Comparing Gilgamesh And The Bible

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

This is logical to due to the fact that Noah only had his family and animals on the ark, while Uta-napishti has his family, friends, animals, silver and gold, and all valuables needed to reestablish the earth once the floods had passed.

The notion of the flood comes from a varied source in each story. In the Koran it was Noah who asked God to flood the Earth because of man’s sins while in the Bible,

The flood story that is told in The Epic of Gilgamesh has the same principle as the story of Noah told in the book of Genesis in the Bible, but there are some major differences. In the epic,

The Hebrew Flood story of Noah and his obligation to preserve man kind after God had punished all living creatures for their inequities parallels The Epic of Gilgamesh in several ways. Even though these two compilations are passed on orally at different times in history the similarities and differences invoke deliberation when these stories are compared. Numerous underlining themes are illustrated throughout each story. Humans are guilty of transgressions and must be punished, God or Gods send a flood as punishment to destroy this evil race, a person is selected by the gods to build a craft that will withstand the flood and allow this person to create a new race. An

The Epic of Gilgamesh: story of the flood is a story telling of the time when the Sumerian gods flood the Earth hoping to get rid of the annoying humans. Throughout the story, Utnapishtim would be the preserver of life; by building a ship that would carry two of every animal. In Genesis 6-9, the Hebrew God chose to cleanse humanity by flooding the Earth, and in this story Noah would be instructed by the Lord to build an ark and put two of every animal with this ark. These stories of the flood have many differences, one major difference being that The Epic of Gilgamesh is a fictional story of Sumerian gods, while Genesis is a religious book with in the Bible. Although there are many differences between Genesis’ and Gilgamesh’s story of the flood, there are significantly more similarities linking the two stories.

    Genesis of the Old Testament records a worldwide Flood early on in the history of human civilization. Tablet 11of the Sumero-Babylonian version of the epic of Gilgamesh also records a total Flood of the entire earth very early in mankind’s development. Let’s examine the two to determine if one could be the basis for the other.

I saw many similarities between the flood stories of Noah and Gilgamesh .Noah and Gilgamesh were both told to build a boat. Both followed directions and built a large boat in width and length. A big difference that I noticed was that Noah worked on his Ark alone, but Gilgamesh worked with others to build the boat.

In both works there is a Supreme being and a being that has come to the realization that the inhabitants of earth were wicked. Therefore, God in his infinite wisdom destroyed the earth with a flood. However, In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the gods influenced by Enlil were counseled to make the decision to destroy the earth. In the Hebrew Bible, the story of Noah was mentioned briefly detailing God’s punishment on all living creatures for their bitterness correlates in The Epic of Gilgamesh in several ways. Even though these literary works are passed on orally at contrasting times in history the correlations implore deliberation when these stories are compared. Numerous themes are illustrated throughout each story. Humans were found guilty of moral violation and were sentenced by God with flood as punishment to destroy this immoral behavior. An investigation of the inconsistency and similarities of both flood stories exposes the relationship between the Gods and the story’s hero, insight on each culture moral perspective on friendship and values as it applies to the flood, and each story’s common

Both the story of “Noah and the Flood” in the book of Genesis in The Hebrew Bible and the flood story in The Epic of Gilgamesh detail a grand flood in which a man saved life from extinction by building an ark, earning fame and immortality in some form. The theme of completing this grand task for a moral purpose holds true to both stories, but the depiction and actions of the divine and mortal characters in the stories contain different similarities and differences.

The reason of the flood of the in The Epic of Gilgamesh is that the gods are extremely angry because they could not sleep. "The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reasons of the babel" (35). The god’s vindication of destroying mankind seems highly

As opposed to the Biblical version, in Gilgamesh the gods do not mention a reason for the flood, the reader actually learns that most of the Gods apart form Enlil had opposed the idea. Enlil seems to have an arbitrary nature to him which appears earlier when the decision to kill Enkidu had risen, and he chose for Enkidu to die. Unlike Noah Ea’s chosen for his intellect not to any special advantage or virtue. Utnapishtim tells the people that they will have a great harvest of bread and wheat, which in actual fact is a pun, this is due to the similarities of the words in Akkadian. The word “Bread” is very similar to that for “darkness” and “wheat” to “misfortune”. The gods in Gilgamesh regret their action to create the flood, almost instantaneously, as they as Gods rely on the sacrifices made by the people for their nourishment. The offerings made to Utnapishtim are the first to be eaten since the flood

God said to Noah, “And I behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your seed after you; and with every living creature with you. And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there anymore be a flood to destroy the earth.” That’s when God made an everlasting covenant between himself and every living creature of all flesh on earth. Even though, in the story of Gilgamesh, the Gods decided that it was wrong to punish mankind, they still did not make a covenant with man. Instead of making a pact with humans they granted immorality to Utnapishtim and his wife. In both stories they settled the flood in different ways separating the stories.

In the book of Genesis, the story, “Noah and the Flood”, is about a man named Noah who walked with God when nobody else did. The story begins with a summary of humans multiplying on earth after the creation of Adam and Eve. God soon recognized the evil that was taking over man. He started to regret his creation of man. God said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them.” The only man that still had faith in God, was Noah. God told Noah that “the end of all flesh is come before me…”. He plans to wipe the earth of all life, and Noah and his family are the only people who will survive. Noah is then responsible for building an ark, a ship for his family, and two of every kind of animal on the planet, both female and male. Once Noah finishes, God warns him that the waters will be coming. After seven days, “the waters of the flood were upon the earth”. They then “prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days”, and any remaining life on earth was diminished.

Everything happens for a reason, and even gods are included in this rule of thumb. In both stories, clear reasons are laid out for the floods. The gods in Utnapishtim’s story flood the earth because they are simply annoyed with the people and decide it is time for a great flood. While in the Bible, God floods the earth because of the pure wickedness that resides in the human race. The common thread between the flood’s purpose is human fault. The gods in the stories both decide to send a flood because of the way humans have turned out, and the gods are not happy with the way the people act. Though it is human flaw that causes the floods, different flaws cause each flood. In Utnapishtim’s story, he is chosen to survive and he has to tell the leaders “You have learned that Enil the was god despised you and will not give you access to the city anymore,” and “For this Ea will bring the rains.” This means that the