Compare And Contrast Gilgamesh Flood

Jack Mezzadri
10-6-14
Compare and Contrast essay
12/03

Many people don’t realize how alike the two flood stories actually are to each other. The main theme is the biggest similarity between the two. They also differ greatly because of the events that actually take place. In both stories, the number of days for the events are different, but the same basic event takes place. There are also many other similarities and differences as this is just one difference. The stories are very similar, but when comparing the details of each they are very different. The flood of Gilgamesh was written before 2000 B.C., while the Genesis story was written much later than the Gilgamesh flood. In both versions something angers God or the gods. “The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reasons of the babel.” This is the main reason the gods in Gilgamesh decide to send the flood on the people. In Genesis there is a much more acceptable reason for God to eliminate mankind. The humans had become so corrupt that God had no choice but to send the flood. This is not a quick, illogical decision like the gods made in Gilgamesh it definitely is a much better reason for the destruction of the human race.
Another major difference between the two stories is how the floods began and how the whole event ended up.
In both a great storm wipes out everyone and everything except the passengers onboard the ark or boat. In the Gilgamesh flood the gods cry and that creates the incredibly destructive flood. The rains last for six days and six nights and finally when the flood receded the boat landed on a mountain where it is stuck for seven days. In Genesis, God sends down the flood with his divine power. The rain lasts a longer in this story, this time for forty days and forty nights. In this story when the waters receded the ark was stuck on a mountain for approximately two and a half
months. One very important similarity between the two flood stories is the amount of people saved from the flood. In both stories one good man, Noah in Genesis and Utnapishtim in Gilgamesh, is saved and chosen to build and ark or boat. In Genesis, Noah becomes the source of salvation for the creation of man in the future. Ea warns Utnapishtim in a dream that he must help the human race survive. Both these men are symbols that God and Ea want the good in mankind to survive. A main similarity between the two stories is at the end. Noah and Utnapishtim both show proper reverence to God or the gods and are rewarded. Utnapishtim offers a sacrifice to the gods, but Enlil becomes very angry because he is excluded form the sacrifice and that Utnapishtim escaped his plan for all man to be destroyed. Ea convinces Enlil that Utnapishtim escaped on his own and then Enlil grants Utnapishtim immortality. In the Genesis story, God orders Noah to leave the ark. Noah then gives God a sacrifice. God makes his first covenant of the Bible with Noah. The flood stories from The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis are both similar and different in many ways including plot details and the main theme of each.