As somebody that tries his best to live up to his religion, I feel intrigued by the story of Genesis’ Noah’s Ark and its connection to the story of Gilgamesh. It is very intriguing because I feel that in some way it confirms the stories in the bible are true.
Although they may not be completely identical, it still fulfills some sort of assurance that the stories in the bible are not completely made out of thin air. Now, questioning the real author of Genesis is a different question.
Going back to Noah’s Ark and the story of Gilgamesh, there are so many similarities between the stories. For one, there was an actual great flood that existed. According to Genesis, God said “I will wipe out the human race that I created from the face of the earth…” (Genesis 34). In the Epic of Gilgamesh, it says that “The hearts of the Great Gods moved them in inflict the flood” (Gilgamesh 91). The second similarity is that there was an actual ark that was created and along with it contained animals.
The only thing that did bother me is the fact that in Genesis, which is supposedly the “Holy” Book, God only allows Noah’s family to get on board the ship while killing everyone else. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the god seemed more compassionate by allowing more people to get onboard.
Although the Bible can still be seen as contradictable with itself, we still have to realize that the authors of the Bible are not God but rather humans just like ourselves. It said that through ruah, God breath, that the authors were influenced by God into writing the story.
