The last time we studied the Ancients (4 years ago), I borrowed this Gilgamesh Trilogy from someone.  As I was preparing our materials for this year, I remembered that I had planned to purchase this set for our own library the next time we study the Ancients.

This summer I searched the internet high and low for the best place to purchase these books and was completely shocked and SO disappointed  when I couldn’t find the entire set in a similar style.  One of the three was out of stock and couldn’t be found for under $100 and it was a large hardcover library edition which wouldn’t have matched the other two in the set.  UGH!  Nothing like waiting until something goes out of print or stock before you decide you want it!  Of course, there’s no way was I going to spend that much $$ and those who know me very well at all know that I couldn’t have coped with an unmatched set!  Then, I tried to remember who I had borrowed them from four years ago in the hopes of being able to borrow them again this year so I could at least read them to Nathan if I wasn’t able to purchase them for our own library.  Unfortunately, I had no luck in that regard either!

A few weeks ago I decided to look one last time before moving on.  This time I was very pleasantly surprised to find they were all back in stock at Amazon for their regular price of $8.95 and they qualified for free shipping!  So, I IMMEDIATELY ordered them before there was any chance of them going out of stock again!  They just arrived this week and I can’t wait to read them to Nathan in another week or two when we study Mesopotamia.

This trilogy, written and illustrated by Ludmila Zeman, are the beautifully illustrated and tasteful retelling of the ancient Sumerian legend of Gilgamesh.  The Mesopotamian style art displayed in this book is INCREDIBLE!  You can visit the Toronto Public Library website to view some of the pages from these three books. This website also has some photographs of cuneiform tablets dating to the Babylonian period.