Primary Source Review: The Story Of The Flood

10/24/2017
Gino Cendejas
Dr. White, HIST 1113l
Primary Source Review: The Story of The Flood
A bustling young region renown for being the cradle of civilizations, Mesopotamia, is the setting of this epic poem, The Story of The Flood. The Story of The Flood is embodied into the 11th tablet of 12, that together, compose the many heroic stories of The Epic of Gilgamesh. This narrative is the oldest piece of Epic Western Literature, that is of Sumerian/Babylonian origins. It is believed to have been composed sometime from 2,700 B.C.E. to 2,500 B.C.E. and first inscribed in 2,100 B.C.E. to 1,400 B.C.E. The best-preserved version of the story originates from the Babylonian writer Shin-Leqi-Unninni, presumed to have been written sometime between 1,300
B.C.E. to 1,000 B.C.E. However, he did not simply copy the epic poem, but he also translated, edited and believed to have embellished upon the original story.
As the epic story was orally passed on, long before it was inscribed, it has been debated if the written form mentioned above, was of early Sumerian or later Babylonian cultural influence. The Sumerian scholar, Samuel Noah Kramer has written on this matter, “Even in those episodes which lack Sumerian counterparts, most of the individual motifs reflect Sumerian mythic and epic sources. In no case, however, did the Babylonian poets slavishly copy the Sumerian material. They so modified its content and molded its form, in accordance with their own temper and heritage, that only the bare nucleus of the Sumerian original remains recognizable. It is definitely a Babylonian, rather than a Sumerian, development and achievement. (History Begins at Sumer, 270).” This insert from “History Begins at Sumer, 270, Samuel Noah Kramer” aids in reinforcing the argument that the story is of Babylonian origins, which was later
translated and modified for their own customs and motifs. This epic is of importance for many reasons. It reveals their religious beliefs & relationship they had with their Gods. The stories of the Sumerian epic is assumed by many to have been based on factual historical events, just perhaps stretched and altered throughout time, as by word of mouth was the only way to relate the story for hundreds if not a thousand years before it was at last written with the emergence of writing. It is often more or less tacitly assumed that the stories told in the Sumerian epics are based on actual historical events, or even that they reflect a so-called heroic age of the first half of the third millennium If this is in fact a true story & not a myth as many speculate, then it is of grand importance that Gilgamesh was able to learn of the flood and not
In this legendary epic of the flood, Gilgamesh seeks immortality after losing his beloved friend Enkidu and consequently, realizes his own mortality and its virtues.
In his search for immortality, he chances upon Utnapishtim, whom was granted immortality, along with his wife, at the hand of The God Enlil, who was the one behind the flood to wipe out humanity. Utnapishtim then recited the story of The Flood to Gilgamesh and of how they were granted immortality after surviving the catastrophe with the aid of The Goddess Ea. Through the walls of her house, she had spoken to Utnapishtim & warned him of the great flood coming & instructions on building a ship & filling it with 2 of every animal. After surviving the flood, through the use of an inviting, savory sacrifice in cauldrons, he lured the Gods to the mountain top to show his gratitude for having survived & his newly learned lesson, while excluding Enlil, for he was the one who brought down the flood, to wipe out human kind for being intolerably loud & depriving him of sleep. This makes the story very intriguing, as it almost completely parallel’s the story of the flood in the Genesis book of the Bible and that it was created long before the Christian story. Many have debated over the origins of both, to resolve the mystery of whether the Genesis story was a spin-off of the Sumerian version, vice-versa or if they both originated from a real
flood.
The time period of The Flood in Gilgamesh’s Epic, takes place in an ancient region in the East Mediterranean, in the city Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia started with a group of hunter-gatherer people who settled between the two rivers and changed their main focuses to agriculture, which soon led to trade and in turn, prosperity and urbanization of the city. The name Mesopotamia originates from the Greek meaning, between two rivers. The city was on a Fertile Crescent in now modern-day Iraq, set between The Tigris and The Euphrates Rivers. This fertile and abundant land allowed for the switch of hunting and gathering, to settling and focusing on agriculture and the beginning of the domestication of animals. These developments were credited to the Mesopotamians along with many of other major developments & inventions, such as mathematics, common tools, advanced weaponry & warfare and the wheel, subsequently followed by the chariot. Even the demarcation of time as we know it today, systematized into seconds, minutes & hours originated from this grand city. Along with the discovery of irrigation & the sail boat. Both being a substantial correlation to the boom of the city’s growth, with abundant crops to feed larger populations & the means for easier & faster trading that they innovated as well. Mesopotamia is known as the cradle of civilization. Surprisingly not for it being home to many major civilizations, nor because it was home to a variety of cultures who shared God’s, script & shared believed rights allowed to women. No, the reasoning above all else, was for the cities’ development to becoming the first city as we know them to be today and the first of 3 generally accepted known independent civilizations to have invented writing around 3,500 – 3,000 B.C.E. Writing is also known to have been invented independently subsequently in China & then Mesoamerica. Writing is accredited to Mesopotamia as it’s biggest contribution to Western Civilization. Through a necessity with a growing population & long-distance trading, writing was invented. With writing, they could now easily relay messages, notably across long distances as trading increased *****The major civilizations included the Sumerian, Babylonian, Akkadian, and Assyrian civilizations. The only major difference in religion, being the God’s names, each pertaining to different regions and civilizations. The region was a Polytheistic Society, with a vast quantity of Gods that they gave credit to for the majority of natural and even unnatural events. Befitting with their beliefs in natural disasters, they viewed the Flood as being a punishment for their ill behavior. This was incorporated to help keep order among the people. It had come to be custom to treat elders with honor and all with respect. The Mesopotamians believed that at the dawn of time on Earth, Chaos battled

This story is of great significance due to its part as the oldest known western literature, it’s similarity to the flood in the book of Genesis as well as to the Sumerian story of Ziusudra and the Akkadian Atrahasis Epic, and its effect on the people.