“The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the babel.’ So the gods agreed to exterminate mankind.” (“Epic of Gilgamesh” 146). This quote describing an extreme punishment is an excerpt of a 4,000 year old epic, describing a story about a god-like man journeying in the search of immortality who learns of a flood that nearly eliminates mankind (Introduction 136). Similar to the “Epic of Gilgamesh” flood narratives, “Noah and the Flood” depicts a faithful believer who is advised to create a boat harboring those faithful to God. By examining the heroes’ characteristics and relationships, theology, and situations of the two stories, it becomes apparent they refer to the same event.
The heroes and their relationships with Gods appears very similar when examining the two stories. “He touched our foreheads to bless us saying, ‘In time past Utnapishtim was a mortal man; henceforth he and his wife shall live in the distance at the mouth of the rivers.” (Epic of Gilgamesh 148). Utnapishtim is rewarded here for being a faithful believer and adherent to Ea’s advice. His adherence grants Utnapishtim an extremely lengthy lifespan. The hero in “Noah and the Flood”, demonstrates a similar relationship. “Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age; Noah walked with God.” (Noah and the Flood 171). These two heroes depicted in the stories are faithful to their Gods. They also each have an extensive lifespan; Utnapishtim who is rumored to be
In each of these stories there was a great flood. In the flood story in the Bible the purpose was to kill all air-breathing animals and all the sinful humans that lived on land. In the Bible Noah was told to build an ark and take his family and two of each animal with him. The flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh had a very similar reason but the Gods were meaning to kill human and animal. Ea tells Utnapishtim to build a boat and take only himself and two of each animal, but he ends up taking his workers, family, and a lot of things that he was not suppose to. In the Navajo flood story the flood was not to kill all of mankind, it was to get the sea monsters baby back. Unlike the first
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
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
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
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
Another similarity seen between both of the myths is presentation of a selected family to survive the flood by receiving a warning. This group is responsible for the repopulation of the planet and salvation of the animals. For example, in The Voice, The Flood, and The Turtle, the voice states: “Now you have everything you need. Now you can live. Now you have children and form a new generation.” In the story of Genesis, God believes Noah and is family are the only ones who deserved to live because they did not act in the same fashion as their peers. Once the flood passes, God says: “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.” Genesis and
The differences they had in both story were Noah was told by God to build a boat while Utnapishtim
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.
Although the plots are similar, the details included in the stories have numerous differences. To begin, when Noah receives warning about the flood and directions about how to build and fill the ark, he receives the message directly from God. When Utnapishtim receives his message, Ea indirectly sends it through a dream.
The Flood Narrative (Genesis 6-9) and the Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet XI have certain parallels that are undeniable, yet many noticeable differences. The parallels are strange yet oddly common in any flood narrative and the differences often lie behind the reasons, responses, and decisions made by the main characters.
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.
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
The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Story of the Flood in Genesis has its differences and similarities, even though Gilgamesh was
To me, the similarities between the Greek myth, the Babylonian poem Atrahasis and the Old Testament story about the Noah’s Arc can be explained by the same theory of the speculation of the linguistic similarity. First of all, these three myths accidently mentioned the Flood by chance. One of the conjectures is the myth poets were inspired by an accident, perhaps not as horrible as a flood, happened that time, and overstated the story with different propose such as ecclesiolatry. The second possibility is the Flood myth can be also explained by the borrowing of the story. Since the myths all mentioned gods’ power and control over human, it is mostly likely that churches in these countries plagiarized the idea of the Flood and used it to consolidate
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