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Gilgamesh and the modern world
A short summary of the epic of gilgamesh
Epic of Gilgamesh creation
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The Epic of Gilgamesh has been of interest to Christians ever since its discovery in the mid-nineteenth century. It has an account of a universal flood with significant parallels to the Great Flood mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Frank). In both stories people were being punished for man’s wickedness and sins. Today, as in the ancient writings, some people relate the global issue of natural disasters as a punishment from God because of man’s evilness and sins. In The Epic of Gilgamesh the flood started when one of the gods, Enlil, became angry when Utnapishtim and the people in the community were making too much noise. In the story Utnaphishtim said to Gilgamesh, “I will reveal to you, O Gilgamesh, a secret matter, and a mystery of the gods …show more content…
An example of a modern day natural disaster is Hurricane Katrina, which happened on August 29, 2005. Some people such as Pastor John Hagee said that the hurricane was started because of man’s sins in New Orleans. He stated “Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.” New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, he stated because “there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that Katrina came”(Corley). This is one modern day example of how a pastor shared his belief behind why Hurricane Katrina, a natural disaster, …show more content…
He soon became enraged with how much sin was happening, so He created the flood in hopes of cleansing the earth. Since God didn’t want all of the people to die he gave instructions to a very special person, Noah. God told Noah to build an ark and bring his family and various animals with him. Soon after everyone got on the ship, they closed the doors and sailed off. Noah and his family waited for almost eight months for the water to dry out. Since Noah was able to bring his family and the animals home safely, God promised that he would never make a flood that would destroy the earth again. Another modern day example that can be related to the global issue of natural disasters is Hurricane Sandy which happened on October 25, 2012. Some people such as Chaplain John McTernan, the founder of Defend and Proclaim the Faith Ministries, proclaimed that "God is systematically destroying America." McTernan wrote in a blog post on his website the week of Hurricane Sandy, "Just look at what has happened this year (Garcia)." McTernan believed that Hurricane Sandy happened because there were many gay, lesbian, and transsexuals living in America who committed unholy crimes, or sins. He also believed that the flood was a way for the people in the city to stop sinning which also connects to the story of Noah in The
It contains useful comparisons and historical data to help support his analysis. The author considers the story to hold very value for Christians. It concerns the typical myths that were tied to pagan people. Despite that theory, there have been many Christians who have studied the afterlife and creation in the epic. He suggests an interesting thought when he starts to explain the story. The author hints that maybe the main character, Gilgamesh, was a historical figure. The base analysis for his line of thought is the story of the flood found in the bible. After looking at the lengths of time of each story, he considers it to not be a problem. To provide some evidence, the author shows a chart of a series of questions about each flood and compares the two. The most striking comparison in the chart was the command to build a boat; "O man of Shuruppak, son of Ubar-Tutu, tear down thy house, build a ship; abandon wealth, seek after life; scorn possessions, save thy life. Bring up the seed of all kinds of living things into the ship which thou shalt build. Let its dimensions be well measured."17 The text from the quote can almost match what the bible said. In both stories the person was commanded to build a boat because a flood is coming due to man’s sins or man’s wickedness. In the conclusion of the article, the author says a bold statement; “the widespread nature of flood traditions throughout the entire human race is exce...
The Sumero-Babylonian version of the epic of Gilgamesh, after two and a half millennia of dormancy, was resurrected by British archaeologists in the nineteenth century. Amid the rubble of an Assyrian palace, the twelve clay tablets inscribed the adventures of the first hero of world literature – King Gilgamesh, whose oral folk tales go back to at least 3000 years before Christ (Harris 1). Tablet XI contains the story of the Flood. In this essay let us compare this flood account to the more recent Noah’s Flood account in Genesis of the Old Testament.
It rained for forty days and nights during the Great Flood while Noah with his family and animals stayed on the ark.
*A man is warned by a god to build a ship so he could survive a coming flood, sent by the divine powers.
On August 29th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina, the most expensive hurricane in American history, made landfall in Louisiana with winds of one hundred and twenty-seven miles per hour (“Hurricane Katrina Statistics Fast Facts”). The sheer magnitude of the amount of lives and property lost was enormous, and it was triggered simply by warm ocean waters near the Bahamas ("How Hurricane Katrina Formed"). Nature was indifferent to whether the raging winds and rain would die off in the ocean or wipe out cities; it only follows the rules of physics. A multitude of American authors has attempted to give accounts and interpretations of their encounters with the disinterested machine that is nature. Two authors, Stephen Crane and Henry David Thoreau, had rather contrasting and conflicting interpretations of their own interactions with nature.
