Flood Myth 2: Manu and the fish. Because Manu saved a fishes life and ensured that the fish grew up safely to be big and strong; Manu was rewarded by the fish with the knowledge that there was a flood coming. The fish also told Manu for his help, when the fish grew to maturity he would guild his boat to ensure that survived the flood.…
The Epic of Gilgamesh Flood Story and the Noah’s Ark story from the Bible are similar in many ways. They are similar in the sense that they both got rid of their houses and all of their belongings. Noah received his message from God to start building the boat while Gilgamesh received his message in a dream. But in the story of Noah’s Ark, Noah was to build the boat to exact measurements which were 300 cubits for its length, 50 cubits for its width, and 30 cubits for its height. Where in the Epic of the Gilgamesh it was to be built “shall have her dimensions in proportion, Her width and length in harmony.” The story never tells how big the boat was for all living seeds. So as a reader we can picture Noah’s massive boat where we cannot do the same for Gilgamesh’s boat They were both were to build enormous boats that would be able to hold all forms of life. In the Epic of Gilgamesh Flood Story, Gilgamesh fills his boat with all forms of life along with silver and gold. Whereas Noah built the boat only to fit all animals and his family. The Epic of Gilgamesh fought through only six days and seven nights where Noah fought through forty days and forty nights. But we do know the Bible uses the number 40 as a way of saying a long period of time. Both Gilgamesh and Noah released a Raven and a Dove but Noah released 3 doves while Gilgamesh only released a swallow after the release of other two birds. The Gilgamesh Epic has close parallels with the account of Noah’s Flood. Its close similarities are due to its closeness to the real event. However, there are major differences as well. Everything in the Epic, from the polytheism to the absurd cubical ark, as well as the worldwide flood legends, show me that the Genesis account is the original, while the Gilgamesh Epic is a distortion.…
Gilgamesh is told to be the oldest existing story in the history of humankind, imminently, the story has many similarities to the bible. Bible is a text oof belief based lessons and the base of the religion of Christianity which has many similarities to Gilgamesh as in they both include the tales of worldly destruction with the reasons, destroyer and the saving. All similarities aside, the two texts can be contrasted as the bible is the root of world’s biggest universalizing religion and the Gilgamesh was not extracted as a manuscript and if man made errors are factored in, it may not have been comprehended as it was supposed to be. Gilgamesh and the bible can be compared and contrasted based on the stories, lessons and the effects on the evolution…
Continuously, these gods also sin. While Utnapishtim is telling of the deluge account to Gilgamesh in the Epic of Gilgamesh, he mentions that many people, including his own family of eight, entered the ark with him. Utnapishtim also states that many craftsmen assist him in building the ark. Adding to his documentary, Utnapishtim comments that he closes the ginormous ark door, without any help from a god which, although not impossible, must have been very hard without any modern tools. The Epic of Gilgamesh flood account explains that there were only 12 days and nights of…
The Book of Genesis and The Epic of Gilgamesh have many clear similarities. One major, noticeable similarity is that in both stories, there are flood legends. There is the legend of Noah and the Ark in The Book of Genesis and the story of Utnapishtim in The Epic of Gilgamesh. In both stories, a higher power wants to wipe out the human race and decides to save one person who is then assigned to build an ark to hold himself, his family, and one of each animal. There are also many specifics about this flood that the two stories have in common, not just the basis of the tale. For example, both stories tell of a long storm. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, it says: "Six days and seven nights the wind and storm" (Gilg. Tabl. XI, 127). In The Book of Genesis, it says: “rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights" (Gen. 7:12). In both cases, the story is specific about the number of days the storm lasted. Noah and Utnapishtim make sacrifices to their respective higher power-- Noah to God and Utnapishtim to Enlil. In the story of Noah and the Ark, it says that he “"offered burnt offerings on the altar" (Gen. 8:20) which is a sacrifice to God. In the story of Utnapishtim, it says that he "offered a sacrifice" (Gilg. Tabl. XI, 155) by pouring a libation to Ea, which is a form of spiritual sacrifice.…
The Epic of Gilgamesh had one of three Akkadian flood myths. The Sumerians also created their own story of a flood; where the biblical flood story, found in Genesis 9, has a lot of similarities. They are similar because they both had a global floodsent by god or gods which was done to control people. The gods contacted the hero and told him to build the ark. Both Arks were very large and contained different types of aminals. In the end the hero of course got too choose how it ended by releasing the animals, and the the hero sacrifsed the gods, who blessed…
The first being there was a flood sent by the gods to destroy the inhabitant of the earth. Both of the stories take place in Mesopotamia. The gods in both books tell one person to get their family to build a ship and gather all the different types of animals because they were going to flood the earth. The gods did this in both books because they were angry with humans. In both of the stories the boat only contained one door. When the flooding was over the ships both landed on mountain tops. Noah and Utnapishtim both use birds to find out when the water had lowered enough to leave. Noah and Utnapishtim also both offered sacrifices to the gods after the flood and were both…
