University Press Publishes Akkadian Epic
Tallinn University Press, which specializes mostly in academic literature and textbooks, has now published an annotated Estonian edition of the 3,200-year-old Epic of Gilgamesh.
The publication is part of a series of annotated classical works that university is undertaking.
"We are doing our best to apply the capacity of our scholars to writing commentary on classical literature," the head of Tallinn University Press' publishing office Heli Allik told ERR's television program Aktuaalne Kaamera. "The idea behind the Bibliotheca series is that it will also appeal to a wider audience."
The translation of Gilgamesh took Amar Annus, Professor of Assyriology at Tartu University, ten years of dedicated work and required a close following of the latest archaeological findings. Occasionally, fragments of clay tablets bearing previously unknown verses of the epic are still being discovered in the one-time Mesopotamia.
Finnish was until now the only Finno-Ugric language that the Epic of Gilgamesh had been translated into. Annus' own interest in the text was sparked years ago while he was studying for his master's degree at the University of Helsinki.