Comparing Genesis and the Epic of Gilgamesh

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The Epic of Gilgamesh is regarded as the oldest written text discovered by mankind. Written copies of the work are dated during the early Mesopotamian empire. The story concerns the king, Gilgamesh, and his search for immortality. Throughout the piece, gods and divinity are highlighted and by virtue of this, many historians emphasis that the text has religious significance. Approximately a millenium later, Judaism is founded and Moses writes the beginnings of their religious scripture, Genesis and Exodus, the first two parts of the Bible. Though set in different times, by different authors, for different beliefs and cultures, there are many evident parallels between The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible. The Bible borrowed many stories from The Epic of Gilgamesh to explain the events of the time before its writing.
The well known tale of Adam and Eve has similarities with the epic. God creates Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He allows them to live happily and do as they please. God’s one rule for them is that they are not allowed to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Then, a snake approaches Eve and tempts her to eat the fruit. Eve hands the fruit to Adam and he eats it.
The Bible states, “But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate,”(English Standard Gen. 4:7). God finds out shortly after and punishes all three of them.
Similar to Adam...

... middle of paper ...

...ous one, is Enlil and he was talking to Shamash.
More research and focus should be dedicated to finding connections between The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible since these similarities shed new light onto parts of Judaism and Christianity. Morals surrounding the power of God and his children in the Bible could have been derived from the Epic of Gilgamesh. Details from ancient mesopotamian mythology influenced the writers of the Bible, and every little detail of the latter has affected the modern world.

Work Cited
Coogan, Michael David, et al. The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised
Standard Version : with the Apocrypha : an Ecumenical Study Bible. Oxford
[England]: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.
Foster, Benjamin R., Douglas Frayne, and Gary M. Beckman. The Epic of Gilgamesh:
A New Translation, Analogues, Criticism. New York: Norton, 2001. Print.

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