Editing Epic of Gilgamesh (section)

==== Genre ====
{{Main|Epic poetry}}
When it was discovered in the 19th century, the story of Gilgamesh was classified as a Greek epic, a genre known in Europe, even though it predates the Greek culture that spawned epics,{{Sfn|Lins Brandão|2019|p=10}} specifically, when [[Herodotus]] referred to the works of [[Homer]] in this way.{{Sfn|Lins Brandão|2019|p=12}} When [[Alfred Jeremias]] translated the text, he insisted on the relationship to Genesis by giving the title "''Izdubar-Nimrod''" and by recognizing the genre as that of Greek heroic poetry. Although the relationship to Nimrod was dropped, the view of "Greek epic" was retained.{{Sfn|Lins Brandão|2019|p=11}} [[Martin Litchfield West]], in 1966, in the preface to his edition of [[Hesiod]], recognized the proximity of the Greeks to the middle eastern center of convergence: "Greek literature is a Near East literature."{{Sfn|Lins Brandão|2019|p=13}}

Considering how the text would be viewed from the standpoint of its time is tricky, as George Smith acknowledges that there is no "Sumerian or Akkadian word for myth or heroic narrative, just as there is no ancient recognition of poetic narrative as a genre."{{Sfn|Lins Brandão|2019|p=14}} {{Harvnb|Lins Brandão|2019}} suggested, though with little supporting evidence, that the prologue of "He who Saw the Abyss" recalls the inspiration of the Greek Muses, even though there is no assistance from the Sumerian gods here.{{Sfn|Lins Brandão|2019|p=17}} In more popular treatments, [[Jonathan Sacks, Baron Sacks|Sir Jonathan Sacks]], [[Neil MacGregor|Neil McGregor]], and [[BBC Radio 4]] interpret the Epic of Gilgamesh's flood myth as having a pantheon of gods who are [[Misanthropy|misanthropes]] willing to condemn humanity to death,<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=MacGregor |first=Neil |title=A History of the World in 100 Objects |publisher=[[Viking Press]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-670-02270-0 |edition=First American |location=New York |page=99 |author-link=Neil MacGregor}}</ref> with the exception of Ea. Such an interpretation is an unhelpful contemporary take on Mesopotamia's polytheistic religion (and on polytheistic systems more generally), in which the gods may be helpful or harmful in diverse situations.{{fact|date=June 2024}}

It is also made explicit that Gilgamesh rose to the rank of an "ancient wise man" (antediluvian).{{Sfn|Lins Brandão|2019|p=18}} Lins Brandão continues, noting how the poem would have been "put on a stele" ("narû"), that at first "narû" could be seen as the genre of the poem,{{Sfn|Lins Brandão|2019|p=18}} taking into consideration that the reader (or scribe) would have to pass the text on,{{Sfn|Lins Brandão|2019|p=19}} without omitting or adding anything.{{Sfn|Lins Brandão|2019|p=24}}