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Comparison Of Genesis And The Epic Of Gilgamesh

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From the ancient Near East there are three Mesopotamian flood myths and one Judaic flood story. The oldest is the Eridu Genesis, shown a the left and written in 2300BC, then the Epic of Gilgamesh, pictured in the middle and dated to 2150BC, next is the Epic of Atrahasis, on the right and written around 1650BC, and then the Old Testament, written between 538 to 330BC. All four accounts of the flood begin the same way as result of the overpopulation of mankind or mankind is too noisy, mankind is to violent and corrupt or God become dissatisfied with mankind and decide that with the exception of their favorite mortal on Earth the rest of mankind should be eliminated by a flood. In all of the stories the favorite mortal is warned about the flood …show more content…

The flood waters recede in all four of the flood legends with the Eridu Genesis "the sun came out spreading light" as the hero, Ziusudra, exits the boat and is blessed by the gods. The Epic of Gilgamesh continues with "To Mount Nisir the ship drifted" when the boat stops drifting becoming lodged on a mountain and Utanapishtim sends out birds to find dry land. The Epic of Atrahasis begins with "Enki made ready to speak." The Old Testament version of the flood continues when the ark rests on mountain and Noah sends out birds to find dry land, Genesis 8:4-12. The flood waters have completely disappeared when Utanapishtim makes sacrifices to the gods, the gods arrive, bless and make Utanapishtim along with his family immortals to live in the paradise at the mouth of the …show more content…

Finally, Ahura Mazda realizes that he cannot keep making the Earth larger in order to accommodate the population of mankind or the animals. As a result, Ahura Mazda warns Yima that he is going to bring a hard and cold winter that will destroy all living things on the surface of the Earth. Yima is then instructed to go underground to build a large cavern, called a Vara, with several floors in order to house people, animals, birds, seeds from all plants and trees, along with food and water to last until spring. When spring arrives, they all leave the cavern, return to the surface and again begin to repopulate the

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