ipl-logo

Similarities Between Gilgamesh And The Bible

602 Words3 Pages

Scholars and historians are fascinated with the flood account in Genesis as well as the account of a flood in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Much attention has been given to these two narratives due to their parallels and dissimilarities. The flood accounts in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible are similar in their basic story and outcome and are different in many areas including their depiction of divine beings, the amount of time between events, and details concerning the central character. Although the central stories of the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible are vastly different, their accounts of a worldwide flood are remarkably similar. In the epic of Gilgamesh, the immortal man and survivor of the great flood, Utanapishtim, states that he was warned by a god that a devastating flood would soon arrive. The account found in …show more content…

The Bible includes, as does the Epic of Gilgamesh, the effort put into building the boat that would save them from the flood. The parallel accounts continue the story with a heavy rain and subsequent flood. The waters destroy all men not in the boat but eventually subside. The details of the aftermath of the flood in the Epic of Gilgamesh are nearly identical to the aftermath of the biblical flood. The hero in both stories waits for a few days after the rain stops, sends off three birds to discover whether the flood waters have lowered, offer a sacrifice to the divine beings, and is rewarded by the divine beings. Whereas the similarities between the two stories are found in the overall story of the flood account, the differences lie in the details of the two narratives. In the Epic of Gilgamesh the divine beings are depicted as powerful gods that quarrel among

Show More
Related

Comparing The Priestly Source And J-Source In The Book Of Genesis

1258 Words | 6 Pages

In the J and P-Sources, the power of the flood is all done by one deity. Nobody has an power that can stop the deity, making the story much simpler, because there is no conflicts and no controversy going on unlike the flood in the Old Babylonian account. In this story the deity, Enili, tries to destroy the human race multiple times, but his plans are conflicted with by the deity Anu. Anu warns Atrahasis, who is his favorite human, of Enili attempts of destroying humanity. Even during Enili's forth attempt, which he imposes an oath among the god’s to not reveal to the humans that he is going to flood the earth, Anu indirectly warns Atrahasis.

Read More

Comparing Noah And The Flood And The Epic Of Gilgamesh

850 Words | 4 Pages

In the story of “ Noah and the Flood”, the flood wiped out the entire earth and lasted for 40 days and 40 nights. In “The Story of the Flood” in The Epic of Gilgamesh, the flood also wiped out the entire earth but only lasted for 6 days and 6 nights, causing a different effect than the flood of the ark did. As god wipes out the earth in The Epic of Gilgamesh, he explains how “‘[he] has brought them forth’” and has the power to destroy them just as easily (42). Both gods believed that they have created their people and they have disowned them, but both believed so for different reasons. Moses, who wrote the bible for the Hebrews which was then called Genesis, believed that the people have truly been disobedient and wants to create a more peaceful culture.

Read More

Comparing Gilgamesh And The Book Of Genesis

421 Words | 2 Pages

The story of Gilgamesh and the book of Genesis from the Hebrew Bible, are two historical religious stories in which tell the tales of the destruction of mankind that was made by the Gods/God. This destruction was caused by a massive flood in which both higher powers from both stories send to erase all human life form from the earth. In both stories a higher powers save an individual from the flood to continue humanities existence for a "fresh start." But some may question, But why? Did they hate the humans that much?

Read More

Similarities Between Gilgamesh And The Hebrew Bible

1352 Words | 6 Pages

However, the audience of the Epic of Gilgamesh is reading the tale with hope for answers for their many questions. Because of this, the writers had to be much more careful about explaining things. They explained the extent if his power, who had more or less power than him, what can make him lose his power and what characteristics make him powerful, instead of just assuming an all-powerful, all-good being. These two texts are very different in this

Read More

The Flood Archetype Of 'Noah's Ark'

137 Words | 1 Pages

The Flood Archetype is about a devastating flood that ends human civilization, but people have to rebuild civilization with the hope of a golden age. In the flood archetype, there is a god that wipes out all of human civilization for being spiteful; Although the god wipes out all of human civilization, there is a chosen person that has to build an ark or a shelter in order to survive the massive, catastrophic flood. Noah’s Ark, a Biblical story in the Old Testament, is about a man named Noah who is told by God to make an ark in preparation for the flood when God says, “I will wipe out from the earth the men whom I have created… But Noah found favor with the Lord”. God floods Earth as a result of human’s cruel, violent tendencies