Being a man of religious background, specifically Roman Catholic, I began read the tablets of Gilgamesh skeptically. However I did notice a significant difference between the Genesis chapters 6 through 9 and the Epic of Gilgamesh. The story of Noah as written in the Holy Bible, under Genesis was written as I believe within a society that carried very strong morals. A belief in something bigger than themselves; and their belief in that one thing was called God. A God that was merciful and compassionate, yet vengeful, in regards to his creation known as mankind. In regards to Noah’s story, God was to banish the word of all creatures including man for the violence state that they had become. In the essence of gender relations, it’s stated in Genesis that God saw how beautiful women were created as the daughters of men. It also mentions how God saved the life of one man and his family from a flood that was to be the end of one Generation, the original generation that got out of control in God’s eyes and the beginning of a fresh start. I also feel that the society, in which the accounts of the bible were written, was one of insecurity and redemption. Maybe the bible was like a code of conduct, with examples in which one at the time could refer too. That there were consequences, to ones actions, however through the act of redemption one could be saved, and forgiven by a merciful God. I don’t see vast examples of gender relations in this story for it speaks between man and God directly.…
After reading the flood story of Gilgamesh and the flood story in Genesis it is obvious that there is a relationship between the two. If someone were to tell you a summary of one, they would ultimately be telling you a summary of the other. But just because the overviews are the same does not mean that they are not different. The Epic of Gilgamesh and the story of Genesis have very minor differences, but these differences make each story distinct.…
Almost all cultures are familiar with the story of the flood found in Genesis. It is a very important and interesting story to many Catholics. The main message of the story is God is angry with all the sin in the world, so he decides to start over by sending a flood to wipe out mankind and restart with Noah and his family. Not everyone might be as familiar with the Mesopotamian story of the flood found in Gilgamesh. One would likely assume the story of the flood would have many difference considering the contrast in the time period and colossal differences of religion but there are many underlying similarities in details of the main characters, Noah and Utnapishtim, and the flood itself.…
Although the similarities between “The Epic of Gilgamesh” and “The Genesis” story are many, the variances are very few. Utnapishtim was warned in Ea’s dream, while Noah was directly warned by God. The flood in Utnapishtim’s epic was ordered by Enlil but sent by the whole assembly of gods. In Noah’s fable, the flood was sent by God himself. Lastly, the length of time that the heroes were made to endure the great disaster was very disparate. Utnapishtim had to only survive a short period of time which was 6 days and nights. Noah endured hardship for a much longer period. His journey was 40 days and…
The occurrence of the flood is similar in both the Genesis and Gilgamesh. In both, two men are employed to build a boat in the event of an upcoming flood. Noah is advised by God to “Make [himself] an ark of cypress wood” (Genesis 6), and to survive the upcoming floods with his family and two of many livestock. Likewise, Utnapishtim is approached by the God Ea to “demolish the house, and build a boat” (Gilgamesh 89). Both are ordered to build a boat with many compartments to save the animals to repopulate the world after the floods. Both Noah and Utnapishtim’s families are also the only survivors of both floods because of the boats. Another similarity between Gilgamesh and…
It is apparent in our class readings, that when the gods are angry at the humans they created, these gods unleash unforgiving rains to flood the earth, and kill the human race. Over the years, there have been various texts about these floods. While the occurrences of the floods themselves are continuous throughout these texts, they have varying reasons for the cause of the floods and different aftermaths or consequences. Three of these texts in particular which tell the story of these floods, are Gilgamesh translated by Stephen Mitchell, Metamorphoses by Ovid and Genesis. The main factor in these floods was of course the god or gods who created it. Therefore, the floods in each of these three texts were different, because the gods who created the floods were different. Even though a flood occurs in all of the three texts, the cause, the flood itself and the aftermaths of the floods are different.…
The story of The Epic of Gilgamesh is a western civilization historical poem that is mix of mythology and literature. It is to be believed was written around the first centuries of the second millennium B.C. considering one of the oldest, if not the oldest, ancient poem. It is about a hero who is desperate to become a god and goes an on quest for immortality. Within the pages of the old tale it reveals many hints of history, human nature, and myths of an ancient culture. Though the Sumerian Empire, the Mesopotamian culture, is long forgotten it has been told and retold by many for a reason. Is it because it’s similar views and culture? Is it because of its great story telling, its rich words? Or maybe because it enlighten the people historically? Though the tablets were founded by archaeologists in Middle East, it is a tale written by people of…
In The Story of the Flood from The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh is on a search for immortality and goes to Utnapishtim and his family, the only people granted immortality, and asks him how he achieved it. Utnapishtim tells him a story of a great flood that killed all of mankind. “The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of babel” (Sandars). So the gods decided to flood the earth and kill all mankind. Though Enlil, a warrior, warned Utnapishtim of what was to come and had him build a boat and to gather every living thing, every kind of seed, and his kin into the boat. When the storm came everything died except for those on the boat and when the rain subsided and the waters cleared Utnapishtim burnt a sacrifice to the gods who in turn made him and his wife…