Shabbat Reading: The Epic of Gilgamesh

#whatireadovershabbat The Epic of Gilgamesh translated by N. K. Sandars (Penguin, 1972)

Some stories never grow old. The Epic of Gilgamesh has stayed fresh for 4,000 years. There’s love, loss, epic battle, and a quest to learn how you are supposed to live, knowing you will someday die. All the elements, in short, of a gripping tale. Gilgamesh may be an ancient Mesopotamian king—part god, part man—but he acts and sounds like a disaffected modern. Humankind has undergone many profound transformations. The human condition, meanwhile, with all its attendant hopes and fears, stays constant.