The Bible, Gilgamesh and the Flood

The story of the Great Flood can be found in many ancient texts such as the Bible and the epic of Gilgamesh. However, the stories in different texts have similarities and differences as we can see in the Bible and the epic of Gilgamesh. The major similarities that I found in the two texts were that the dimension of the Arks are very specifically defined in measurements and described in details. Because of these specific descriptions, readers can imagine what it was like and shows some kind of evidence of this event. Nevertheless, we can easily notice the big difference of these two stories which are not about the characters of the story or the places, but the purpose of these two events. The Mighty God in the Bible decided to bring a flood on Earth to cleanse the sin of mankind such as, violence and crime, and gave men a second chance to be prosperous on Earth. In the epic of Gilgamesh, the god Enlil wipe down the Earth with flood to keep mankind and other living creatures from overpopulating. I think that the God’s purpose was more philosophical and idealistic than Enlil’s purpose which is more realistic to understand. These differences exist because of the stories were originated from different cultures with different philosophical backgrounds.