Monthly Archives: September 2010

The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis have many similarities as well as differences.    When comparing the details within the stories, they are very different.  The flood is a major connection between The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis.   A similarity is the amount of people God or the gods chose to save.  In both stories, it is the one good man which is Noah from Genesis and Utnapishtism from The Epic of Gilgamesh.  They were both told to build an arc or boat. In Genesis, God wasn’t pleased with the people he created.  “And the Lord saw that the evil of the human creature was great on the Earth and that every scheme of his heart’s devising was only perpetually evil” (G 6:34).  There’s too much evil for God.  So he tells Noah to build an arc.  God use the flood to punish the people for being evil by going against his word.  God ask Noah to collect different pairs of animals that exist.  God told Noah to bring his family:  his wife, sons, and his sons’ wives. In The Epic of Gilgamesh the people on Earth became too noisy for the gods.  The gods didn’t like how the situation is unfolding so they send a flood to destroy the humans.  The gods chose Utnapishtm to create a ship and collect pairs of animals to bring on the ship to preserve.

In both stories, while the arc or boat is floating, Noah and Utnapishtim sent out birds.  Noah sent two and Utnapishtim sent three birds.  “The dove went off, but came back to me…I sent forth a swallow and released it.  The swallow went off, but came back to me….I sent forth a raven and released it.  The raven went off…but does not circle back to me.” (Gilgamesh 94)  When the last bird didn’t come back that meant that the flood is gone and they can settle down.

The floods seem to be the greatest comparison between Genesis and Gilgamesh, yet have many differences. In Genesis, God realizes that things haven’t gone as planned and is not pleased with the evil that is now settling upon the earth he has just created.  “And the Lord saw that the evil of the human creature was great on the earth and that every scheme of his heart’s devising was only perpetually evil” (G6:34).God then decides to destroy the earth as it is and start over. “I will wipe out the human race I created from the face of the earth, from cattle to crawling thing to the fowl of the heavens, for I regret that I have made them. But Noah found favor in God’s eyes” (G6:34). Noah is the one man chosen, by God to survive this terrible flood he is planning to send forth along with a group of selected animals so there is something to start from once the flood is over.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim is the character closest related to Noah and is also told to build a ship and is promised to survive the flood that is to come and wipeout mankind. The Gods reasons for the floods are the following. In Genesis it was man’s wickedness, in Gilgamesh it was the loudness of the people that irritated the Gods who then decided to destroy all the people below them. “The hearts of the Great Gods moved them to inflict the Flood” (GigameshPg.91/14). Although there are a few differences between the stories such as the size of the ships and the length of the floods, the main point is the same. The Gods in both stories are unhappy with what is taking place on the earth below them and feel it is necessary to destroy everything on the earth and start over new. In Genesis the Gods ultimately regret their decision and in Genesis God promises to never do something of that nature again.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest pieces of writing which was discovered by people, so far. It was written in around 1000B.C.E in the Near East region in ancient Mesopotamia. Similarly, Genesis is one of the best books known worldwide which was written in around 400 B.C.E. In addition, it came from the region of Mesopotamia.

The Epic of Gilgamesh presents the polytheistic world where gods and goddesses play a big role. Even if they hold great power and are able to influence people’s actions, sometimes they are weak and imperfect. Also, mortal people and immortal gods have many things in common. They both experience positive and negative feelings such as love, happiness, and anger. For example, when Gilgamesh refuses to marry goodness Ishtar “in a fury she went up to the heavens, going to Anu, her father, and crying, going to Antum, her mother, and weeping” (A 77). Correspondingly, Genesis also describes the world where God plays a big role. However, he is the only monotheistic God and other gods don’t exist. In addition, he is the God who holds all the power; thus, everything depends on his will. For example, he says “Let there be light. And there was light” (A 29). Moreover, he doesn’t have many things in common with mortal people whom he created.

Both readings mention the flood; however, the reason of it is different. In the Epic of Gilgamesh people multiply very fast and earth become too noisy. Gods can’t stand that situation and send flood to destroy human beings. Gods choose a mortal human being, Utnapishtim, to create a ship and collect the pairs of all animals existing in the world. He says “I had all my kith and kin go up into the boat, all the beasts, and animals of the field” (A 92).  In addition, gods let him to protect his family and craftsmen “and the craftsmen I had go up” who have a great amount of knowledge which can be reused later on (A 92). On the other hand, Genesis talks about flood from different perspective. It is a punishment for people who want to be equal to God. “And the Lord saw that the evil of the human creature was great on the earth and that every scheme of his heart’s devising was only perpetually evil. And Lord regretted having made the human on earth” (A 34). As a result, he lets Noah to build an arc and collect the pairs of all animals existing in the world. God says to Noah “and you shall enter the ark, you and your sons and your wife and the wives of your sons, with you. And from all that lives, from all flesh, two of each thing you shall bring to the ark to keep alive with you, male and female they shall be” (A 34).  Also, Noah family is one who survives and populates the earth.

