...Within the two readings of “The Flood” from the “Epic of Gilgamesh” and excerpts from Genesis 6:5-9:17: “The Flood”, one has distinguished several differences between both articles. The first major difference between the two readings is that the “Epic of Gilgamesh” has a council of gods who sends the flood while one God sends a flood in Genesis. The name of the man in the “Epic of Gilgamesh” was Utnapishtim and the man in Genesis was Noah. Ea told Utnapishtim to build a boat while God told Noah to build the ark. The size of the ark/boat in both stories were different. The boat in the “Epic of Gilgamesh” was a square while the ark in Genesis was a rectangle. In the “Epic of Gilgamesh”, the gods gave loaves of bread and wheat to the man while God told Noah to collect his own food for the ark in Genesis....
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...Bridgett Traylor ENGL 2111- 12 Mrs. Schmitt 18 February 2016 The Same or Just Coincidence? One may wonder how a biblical narrative and an ancient Mesopotamian epic could have anything in common, as biblical narratives, such as the Flood in Genesis, are written by divine inspiration and ancient Mesopotamian writings, such as "The Epic of Gilgamesh," are steeped in mythology and written solely by human hand. Although fundamental differences are present in the two, the Flood in Genesis and "The Epic of Gilgamesh" also feature distinct parallels. At first glance, the discrepancies between "The Epic of Gilgamesh" and the Flood in Genesis appear to overpower any resemblances perhaps perceived as coincidences. However, further inspection uncovers startling similarities in these two accounts of the Great Flood, leading many to believe that the parallels are not coincidences at all. The story of the Flood in Genesis was first written as part of the Old Testament by the Jewish people. However, it is predated by far by the story "The Epic of Gilgamesh," a story that originates in the same area that holds many striking similarities to the tale of the Flood in Genesis. Though the story is modified to accommodate new characters, many properties of the story are similar, from small details like the creatures that are used as scouts to the religious purpose of the flood itself. For example, both the flood stories start with the characters receiving specific building instructions for a ship...
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...on the earth shall perish. (Genesis 6:5-10:32)" These were Gods words to Noah on a fateful night long ago. A flood was the only way to cleanse the earth. The thought process of the Gods in The Epic of Gilgamesh was very similar; they also felt the need to rid the earth of humans. The biblical story of the flood was influenced by The Epic of Gilgamesh because the Gods had similar incentives, both characters were told to do related tasks, and both had kindred outcomes. The gods in The Epic of Gilgamesh were disgusted by what they saw from human beings. The sheer wickedness of their souls was unbearable. In “The Story of The Flood” God saw how his earth had become sin stricken. In both stories the Gods...
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...Hebrews have settled in Canaan. The Jewish religion declares that The Torah represents the history of Hebrew people. But scholars tend to argue that the stories that are apparently the creation of Moses and the Hebrew language, are off by more than five hundred years from Torah. Comparing the Hebrew flood story of Noah’s Ark, of 2348 B.C, there are many similarities found with the Epic of Gilgamesh. Both of these stories start out with God getting furious at the people. They, in his mind, were becoming more and more sinful, and because of that, he regretted of ever having to create the human race. So he goes to a man he chooses, Noah, and asks him to build a boat because he wants to get rid of humans. God then gives accurate measurements to Noah for the building of the boat. He then tells Noah to get animals on the boat, two of each, so they could survive. God reminds Noah that a great flood will occur that is to destroy all living things, but save Noah’s family if they get onto the boat. After the seven days have past, it started to rain, just like God has said it would. By that time, Noah had his family and two of each animals on his boat. The rain did not stop for forty days and nights. The water has reached the highest mountain which was over twenty feet. Water has covered the whole land, killing everyone in sight for 155 days. God...
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...The story of Noah’s ark and the flood in the Christian bible could have influenced the story of the food in The Epic of Gilgamesh. You can see this relation by what both characters were told to do and what followed after. In The Bible, God said, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle...
