Similarities Between Gilgamesh And Book Of Genesis

One motif seen in many traditions around the world is that of destruction of mankind with the help of a great flood which is sent in the form of a supernatural force in order to wipe them out for their misdeeds. Amidst all the existing variations of the flood stories, the most renowned is undoubtedly the account from the Biblical book of Genesis. Although this version of the story shares many similarities in terms of the structure that it follows with pre-existing accounts such as Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh and previous Sumerian account; it can be argued that on the flipside there are many differences that are observed in these varying accounts. Most of the accounts have the same skeletal structure with certain variations that needed to be
included so the story was relevant to each culture/civilization; they albeit share similar themes and parallel each other at various levels. Fundamentally the flood stories from Babylonians, Sumerian and Hebrews all have common themes and incidents, which are used to explain concepts such as the use of primeval waters to cleanse man, or the passing of the old world to a new world and the flood which acts as a separator between these two phases (old and new world). These myths also help explain how man originated and why they were given a life span. Consequently, myths also explain flaws in humanity’s nature. To conclude, the flood myths are a common motif seen in civilizations across the world; most popular are the accounts from the fertile crescent/Genesis. These accounts are essentially variations of each other based on the earliest account, reworked and retold to fit the cultural and religious ideals of each civilization.