Achilles beside Gilgamesh Mortality and Wisdom in Early Epic Poetry

It is widely recognised that the epics of Homer are closely related to the earlier mythology and literature of the Ancient Near East, above all the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh. But how should this influence our response to the meaning and message of either poem? This book responds to this question through an experiment in intertextual reading. It begins by exploring Gilgamesh as a work of literature in its own right, and uses this interpretation as the springboard for a new reading of the Homeric epic, emphasising the movement within the poem - beginning from a world of heroic action and external violence, but shifting inwards to the thoughts and feelings of Achilles as he responds to the certainty that his own death will follow that of his best friend. The book will be of interest both to specialists and to those coming to ancient literature for the first time.

1. Introduction; 2. Divinity, humanity and wisdom; 3. Gilgamesh and glory; 4. Gilgamesh confronts death; 5. Interlude on Homer and the muse; 6. The race of half-gods; 7. The plan of Zeus; 8. The coming of Achilles; 9. The strife of the Iliad; 10. Achilles looks inward; 11. The death of the friend; 12. Achilles responds; 13. From lamentation to vengeance; 14. Achilles like a lion; 15. Mortality and wisdom; 16. The truths of lamentation; Conclusion: the slender-winged fly.

Michael Clarke is Established Professor of Classics at the National University of Ireland, Galway. His interests lie in the comparative study of classical and medieval literatures, especially ancient Greek and medieval Irish, and especially in the emergence of the Homeric epic out of the Ancient Near East. He is the author of Flesh and Spirit in the Songs of Homer: A Study of Words and Myths (2000).