• PrefaceIntroductionSourcesChapter 1. Ishtar’s Proposal and Gilgamesh’s Refusal: An Interpretation of The Gilgamesh Epic, Tablet VI, Lines 1–79 Chapter 2. Gilgamesh’s Request and Siduri’s Denial, Part I: The Meaning of the Dialogue and Its Implications for the History of the Epic Chapter 3. Gilgamesh’s Request and Siduri’s Denial, Part II: An Analysis and Interpretation of an Old Babylonian Fragment about Mourning and CelebrationChapter 4. Mourning the Death of a Friend: Some Assyriological NotesChapter 5. The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Homeric EpicsChapter 6. The Development and Meaning of the Epic of Gilgamesh: An Interpretive EssayChapter 7. The Courtesan, the Wild Man, and the Hunter: Studies in the Literary History of the Epic of GilgameshChapter 8. Hunting in the Epic of Gilgamesh: Speculations on the Education of a PrinceChapter 9. The Tale of the Wild Man and the Courtesan in India and Mesopotamia: The Seductions of Ṛśyaśṛṅ;ga in the Mahābhārata and Enkidu in the Epic of Gilgamesh (coauthored with Emily West)AbbreviationsBibliographyIndex of Citations

“On a literary-critical level, Abusch has given us much to think about and has presented a plausible, if uncertain, reconstruction of the Epic’s long and complicated history. . . I can certainly affirm Abusch’s statement that the basic conflict here “is that between the extraordinary and the normal” (p. 131). However gifted a person might be, he or she must come to terms with the constraints inherent in the human condition. But I would hold that this lesson of the Epic applies not only to a semi-divine ruler, but to any person, which helps to account for the great popularity of the tale(s) of Gilgamesh—in the ancient Near East and in the present day.”—Gary Beckman American Oriental Society