> The Epic of Gilgamesh, in its tablet form, is both fragmentary and rather wooden in translation. It is very difficult to derive meaning from it when read in isolation: you practically have to be an Ancient Near Eastern scholar to fully grasp the context in which it was written and appreciate it.

I think this basic point is true of all literature. Here's an example of some quite effective non-wooden prose from a nineteenth-century translation of the Iliad:

> the seer spoke boldly. "The god," he said, "is angry neither about vow nor hecatomb [a sacrifice], but for his priest's sake, whom Agamemnon has dishonoured, in that he would not free his daughter nor take a ransom for her; therefore has he sent these evils upon us, and will yet send others. He will not deliver the Danaans from this pestilence till Agamemnon has restored the girl without fee or ransom to her father, and has sent a holy hecatomb to Chryse. Thus we may perhaps appease him."

> With these words he sat down, and Agamemnon rose in anger. His heart was black with rage, and his eyes flashed fire as he scowled on Calchas and said, "Seer of evil, you never yet prophesied smooth things concerning me, but have ever loved to foretell that which was evil. You have brought me neither comfort nor performance; and now you come seeing among Danaans, and saying that Apollo has plagued us because I would not take a ransom for this girl, the daughter of Chryses. I have set my heart on keeping her in my own house, for I love her better even than my own wife Clytemnestra, whose peer she is alike in form and feature, in understanding and accomplishments. Still I will give her up if I must, for I would have the people live, not die; but you must find me a prize instead, or I alone among the Argives shall be without one. This is not well; for you behold, all of you, that my prize is to go elsewhere."

The context within the Iliad itself is basically just this. Calchas divines that the Greeks are faring poorly in battle because Agamemnon has offended the gods by refusing to ransom the daughter of a priest. To make up for this error, Apollo requires Agamemnon to return the girl to her father without asking for a ransom at all.

The text also mentions that Calchas fears for his life when he delivers this message, and he makes Achilles swear to protect him before he's willing to interpret the will of the gods. As we see here, Agamemnon does indeed go wild with rage when he hears what Calchas says. Because of Achilles' oath to protect Calchas, he settles on picking a non-physical fight with Achilles instead, which is what leads Achilles to storm off in a huff and precipitates the rest of the events in the story.

From the text, this is a pretty staggering overreaction on Agamemnon's part. He was wrong, everyone knows it, and he's not losing all that much. But there's more context present in the mythological background that everyone in the intended audience would have been familiar with.

The army of the Greeks didn't have many seers. Calchas was responsible for divining the will of the gods across the entire expedition. And in particular, there had been a difficulty right at the outset, when unfavorable winds prevented the Greek ships from setting out to sea. This obviously divine phenomenon had to be dealt with, Calchas was called upon, and he provided the answer: the winds were sent by Artemis because Agamemnon had once offended her. Until he appeases Artemis, the army cannot set sail, and Artemis demands the sacrifice of the most valuable thing Agamemnon received in the year he committed the offense. Since Agamemnon is suffering under a curse, this turns out to be his now-adult daughter, Iphigenia.

That context makes it crystal clear why Agamemnon might be expected to simply jump up and murder Calchas after he produces a second prophecy saying that Agamemnon needs to make up for offending the gods. He's still sore over... being forced to sacrifice his own daughter! How could he not be?

And I think that background adds quite a bit to the scene. But we can't expect every text to include all the relevant cultural background. There's too much.