Essay Comparing The Bible And The Epic Of Gilgamesh

In Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim is chosen to survive the great flood because he too is faithful to his lord, God Ea. They each prepare for their journey by building a large boat, and bringing with them two of every animal and their families. Noah’s ark is thirty cubits high, and three stories while Utnapishtim’s boat is two hundred feet tall, with six

God gave specific instructions on how and what to make the ark out, what to bring on the ark and the specific number of each type if animal to bring on the ark.

The Bible states that Noah took only his family members and two of each animal. In the Epic of Gilgamesh it is said that Utnapishtim took not only family members but others as well including craftsmen and a pilot for the boat. Utnapishtim also took some of every species of animal with him because he was told to do so in his dream.

Legends of a great flood exist in the records of many cultures: the Middle East, Asia, South America. One Babylonian document in particular, “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” parallels the story of Noah and the flood. The Bible presents the flood as an act of God against rebellious people, not merely an accident of geography or climate. The churning waters described stand as a

Both Gilgamesh and Noah build arks because of an impending devastation of the earth by rain and flooding. Shamash had warned, "In the evening, when the rider of the storm sends down the destroying rain, enter the boat and batten her down." (p. 147) God told Noah, "For in seven days' time I will make it rain upon the earth, forty days and forty nights, and I will blot out from the earth all existence that I created." (p. 172) Both boats were built to detailed specifications in order to withstand the torrents of rain. Following the cessation of the rain, both Noah and Gilgamesh send out birds as a test of the recession of the waters so that they can safely exit onto the land. Gilgamesh sends first a dove, then a swallow, and then a raven, who, "…saw that the waters had retreated, she ate, she flew around, she cawed, and she did not come back." (p. 148) Noah first sends a raven which, "…went to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. " (p. 173) He then sends a dove that returns to the ark having found no resting place. After seven days Noah again sends the dove which returns with an olive leaf in its bill. "Then Noah knew that the waters had decreased on the earth. He waited still another seven days and sent the dove forth; and it did not return to him any more." (p. 173) Both Noah and Gilgamesh, immediately upon leaving their boats, make a sacrifice. Gilgamesh says, "Then I threw everything open to

In the story of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the gods create Enkidu, a being who runs wild with the animals. Enkidu gets created as a companion of Gilgamesh. The story shares similarities with the biblical story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis. The similarity of Enkidu’s movement from culture to civilization and how Adam got expelled from the Garden of Eden include: - In both stories a woman is responsible for the transformation of a man from a wildlife into a civilized life. In the Epic, Enkidu is rejected by the animal world after having sex with a harlot; the harlot Shamash ends up giving him clothes (Dolansky 34). The act shows how women had equal privileges as men. The woman further teaches Enkidu to drink beer and eat bread. The two last actions show technological developments relating to a civilized man. On the other hand in the story of Genesis, the woman (Eve) is tempted by the serpent. She ends up convincing Adam to eat the fruit from the tree of Knowledge. In the Bible, a woman acted as a companion to man, while in the epic they mainly aided men.

     The search for proof of a great flood has been going on for decades. Based primarily in the Middle East, the search begins with questioning history for any detail that may suggest there was a flood. Then they must ask what conditions are necessary for causing a flood of the magnitude described in the Gilgamesh Epic, or that may have seemed as large to the people affected by it. If these conditions were indeed met, what scientific evidence do we have that could prove it really happened?

First of all, the reason for the flood presented in The Epic of Gilgamesh is not quite exactly the same as the reason in the Old Testament. Although the gods in The Epic of Gilgamesh were angry with the people, Noah’s God knew the people were wicked, full of violence, and deserved the flood. It was not altogether the same circumstances. The gods in the story of Gilgamesh were simply annoyed with the people. In the story, Ea gave Utnapishtim a message to give to the people of Shurrupak saying, “you had learned that Enlil the war god despises you and will not give you access to the city anymore,” (Tablet XI.) This message that Utnapishtim would deliver to the people of Shurrupak would express the annoyance of the gods towards them all. The gods

He then sent out a dove that came back without anything. A week later Noah sent the dove out again, and the dove returned with an olive branch. The next week the dove did not return to the ark. After a year and ten days of being in the ark, Noah and his family emerged with the animals. Noah sacrificed some of the animals to God, and God was so pleased he vowed to never destroy all of the living creatures with a flood again. The rainbow that appeared was like the signature to an agreement that he would never do it again. The animals ran wild and began to produce and God told Noah’s family to repopulate the earth (Genesis 6-9).

