‘Gilgamesh and Noah’s Ark’ She never knew that high school would be this unbearable. Everyday she went home crying, reflecting on all of the insults that she heard that day. She never wanted to go back to that horrible place. How could everyone be so wicked? In the book of Genesis, God was so upset with the wickedness of the world, that he sent a flood to wipe out mankind. Similarly, the epic of Gilgamesh possesses a devastating plot. There are many similarities and differences between the story of Noah’s ark and the epic of Gilgamesh flood story. For example, the causes of the flood were similar in both of the stories. In the Bible, the flood was caused due to mankind and the evil ways of the world. The epic of Gilgamesh experiences a flood for the same reason. Additionally, both of the main characters made boats. However, the most interesting comparison between the two stories is the idea of eternal life. Gilgamesh searches for eternal life out of grief …show more content…
In the book of Genesis, Noah was warned by God himself. He told Noah to save his family and also a pair of each animal, male and female. Contrast to the epic of Gilgamesh, several Gods acted together in the idea of the flood. The uproar of mankind was intolerable and sleep was no longer possible for the Gods. Ea was the one that warned Utnapishtim about the flood in a dream. Also, the boat was made differently in the Bible compared to the Epic of Gilgamesh. Although both Gilgamesh and Noah built the boats themselves, the reason they built the boats were different. Gilgamesh built the boat for him and Enkidu to escape after stealing trees and killing Humbaba. While Noah built the boat because he and his family were the only humans that God wanted to save the world of sin. Finally, the length of time that the flood lasted differed as well. For instance, the Bible’s version of the flood lasted forty days while Gilgamesh only lasted for
*The boat dimensions are quite different. The boat in the story of the Babylonian flood is a cube, equal on all sides. While in the Bible, Noah is told to build his Ark in a 450x75x45 ratio. This ratio is what is known to ship builders as the perfect ratio for stabilty for a boat but it was not known until the 15th century AD. The Gilgamesh boat, being equal on all sides, would have been wildly unstable and unseaworthy.
The theme in Gilgamesh, Genesis and Sur 11 are comparably the same in that the people in each story were with sin and wickedness. In all three literatures, the people in the beginning were mean and sinful. The people in the Epic of Gilgamesh were evil and when Gilgamesh came to power he did not known what to since it was his first time beinging king. So, he would rule in a stern way to keep the people from sin. On Genesis God wanted to flood the Earth from the people who were sinful. God asked Noah to build an ark and to take his family and two of each animal.
“The most remarkable parallels between the Old Testament and the entire corpus of cuneiform inscriptions from Mesopotamia . . . are found in the deluge accounts of the Babylonians and Assyrians, on the one hand, and the Hebrews, on the other,” Heidel stated. A story of a great flood has been recorded by various civilizations, such as the Hebrews with Genesis, from the Bible, and the Babylonians with the Epic of Gilgamesh. The flood story, in the book of Genesis is remarkably similar to the Tablet XI of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Some people make the claim; the Bible plagiarizes The Epic of Gilgamesh, though no conclusive evidence has been found. Their storylines are quite analogous; however they have some significant differences. People wonder if the two myths are based off of each other or even based off a currently unknown, older, similar, source. Although I acknowledge it is a possibility Genesis copied parts of Gilgamesh, there is a surplus of evidence that refutes this claim. Which helps lead to the conclusion, the myths were individually written, albeit both Myths contain many parallels between each other making likely that they were influenced by a similar source.
It is said that life is 10% what you make it and 90% how you take it. It is not the circumstances of life that determine a person's character. Rather, it is the way a character responds to those circumstances that provides a display of who he is. "From the Epic of Gilgamesh", as translated by N.K. Sandars, and "Noah and the Flood" from the Book of Genesis, both Gilgamesh and Noah face similar circumstances, but don’t always respond to them the same way.
One difference that backs it up is in The Epic of Gilgamesh the rains that cause the floods only last six days, six nights and in “The Flood Story in Genesis” the rains last forty days, forty nights. A quote that tells about the flood is when Utnapishtim said, “For six days and six nights the wind blew, torrent and tempest and flood overwhelmed the world, tempest and flood raged together like warring hosts (pg. 25).” This quote by Utnapishtim describes how bad the weather, rains, and wind were during the six days and six nights of the storm. On the other hand in “The Story of the Flood” it rained for forty days, forty nights. While God was talking to Noah he said, “For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth (pg. 48 line 4).” This quote describes how long God will have the rain go for. It also says that he is doing it to destroy all of mankind.