             The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis have many things in common. Both of them were written in antique period and are very well known. The Epic of Gilgamesh was evolved over the course of many centuries and it is about three thousand years old. Similarly, Genesis was written before the birth of Jesus Christ and it’s about two thousand and four hundred years old.
            A flood is the unifying similarity that both share; however, the reasons are different. In the Epic of Gilgamesh gods get angry at the human kind because they produce enormous amount of noise. Thus, gods send flood to destroy people. However, they let the mortal Utnapishtim to create an ark and save his family and animals. Utnapishtim says “I had all my kith and kin go up into the boat, all the beasts, and animals of the field” (A 92). In addition, he takes craftsman to save the existence of knowledge for next generations. In Genesis, God sends flood because people want to be equal to him. He decides to destroy them and says “the end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with outrage by them…I am now about to destroy them” (A 6). However, he lets Noah to construct an ark for saving his family and animals to populate the earth after the flood.
            The Epic of Gilgamesh describes polytheistic world; whereas, in Genesis, only one God is presented. Gods in the Epic of Gilgamesh are immortal and they have many things in common with mortal human beings, for example, characters and behaviors. They have similar emotion, such as, happiness, sadness, anger and sexual desire. Some of them also have the urge to make relationship with human being as goddess Ishtar “Come along, Gilgamesh, be you my husband” (A 75). In Genesis, the immortal God doesn’t have anything in common with people. In addition, he holds absolute power and he wants to regulate everything according to his rule. For instance, he says, “For in seven days’ time I will make it rain on the earth forty days and forty nights and I will wipe out from the face of earth and all existing things that I have made” (A 35).

I never knew that there was another flood than the one in genesis. It is so impressive how the two stories are identical. For example, in both stories something angers the gods in Gilgamesh and God in Genesis. In Gilgamesh the gods decide to destroy mankind because they are making noise, which I don’t understand because being gods they should have the power to intercept noise. In genesis, God decides to destroy mankind because he sees “that the evil of the human creature was great on the earth and that every scheme of his heart’s devising was only perpetually evil.” (A, 34) 

Another similarity between the two histories is the amount of people God and the gods decide to save. In both accounts, one good man Utanapishtim from Gilgamesh and Noah from Genesis are selected and ordered to build a boat or an ark. In Genesis God decides to save Noah because he “found favor in the eyes of the LORD.” (A, 34) So Noah is the only person elected by God to create the future of humankind. In Gilgamesh, Ea informs Utanapishtim in a dream that he will be the one to help civilization to survive. However, there is a small difference between the two histories. For example, in Genesis Noah decides to take his family members and no other human beings, but in Gilgamesh Utanapishtim takes his family and the craftsman. 

            Also in both accounts when the boat or the ark comes to a stop after the flood, Noah and Utanapishtim send out birds to find out if it is safe to come out from the boat or ark. Utanapishtim  sends out three different birds, the first was a dove but it returned, then he sends a swallow and the bird also returns, finally he sends out a raven and the bird finds land and never returns. In Genesis, Noah sends out a raven but the bird didn’t find land and returns to him, then he send a dove the first time the bird didn’t find land and returns to the ark, the second time the dove didn’t return.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the story of Utanapishtim is similar to Noah from the Holy Bible’s first book, Genesis, in a few ways. Both Noah and Utanapishtim face the same problem, the flood that wipes out humanity. Utanapishtim is given a blueprint from the gods of an arc he must build. God also tells Noah how he must build his arc, even though his is much bigger than Utanapishtim’s.

Noah is also instructed by God to bring “… his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives…” and every animal, each with a mate.  (pg. 35) Utanapishtim brings similar people and animals, but with a twist. The Epic states,

“I had all my kith and kin go up into the boat,

All the beasts and animals of the field and the craftsmen I had go up.” (pg. 92, lines 80-81)

Utanapishtim brings along the craftsmen so, when the flood is over, they can rebuild cities. Noah is not interested in bringing craftsmen. He only wants to follow what God orders.

God believes humankind is evil and regrets creating them, so he must cleanse the Earth with a flood. Genesis states, “And the LORD saw that the evil of the human creature was great on the earth… And the LORD said, ‘I will wipe out the human race I created from the face of the earth… for I regret that I have made them.’” (pg. 34) This was not the case with the gods from the Epic of Gilgamesh. Utanapishtim says, “

“The hearts of the Great Gods moved them to inflict the Flood.”

The gods did not create the flood because humans were evil. They did it because they wanted to and they thought it was the right thing to do.

Even though the gods and God created the flood for different reasons, Utanapishtim and Noah went about saving themselves in similar ways.