Essay about Three Versions of the Great Flood

Almost every religion in the world has a story about the “Great Flood” which destroys the earth, and each teaches its followers a different story about this disaster. While the Babylonians have the story of Utnapishtim from the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Judeo Christians have Noah from the Bible. Both men save a few people and many animals. In these stories, Noah and Utnapishtim seem to have similar situations, but a further analysis shows how truly different the two stories are.

Have you ever wondered what it was like to live 4,000 years ago? When people feared monsters, giants and Gods? The flood stories of Gilgamesh and Genesis are very similar and happen at about the same time, which means there could be two different people who wrote about the same thing. Both of the stories tell about a huge flood that almost destroyed humanity but in different ways. In both of the stories they each talk about a boat that survives the flood. They both have a God or Gods who control what happens.

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)

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

What is The Great Flood? Throughout history, there have always been works of literature explaining a flood that had taken place, causing the human population to almost be extinct. Genesis and The Epic of Gilgamesh, both containing this very significant and important flood, have many similarities and differences showing their parallels, which include how they were ordered to save the human population, the differences and similarities in the test to find land, and facts about why and how long it lasts. All of these things began to prove the significant parallels within the two well-known works of literature.

creation story.[footnoteRef:5] They suggest several similarities and differences in the flood epic narrative from ancient Mesopotamia and the Genesis narrative[footnoteRef:6] and have attempted to make comparisons between the flood stories in Gilgamesh and Genesis on ?literary grounds?, in terms of flood traditions in both the Hebrew tradition and the Mesopotamian tradition. [4: W. G. Lambert, ?A NEW LOOK AT THE BABYLONIAN BACKGROUND OF GENESIS,? The Journal of Theological Studies 16, no. 2 (1965): 101.] [5: W. G. & A. R. MILLARD LAMBERT, Atra-Hasis: The Babylonian Story of the Flood. With The Sumerian Flood Story by M. Civil (Oxford Clarendon Press, 1970), 101.] [6: Ibid., 25?27.]

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

This term paper compares the flood story in the book of Genesis in the Old Testament of the Bible and the flood story in Gilgamesh. It identifies links

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

The world before the flood was already in turmoil and ruin, enveloped in sin and chaos; it is in this world that Noah’s faith made him the only righteous man. God had entrusted in Noah to complete a very important task that would test his faithfulness to Him. God’s plan was to destroy the world by way of flood as the result of mankind’s misdeeds. He instructed Noah to construct an ark to save his family and all species of animals, two of each kind - male and female. All of them would survive in the ark while God sent down a watery wrath to be swept across the earth, wiping out everything in its path. Noah was obedient; his life revealed qualities of patience and persistence which made him the perfect candidate for the building of the

The story of the great flood is probably the most popular story that has survived for thousands of years and is still being retold today.  It is most commonly related within the context of Judeo-Christian tradition.  In the Holy Bible, the book of Genesis uses the flood as a symbol of God's wrath as well as His hope that the human race can maintain peace and achieve everlasting salvation.  The tale of Noah's Ark begins with God's expression of dismay as to the degenerate state of the human race at the time.  People were behaving wickedly and sinfully and God decided that a genetic cleansing was necessary.  He spared only Noah and his family, along with two of every type of animal; one

The two great floods in both the Gilgamesh story and in the Hebrew Bible have many similarities and have many differences. In both stories the gods planned to destroy the Earth because they did not like the way that people were behaving and felt that they should be punished for their actions. Like the story of Noah in the Hebrew Bible, Utanapishtim was warned by a god that a great flood was coming and that he should build a boat to protect himself, his family and the animals (81). Both gods instructed the two men to build a boat in specific cubit measurements. After both floods they boats landed on the mountains and birds were used to find land. Although these two great flood stories have many similarities they also have a few differences. For instance, in the great flood in Genesis the length of the boat was 300 cubits, the width was 50 cubits and the height was 30 cubits. In Gilgamesh, the boat was ten dozen cubits in height and ten dozen cubits square (82). The two floods also did not last the same amount of time; the flood in Genesis lasted for 40 days and 40 nights whereas the flood in Gilgamesh only lasted for 6 days and 6 nights. The flood in Gilgamesh was not determined by just one God like in the story of Noah, but was determined by a group

Imagine your hometown, whether it would be Rimersburg or Sligo. Now, think about all the bad things that happen in your place and how much yourself and others sin. Could you Imagine what would happen if it were to be flooded? Within the two stories “Genesis” and “Gilglamesh” there is a flood sent to erase sin and wickedness, but like always there are some similarities, just as there are always differences as well.

Firstly, the reason for the floods in both stories involve the wiping out of mankind. In the story of Genesis, God believed the mankind became lawless. “The Lord saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth, and how every plan devised by his mind was nothing but evil all the time.” (Genesis). Although God created mankind, the actions of them did not please him and he no longer believed they were worthy living on earth any longer, which concluded him creating a massive flood to wipe them out. In comparison, the flood story in Gilgamesh shares a similar storyline. The gods believed that the humans were too loud and wild; resulting to their lack of sleep. “In those days the world teemed, the people multiplied, the world bellowed like a wild bull, and the great god was aroused by the clamour.” (The Story of the Flood). Therefore, the flood was constructed to wipe out humankind so that the gods can