AnishaInkspill - Mythology Journal

Currently I'm reading Children of Jocasta and Tanglewood Tales

2024, I'm getting more familiar with Greek & Roman myths, and continue with readings of The Iliad and The Aeneid and I want to do the same with other myths, ot try to.

So, this year I'm trying to get more familiar with Gilgamesh and other related myths. So far I have read:

Epic of Gilgamesh Mesopotamia: Invention of Cities, remaining are Myths from Mesopotamia and The Middle East: the cradle of .

And I only have a touch over 2 months left.

>1 AnishaInkspill: Sounds exciting! And happy new thread :)

What do you think about Children of Jocasta? I liked Natalie Haynes' non-fiction, but was disappointed by the only retelling of hers I had read, Stone Blind.

Happy New Thread. I've only done Natalie Haynes nonfiction, but I am looking forward to her fiction.

I did The Epic of Gilgamesh as an audiobook a few years ago. I found it both fascinating and somewhat tedious in places. I'm just amazed I can listen to a 4,000-year-old tale.

Hi and welcome! I recently saw that AI Large Language models are being used to help decode some of the bits of the Gilgamesh tablets that are still untranslated. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/ai-cuneiform-translation-epic-of-gilgamesh-252....

Seems very promising.

>3 clamairy: I think the repetitive bits are a feature of pre-literate societies. They are basically mnemonic devices or are there for the sake of rhythm. Do you remember Youkneek? We discussed this when she was reading the Iliad and the Odyssey and I suggested to read verse translations out loud as that is how they would have been originally presented. Same with the Shakespeare plays she was reading.

>5 Maddz: Yes, I understand this. Which was why I chose to do it as an audiobook and not try to read it with my eyeballs. But it was still a chore for my ADHD brain in places.

>3 clamairy: Personally, for listening I really enjoy the Stephen Mitchell translations of both the Iliad and Gilgamesh (not sure which translations and narrators you listened to). I find them a little more readable and accessible for the modern ear. Also, the narrators are awesome. Alfred Molina narrates the Iliad and George Guidall narrates Gilgamesh.

One of my long-term reading goals is to listen to or read different translations of Homer’s works. I think I’ve listened to 3 or 4 different translations of the Iliad, but spread out years apart. The story never fails to move me.

Earlier this year I read the first two books in Emily H. Wilson’s Sumerian trilogy and really enjoyed them. I thought she did some really interesting things with the myths and characters.

>2 Alexandra_book_life: I thought Children of Jocasta is much bettr than Stone Blind, which I have also read.

>3 clamairy: If you know the story of the Iliad than you might be interested in A Thousand Ships, I thought it was really interesting how she she retells it.

I can't believe that Gilgamesh is 4000 years old

>4 Bookmarque: hi, how interesting, thanks!!!

and I hadn't realised 30% of the poem is still missing

Thanks for the welcome all, I am excited about this one, and also a touch nervous but I had a lot of fun getting familiar with Greek and Roman myths 📚😊

>8 AnishaInkspill: That's good to know, thank you :)

>9 AnishaInkspill:
The history book I am reading, How the World Made the West, a 4,000 year history, discusses The Epic of Gilgamesh. I am tempted to read it. I read The Iliad and The Odyssey many moons ago.

By the way, welcome to The Green Dragon. I am glad to see you have jumped right in and started a reading thread.

>1 AnishaInkspill: Welcome and happy new thread! That sounds like fascinating reading.

>7 ludmillalotaria: That is indeed both the translation and the narration that I listened to.

>1 AnishaInkspill: I have enjoyed reading the Greek and Roman myths, as well as other ancient tales. Once you have read them, you realize how much of our modern writing and visual entertainment references them. I also like seeing that they struggled with the same issues we do.

>13 pgmcc: How the World Made the West sounded familar, I checked and 🤣 I have it and will take a look at that.

