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Compare and contrast the flood story of noah and the epic of gilgamesh
Similarities between the epic of gilgamesh and the story of noah
Noah flood and the gilgamesh epic
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In The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Book of Genesis, there are a couple of similarities that they both have in common. For example, they both discussed the story about the God(s) sending the flood to the city in order to destroy the whole civilization, while leaving some of righteous humans alive: Uta-napishti from The Epic of Gilgamesh and Noah from The Book of Genesis. Despite the difference in their backstory, these two characters are both given the same role as the one who tries to recreate their own society with animals and resources that they brought with on the Ark. Another similarity is that they both send out ravens outside of the Ark to make sure the water is subsided and the land is dried after the flood.
Flood Essay Introduction Killing an estimated 1,833 people, Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest hurricanes to ever hit the United States. The flooding alone caused massive devastation and destruction. Millions of people lost their homes and all their possessions. This flood was horrific, but imagine a flood so great that it destroyed all of humanity. This great flood occurs in the stories of Noah, Utnapishtim, and Deucalion.
The 11th Tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis from the Holy Bible are extremely similar. Both accounts involve the destruction of mankind by a higher power or powers. In the book of Genesis Noah is spared due the righteousness in him witnessed by the Lord. Utnapishtim however, was merely warned of the flood by EA. Differences between the two accounts are visible throughout the scriptures.
The story consist of a powerful leader known as Gilgamesh who has built a great city. As he insults the gods, it resulted in his friend; Enkidu being killed. So he went on a quest to search for Utnapishtim looking for answers to immortality. That is where Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh about his story concerning the flood. Utnapishtim talks about how we was warned about a flood by Ea; god of wisdom.
Every society has great stories that are told generation after generation some of which may be difficult to fathom. There are some stories that persist over time no matter the civilization. One example is the great flood. The flood depicted in Stephen Mitchell’s version of “Gilgamesh” bears a striking resemblance to the flood described in the Hebrew Scriptures while also having differences. It has been said that because the story of Gilgamesh came approximately six hundred years before the story of the flood in the Bible that the book of Genesis draws its inspiration from the epic of Gilgamesh.
In the epic of Gilgamesh, the Sumerian deities decide to start a flood that will exterminate mankind. “The uproar of mind kind was intolerable and sleep in no longer possible by reason of the babel.” The reason the deities caused the flood was because mankind had multiplied and were causing too much noise. This shows that the Sumerian deities did not care about the mortals that worshipped them. They were selfish and did not think about the outcome of their actions.
There are many similarities and differences between the story of Noah in Genesis and the story of Utnapishtim in the Epic of Gilgamesh. To start off, the first similarity I found was the reasons why the floods started. Both Gods in each story wanted to dispose of all humanity. However, there is a difference in the reasons why the Gods wanted to. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the God Enlil wanted to destroy mankind because they were too noisy, as shown in this quote, “The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the babel.”
When Ishtar cries out, Enkidu cast one of the bull’s buttocks at her. The city of Uruk celebrates, but Enkidu has a sinister dream about his future failure. Gilgamesh is also an epic hero because he survived a 6-day 6-night flood. Gilgamesh tore his house down. Gilgamesh then built a boat out of his house.
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.
Reasonably, at a first glance it is difficult to determine what separates the two pieces because of the similar themes highlighted in each story. Yet, by taking a closer look at the two texts the reader will discover the countless contradicting details and moral views that take place in both. Also, it is seen that when compared to the truth of the Biblical story of Noah, the Epic of Gilgamesh appears to loose reliability and accuracy. Even still, there are many disputes that question where the source of the two narratives originate from. However, even though there is an undeniable connection between the two literary works, when closely evaluated it can be determined that there are significant variations that make it less likely that Genesis is reliant on the Epic of
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.
The flood in both these stories represent a fresh start because the flood is the way for the gods to have a clean slate. It also shows that even the gods have flaws and make mistakes, even though they are often portrayed as
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
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.
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.
