Gilgamesh I and XI / Genesis 6-9

In the epic of Gilgamesh it is told that a huge flood had nearly destroyed the entire world. The greater gods had been unsatisfied with Earth but one god had made a boat which preserved life. While in the Bible there is only one God and worshipping anything else would be a sin, in the epic of Gilgamesh it seems there are an abundant number of gods, each with their own forte.

On the other hand, there are many similarities between this story and the story of Noah's ark. What is the significance that both of these stories of origins, both of these stories involving some greater being(s) discontent with the world and attempting to purify via flood? As I have stated in my first post, this could be for a number of reasons. Water, while having the ability of being extremely destructive, is also associated with life. Second, perhaps this can be seen as a cleansing of the world.

It is an interesting note that both stories have "flood stories" and how the two are so similiar. Both involve building ships with the most specific requirements, and sending out birds to survey the land.

Anna Tsukroff

Gilgamesh and Genesis both contain very interesting versions of the Flood myth. There are many parallels between the two, such as detailing the specific dimensions of the craft and having the protagonist send out birds to test whether the waters had receded yet. The Gilgamesh story is very different from the Genesis story, however, in the light it displays the Gods in. There is only one God in the Genesis story, and he is an all-powerful vengeful (and later forgiving and fatherly) deity. The Gods in the Gilgamesh story are much more anthropomorphized in the respect that they tend to squabble and disagree with each other. They go behind each others' back to thwart the others' plans, such as how Ea told Utanapishtim to save himself and a few of each type of living being so they could survive the flood that Enlil brought about specifically to annihilate everyone and everything on Earth. The Gods are not focused on humanity in the Gilgamesh story, the Flood is not brought about by wickedness or cruelty as it is in the Genesis story. The catastrophe is released more as an arbitrary whim of Enlil than in response to anything mankind has done. Humans have much less control over their fate in that tale; the Gods do whatever they please, rather as the elements of nature they represent seem to do. Overall, I found the Gilgamesh story to be much more detailed and interesting than the Genesis story, though neither seem likely to have happened in the manner described in the myths. I definitely do think that these stories were based on some sort of catastrophic flood that happened in the fertile crescent region at some earlier point in time, though. There is actually scientific evidence that a flood of that catastrophic nature occurred around 5500 BCE when the Mediterranean Sea is theorized to have basically dumped into a freshwater lake that turned into the modern-day Black Sea. It would make sense for a number of different cultures to have Flood myths that have so many parallels originating from this event, since the flood was supposedly incredibly widespread and devastating.

Gilgamesh and Genesis

The differences between the epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible's Genesis are numerous, but the similiar theme allow for comparisons between the two. While the Bible uses the theme of the flood as a punishment in order to cleanse the sinning humanity, the epic of Gilgamesh is decidedly more vague on this point -- the exact reasons for instigating the flood seems to be not the wronging of humanity, but instead on a whim of the gods. The differences between the two could possibly indicate differences in ideologys between the two cultures, whereas the western, Christian world holds themselves accountable for all acts that occur to them; the middle eastern kingdom of Sumer however blames acts of wonton destruction on the gods and not their actions.

An interesting sidenote is the fact that the epic of Gilgamesh also utilizes a dove in order to discover land, but unlike in the Bible the bird is unsuccessful, instead the raven discovers the end of the flood. The raven is often characterized as a dark and mysterious bird, usually indicating a bad omen. Again, this could indicate differences between the two cultures; the importance of peace in the christian world while the Sumerian lands trumped the unexpected and dealing with the unknown.

Gilgamesh and Genesis

Gilgamesh and the Genesis are two stories with the same basic concept but with a lot of differences. One of the main differences between the stories is the reasoning that is given behind choosing who builds the ark. In Genesis it is stated that Noah is chosen for his character and for the quality of human being that he is, which shows to the reader that he is chosen so that this is what the human race will become, or at least what it will hopefully become. In Gilgamesh, no reason is given. There is also no reason for why the flood was brought about in Gilgamesh whereas in Genesis it is stated that the flood is brought about due to human corruption.

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.

Felicia Ooi; Gilgamesh - Tablets I & XI

I found reading Genesis 6 - 8 a lot easier as compared to Gilgamesh Tablets I & XI, both in terms of actually reading it as well as understanding it. There are indeed similarities between the two texts, yet at the same time they are vastly different.

Genesis 6 - 8 was primarily about God sending the flood to purify the earth of all the unclean and unrighteous people and it tells us about how Noah was the one chosen to carry out God's wishes. In that way, Noah was the clear "hero" of the story. There is a flood story in Gilgamesh as well. However, it was not Gilgamesh himself who was the hero who saved humanity from the flood; it was Utanapishtim who was chosen by Ea to save humanity and he was recounting the flood story to Gilgamesh. I felt that the main story in Tablet XI was actually Gilgamesh on a quest for immortality and the flood story was merely an explanation of how Utanapishtim attained immortality.

A similarity would be the element of repetition in both texts, though it is much clearer in Gilgamesh as many verses are repeated several times throughout the text. Reading the same phrases several times did not make the meaning of the phrases any clearer to me though. In addition to that, both texts contain very specific instructions as to how the vessel of humankind's salvation was to be built.

Only a small part of Tablet XI is actually about the flood. After the recounting of the flood, the focus of the story shifts back to Gilgamesh's quest for immortality that takes him to the ends of the earth to look for a plant that could restore youth.

The Bible is an obviously religious text that depicts God as wrathful, but also loving and merciful. Gilgamesh, on the other hand is not a religious text. It is instead a collection of stories about Gilgamesh, a cultural hero of his time and the stories are just that - stories. They have no religious basis and were possibly intended as mere entertainment for the people of that time.