Comparing The Epic Of Gilgamesh And Genesis

The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest written epic known to humanity. It sets a baseline and the standard from which all other literature was developed. The Epic of Gilgamesh is very well reflected in the Hebrew Bible through its first book, Genesis. In this paper, I will analyze The Epic of Gilgamesh, Genesis, what they have in common, and their differences.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the earliest Mesopotamia literature pieces. The story is about King Gilgamesh and his journey in finding immortality and what it means to be human. Gilgamesh was king to the city-state of Uruk. He was a very powerful figure to everyone that read his story. The fact that Gilgamesh was shocked that he couldn’t obtain immortality and realized that he will die

After every cedar Humbaba blazed out. He approached them with so much anger that when he got close to Gilgamesh he cried out to him. Humbaba didn’t want Gilgamesh to hurt him. He pleaded to Gilgamesh to let him go with no harm and he would become his servant and build him a palace in exchange. Gilgamesh was moved with the words of Humbaba, but Enkidu contradicted the beast, “If the snared bird returns to its nest, if the captive man returns to his mother's arms, then you my friend will never return to the city where the mother is waiting who gave you birth.” Gilgamesh became influenced by Enkidu and both killed Humbaba. The killing of Humbaba brought Gilgamesh respect when he returned home. When he returned home, Ishtar fell in love with him, but Gilgamesh had no interest. He started insulting her in her behavior with her previous relationships. His comments made Ishtar furious that she cried to her parents and asked her father for the Bull of heaven so Gilgamesh could have a taste of his own actions. The bull was released in the city of Uruk. It killed hundreds of men, but Gilgamesh and Enkidu had the courage and success of killing the Bull. After the death of the Bull, Enkidu had a dream that the Gods said he was no longer needed by the side of Gilgamesh and so it happened. Enkidu laid in his bed very sick

First, one major similarity between both texts is the flood. The flood in both stories are created to wipe out all humans and save only one person. The two survivors in the flood were Utnapishtim and Noah. On the other hand, the differences between the two text are not hard to point out. A few examples are, in the epic of Gilgamesh the story is about a King with a companion that is half man and half beast, there are more than one god that is guiding him through his journey, and the focus is his city of Uruk. In the book of Genesis, the story is about the creation of humans, nature, the four man that each bring something to the earth, and it only talks about one