Comparison

Noah and Gilgamesh are the two main characters in each flood story. Noah is placed on a pedestal to show his righteousness as he is the center of the story. Noah is the chosen one as a descendant from Adam. He lives to be 250 years old. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the main character is Gilgamesh but the story is told from Utanapishtim's view, he uses the word "I". Gilgamesh is like a founding father and is placed on a pedestal because he is 2/3 gG-d and 1/3 king. Gilgamesh, like Noah, does show leadership qualities. They are both the builders of each ark.

The reason for the flood is different in each epic. In Genesis, G-d announces the flood to take place as a way to kill all mankind because of all the corruption and clear the world of its evilness. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the flood is caused by the older G-d's, such as Enlil. The G-ds come together as an assembly to create meteorological chaos with winds, water, meteors, etc. They feel this is necessary because of the overpopulation taking place and because it is tradition for this to occur every 1200 years.

Genesis is written to show people to "right" way to carry on their lives. The Bible contains many stories, such as Noah's Ark, as a way to start a new religion, gain followers, and spread ideas and values. Oppositely, the Epic of Gilgamesh is more of a cultural artifact, not a religious one. This story allows historian, archeologists, and people like us to read a folklore from the time of Mesopotamian. The Bible is more of a moral guide, where the story of Gilgamesh is more of an enjoyable story from ancient times.