The book Gilgamesh by Morris Jastrow and Albert Tobias Clay is not a novelization of the epic, but a significant early 20th-century scholarly work titled An Old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic. Published in 1920, this volume presents a critical academic study and translation of newly discovered fragments of the ancient Mesopotamian poem. The primary focus is on a tablet found in the University of Pennsylvania's museum collection, which provided a previously unknown, older version of the epic's famous Deluge story, a key narrative that parallels the later Biblical account of Noah's Ark. Jastrow and Clay, both renowned Assyriologists, provide a meticulous transcription, translation, and commentary on these cuneiform texts. They place the epic in its historical and literary context, comparing the Old Babylonian version with the more complete Standard Akkadian version from the library of Ashurbanipal. The book explores the evolution of the epic, its themes of friendship, the quest for immortality, and the acceptance of human mortality, and its profound influence on subsequent Near Eastern literature. This work was a landmark in the field, offering scholars and the public a deeper understanding of one of humanity's oldest surviving works of literature and illuminating the cultural and religious world of ancient Babylon. It is an essential text for anyone studying the history of the epic's discovery and interpretation.

Table of Contents:

• Gilgamesh. Part 1

• Gilgamesh. Part 2