A Comparison of the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Hebrew Scriptures
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.
There are many similarities and differences in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Hebrew scriptures. In both works you have Supreme beings or a being that has come to the conclusion that the earth and the people that reside on it are wicked. Because of these iniquitous individuals the earth must be destroyed. The supreme beings chose to destroy the earth by flood. In the Epic of Gilgamesh the gods influenced by Enlil their counselor make the decision to destroy the earth “The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the Babel. So the gods agreed to exterminate mankind.” (Norton35). In the Hebrew scriptures the same conclusion was made by God that the earth was evil and would need to be destroyed “And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.” (Norton60). In both works the gods or God seem to have the same attitude and feelings after the flood. The Gods show feelings of remorse and grief in the Epic of Gilgamesh Ishtar speaks out in distress “Alas the Days of the old are turned to dust because I commanded evil: Why did I command this evil in the council of the Gods?” (Norton37). In the Hebrew scripture the Lord did not seem to be as remorseful but did acknowledge that what he did may no...
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...ulation” (Smith). Approximately 60 million copies, or portions thereof, are distributed annually. The Tanakh is a acronym that identifies the Hebrew bible. The acronym is based on the initial Hebrew letters of each of the text's three parts. The Law, The prophets and the writings.
In conclusion we have looked at the similarities and differences in the two flood stories and seen how the stories are so similar even though they were orally passed on at different time periods. Also we examined the moral differences of each society and what values each culture holds dearly. We have also discussed the origin of each compilation.
Works Cited
1. Unknown. The Epic of Gilgamesh.Trans. N.K. Sandars. Sarah Lawall. Norton Anthology of World Literature. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2002. 10-61.
2. Perlin, John. A Forest Journey: Mesopotamia. Pp 35-45, SIRS Renaissance:1989. Werner
3. Miller, John J. “The Worlds First Story”. Foundation for Cultural Review. v23 i2 p74(4) (2004): . InfoTrac OneFile. Gale. NC LIVE. Oct 2004 .
4.Karel van der Toorn. “Did Ecclesiastes Copy Gilgamesh?”. Bible Review.: Feb. 2000, pp. 22+. Gilgamesh (Legendary Character). SIRS. Feb 2000 )
Almost all myths around the world have the particular section on the “Great Flood.” It has been universal, indicating that at some point in their lifetime, all of the cultures experienced a flood that almost wiped their civilization out. However, many of the flood myths of different cultures take different features in time period, area that they happened, heroes, and the story itself. But, surprisingly, the flood myths in Bible and Gilgamesh are almost similar except for the slight differences for the names of the heroes, shapes of the arks, and story itself. Besides few small details of the story, though, everything else is very parallel to each other.
The rendition of the historic, worldwide Flood recorded in Genesis of the Old Testament is similar to the account recorded on Tablet 11of the Sumero-Babylonian version of the epic of Gilgamesh, discovered in the 1800’s by British archaeologists in Assyria. Let us compare the two in this essay.
“Religion is about turning untested belief into unshakable truth through the power of institutions and the passage of time- Richard Dawkins”. We all know the breath taking story of the Genesis flood, but have we ever noticed how similar it is to the Epic of Gilgamesh. Genesis is the story of how one God created mankind, along with everything else on Earth, and what punishments he put upon them when they acted wrong .Genesis is a chapter in the Holy Bible, which was written in the 18th century B.C. by Moses. Genesis is a Hebrew story about the creation of life and how God once destroyed it and Earth. The main characters were Adam, Eve, and the serpent. Each of them was provided a task from God, but disobeyed him and was punished forever. Some events from Genesis that God promised are happening in everyday life. The Epic of Gilgamesh discusses the story of how Gilgamesh and Enkidu became friends, going against what the Gods wanted, and then how Gilgamesh dealt with the death of his new friend. The stories are very much the same, but when comparing the details within the story it unfolds to be very different.
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Not doing suitably what you are advised to do, are human downfalls having no recompense; whereas, following the rules on timely basis will be the most worthwhile outcome. Contrasting the Benjamin R. Foster’s and Stephen Mitchell’s translation “Gilgamesh,” to the Robert Altar’s translation “The Flood,” each story has a very different emphasis and draws a different moral. The emphasis of “Gilgamesh,” becoming eternal and what steps can be taken to receive it. However, the emphasis of “The Flood” is true righteousness will give a prolonged life. The different emphasis of each story causes the moral of each story to be different. For instance, “Gilgamesh” teaches; not doing what is advised will cause lost opportunities and “The Flood” teaches; righteousness will cause unforeseen blessings.
The Gilgamesh Epic is an ancient Mesopotamian story about life and the suffering one must endure while alive. Included in the story, is a tale of a great flood that covered the earth, killing all but a select few of it’s inhabitants. This story of a great flood is common to most people, and has affected history in several ways. It’s presence in the Gilgamesh Epic has caused many people to search for evidence that a great flood actually happened. It has also caused several other religions and cultures to take the same basic story, claiming it for their own.
The Sumero-Babylonian version of the epic of Gilgamesh, after two and a half millennia of dormancy, was resurrected by British archaeologists in the nineteenth century. Amid the rubble of an Assyrian palace, the twelve clay tablets inscribed the adventures of the first hero of world literature – King Gilgamesh, whose oral folk tales go back to at least 3000 years before Christ (Harris 1). Tablet XI contains the story of the Flood. In this essay let us compare this flood account to the more recent Noah’s Flood account in Genesis of the Old Testament.
The flood story that is told in The Epic of Gilgamesh has the same principle as the story of Noah told in the book of Genesis in the Bible, but there are some major differences. In the epic, Utnapishtim is immortal and, although Noah was extremely old when he died, he wasn’t immortal. Utnapishtim was a human, but because he saved mankind, Enlil said, “Hitherto Utnapishtim has been a human, now Utnapishtim and his wife shall become like us gods.” (Gilgamesh 11.206-207) In the Biblical story, God told Noah that he was going to send a flood and asked him specifically to make the ark in order to save mankind. In Genesis 6:13-22, God tells Noah why he’s flooding the earth and exact instructions to build the ark. “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[a] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.[b] 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit[c] high all arou...
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.
George, A. R. The Epic of Gilgamesh: The Babylonian Epic Poem and Other Texts in Akkadian and Sumerian. London: Penguin, 2003. Print.
Foster, Benjamin R. "The Epic of Gilgamesh." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Gen. Ed. Martin Puchner. 3rd ed. Vol. A. New York: Norton, 2012. 95-151. Print. 13 March 2014.
The Epic of Gilgamesh. Trans. Benjamin R. Foster. Text. Martin Puncher. New York: W.W and Company, 2013.Print.
The Epic of Gilgamesh. Trans. Foster, Benjamin R. New York: W W Norton & Co Inc, 2001. Print.
Sandars, N. K., trans. The Epic of Gilgamesh. London: Penguin, 2006. Print. Editorial Team. "The Odyssey Writing
The focus of this analysis is on Genesis (chapter 7) and Gilgamesh (lines 1 - 25). These two different passages will be analyzed to relate each document and how the author's worldview shapes his account of the flood.