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...Running head: THE TWO FLOODS 1 Noah and Gilgamesh the Two Great Floods Jonathan Bailey Oakland City University English 201 World Lit. The Two Floods 2 The History The epic story of Gilgamesh has been an interest of religious patrons since it was found in the ruins of the great library of Nineveh in the mid-nineteenth century, along with its substantial similarities to the great flood in Noah’s day. The remaining portion of this epic story, which very possibly dates back to the third millennium B.C., and holds little if almost no Christian values, as it distresses the typical beliefs in the myths related with the pagan societies of the period in time. Nevertheless, a number of religious patrons have deliberated on the notion of creation and the hereafter introduced in the epic story. There are even select researchers that have accepted the similarities in the Babylonian and Hebrew findings, while all are not ready to make the connection in the two floods. (Keller, 1956) (anonymous, 2013) There are countless stories telling of floods that have come from ancient sources strewn around the globe. The accounts that were translated from the cuneiform tablets were comprised of some of the most primitive remaining text, having recognizable associations. Cuneiform script was created by the Sumerians and passed on by the Akkadians. Babylonian as well as Assyrian are dialects of Akkadian, and both have instances of floods in them. Despite the fact that there...
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...The two stories, The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis are very similar. Both of them describe a flood. There are many similarities in how they describe the flood. There are some differences but not many, and because stories are passed down generations it’s quite possible they are the same event. Before the flood, the descriptions in both stories are very similar. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, a god ,Ea, comes to Utnapishtim and tells him to build a boat and take the seed of all creatures. He says “ Tear down your house, I say, and build a boat. These are the measurements of the barque as you shall build her: let her beam equal her length, let her deck be roofed like the vault that covers the abyss; then take up into the boat the seed of all living creatures.” It took him seven days to build the boat and then the flood came. It rained and stormed for six days and nights. Something very similar happened in the story from the genesis. God tells noah to build a boat and tells him the measurements. He...
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...The Epic of Gilgamesh is known to be the oldest recorded story in human history that is over 4000 years old. The story introduces “the first hero” ever known. A cruel Sumerian king who ruled the city of Uruk and did not care for his people but himself, he thought too highly of himself because he was half god, very strong, and had never found an equal. Although no one could defeat him, the people and gods were tired of his selfishness and decided to end his cruelty. They created a human named Enkidu who was as strong as him and both fought a fiercely battle where Gilgamesh had defeated Enkidu but realized that he had finally found an equal. The story follows Gilgamesh on a quest with Enkidu who becomes his friend. They both go out and fight different obstacles to save the world but before they can do that Enkidu dies in a battle leaving Gilgamesh with great sorrow, and seeks on a new quest to find eternal life for him and to bring his friend back to life. His selfishness to gain immortality leaves him with nothing but to realize that eternal life is not just given that easy. This old story continues to influence modern storytelling. There are different connections to this story like the Bible’s Old Testament and Greek mythology that still have a role in today’s society. The Bible’s Old Testament has many stories in common with the Epic of Gilgamesh. Since there are many followers of the Bible, it is very interesting to know how people would react to the similarities that both...
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...human authors also included those who were great leaders, such as Joshua, and those who were chosen of God to be prophets, such as Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Some of the authors were like David, who began as a shepherd but became king of Israel. David wrote many of the Psalms, forming a rich poetic background for much of the biblical truth. Some of the writers were farmers, some were warriors, some were fishermen. There was little that tied them together except that they all wrote a portion of the biblical truth as said in the Bible. The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible Gilgamesh is believed to have been a Sumerian king from the city of Uruk who ruled around 2500 B.C.E. Little is known about this actual historical figure or his mythical equivalent. What we know about the mythical Gilgamesh comes primarily from one of the oldest works of literature known to human kind: The Epic of Gilgamesh . The written story of Gilgamesh possibly finds its...
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...5 December 2011 Floods: An Archetype Every year many people are killed by one of nature’s great powers, floods. Many authors have used floods to depict a certain tone throughout the story. To truly understand this work of nature, one doesn’t have to look any farther than certain works of literature. The archetype of flooding is very prevalent in works such as “Noah and the Flood”, the “Epic of Gilgamesh”, “Deucalion”, and “Tata and Nena”. These literary works evoke a tone of fear, fury, strength, and how delicate life is. The first example of this power and fury comes from the story “Noah and the Flood”. In this story the flood shows the tone of how delicate life is. A good example of this is “All existence on earth was blotted out- man, cattle, creeping things, and birds of the sky;...” (“Noah and the Flood 62). This shows that this specific flood was able to kill anything in its path. Usually a flood kills some living things, but this one was so great that it was able to kill every living thing that existed on earth, thus proving that life is very delicate. Another great literary work, the Epic of Gilgamesh also shows a fine example of what floods are able to do to the world. For instance, the flood in this tale displays how much fear Drozdik 2 can be instilled on people as the flood passes through. “Even the gods were terrified at the flood, they fled to the highest heaven…” (Sandars 30) is a quote that enables the reader to see how much fear there is because of...
