{"collection":"Ancient Near East","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/ane/iai/index.htm","path":"ane/iai/index.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/ane/iai/index.htm","text":"This is a Victorian poetic translation of the saga of Izdubar.\nWho is Izdubar?\nIzdubar is a literal translation of the ideograph for 'Gilgamesh',\nand was how the hero of the Gilgamesh saga was known when this\nbook was written in the 1880s.\nA lexicographic tablet was finally discovered several decades later\nin which Izdubar was equated with Gilgamesh.\nWhen this was written, only fragments of the epic had been found,\nand Hamilton had to supply continuity and motivation in several cases.\nThe attentive reader will notice some differences here between\nthe Gilgamesh epic as known today and Hamiltons' poem.\nIn Gilgamesh the King's companion, Enkidu is originally a wild man,\ncreated to distract Gilgamesh.\nIn Izdubar the equivalent character is a sage who is\nlured from the wilderness to interpret the King's dreams.\nHumbaba is a ogre in Gilgamesh, a supernatural being,\nwho Gilgamesh and Enkidu battle using supernatural means.\nHere (called Khumbaba) he is a human being,\na King whom Izdubar defeats in combat.\nHamilton also embellished his version using extraneous material\nsuch as religious hymns and magical incantations (which, to be fair,\nhe carefully cited sources for in the footnotes).\nStrangely enough, Hamilton left out one of the most interesting\nparts of the Gilgamesh saga and the first to be discovered:\nthe story of the Deluge.\nNevertheless, this constitutes one of the earliest translations of\nthe Gilgamesh saga and is the only complete one (such as it is)\nknown to be in the public domain.\nThanks to John Mark Ockerbloom of Online Books, who suggested that I scan this.","title":"Ishtar and Izdubar Index","type":"page"}