The Flood of Noah and the Flood of Gilgamesh

1845 Words4 Pages

Myths, some parts speculated to be true and many not, have always been part of our lives. However, as one glances across the different myths of different cultures, one can find that some portion of two different myths can be eerily similar to each other, causing one to speculate whether they have made contact with one another long time ago in history. This led to the question that people constantly try to prove: do myths that have overlapping ideas verify actual historical truths and similar culture between origins of myths? Almost all myths around the world have the particular section on the “Great Flood.” It has been universal, indicating that at some point in their lifetime, all of the cultures experienced a flood that almost wiped their civilization out. However, many of the flood myths of different cultures take different features in time period, area that they happened, heroes, and the story itself. But, surprisingly, the flood myths in Bible and Gilgamesh are almost similar except for the slight differences for the names of the heroes, shapes of the arks, and story itself. Besides few small details of the story, though, everything else is very parallel to each other. Noah’s Flood in Bible begins with God, who grieved over the wickedness of men, deciding to wipe out mankind on the face of earth. However, he spares Noah because he found favor in God’s eyes. God tells Noah how he should prepare to survive the flood that God will cause soon in following quotation: So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are going to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the t... ... middle of paper ... ... Flood/Black Sea Expedition. Accessed December 16, 2013. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/blacksea/ax/frame.html. --- "Noah’s Flood in Context: Legend or History?" Schauffler Library NMH School. 2002. Accessed December 16, 2013. http://streaming.factsonfile.com/PortalViewVideo.aspx?xtid=30092. --- "PREHISTORIC MEGASTORMS - MEGA TSUNAMI." YouTube. March 26, 2012. Accessed December 16, 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxe0CNAPHJU. --- "PREHISTORIC MEGASTORMS - NOAH'S GREAT FLOOD." YouTube. February 02, 2012. Accessed December 16, 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URPaMGjnCvU. Roller, Timo. "Noahs Berg." At the Landing Site of the Ark. Accessed December 16, 2013. http://www.cudi.info/html/02-noahs-ark-1a.html. --- "Sumerians." British Museum -. Accessed December 13, 2013. http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/cultures/middle_east/sumerians.aspx.

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