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Title: Good intro from diverse sources
Review: Although not an original translation, this redaction by N.K. Sanders combines versions Sumerian, Akkadian and Hittite texts. The prose flows very well (almost like the King James Bible). The introductory history and map provide helpful background information.Its amazing though over 4,000 years old, that there are very modern elements. Here man first begins to define a "self". There is dream interpretation that historically is continued with Joseph in the Bible and still alive with Carl Jung. Some symbols, such as the slaying of the Lion are ancient and almost universal. The Flood story shows up here, and perhaps latter repeated (or in a new form) in the Bible and Noah, with new meaning. What's fun about these myths is that they are compact and open to interpretation. For example, I perhaps see the defeat of Humbaba (the guardian of the Cedar Forest), as the start of our environmental crisis.
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