Creation, Flood and the Hero in Epic of Gilgamesh and Book of Genesis of the Christian Bible

The general idea of both stories follows the idea of punishment for one’s unacceptable behavior. In the first flood myth, the idea of four monsters morphing into one large beast is presented. This large beast is supposed to represent society as a whole. When society adapts malicious intentions and negative traits, a higher being decides whether or not a “cleansing” of society is necessary to improve the planet. Similarly, the story of Genesis follows the idea that humans have begun to behave in an irrational and shameful manner, so God creates a flood to punish the humans who had behaved poorly. “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.”

     The two main stories largely discussed are the Genesis and Gilgamesh flood stories. Although different in regards to the details, the main plot is similar between the two stories from two different civilizations. Because of this similarity, many

More differences between the stories include only minor details. Noah only invited his family and the animals onboard, but Ut-Napishtim invited additional people such as a pilot and some skilled workmen. Noah's ark landed on Mt. Ararat, but Ut-Napishtim's ark landed on Mt. Nisir, which is only a few 100 miles away. In the Babylonian account, the water came only in the form of rain; however in the Biblical account water came from beneath the earth in addition to rain. Noah released a raven once and a dove twice, but Ut-Napishtim released three different birds; a dove, a swallow, and a raven (Comparison). Perhaps the differences were intentional in order to make the two stories more unique in their own way. Perhaps the differences are simply two different people's renditioning of the same story.

In both Gilgamesh and Noah and the Flood, man’s wickedness leads to death, destruction, and rebirth all caused by billions of gallons of water sweeping the earth’s surface. The flood in both stories destroys most of mankind. The floods represent rebirth and a new beginning for mankind, as well as the gods and God’s wrath. In Gilgamesh the gods decide to destroy mankind by flooding the earth for six days and nights. Utnapishtim is chosen to build a boat in order to restart mankind after the flood. In the Bible God also decides to flood the earth due to the increase in wickedness. God chooses Noah to build an ark and store seven pairs of every clean animal and two of every other kind of animal on it

One obvious similarity between the two tales are the antagonists. The serpent is the antagonist in Genesis, as he coerces Eve into betraying God, and her husband. To convince Eve to commit

“And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy the earth. Make yourself an ark…” (Genesis 6:13-14, English Standard Version) “For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.” (Genesis 6:17, ESV) “And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.” (Genesis 6:19, ESV) “Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.” (Genesis 6:22, ESV) “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of

In both stories, the gods are respected and feared in some way, but at some point, humans displease the gods. To enforce His authority over all living creatures, the god in Genesis “saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,” so He fashioned an immense flood to rid the world of the evil that He brought about (King James Version, Gen. 6.5). However, not all humans continuously sinned; He spared Noah and his family because he remained so devoted to God, then later made a promise that “waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh” (Gen. 9.15). Likewise, in The

God said to Noah, “And I behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your seed after you; and with every living creature with you. And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there anymore be a flood to destroy the earth.” That’s when God made an everlasting covenant between himself and every living creature of all flesh on earth. Even though, in the story of Gilgamesh, the Gods decided that it was wrong to punish mankind, they still did not make a covenant with man. Instead of making a pact with humans they granted immorality to Utnapishtim and his wife. In both stories they settled the flood in different ways separating the stories.

The tales of Gilgamesh and Noah are as memorable as they are incredible. They materialize the beliefs of two cultures telling very similar yet very different stories. Gilgamesh, a mighty warrior overwhelmed by grief of his passed friend, went an an epic adventure to find the secret of eternal life. Noah, a morally right and genuine man saved the future of the entire human race and every animal through great endurance and faith. The personality traits, reasons for journeys, and stories of origin of each myth have a plentiful amount of both commonalities and diversities.

supposed to have decided to destroy the earth by water. In the Biblical book of

The story of Noah from the Bible starts off with God seeing that the world has become violent, evil, and corrupt. God sees that Noah is a righteous man that believes and fears God. God tells Noah, “I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the earth with violence. Yes, I will wipe them all out along with the earth” (New Living Translation, Gen. 7.13). Then he goes on to tell Noah that he needs to construct a boat with the dimensions that God told him. He instructed Noah to bring his wife, sons, the sons’ wives and pairs of every animal on the face of the Earth. When Noah finished construction the Ark, he did what God had told him to do and boarded them on the Ark. Then God caused the rain to fall on the Earth for

    The story of Noah’s Ark, as told in the old testament, tells how God punished the world because it had become corrupt. God accomplished this by flooding the world, and annihilating all the creatures upon it, except for Noah and his family and a pair of each type of creature on the earth. Each decade, more insight is gained into the origin of the flood story. Based on the information available at the present time, one could argue that the story of Noah’s Ark was based on the Epic of Gilgamesh.

The Biblical and Gilgamesh flood have several things they have in common. The hero’s characters in each story were righteous men. Noah represents a church. Noah and his family had spiritual beliefs and practices. Noah and his family listen to God. In both floods, God is punishing rebellious mankind. In the book of Genesis, God flood the earth because of humankind sinful ways. God instructed Noah, “12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “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. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. “(Genesis 6:9 12-14) Noah built an ark for him and his family would be saved from the flood. Utnapishtim name meant finder of life. With the Gilgamesh flood, god Enlil told Utnapishtim in a dream to build a big boat. Him and his family would be saved from the flood also. Enlil was going to punish

Everything happens for a reason, and even gods are included in this rule of thumb. In both stories, clear reasons are laid out for the floods. The gods in Utnapishtim’s story flood the earth because they are simply annoyed with the people and decide it is time for a great flood. While in the Bible, God floods the earth because of the pure wickedness that resides in the human race. The common thread between the flood’s purpose is human fault. The gods in the stories both decide to send a flood because of the way humans have turned out, and the gods are not happy with the way the people act. Though it is human flaw that causes the floods, different flaws cause each flood. In Utnapishtim’s story, he is chosen to survive and he has to tell the leaders “You have learned that Enil the was god despised you and will not give you access to the city anymore,” and “For this Ea will bring the rains.” This means that the

The Biblical and Gilgamesh flood have several things they have in common. The hero’s characters in each story were righteous men. Noah represents a church. Noah and his family had spiritual beliefs and practices. Noah and his family listen to God. In both floods, God is punishing rebellious mankind. In the book of Genesis, God flood the earth because of humankind sinful ways. God instructed Noah, “12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “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. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. “(Genesis 6:9 12-14) Noah built an ark and him and his family would be saved from the flood. Utnapishtim name