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Gilgamesh
The story of Gilgamesh is one of the first epic poems ever written. Not surprisingly, it parallels a number of other creation myths, particularly in its references to a great flood which cleansed the earth. Such a flood can be found not only in the Sumarian and Babylonian tradition in which Gilgamesh was composed, but also in various Chinese and Indian (from the country of India, not Native Americans) creation myths as well.
It is fairly obvious that the flood story chronicled in Gilgamesh bears a striking number of similarities to the flood story told within the Bible in the Book of Genesis. In this latter tale, Noah is told by God that due to the wickedness taking place throughout the earth, he is going to destroy the entire world and everything in it to make way for a new race of people -- except for Noah and his family. In the epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim conveys the fact that there was also a point in which his Gods were going to destroy the world, yet were willing to preserve him and his family. That means of preservation is remarkably similar to that which enabled Noah to escape the flood. Both men essentially built an ark,...
Moreover, the inhabitants of those arks not only included these aforementioned men and their families, but also at least one of every animal that existed (a pair of each was included in Genesis to account for the repopulation of the animal species after the flood).
After following these instructions, both Noah and Utnapishtim built their boats and endured terrible floods, the likes of which eradicated all of the other inhabitants of the earth: except for those who were safely stored in their boats. There are also poignant similarities to the ends of these tales. Both men were able to ascertain that the flood had ended and that it was safe to disembark on the earth after releasing animals to "test" whether it were truly safe to reclaim the earth. While the parallel is particularly salient in the tales of Gilgamesh and in Genesis, it is vital to recognize the fact that virtually every ancient civilization has some form of this tale in which the Gods send a great flood to essentially destroy the earth and then to start anew in the world all over again.
The…
Works Cited
Anonymous. The Epic of Gilgamesh. New York: Penguin Classics. 1960. Print.
Anonymous. The Book of Genesis. www.biblegateway.com. No date. Web. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis+1&version=NIV
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