Flood Vs Gilgamesh

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.

Throughout the Genesis Flood, Atrahasis Flood and the Epic of Gilgamesh flood, there are many different ways to interpret the different views of The Flood. These different narratives in these stories have their own explanation on how this myth took place and the different beliefs that occurred during this flood. The way you portray each narrative is based on what exactly your beliefs are.

     The two main stories largely discussed are the Genesis and Gilgamesh flood stories. Although different in regards to the details, the main plot is similar between the two stories from two different civilizations. Because of this similarity, many

Comparing the Great Flood in Epic of Gilgamesh and the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark

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.

In particular the two men’s journeys differ. For example, Gilgamesh goes on a journey to find glory and, immortality. When Gilgamesh meets Enkidu, his friend, Gilgamesh decides he wants to go on a quest to “make a name for himself”(tablet 5.4). Gilgamesh later goes on another journey to find immortality after his friend Enkidu dies. Gilgamesh becomes scared of death and wants to find the God Utnapishtim and his wife for immortality. Utnapishtim built an arch to survive the great flood and is the only one who knows how to gain eternal life since he survived the great flood. Gilgamesh finds Utnapishtim and Utnapishtim tells him to “stay awake for six days and seven nights, and he too will become immoral” (tablet 11.7). Gilgamesh did not have success staying awake, instead, he falls asleep for six days and seven nights. Utnapishtim believes that Gilgamesh will lie saying he did stay awake, so Utnapishtim’s wife “bakes a loaf of bread every day and lays the loaf at Gilgamesh’s feet”(tablet 11.7). Gilgamesh realizes that immortality is unlikely going to happen, so he accepts his fate and writes his story on a stone in from of his wall protecting his city. On the other hand, Moses goes on a different journey to lead the people of Egypt to a new place, Canaan. Moses is very humble and is not the leader type. For example, Moses is chosen by God to become a leader. God gives Moses supernatural powers to

The floods in The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis 6-9 are very similar. In both the flood were sent to wipe out all humankind. Both floods however could be seen as symbols as a rebirth or a new beginning to what was see by God and the gods as a crumbling world. Both heroes in the story were chosen to build a boat to save a

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

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,

In the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’ and ‘The Biblical Flood Story’ have a very similar plot line, but many several key differences. In both stories a flood occurs, which were caused by the God/s( This shows that in Gilgamesh they were polytheistic while in the Biblical version they were monotheistic. ) to destroy the people of the earth. For both flood stories, a specific person is chosen to build an arc but for different reasons. In the Biblical story, Noah builds the arc due to his righteous character but in Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim built the arc to save himself. Later on in both stories birds are released making them seem very similar. In the end, the stories are separated because of the covenants

There are many similarities between the flood account in Gilgamesh and the flood in the Bible beginning most importantly with a God choosing a “righteous” man to build a boat or ark to avoid the great flood that will wipe out the wickedness and sin. In both accounts, a couple of each animal species were taken to be on the ark and after the flood birds were used to try to find dry land. Also, the gods or God promised not to destroy humankind again. Another story that is relatable is Harry Potter. In both stories, the hero starts out in his ordinary world for Harry that’s under the stairs and Gilgamesh’s kingdom of Uruk.

The heroes in the two stories are heroes in different way but also similar ways. Utnapishtim from “the Epic of Gilgamesh” and Noah from “Noah and the Flood” had the same start in become a hero they both were chosen by their god to build an ark and survive the flood because they are both willing to do anything for their god. In “Noah and the flood” “Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age; Noah walked with

The tales of Gilgamesh and Noah are as memorable as they are incredible. They materialize the beliefs of two cultures telling very similar yet very different stories. Gilgamesh, a mighty warrior overwhelmed by grief of his passed friend, went an an epic adventure to find the secret of eternal life. Noah, a morally right and genuine man saved the future of the entire human race and every animal through great endurance and faith. The personality traits, reasons for journeys, and stories of origin of each myth have a plentiful amount of both commonalities and diversities.

When examining the story of the Biblical flood, it is essential to point out that there are other flood stories in Ancient Near Eastern cultures. In fact, there are up to sixty-eight different cultures with stories of a great flood! It is important for one to see how each flood story affects and influences one another. For example, it is evident that the Babylonian culture influenced the writer of the Biblical flood story, which was made hundreds of years after the making of the Babylonian story. One of the greatest examples of this is in “The Epic of Gilgamesh”, a Babylonian story that includes the tale of Utnapishtim, a man some would like to say is similar to the character Noah in a few ways. Both men are ultimately called upon by a being