One of the main similarities between these two stories is the fact that there are god(s) involved in the creation of life on earth. Even though Genesis says that there is one god and Popol Vuh says there are many, both stories are about the trial and error the gods face while trying to create humanity. The god in Genesis makes the mistake of letting Adam and Eve roam free in the Garden of Eden assuming they will not eat from the tree of knowledge. Of course, they eat from the tree, with encouragement from a serpent, and were banned from the garden. Later on in the story, “God saw the wickedness of man”(Genesis 70), and so there could be a fresh start, God decided to kill all humans, besides Noah and his ark, with a flood.
Sometimes, human beings can become murderers or monsters to each other when driven by their inner feelings. In the play "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street," a normal neighborhood in the USA, we can see how suspicion among the residents leads to cruelty toward one another. It starts with a resident's car starting up without him there, and suspicion rises to the point where people start yelling, throwing things, and even shooting. Through suspicion, blame, and violence, we can see how human beings can act irrationally and self-destruct when they are driven by fear or panic.
In the “Epic of Gilgamesh” and “The Odyssey” by Homer, all the gods are portrayed as being very near, and having a very close relationship with the mortals. The authors showed this through their interactions, even though each epic portrayed a unique mode of interaction between the gods and the mortals. For instance, in the “Epic of Gilgamesh,” this interactions are mostly indirect, whereas in Homer’s Odyssey, they are direct. Another thing the authors tried to show is that the gods are limited in their powers, at least some of them. The authors portrayed this through the gods favoring or disfavoring certain mortals.
Even though both The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis are similar in that they all use the floods for a destruction, both the stories are different from each other in the distribution of roles within the gods and a way to warn the extermination from the gods. First, the similarity between The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis is the relevance with the flooding that used to exterminate the human. To prove the occurrence of the flood, chapter 5 of The Epic of Gilgamesh records, “For six days and six nights the winds blew, torrent and tempest and flood overwhelmed the world, tempest and flood raged together like warring hosts (line 62-63, p. 21)”. Also in Genesis, the text “The waters flooded the earth for a hundred
In comparison, it’s always observed on how different scholars find the similarity of especially marital settings, characters, and as well as the wanderings of the mythological world. Different events within the life of these characters cover broadly a huge range of epic encounters that are heroic. The character, emotional and psychological development of Gilgamesh can be borrowed especially from the ancient heroic perspectives of mortality and death while comparing with Achilles. Mesopotamian civilization has had several phases in which hero Gilgamesh has been in existence, however having similar attributes. One of the earliest stories of Gilgamesh is developed from Sumerian texts, one of the most influential and well-known poems (Michelakis & Pantelis 2007).
The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible have a few similar events and historians think that they may refer to the same event. The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible share a similar event, the flood, and a similar character, the serpent. Though there are still several distinctions between the two stories. The Bible and the Epic of Gilgamesh both contain a serpent as one of the less significant characters.
But still there are certain differences that can be drawn between them. The epic of Gilgamesh depicts the Sumerian culture and on the other hand iliad poem is set in ancient Greek culture. Even though they both grieve for the loss of their best friends, the main contrast is in how they react with this loss. Both Achilles and Gilgamesh were worried about the mortality and did not wanted to die at once in their life.
Noah’s Ark: Voyage for the Truth The Genesis Flood is an extraordinary event that occurred thousands of years ago. Approximately 4,800 years ago, God decided to flood the Earth in order to cleanse the world of sin. God gave Noah the task of building a gigantic vessel large enough to hold two of every species in the world.
The Epic of Gilgamesh: Relevant Truth for Today’s Society The Epic of Gilgamesh is set in Uruk, an ancient city of the ancient Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer, now modern-day Iraq. The epic was said to be written by Sin-liqe-unninni, but it is based on five earlier Sumerian poems with no known author. The piece was difficult to translate, and there are two main version for the Epic of Gilgamesh. This is the result of the environment during the time the piece was being written.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest story known to mankind, being written on Sumerian clay almost five thousand years ago (Garone). Since the story was originally known orally, the culture and themes from The Epic of Gilgamesh must have existed long before it was finally inscribed (Mark 4). Having known this, the cultures and themes can be compared to today’s society, discovering about how they have shifted and evolved, and also observe how they are similar. The ancient days of Gilgamesh has brought culture that has greatly influenced today’s society. Because Gilgamesh was set around the time of late Babylonian or early Sumerian society, the Babylonian and Sumerian cultures also play a role in shaping the world into what is is today (Mark).
In the following readings, Genesis and The Epic of Gilgamesh, women are perceived as subjects towards men. For example, in Genesis the first woman to be created by God is Eve and in The Epic of Gilgamesh the harlot Shamhat. Both characters are subjected to obey men in a point of their stories because it is the norm of the society of which these texts are written in. Even though both texts were written in the same part of the world, modern middle east, Genesis is the creation story of earth that was written in modern day middle east during Babylonian Exile of the 6th century BC, while The Epic of Gilgamesh was, however written in a different time, dating back to c. 2000 BC. Genesis was written before The Epic of Gilgamesh, which means that the norm of women being submissive towards men originated from Genesis to The Epic of Gilgamesh.
The flood story is based on the geologic ages identified through scientific understanding of the changing physical features of the earth (Origin myths: The Flood, 37). The period is between about 12,000 and 7000 BCE which was a period of worldwide warming (Origin myths, 37). Changing environmental conditions was common throughout the world. The rainfall and ocean levels rose some 300 feet (Origin myths 37). Some people began to believe their creator was punishing humans who were displeasing, so the Great Flood become part of the origin myth.
Literature, art, and music have always found ways to transcend the physical barriers and borders humans put up. They influence cultures other than the ones of their origins. Similarities between religions, mythologies, and folk stories have been noted often throughout time by academics and historians. The holy texts of some major religions like The Old Testament and the Quran share many overlapping literary themes and events with older religions and folk tales, like the ancient Sumerian poem; “The Epic of Gilgamesh”. Many examples of overlapping themes is the presence and references to great floods, supernatural influences, otherworldly gardens, and battles between good and evil.
Throughout history there have been many myths concerning a great flood that challenged the humans and animals at the time, from the story of Noah’s Arc to the tale of the Yellowstone Valley. Some are harsher than others, but all teach a lesson. In addition, many are part of different cultures. For example, the story of Baucis and Philemon is Roman, Deucalion and Pyrrha is Greek, and the Great Flood of the Yellowstone Valley is Native American. Within the stories consist of both similar and different details, such as what morals were taught and the types of roles people played.
The creation of the world is something that a lot of us don’t know about. In science tell us that the world born the Big Bang of dark energy. In the Bible and the Greek mythology tell us that the God is creator of it. The world’s creation of the Bible and the Greek mythology have a lot of things in similarities and a lot of things that are different.
