Genesis and Gilgamesh

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.