Abstract
Whether originally the product of an oral tradition or of a scribal one or of a combination of the two, the Epic of Gilgamesh is a powerful literary composition. Perhaps we should be satisfied with just reading and appreciating the composition in its extant versions. Elsewhere, I have studied selected episodes as well as the central meaning of several recensions. 1However, I still find myself drawn to the question of beginnings and curious to know how the earliest version of the epic was composed and what lay behind its earliest form.