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...Robert William Silvers II Professor Pamela Magrans English 2030-38A 10 February 2015 The Great Floods from around the World If you are alive today living in America, odds are that you have heard of Noah and his Arch. You may not know the specifics of it but you likely have a general idea of what is being talked about. However, his story is not unique to the bible. Strikingly similar stories show up in fables and other works of literature all across the globe. There are many similarities between these stories which makes a strong argument that these stories all originated from one story, or that there really was a great flood that covered the earth. The first and oldest story documented is the Epic of Gilgamesh. The flood in this story was...
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...rid of them. In a book I can’t remember the name of, a man named Hercules had fought Hydra the creature, but until he crushed it i wouldn’t stop. Another example is the flood after the flood evil resurfaced. In every culture, people believe evil will always resurface. In most early flood stories, the culture’s god is displeased by the evil abounding. In the epic poem, Gilgamesh, the flood story the war god Ea was displeased with Anu. In the Hebrew version of the flood, In the Hebrew and Islamic versions evil was abounding, God was displeased about all the evil on the earth. In the Islamic version of the flood, Allah was displeased about the evil that roamed the earth and destroy all evil. Clearly humans are concerned with the evil in the world regardless of where they come from....
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...The Epic of Gilgamesh: An Analysis The Epic of Gilgamesh teaches us many things about the Mesopotamian perception of the metaphysical. The Mesopotamian gods are quite Hellenistic in the way that they may interfere as they see fit with human beings to the point that they may conceive children with them; Gilgamesh himself is two thirds god and one third man. Gilgamesh’s mother is Ninsun who is a minor goddess known for her wisdom and his father was the king of Uruk before him. Throughout the story there are instances of the gods interfering in the deeds of men, for instance once Enkidu and Gilgamesh return to the city of Uruk with the wood they have taken from the great cedar forest Ishtar the goddess of love, war, and half a dozen other things asks Gilgamesh to be her consort which Gilgamesh turns down rather rudely citing the terrible fates of her past lovers. Enraged Ishtar acquires the bull of heaven to destroy the city of Uruk and in another deed of heroic valor Enkidu and Gilgamesh kill the bull of heaven. So not only do the gods mate and interact with humans, they also feel emotions like that of a human. In the case of Ishtar she is quite capable of feeling petty emotions like jealousy and rage, these feelings push her to potentially punish all of Uruk by releasing the bull of heaven. Ishtar paints a picture of the gods that portrays an unwieldy and cantankerous relationship between men and gods that most of the time ends up putting people in a not so desirable situation...
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...The comparison and contrast of “The Story of the Flood” and “Noah’s Ark” The Epic of Gilgamesh “The Story of the Flood” and the biblical story of “Noah’s Ark” founded in (Genesis 6-9) story titles are very similar. The flood occurred in the Mesopotamian plains. The tale of the “Great Flood” was around before the story of Noah’s Ark. Some say that the biblical story of Noah was a revised copy of “The Story of the Flood”. Although, the details in each story is different, there are so many smalls ways they similar. Things that both stories have in common were, that Utnapishtim and Noah were warned to build a boat to escape the flood, told to save himself, his family, and a sampling if animals, boats came to rest on a mountain top, birds were released to see if the water receded from the earth. Noah and Utnapishtim both made sacrifices and offerings to their God. Each man were given the assignment to warn and save mankind from the destruction that was about to come upon the earth. Noah’s story the earth was full of people who once pleased God. They were people who had ambition to continue making the...
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...8:20, it states “[t]hen Noah built an altar to the Lord and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar”. The next verse describes Yahweh ‘smelling’ the offerings and because of this anthropomorphic action, the likely source is J. In chapter 6, in the section written by J, Yahweh calls for both unclean and clean animals but in chapter 8:20, every clean animal is sacrificed unto Yahweh. If this is the case, then all that is left on the earth are unclean animals. If this is not the case and Noah took “of every clean animal” and “of every clean bird”, it could be interpreted that Noah took a sample of the clean birds and animals. If this is the case than either some of the animals and birds will now go extinct because they lack partners to procreate with or no longer exist. This would still leave on the earth more unclean animals than clean animals. This brings back my earlier question from chapter 6 of why the procreation of unclean animals is encouraged especially since the point of the destruction of the earth was because...
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