Comparing the Epic of Gilgamesh Flood Myth and Book of Genesis Biblical Flood Myth

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.

In Chapter 7, we see that God’s word is true. He upholds his judgment and the great flood begins.(7:6) Here the all-powerful destroyer is portrayed, for all earthly life is eliminated except that inside the Ark. God’s word is also true in His remembrance of the covenant formed with Noah, by stopping the flood.(8:1)

Gilgamesh was said to be written around 3300 to 2990 B.C., while the Bible was said to be written around the 6th century B.C. The Bible has around 40 contributors, but only one real author, which is God. According to the authors of “Who Were the Authors”, “Humanly speaking, the Bible was written by approximately 40 men of diverse backgrounds over the course of 1500 years.” God guided these men to write this piece of literature for future Christians. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew while the New Testament was originally written in Greek. No specific person has ever been named to be the author of Gilgamesh, which was written in cuneiform, as it is one of the oldest pieces of literature in the world. Pictured in Figure 1, is one of the original tablets. The Bible and the Epic of Gilgamesh can be compared in many ways; however, the most common way is by the similarities and differences in the floods that occur. “This [Gilgamesh] story contains the closest parallels to the biblical account…” writes Lloyd Bailey. Both Gilgamesh and the Bible have two big floods that change humanity in more ways than one. To really understand and compare the floods in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible, both pieces of literature need to be thoroughly examined in every way that their natural disasters are similar and different: the creators and their reasons for making the floods, the hero of the flood, the period of grace, the two arks and their passengers, and the bird scene.

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 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,

Lorey, F. 1997. The Flood of Noah and the Flood of Gilgamesh. Acts & Facts. 26 (3) Web. 4 Feb. 2014. When reading the story, someone can take many different viewpoints. In the article above, the author is analyzing the Epic of Gilgamesh through a creationists view point.

There is no reason given by Utnapishtim for the deluge. On the contrary, the Judaic version of the Flood in Genesis states in 6:5-8 a very clear, explicit reason for the Flood:

God notes that man’s sin brought God’s judgement on the world through a global flood (Egolf & Santopietro, p. 7). God instructed Noah to build a massive ark. Noah was to take his family and relatives of the animal kingdom into the ark, where they would be safe (Bollinger, p. 8) The Bible states in Genesis 6:15-16, “And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its

Enlil, the god of winds, calls for a flood that will kill all mankind. Ea, the god of wisdom and magic, tells Utnapishtim in a dream, “O Man of Shuruppak, son of Ubar-Tutu, Wreck house, build boat, Forsake possessions and seek life, Belongings reject and save life! Take aboard the boat seed of all living things. The boat you shall build, let her dimensions be measured out: let her width be equal, roof her over like the watery depths (Pg.81 lines 24-31).” To emphasize, Utnapishtim need to tear down his house and build a boat that will save living creatures and the boat should be equal length with a roof.

The similarities between in the flood in Gilgamesh and the Old Testament were that each of their God was flooding the whole world. That the reason in both story for the flood was because they were sinning and behaving bad. The flood was also for all mankind in both story. They both had a favorite person who their God like, in Genesis it was Noah and in Gilgamesh it was Utnapishtim. They were both ordered to build a boat.

In this account of a great flood, Utnapishtim, a Sumerian man, constructs a massive vessel to save his household from the disastrous flood sent by the gods. In addition to stories written about these climatic catastrophes, there are also firsthand accounts of these events, such as Hekanakhte’s Household, a series of letters from Hekanakhte, an Egyptian priest, to his family. In this account of the famines in Egypt, Hekanakhte sets rations for his family so that they will not starve during this period of scarcity. In both of these societies, Egypt and Sumer, there are stories and accounts of cataclysmic events in which civilizations and individuals responded and adapted to environmental change similarly and differently, with Egypt’s Hekanakhte rationing food to protect his household during a famine and Sumer’s Utnapishtim building a vessel to protect his household from an impending

Noah and Utnapishtim were both righteous men. They were both told to build a boat and they both complained about it. The flood was a result of man’s wickedness. Utnapishtim said “the world teemed, the people multiplies, the world bellowed like a wild bull, and the great god was aroused by the clamour”. The noise was so harsh that they agreed to “exterminate mankind”. Genesis states that “the earth was filled with violence” and that the world was “corrupt” . So God told Noah that “the end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth”. The difference here is the way that the way the gods/Gods got the idea to destroy the Earth. Since man was sinning and making all

About 2700 to 2000 BC, a literary tradition developed in Sumer, one in which left an enduring imprint on the people around them and after. The greatest Mesopotamian literature, The Epic of Gilgamesh, became the forerunner of the Genesis account of the Great Flood. The gods sent the flood to destroy the people because of their continuous babble. But they warned Utnapishtim to build a boat with specific dimensions, this saved him and his family. The human race began again through him. The gods had ultimate control and could end humanity whenever they wanted.

The accounts of the floods that destroyed the world due to the sins and wickedness of humans are similar and different in many important ways. Historians and scholars in religious studies have conducted comparative studies to examine both flood accounts. According to Fleming and Sara, the tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh that contained the account of the Flood wrote that Utnapishtim was commanded to build a ship that would be big enough to weather the

Throughout human existence, different cultures share stories that may have many meanings; from explaining why mankind exists to how a hero defeats a forest monster. Two well known stories are Genesis and Gilgamesh. Both stories contain a part where there is a flood that wipes out mankind. Although two different stories, the flood story from Genesis and the flood story from Gilgamesh share a plethora of similarities that connect the two stories. Some key similarities include the cause of the flood, the animals on the boat, and the way of how each hero in the two stories find dry land.