Essay Comparing The Epic Of Gilgamesh And Genesis

The epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis each show different views from the Story of the Flood. Each gives background on different time periods and by different parts of the world. One telling of Gilgamesh seeking answers from Utnapishtim on how to live forever to avoid the suffering from death, and Noah a man chosen by God to save his family and animals from the cleaning of the world floods. By showing the difference and similarities of both stories we can not only understand more of storytelling of ancient civilizations, we will see how these stories have affected the way our world and cultures are shaped today. The Epic of Gilgamesh’s version of The Flood begins when Gilgamesh searches for Utnapishtim so he can learn how to live forever. Once met Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh how it came to be. The story beings with the god Enlil as he is gathering the other gods directed at one city and all of mankind. One of …show more content…
Each also explains how only one person is selected in a mysterious way. Although in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim is approached in a dream unlike how Noah is approached directly, Utnapishtim’s story fits more of a realistic scene and can be seen as a more realistic event in our world. Both stories are very similar due to sacrifices being made to God in the Genesis story and to Ea in the epic of Gilgamesh. Another similarity includes that when the hero’s released birds in search of land the first two returned and the third found a mountain submerged under water and that is where both of the hero’s land there boats to wait out for the flood waters to recede. The only major difference is that in the Epic of Gilgamesh Utnapishtim is given a punishment from the god Enlil because he survived the flood of the world. Other differences include that the actually story from Genesis was copied from an earlier Babylonian story, while Gilgamesh was copied from an earlier Hebrew