Gadotti - Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld and the Sumerian Gilgamesh cycle

This book is a revised version of the Doctoral Dissertation I submitted to the Department of Near Eastern Studies, The Johns Hopkins University, in September 2005. As it is often the case in projects such as this, many people contributed to make it possible.

First and foremost, I wish to thank my teacher and advisor, Prof. Jerrold S. Cooper. His support and friendship over the years have been invaluable. He not only suggested the topic of my dissertation. He also guided me and helped me navigating through the complexities of the subject matter and nudged me in the right direction quite often.

Profs. Marcel Detienne, Glenn M. Schwartz, Walter Stephens and Raymond Westbrook served on my dissertation committee and their useful suggestions have been incorporated into the book. I am also extremely grateful to the faculty and the staff of the Department of Near Eastern Studies, the Johns Hopkins University, who helped me tremendously throughout my graduate career.

Prof. David I. Owen also contributed to the completion of this book, by allowing me time to work on it alongside my other duties while I was the Post-Doctoral Akkadian Fellow at Cornell University. His support and friendship have been incredible.

Many thanks also go to the several people who facilitated access to the tablets I needed to collate. My trips at the University of Philadelphia Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, were made possible by Prof. Steven Tinney and Dr. Philip Jones, always generous with the workspace and the accommodations. They also allowed me to take the photos of the manuscripts housed in the collection, which are published in this book.

Dr. Jonathan Taylor was instrumental in providing the photos for the all the manuscripts of Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld housed at the British Museum, which are included here. Prof. Andrew George generously offered his own photos of the Schyen manuscripts, and helped me obtaining permission to publish them in this book. A warm thank goes also to Martin Schyen, who granted permission to reproduce the material.

Prof. Manfred Krebernik was gracious enough to allow me to obtain many useful photos of the two manuscripts housed in the Hilprecht Sammlung collection at the University of Jena, and provided the ones included in this publication.

Prof. Walter Farber arranged for photos of the Nippur manuscripts at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, to be taken by Andrew Dix. Copies of these two manuscripts were kindly made by Dr. Massimo Maiocchi.

Illustrations and images of this book would not have been possible without the cooperation and help of several colleagues. Many thanks go to: Prof. Antoine Cavigneaux, for granting me permission to reproduce his copies of the Meturan manuscripts; Prof. Mark Geller, who allowed me to reproduce his copy of the Sippar manuscript; Dr. Marie-Christine Ludwig, who gave me permission to reproduce the copies of the Ur manuscripts published in UET 6/3; Dr. Jeremiah Peterson, for providing photos of N50-55 and permission to reproduce his copies of these manuscripts; Dr. Margarete van Ess, who helped me to obtain the photo of the Uruk fragment and allowed me to reproduce its copy; Prof. Nathan Wasserman, who acted as intermediary between myself and Prof. Aaron Shaffers family, so that I could reproduce his copies of the GEN manuscripts he published during his career; Prof. Aage Westenholz, who kindly provided me with his unpublished copy of UET 6/1 60 and gave me permission to reproduce it here; Prof. Dr. Claus Wilcke, who was gracious enough to let me publish his copy of the Isin manuscript.

Profs. Walther Sallaberger and Antoine Cavigneaux offered invaluable suggestions and provided a sounding board where I could test my ideas.

My colleagues at the Department of History, Towson University, also helped bringing this project to a fruitful end: special mention goes to Dr. Kimberly Katz and Dr. Christian Koot, who guided me through the process of applying for a Faculty Development and Research Grant, which financed my research in Philadelphia in the Summer 2011.

This book would not have happened without the steady support of two of my closest friends and colleagues, Dr. Lance Allred and Dr. Alexandra Kleinerman. Dr. Allred read several versions of the manuscript at different stages of its life, and offered invaluable input over the years. Dr. Kleinerman collated the Schyen manuscript in November 2011, took additional photos of it, and read several sections of the book as well.

A final thank goes to my family: to my mother, Marilena Rigon, who more than anyone else told me: Pubblica quel libro. To my maternal grandparents, who steadfastly supported me even when they did not quite understand what I was doing. And to my sister, Arianna Rigon. It is to her, and to my maternal grandfather, Andrea Rigon, that this book is dedicated. Andrea came to the United States in 1953 and brought back stories of a wondrous land. He graduated from elementary school by gifting two chickens to his teacher, and pushed me to get the education he never had. Although he left us two decades ago, he still remains an unsurpassable role model. Arianna arrived in this world when I was on the brink of adulthood, kept me young at heart, tolerated that I moved across the world for my career, and, does not let me forget that I owe her a trip to Greece. Sei la figlia del mio cuore.

Towson, MD, November 2013