Gilgamesh

The ancient hero from Mesopotamian mythology and legendary king of Uruk in Sumer, Gilgamesh is a hugely influential figure, not least on Homer's famous tales, the Iliad and the Odyssey, but also on modern culture. His stories, and later Babylonian interwoven narrative, have it all: quests to the underworld, epic journeys, ghosts, giants and beasts, a great flood, love and death. Together with the goddess Inanna (aka Ishtar) and his beloved companion Enkidu, Gilgamesh experiences adventure and self-discovery as gripping as any Hellenistic hero. This exciting book includes new stories that explore this character and all his virtues, flaws, adventures and relationships. Whether as told in the ancient tablets or extrapolated in the authors' imaginations, whether set 2000 years BCE or 2150 CE – the tales are fresh with insight and inventiveness. Also accompanied by an introductory section covering the original tales and background to the character, by Emily H. Wilson, author of The Sumerians Trilogy of novels: Inanna, Gilgamesh and Ninshubar, the reader will truly discover the gripping story of this archetypal hero.

Includes a foreword by Prof. Enrique Jiménez, and features the following modern authors: Rocky Boudreaux, Irene W. Collins, Malina Douglas, Dr. Suvajeet Duttagupta, Murray Eiland, Adrian Gebhard, David Horn, Diyora Kabilova, L.K. Keir, Jesse Koehler, Russell Hugh McConnell, Kara Race-Moore, R.K. Richardson, Lawrence Rush and Alan Gordon, Layla Sabourian, and Morgan Sampson.

About the series: Discover the mythology of humankind through its heroes, characters, gods and immortal figures. Myths, Gods & Immortals brings together the new and the ancient, familiar stories with a fresh and imaginative twist. Each book brings back to life a legendary, mythological or folkloric figure, with new stories alongside a comprehensive introduction which tells the original tales and emphasizes ancient and modern connections, tracing history and stories across continents, cultures and peoples. New and emerging writers from open submissions reveal hidden themes, casting fresh perspectives on well known stories, complementing the specially commissioned story of the origins and the cultural background from the era. The first titles are Medusa, Odin, Anansi and Circe.

Emily H. Wilson ('Introducing Gilgamesh') is the author of a trilogy of novels set in Ancient Sumer. Inanna, Gilgamesh and Ninshubar are all published by Titan. Before becoming an author, Emily worked as a full-time journalist, most recently serving as editor-in-chief of New Scientist magazine.

Prof. Dr Enrique Jiménez (Foreword) has held a chair in Ancient Near Eastern Literatures at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich since 2018 and is the winner of a 2017 Sofja Kovalevskaja Award. He specialises in the literature and scholarly texts of ancient Mesopotamia, in particular from the first millennium BCE. He is Principal Investigator of the ‘Electronic Babylonian Library’ platform (http://www.ebl.lmu.de/).