Courtney Lum

Even though Genesis and the epic of Gilgamesh dealt with the theme of flood, each had their own variances pertaining to why the flood was put into effect and how the matter of the flood was dealt with. In Genesis, God believed the human race had been living in a manner of sin and corruption, and therefore needed to be washed away from the earth. But God didn’t want to completely erase all life on the earth, just the evil and corrupt; which is why He chose righteous Noah to pave the path for new life. By creating a peaceful, righteous world void of corruption, God was renewing life; the world was being reborn.

In Gilgamesh, the Flood was also an act of cleansing, but for no such reason other than the gods (particularly Enlil) were annoyed by the noisy, overpopulated humans. Unlike the Genesis God who is omniscient and omni-benevolent, the gods in Gilgamesh possess more human-like qualities and therefore are capable of being irrational, which is why the decision to completely erase all humanity was quick and poorly planned. While the Genesis God has complete control over the flood, the gods from Gilgamesh didn’t which is what led to such frightening, catastrophic storms like tsunamis and tectonic plate movements.

GIlgamesh

Gilgamesh is really confusing to read. It is understandable because it is a translation of an ancient text, but it is hard to relate to. There are a lot of different Gods in this story, unlike in the Bible where there is only one God and it is a sin to worship anything else. All of the different Gods is very confusing, it seems like it isn't exact how many Gods there are and new Gods were being imagined all the time. This is comparable to Greek Mythology where there are hundreds of Gods who overlap in what they have control over. I am also confused as to why there was a flood at all in Gilgamesh, it just says "The hearts of the Great Gods moved them to inflict the Flood" but doesn't way why. This could be that the Gods are so great that humans aren't meant to know why. It is interesting why there are different versions of the flood story, is it possible that a flood actually did happen that started all this story telling that branched off into different religions? Or is it merely symbolic and was only used as a scare tactic to keep members of the religion in line? It makes me curious about how much of the bible is actually historically accurate.

The Flood

Both of the stories of "Genesis" and "Gilgamesh" have mentioned the legend of the flood, and both contributes a lot to describe the scene vividly. The flood in both stories are talking about how the Gods intend to destroy human and how the heroes survive with a boat at the end.
According to the data, "Gilgamesh" is the first great heroic narrative of world literature, which has existed in 2700 B.C. Compare with that, the "Pentateuch"(first five books of the Bible) does not appear until 539 B.C. Therefore, the flood stories in "Genesis" and "The Epic of Gilgamesh" are very similar but still have some bifurcations due to the development of the civilization.
The difference between "Genesis" and "Gilgamesh" can be concluded as the following points. First, there exists a very different attitude about the God. It is obviously to see that the sole god in "Genesis" has absolutely centred power. Compare with that, "Gilgamesh" has variety gods in diverse positions with very similar power. Second, the reason why God inflicts the flood are quite different. Anu and other gods intend to destroy human just simply because of the overpopulation while the God in "Genesis" inflicts the flood due to his dissatisfaction with the sinner. Third, the selected heroes are different. Utanapishtim is a random selected human but Noah is selected because his faith.

Willie Ho

After comparing the Genesis story-myth with tablets I and IX of The Epic of Gilgamesh, I noticed a number of similarities and differences in the text.

In the Genesis, Noah was chosen by god as a righteous man who seemed to be the best candidate of the human race to help God fulfill his task. God warned Noah that mankind has grow to be too evil and He did not anticipate this. God needed to cleanse the earth of the evils of mankind so he creates a flood to wipe the earth clean. Hence, he tells Noah to build an ark with a length of "three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits."

This flood in the Genesis is also present in the The Epic of Gilgamesh. However, in The Epic of Gilgamesh, the "chosen" craftsman goes by the name of Utanapishtim. In fact, Utanapishtim is not even chosen. The gods in that myth hold a meeting and one god, Ea, is overheard by Utanapishtim when he speaks to a reed house. He speaks of a flood and that the only way to survive it is to build a boat in which "its length must correspond to its width." After the boat is built, its dimensions are told. "Its walls were each 10 times 12 cubits in height, the sides of its top were of equal length, 10 times It cubits each." As seen, the boat in The Epic of Gilgamesh is actually more square than the ark in Genesis.

Everything else in the two stories regarding the mythical flood seem to be the same. However, the gods' ambitions for causing it were quite different. As stated earlier,in the genesis, God causes the flood because mankind has grown to be too evil of a creature and for this they must repent and start anew as a race. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the gods simply thought mankind was being pesky and decided to kill them off for fun.

There were a few extra, minor differences regarding the aftermath of the flood. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the flood's aftermath seemed to have lasted seven days while in the Genesis, it lasted about 150 days. Both antagonists of the stories send forth a dove and raven to check if the waters have abated after the flood. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, a swallow is also sent out to check the waters.

Genesis 6-9 and Gilgamesh Tablets I and XI

In Tablet XI, I found many parallels to the biblical story of Noah, such as the ordering of all living things to go into the boat, the exact dimensions of how the boat was built, and the sending of the dove from the boat. Though the stories may seem similar, however, there are also marked differences. In the biblical story, man’s wickedness incites God into punishing man and bringing forth the flood. God chooses Noah to survive because God finds favor in him, emphasizing that righteousness will be unforgotten and rewarded. However, Enlil sends the flood for cleansing and controlling the population growth. Although the gods in Gilgamesh do not explicitly state feelings of regret over the flood, God in Genesis states his repentance for cursing man and every living thing. Also, the people’s tumultuous experience during the flood is described in Gilgamesh, unlike Genesis. The Bible is clearly for spiritual guidance and dogma, for it glorifies the holy God, encouraging followers to become like Him. But Gilgamesh is presented simply as a story without intentions of acquiring followers.

When Urshanabi takes Gilgamesh away to the washing place and he casts off his animal skin, it reminded me of The Dawn Treader, when Eustace turns into a dragon. I felt as if both characters were shedding not only their skin, but their sins so they could have spiritual renewal.

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.