JOURNAL ARTICLE

Beyond the Parallel: The Iliad and the Epic of Gilgameš in Their Macro-Regional Tradition.

  • Published In: TAPA, 2023, v. 153, n. 1. P. 1 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Davies, Tom Hercules 3 of 3

Abstract

There is a lion simile in the Iliad (18.316–22) very close in language, theme, and purpose to a lion simile in the Standard Babylonian Version of Gilgameš (8.61–62). For some scholars, this parallel is a smoking gun: it proves the Iliad is a deliberate adaptation of a specific, Neo-Assyrian recension of Gilgameš. Other remain skeptical: the parallel can be explained as a coincidence. This article integrates the skeptics' objections into a comparative model based on initial polygenesis and gradual assimilation of traditions within a macro-region. The model can account for parallels between the Iliad and Gilgameš without positing Greek access to Mesopotamian texts—even at the verbal level of the lion simile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:TAPA. 2023/03, Vol. 153, Issue 1, p1
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Literature and Writing
  • Publication Date:2023
  • ISSN:2575-7180
  • DOI:10.1353/apa.2023.a901015
  • Accession Number:164913878
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