Read More

The Rainbow Serpent Story

197 Words | 1 Pages

While reviewing the material on the Rainbow Serpent and the Flood Narratives I noticed these myths/legends/narratives have a lot of similarities. The Flood Narrative is being told all over the world. Although, this legend is told all over the world it is also told in many different ways to fit the culture. For example, we know that Noah built the arch but in Hawaii Nu-u built a boat with a house on it. These legends all are similar because they speak of a man in his family being the people left after the big flood.

Read More

A Comparison Of Genesis And The Epic Of Gilgamesh

520 Words | 3 Pages

The Genesis flood narrative is a well-known story even for people who are not Christians. However, there was another version of flood story described in the ancient literature, and it was 1000 years earlier than the biblical version. Although they developed some similar plots, there were so many differences in the details, especially the characteristics of the “hero” and the gods. The earlier version was from the Epic of Gilgamesh, which was originated in about 2000 B.C in Mesopotamia. It characterized the “hero” Utanapishtim and his wife.

Read More

Similarities Between The Epic Of Gilgamesh And Iliad

1243 Words | 5 Pages

Epic verse is one of the most punctual types of writing started as an oral portrayal depicting a progression of legendary or historic occasions. Inevitably, these stories were composed down and read so anyone might hear to an audience. The Epic of Gilgamesh was composed around fifteen hundred years preceding the Iliad, however the two epics indicates a large number of the similarities and differences in respects of symbolism, themes and allegory. This research will provide an overview of both Epic of Gilgamesh and Homer’s Iliad in regard of themes, representation of epic heroes, symbolism, allegory and mindset of the time period in which these stories were written by authors.

Read More

Greek Archetypes In The Story Of Greek And Genesis

331 Words | 2 Pages

The story of Greek and Genesis have the same archetypes in their story. Like the creation of god image. Maybe what existed before earth? Also the story the effect in humans being was created. Let’s see how the story is the same and difference by comparing both of them.

Read More

Similarities Between Gilgamesh And The Iliad

1519 Words | 7 Pages

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.

Read More

Comparing Gilgamesh And The Odyssey

641 Words | 3 Pages

When the two talk Gilgamesh expresses his sorrow and his desire for life to Utnapishtim, in return tells Gilgamesh the story of the flood. In the story of the flood Utnapishman explains how the fury of Ishtar had cause much destruction that many people had died but the

Read More

The World On The Turtle's Back

397 Words | 2 Pages

“The World on the Turtle’s Back” is the Iroquois story of creation. “Odin and Ymir” is the Norse story of creation. Even though both stories originated in different places, they have some similar aspects. The stories also have many differing views on how things came to be. “The World on the Turtle’s Back” is about two twin brothers.

Read More

Gilgamesh Flood Legends

1325 Words | 6 Pages

Legends have surfaced in hundreds of cultures throughout the world that tell of a huge, catastrophic flood that destroyed most of mankind, and that was survived by only a few individuals and animals. There are at least 500 flood myths reported from different nations with different cultures such as, China, Babylon, Mexico, and the list goes on. Although the vast number of such legends is surprising, the similarity between much of the content is amazing. The Genesis Flood story is one tale in the worldwide collection which is the most widespread and it is commonly compared with the flood of Gilgamesh. In spite of the fact that the Gilgamesh epic and the Genesis flood story show significant differences in details due to cultural distinctions,

Read More

Similarities Between The Epic Of Gilgamesh And Genesis

768 Words | 4 Pages

“Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception (Carl Sargon)”. According to The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis, unprecedented floods occurred in both stories. The exception fell on the kind men, Utnapishtim and Noah: they survived the powerful event of destruction. However, in the same theme of the stories, there are sources of similarity and differences.

Read More

Similarities Between Gilgamesh And The Bible

921 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

More about Similarities Between Gilgamesh And The Bible

Related Topics

Open Document