>14 Karlstar: yes and thank you

>16 MrsLee: yes, this is what interests me the most

I've finished reading Children of Jocasta and Tanglewood Tales both 4 stars for different reasons. Hawthorne's retell, ignoring it its gender stereotyping was a fun read, and I liked how Jocasta in Natalie Hayne's version has much more of the spotlight.

Next up: Myths from Mesopotamia

Hello and welcome from me too! I enjoyed Children of Jocasta and have A thousand ships and Stone blind on my TBR pile. Mythological retellings are IN at the moment, but I've been trying to resist getting sucked into the trend; my TBR piles are big enough already. A few years ago I read Black ships by Jo Graham and really enjoyed it.

>21 Sakerfalcon: hi, yeah they are and can be, and 😀 have been, distracting when you have huge tbr.

I've started Myths from Mesopotamia
stories included are:

Atrahasis
The epic of Gilgamesh
The descent of Ishtar to the underworld
Nergal and Ereshkigal
Adapa
Etana
Anzu
The epic of creation
Theogony of Dunnu
Erra and Ishum

the only one I know is Gilgamesh, the rest are new to me.

1/3 way through Myths from Mesopotamia

Atrahasis - fascinating, one of the earlier flood stories
The epic of Gilgamesh - 1/2 way through, when Enkidu dies, poor Gilgamesh, that's sad

I'm on Anzu, I thought I'd find this hard because many of the works have missing lines.

finished Myths from Mesopotamia : Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others 4* I thought I'd find this tough, it's been on my shelf for years.
if you're interested this has 2 versions of Gilgmesh, standard and Babylonian.

I can't beleive it's less than six weeks left, this was my last myth for the year but I'm hoping to fit in a drama, maybe Aristophanes but not sure yet

>26 AnishaInkspill: Try this one: Iphigenia In Aulis The Age Of Bronze Edition

It's a graphic novel and (in my opinion), very good. The artist, Eric Shanower did the Age of Bronze comic book series.

I shall have to look out for the Dalley; sadly there isn't an ebook version.

>27 Maddz: I like graphic novels, and I've read both Iphigenia plays, this sounds brilliant, thanks!!!

my Dalley ed is an ePub, I got it from GooglePlay books, it was a few years ago. This ePub is really a pdf where the books been scanned. If you're like me and you make notes then Google Chrome lets you do this.

>28 AnishaInkspill: Found it on Google Play, but the review complains about it being a PDF not a true ebook. If it's a PDF, then I think I may as well go for the paperback. Even though I have a Kobo, I find it tiring reading book length PDFs. I did wonder when I couldn't find an ebook on the usual sites. Mind you, it does look like the most recent edition!

Another graphic novel you may find interesting is Inanna's Tears. I'm not sure if it's based on any of the Sumerian myths or not.

>30 Maddz: thanks!!! :)

>29 Maddz: yeah, that might not be a bad idea. The eBook / pdf wasn't easy to read and found the best way was on Google chrome, but when it's a new subject trying to go between the notes and text when it isn't hyperlinked, it was tough. This is a real shame as I found it really interesting. I have other OUP but on Kindle but they've been formatted with hyperlinks so I was surprised when I realised this was really a pdf. I guess something to be aware of, and in future I'll be more careful when I buy OUP books.

5 weeks left to th eend of the month, I'm going to try and squeeze in the prose translation by David West of Aeneid

David West translation of Aeneid it's my favourite of the 3 I have and really pleased I foudn the time to read it.

I am putting my list together for next year. So far I have a couple of plays by Euripides and Sophocles, plus African Myths of origin

more details and what I have so far, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, first time read I am guessing it will make some ref to myths + history and it will be interesting to find out

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms Luo Guanzhong
Andromache Euripides
Andromache Jean Racine
Aias Sophocles
African Myths of Origin Anonymous

Inspiration strikes: Have you ever come across the African (Malawian, I think) stories collected by Geraldine Elliot? I had three books of them "when I wur a lad", and IIRC they started with The Long Grass Whispers.

>36 hfglen: no I haven't, thanks for the pointer and links