Within Genesis and The Epic of Gilgemesh the role that the cities play in both ties these two stories together. In Epic of Gilgemesh there is Urik a great city built with all the amenities in the world and protected by the great wall made of trees from the forest of Humbaba and in Genesis there is the Shinar city built with a large tower to reach the heavens.
Tied to the comparison of the cities is the flaws in the gods of both tales. In the Epic of Gilgemesh there are numerous gods that have many human characteristics taking away from there godly figure and making them seen more of a higher class human. In Gilgemesh there is the God Ishtar who in fear of Gilgemesh and Enkidu sends the Bull of Heaven to kill them “Father give me the Bull of Heaven so he can kill Gilgemesh in his dwelling. If you do not give me the Bull.. I will knock down the Gates of the Netherworld.” here you can as see that Ishtar comes off a little bit childish and bratty to his more authoritative father. Near the end of Genesis there is something that God says that brings him down to a human plato. When God sees the city with the large tower God’s responds with fear of the capabilities human possess as seen in Chapter 11 “the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the human creatures had built. And the Lord said, “As one people with one language for all, if this is what have begun to do, nothing they plot will elude them” God continues and separates the city and cuts there ability to communicate with each other.
Even though there is large similarities between both tale’s storyline, the way both are written has much to compare. The most common comparison is the amount of repetition each story had. The repetition is used to emphasize, in the case of Gilgemesh he uses it when describing his adventures and past experiences and in Genesis it is used to link hertiage.
