Comparing Genesis And The Epic Of Gilgamesh

Through the sampling of readings from The Norton Anthology of World Literature book, one could come to the realization that in a majority of those stories, the deities seem to influence or even control the outcomes of the heroes, often in a negative manner. In the first epic, Gilgamesh encounters the gods at various times, and in The Iliad, the gods manipulate the Greeks and the Trojans for their own desires and wants.

Multiple differences are seen in between the two stories of the flood; as stated, a major difference is that Gilgamesh is a an epic told to entertain, when Genesis is a religious text. Another difference is the length of the rains and floods. In The Epic of Gilgamesh the rains only

While mortal characters contain differences that deal with mortality and age, the depiction of higher power and divine characters come in very different forms, but maintain similar overall behaviors. Due to the similarities in behaviors, the major events are depicted very similar and the outcomes are almost identical. The differences in the stories arise simply because of the context in which each story is written. The Epic of Gilgamesh was written in ancient Mesopotamia where religion was extremely polytheistic. The story in The Hebrew Bible is written with a monotheistic mindset. While these religions are different in terms of the number of gods, there are obvious similarities that arise between the divine figures in each story. The gods in The Epic of Gilgamesh represent different personalities and virtues, but there is

People anticipate that the divine beings will watch over them and guard them. Now and again it isn't that the people hope to be protected but, guided somehow. They see the gods as flawless creatures that are all powerful and all knowing. The interaction between the gods and the humans in The Epic of Gilgamesh isn’t hard to identify, “Your appearance is no different from mine; there is nothing strange in your features (Gilgamesh 538)”. There is trust and a mutual dependency between the humans and the gods in The epic of Gilgamesh. Regardless of the undeniable power difference between the two

This relationship between humans and the divine for Genesis is a stark contrast to Gilgamesh’s story. In The Epic of Gilgamesh there isn’t one God, there are multiple gods.

In both Gilgamesh and Noah and the Flood, man’s wickedness leads to death, destruction, and rebirth all caused by billions of gallons of water sweeping the earth’s surface. The flood in both stories destroys most of mankind. The floods represent rebirth and a new beginning for mankind, as well as the gods and God’s wrath. In Gilgamesh the gods decide to destroy mankind by flooding the earth for six days and nights. Utnapishtim is chosen to build a boat in order to restart mankind after the flood. In the Bible God also decides to flood the earth due to the increase in wickedness. God chooses Noah to build an ark and store seven pairs of every clean animal and two of every other kind of animal on it

In both Mesopotamia circa 2100 BCE and Israel circa 367 CE, two very different forms of religion were being practiced. However, key concepts in both religions remain strikingly similar, and in some cases, nearly identical. The relationship between people and their deities is a strong one based entirely on literature, whether that be oral or written. And while this relationship is characterized mainly by love and admiration, fear of and punishment by deities was not an uncommon practice in any religion. The Epic Of Gilgamesh and The David Story both work to prove that the relationship between a people and the divine is characterized by both love for and fear of deities. This relationship based on love and fear directly impacts both the decisions made with the guidance of deities and the punishments inflicted for decisions made without approval of these deities.

Ancient world literature and early civilization stories turn around human’s relationship with higher beings. Ancient civilizations were extremely religious, holding the belief that their very lives were in the hands of their almighty god or goddess. This holds true for both the people of biblical times as well as those of the epic era. However, their stories have some differences according to cultural variation but the main structure, idea and theme are generally found correlative. It is hard to believe that that one work did not affect the others. The first great heroic epic poem of Gilgamesh and the Old Testament are two cultures that are hundreds of years apart. Upon studying the book of Genesis and the story of Gilgamesh; whereas one

Ancient world literature and early civilization stories are mostly centered on human’s relationship with higher beings. Ancient civilizations were extremely religious, holding the belief that their very lives were in the hands of their almighty god or goddess. This holds true for both the people of biblical times as well as those of the epic era. However, their stories have some differences according to cultural variation but the main structure, ideas, and themes are generally found correlative. It is hard to believe that one work did not affect the others. The first great heroic epic poem of Gilgamesh and the Old Testament are parts of two cultures that are hundreds of years apart. Whereas Gilgamesh is a myth and the book of Genesis is

In both books, there are Gods who possess almighty powers on earth. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Enlil, the god of the winds, calls for a flood to end all of mankind because man was too noisy. Similarly, in the Book of Genesis, God calls for a great flood to destroy all mankind because they were sinning. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Ea, the god of wisdom tells Utnapishtim in a dream to tear his house down and build a boat. On the other hand

The Epic of Gilgamesh is a very old poem that may predates back to The Bible. In both poems, there is a flood that takes place and wipes out most of earth’s creation. The God in the Gilgamesh did not really had control of everything because his intention was to wipe all his creations out but there was someone that still survived in it. In The Bible the God had things under control and things went how it was planned. There is a serpent in each of the poem and plays a big role that leads the characters to their downfall. Although the serpents are extremely similar in the poems, they both play an extremely different role.

In the book of Genesis, people worshiped one God and believed him to be the creator of all things. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, they worshiped many Goddesses and one creator. Noah was granted guideline about the surge directly from God, through Utnapishtim and got them in an indirect way within a dream. In the Bible, it showered for forty days and forty nights, but in the Epic of Gilgamesh, it drizzled for six days and six evenings.

Traditional oral and written stories have been passed down throughout history since the beginning of time. Because of the spirituality of the time of the Second Millennium BCE, these narratives usually involved the presence of divinities in certain types of religion. Some chronicles even overlap or have many similarities, like we see in The Epic of Gilgamesh, a collection of Sumerian poetry, and Genesis, a book from the Hebrew Bible. Both narratives explain that the God or Gods of the people living in these separate societies were unhappy and disgusted with how the humans were acting within the natural world. This caused both sets of religious Gods to seek the wipe out of mankind over the entire world through a horrifying flood. The stories end up being similar in the cause of the flood, how the God choose one man to live through the floods, and what happened after the flood because of their shared opinions on how humans were operating within the world they

In The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Bhagavad-Gita, gods play an important role in society and the way of life. In the Bhagavad-Gita, people portray their gods as almighty and perfect beings. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the Mesopotamian people see their gods as imperfect, human-like beings. The way the people depict their gods, determines how long the religion will last and how much power the gods withhold.

The world of the epic seems to be in a setting where the wilds are essentially everywhere and around people; mostly uninhabited and quiet. Gods are more distant and lenient towards humans in the epic on most occasions, but they are more wrathful in their fury. However, they are rather fickle in their judgment; some want to save the humans or some want to wipe them out, they cannot pick so easily. In a lot of cases, the gods favor humans for their effort and at other times, they would be envious of the human’s accomplishments (Sandars). Monsters are less common and more often mistaken for demigods or minor gods. Gilgamesh and Enkidu are demigods made from several gods unlike later Greek heroes, who hail from a single god.