Gilgamesh Flood Essay

Comparing the Great Flood in Epic of Gilgamesh and the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark Many of the same ancient stories can be found in different cultures. Each story differs in a small way, but the general idea remains synonymous. One story that is paralleled in several cultures is the legend of a great flood. The epic of Gilgamesh resembles the Bible’s story of Noah’s Ark, but specific details differ in several aspects.      The story of Gilgamesh originates from twelve fire-hardened,

Flood Narrative (Genesis 6-9) vs. Epic Gilgamesh, Tablet XI 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. In both texts, each of the main characters, Noah and Uta-napishti, were ordered to build an ark or a boat due to an incoming

Another similarity is the fall of man and the search for everlasting life. The snake is represented in both of the stories. Gilgamesh is searching for everlasting life, and the everlasting life is within a flower. Gilgamesh finds the flower but is confronted by the snake and drops it. However, in Genesis, a snake confronted Adam and Eve. It was Eve who would not have even thought about eating the forbidden fruit without the snake tempting her. She then turns around and offers the fruit to Adam. This

do myths that have overlapping ideas verify actual historical truths and similar culture between origins of myths? Almost all myths around the world have the particular section on the “Great Flood.” It has been universal, indicating that at some point in their lifetime, all of the cultures experienced a flood that almost wiped

mind was nothing but evil all the time”(Noah and the flood pg.171). “ The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the babel” (the Epic of Gilgamesh pg.147). Both stories from two different cultures but despite the differences in the heroes, their gods, and the flood stories in “Noah and the Flood” and “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” both of these stories appear to refer to the same historical event the great flood. The heroes in the two stories are heroes in different

The Flood of the Bible and the Flood of Gilgamesh       The story of Noah’s Ark, as told in the old testament, tells how God punished the world because it had become corrupt. God accomplished this by flooding the world, and annihilating all the creatures upon it, except for Noah and his family and a pair of each type of creature on the earth. Each decade, more insight is gained into the origin of the flood story. Based on the information available at the present time, one could argue that the

Epic of Gilgamesh left the ark when he felt as though it was safe (Gilgamesh 146). This is most likely something that the monotheistic Hebrew people changed because it shows a greater reliance on God. Alexander Heidel agrees stating that “the biblical story is pervaded by the spirit of complete submission to the will of God …while the Babylonian traditions reveal something of the spirit of self-determination and self-reliance” (Heidel 254). Once the survivors of flood in The Epic of Gilgamesh leave

of a family surviving a flood to repopulate the rest of the world. This idea is present in the Bible, in the Gilgamesh epic, to even the Chinese. I will argue that mythological journeys across culture demonstrate a reoccurring flood theme. The first flood myth recorded was in the Gilgamesh epic. Gilgamesh was a demigod who sought after immortality after his best friend Enkidu dies. During this quest he aims to find Utnapishtim, the one man that survived the great flood of the gods. According to

belief, the selection and utilization of humans by the higher power changes slightly between each myth. The Epic of Gilgamesh contains an apocalyptic myth where a god indirectly chooses a survivor to rescue the human race, and he receives a blessing from the gods in return for his bravery and success. In the epic about ancient Mesopotamian religion, Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh the story of how he became immortal after surviving the gods’ downpour. Utnapishtim lived on the banks of the Euphrates

some myths that are part of religious traditions that are passed down from generation to generation. Flood myths were most likely created to scare people or to tell people how God or Gods gave them a do-over. Despite bearing some minor similarities the differences between the Bible, The Epic Gilgamesh, and Navajo flood story are clear. 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