heroes like Heracles, Odysseus, Achilles, Aeneas, Beowulf, and the epic itself serves as an influence for the epics of Homer, Virgil, Dante and Milton. £100.00