Gilgamesh
GilgameshThe Epic of Gilgamesh and The Bible: Comparing the Flood Stories
In both The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible, a flood takes place. The flood in both stories destroys most of mankind. These floods are a symbol. They represent rebirth and a new beginning for mankind, as well as the gods or God’s wrath. In the epic of Gilgamesh the gods decided to destroy mankind by flooding earth for six days and nights. Utnapishtim was chosen to build a boat in order to restart mankind after the flood. In The Bible, God decided that there was too much evil in the world and decided to flood Earth for forty days and nights. God Chose Noah to build an ark to save 2 of each animal and restart mankind after the flood. In both The Epic of Gilgamesh, and the Bible, a story of a great flood occurs these stories compare and contrast in several significant ways.
In both stories mankind was exterminated because things were getting to chaotic. In Gilgamesh the god Enlil’s reason for wanting to destroy man was “the uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible” The other gods agreed with this. In the Bible, God also saw how the wickedness of man had taken over earth.
Utnapishtim was chosen to survive the great flood...
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