Many cultures have stories of a great flood, and probably the best known story is of Noah's Ark. The next most notable is the Sumerian story of Ut-Napishtim found in the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the ancient Babylonian depiction of the flood story, the god Enlil creates a flood to destroy a noisy mankind that is disturbing his sleep. Gilgamesh is told by another god, Ea, to build an ark (Monack 1). The Epic of Gilgamesh has broadly the same structure and plot as Noah's Ark, suggesting the possibility that the Biblical account has drawn influence from the archaeologically older Sumerian depiction. University professor Alexander Heidel concludes that these accounts are undeniably related (Fowler 1). According to theological considerations, the Epic and the Biblical versions can be contrasted as well.
The Epic of Gilgamesh also tells about a great flood that share many similarities as with “Noah and the Flood”. T...
The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis have many similarities, or parallels, that connect the two great works. It is amazing how two stories were written at completely different times, yet have so many things in common. Drawing parallels can even help you understand the stories more. So, what do Gilgamesh and Genesis have in common? Using a bird to see if the flood is gone, making a sacrifice to God/ the gods, and the serpent in each story causes the main characters not to have immortality are only a few examples of connecting the stories together.
The Epic of Gilgamesh compares to the Bible in many different ways. The epic has a different perspective than the Bible does. This paper is a contrast and comparison between the two books. The three main points of this paper will be the Creation, Flood and the Hero.
Both in greek mythology Hercules and Gilgamesh experience similar burnedens in their stories, although both are only half God they are well respected in their societies. Both of the societies reflected in their stories are similar not just to each other but also to society that existed in the time period in which they were written. Even though the societies reflect the society of ancient Greece they of course have major differences. Women, men, gods, goddesses, death, and loyalty are all valued differently not so much in the stories when compared to each other but differ from how they are valued in ancient greek society.
In both versions of the flood story something angers God (in Genesis) and the gods (in Gilgamesh). "The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reasons of the babel" (Gilgamesh 12). The Gilgamesh reason seems very illogical. The Gods decide to destroy mankind because they are making too much noise. It seems that the gods didn't think over their decision wisely. They are gods, wouldn't they have the power to block out the sound? One would think so, but obviously that was not the case. This is the first major difference between the two stories.
The Hebrew Flood story of Noah and his obligation to preserve man kind after God had punished all living creatures for their inequities parallels The Epic of Gilgamesh in several ways. Even though these two compilations are passed on orally at different times in history the similarities and differences invoke deliberation when these stories are compared. Numerous underlining themes are illustrated throughout each story. Humans are guilty of transgressions and must be punished, God or Gods send a flood as punishment to destroy this evil race, a person is selected by the gods to build a craft that will withstand the flood and allow this person to create a new race. An investigation of the inconsistency and similarities of both flood stories exposes the relationship between the Gods and the stories hero, insight on each cultures moral perspective on friendship and values as it applies to the flood, and each stories common origin.
In Genesis, the characters serve their God much differently than those in the Epic of Gilgamesh. In Genesis 1 God instructs Adam and Eve to populate the earth, rule over the animals, and to eat whatever plant they wished. Adam and Eve listened to God and they served him through their unconditional love for him. That’s is another difference between the two texts. In Gilgamesh, the characters don’t express love for their Gods, only respect, but in Genesis, Adam and Eve express their love and respect for their God. Lastly, both works are similar in that the characters in both works eventually disobey and go against their Gods. In the epic, Gilgamesh kills Humbaba to challenge the Gods. His act of going against them is his way of proving that the Gods rules are not unbreakable and that no one has true power over him. In Genesis, Adam and Eve eventually go against God by eating from the tree at the center of the Garden of Eden. The difference in the characters from each text’s act of rebellion is that Gilgamesh did it to spite his Gods, and Adam and Eve did it out of curiosity and loyalty to one
The famous literary works of Gilgamesh, Ramayana, and The Odyssey have been studied, written about, and heralded in the literary world many times over. Each of the literary pieces has been held in the highest esteem for varying different reasons. Some of them have been because of the literary influences that they have produced over the subsequent years and the religious influences they had. The purpose of this writing assignment is to compare and contrast the religious influences found in each of the literary works.
The Epic of Gilgamesh Analysis “The Epic of Gilgamesh” was written in 1800 BCE. This is the oldest existing written story. Gilgamesh, a mighty king of Uruk, who is one-third man and two-thirds God, abuses his power. Gilgamesh does multiple of things that no one else in this time period could do. Although Gilgamesh is more powerful than others, he faces many obstacles that hurt him mentally.