Most everyone knows something about the story of Noah and the great flood. It is one of the most illustrated and common stories from the Bible. The knowledge that God was angry, Noah built an ark to carry animals and then there was a flood that killed everything. Though this is the basic picture of the story, it does not capture alone the main point of the story. God’s saving grace is the message. Believe and follow in the path of the Lord and salvation will be yours. All of God’s characteristics and boundaries he conveyed spawn off of the following of this or the ignoring of His omnipotent power and being. Just like in much of the text in the Bible, you have to read between the lines to find the meaning; the same is true for Genesis 5-9.
The amazing stories of the great flood that are described in The Epic of Gilgamesh which is translated by N.K. Sandars and “The Story of the Flood” which is the King James version, both stories similarly. Many of the events of each story are very similar in ways and very different in some of them. From reading both stories I concluded that there was a huge flood that took place in that area of the world. Even though the way both stories describe the flood; The Epic of Gilgamesh is more imaginable. I say that because it is more realistic to have rain for six days, six nights than for forty days, forty nights. Both flood stories have a major similarity and difference though. Both stories described the same flood but they did it in different ways.
Hurricane Katrina was one of the most devastating natural disasters to happen in the United States. The storm resulted in more then US$100 billion in damage when the cities flood protection broke and 80% of the city was flooded (1). The protection failure was not the only cause for the massive flooding, the hurricanes clockwise rotation pulled water from north of New Orleans into the city. 330,000 homes were destroyed and 400,000 people from New Orleans were displaced, along with 13,00 killed (1). Although the population quickly recovered, the rate of recovery slowed down as the years went on leading us to believe not everyone
Through the path of history, there have been several major events that influenced thousands of lives and were significant in forming the world today. One of the largest and deadliest events that occurred in history was a disaster not anybody could control or be held accountable for. This was Hurricane Katrina. On the early Monday morning of August 29th, 2005, a Category 5 rating Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States with winds up to 175 miles per hour and a storm surge of 20 feet high. Hurricane Katrina was one of the greatest and most destructive natural disasters recorded to make landfall in the United States. The natural causes of the hurricane, poorly structured levees, disaster inside the Superdome, and the
In both versions of the flood story something angers God (in Genesis) and the gods (in Gilgamesh). "The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reasons of the babel" (Gilgamesh 12). The Gilgamesh reason seems very illogical. The Gods decide to destroy mankind because they are making too much noise. It seems that the gods didn't think over their decision wisely. They are gods, wouldn't they have the power to block out the sound? One would think so, but obviously that was not the case. This is the first major difference between the two stories.
Natural disasters are scary and cause some serious problems. Those problems may be short-term, such as small flood meaning new crops need to be planted. However, the same disaster can also bring some long-term problems too. A long-term problem cause by a flood could be needing to get out of debt because paying for somewhere to stay until repairs are done costs money, then paying for the repairs such as water damage and damaged furniture also costs money. There are also so many different natural disasters that can cause life-changing problems. Some natural disasters that cause horrifying damage are volcanoes, hurricane, tornadoes, tsunamis, floods and so many more. After reading the articles “Memories of the Flood” and “Hurricane Mitch” I
Every year, many natural disasters happen around the world. In New Orleans, and several other states, a devastating hurricane struck. High-speed winds and major flooding caused many people to lose their homes and even their lives. Many people have heard of Hurricane Katrina, but not everybody knows what caused it and the affect it had on the United States. On the early morning of August 29th, 2005 on the Gulf Shore near New Orleans, a devastating hurricane struck.
The relation to the Genesis Great Flood Myth: While every culture has their own version of the flood myth, they all have some similarities to each other. I found the resemblance between the Sumerian account of the flood and the Genesis narrative, Noah’s Ark, highly interesting. Both individuals from the accounts had someone who ‘warned’ them about the incoming flood so they can save rescue their family and creatures of the earth as a second chance. I also find that the ‘why the flood happened’ between the two reports is similar, yet different- similar because it was a God who wanted to start all over, yet different because of the why.
The Epic of Gilgamesh has many similarities to the Bible, especially in Genesis and it’s not just that the both begin with the letter “g”’! One major similarity being the flood story that is told in both works. The two stories are very similar but also very different. Another being the use of serpents in both works and how they represent the same thing. A third similarity being the power of God or gods and the influence they have on the people of the stories. Within these similarities there are also differences that need to be pointed out as well.
Before going any further, the story of Noah and the Flood will be summarized according to the book of Genesis in order to be able to make the comparison later in this paper. The story begins in Genesis chapter 6 describing the then current state of “wickedness.” The descendants of Adam and Eve grew in number and many of them intermarried with anyone of their choosing. God saw in them great “wickedness” and most people only had evil in the...