Although the stories are similar they are not identical. In Genesis God sent the Flood to destroy humankind because of man’s wickedness. Unlike The Gilgamesha where the reason was never said however the sender of the flood was a secret council of gods the idea was brought up by Enlil , the god of earth wind and air. God favored Noah because he was a righteous man therefore, he was chosen to build the ark that was three hundred cubits long, fifty cubit wide, and thirty cubits high, about three stories. Utnapishtim was chosen out of the cleverness of Ea, the god of wisdom and crafts. God came directly to Noah to tell him about the Flood where as Ea was swore to secrecy so “he repeated their plans to the reed fence” so he would no break the oath to the group. The boat Utnapishtim was directed to build was a rectangle shaped measuring one acre and about 6 stories high. When the floor came in Gilgamesh it was only rainwater however the Flood in Genesis was rain water as well as ground water. Both floods did indeed wipe out all of humankind but the did not last equal as long. After the flood Utnapishtim was gifted the gift of eternal life where as Noah was to multiply and have rule over the animals.

The Great Floods Ways of writing and how stories are passed down have change throughout history; many can be compared. The ‘Tale of the Flood’ from the “Epic of Gilgamesh” and ‘The Story of the Flood’ from the Old Testament are two comparable stories. The impact both stories had on people all over the world was tremendous. Both stories have had an influence on the way communities have changed their oral traditions.

Some people and historians have claimed that the biblical story of the flood and Noah’s ark was influenced by the flood of Gilgamesh. The flood of Gilgamesh and the Biblical story of the flood in Genesis showed similar characteristics, but the Biblical flood was not influenced by ancient readings in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Noah’s ark was influenced by God in the Bible, compared to the flood in the Epic of Gilgamesh where it is written on clay tablets influenced by many gods and goddesses. The biblical flood is taught today as a place in religion throughout Christian teaching, where the Epic of Gilgamesh is based off stories found in the 18th Century in an ancient library called Nineveh (Lorey). Despite the two accounts being so similar in context, there are some differences as well confirming the clear distinction between the two.

Much like the Biblical story of Noah, there were orders to build a boat, to house all creatures, and have an outcome of gods regretting the flood. As an apology, Utnapishtim was granted immortality. Gilgamesh begs for a way to reach eternal life. Being almost a god, Utnapishtim promises that if he can pass a test of staying up for a week, he can live together. Gilgamesh fails because “Noah” puts a spell on him to fall asleep immediately.

In The Story of the Flood it took him seven days to finish the boat. Then in Genesis 6:9-8:23 God said that he would send the rain in seven days. Also in Genesis 6:9-8:23 it put more emphasis on the cubic diameter of the ark, in the other narrative they put more of an emphasis on how the boat was made and what is consisted of. In the narrative of The Story of the Flood it explains how even the gods were terrified of the flood that they fled to the highest heaven. (76) But both of the narratives they brought their families and some animals. Noah was only allowed on set of each animal one male and one female. While in the other narrative they stated, “take up into the boat the seed of all living creatures.” (71) During the flood there were many differences, in The Story of the Flood the attention was more set on the darkness of the flood and how the Queen of Heaven stated “Alas the days of old are turned to dust because I commanded evil; why did I command this evil in the council of all the Gods? I commanded wars to destroy the people, but are they not my people, for I brought them forth? Now like the spawn of fish they float in the ocean.” (72) Also stated in the both of the narratives the wind blew to have the floods subside. They also both seen the tops of the mountains. They both also set forth birds to see if the floods were

After the passing of several months, God allowed the waters to be subsided and the ark settled onto the Mountains of Ararat. However, science proves many things to be ultimately impossible within this story. According to Mallowan’s article, this Old Testament story was primarily used for pointing to a moral: “that God set out to punish man for his incorringible sins, but that he saved one family which was innocent, and that after the Flood a Covenant was made promising that the earth would never again be visited by such a catastrophe.”(Mallowan) Simply because, this flood derived from the Old Testament could never have actually happened. Mallowan first discredits the ancient story with the disbelief of the boat itself. According to an abundance of sources, Babylonian ships very rarely exceeded a capacity of one hundred tons; so how did a completely inexperienced Noah do so? (Mallowan) Yet, even if Noah did create this gigantic ark beyond his capabilities, a flood from the Black Sea could never be worldwide. While many archaeologists and geologists have certainly discovered evidence for various floods, they all have a stopping point – none of them have ever come close to covering the entire Earth. (Wilensky-Lanford) More importantly, a significant issue arises when one questions the origin of such excess of water and where it went after it receded. Whitcomb and Morris proposed a theory of vapor canopy, that “much of the Flood water was