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The flood of Gilgamesh and Genesis
Similarities between the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible
Similarities between the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible
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Recommended: The flood of Gilgamesh and Genesis
A Comparison of the Flood of Gilgamesh and the Bible
People grow up listening to the story of Noah and the flood. They remember the length of the flood, the dove, and the rainbow very vividly. However, most people do not realize that the story is told throughout many different cultures and with accounts older than Genesis¹s version in the Bible. Although each of the accounts tells of the flood, there are many variations to the story. One such story can be found in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Although the Epic of Gilgamesh is similar to the Genesis version, there are some differences in the days leading to, during, and after the flood.
The days leading to the flood are different as well as similar in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Genesis version of the flood. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the gods decided to send a flood because the people on Earth were noisy. One man, Utnapishtim, was given a dream by one of the gods because of an oath. Contrastingly, in Genesis, God sent a flood to destroy the evils that man had created. He warned Noah about the flood because Noah was good. Both Utnapishtim and Noah constructed boats to survive the flood. Utnapishtim¹s boat was 120 cubits and a perfect cube. It was completed with seven decks that were divided into nine sections each. On the other hand, Noah¹s ark was three hundred cubits in length, fifty cubits in width, and thirty cubits in height. It had a skylight and a door in the side. It was only three stories high. After the boat was constructed, Gilgamesh ³loaded into her all that I (he) had of gold and of living things, my family, my kin, the best of the field both wild and tame, and all the craftsmen²(p. 37). Noah, similarly, loaded his family, food, and a male and female pair of each...
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...oth men were told of the flood. They both constructed boats and filled their boats with animals and their families. Next, they released birds to test the waters, and both made sacrifices. However, the boats were different in construction. The number of days differed in how long the flood lasted, when the waters receded, and when each man left their boats. The birds that did not come back to their boats were also different. It is very easy to see that the flood story can be true based on these two accounts because it is easy to see how two different cultures, the Samarians and the Hebrews, molded the flood story to fit their cultures. Although the stories are different, there seems to be one major common thread, the flood.
Resources
Mack, Maynard, ed. World Masterpieces. The Norton Anthology. Expanded Edition. W.W. Norton and Company: New York, 1995.
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.
Most of us have probably heard the famous bible story about Noah’s Ark and The Flood. What most may not know, is that this story is just one of a great many. A variety of ancient cultures, from the Greeks and the Middle East, to Asia and the Americas, have in their mythologies a story of a Great Flood that drowns the earth. These stories mostly contain the same themes: a god or group of gods becomes angry; they flood the earth but save a small group of people. These people build a boat to survive. After the flood they repopulate the earth.
Comparing each record of the flood can reveal how different cultural and religious backgrounds explain events of the world, and despite the stories differences, their similarities prove
The focus of this analysis is on Genesis (chapter 7) and Gilgamesh (lines 1 - 25). These two different passages will be analyzed to relate each document and how the author's worldview shapes his account of the flood.
The flood of Gilgamesh was written before 2000 B.C, while the Genesis story was written in 400 BC Which was much later then the Gilgamesh flood. Biblical writers probably knew of the much older flood but revised it so that it fit with their own history and worldview. They most likely intended the original story with their own mythology. Despite the many similarities between the two stories, the differences are revealed in a number of different topics that distinguish the biblical version of the story from the ancient version.
..., this would lead to chaos, indiscipline, a breakdown in social order and a failure in the ethics of sports. The World Anti doping Agency has joined with the medical team in order to maintain and monitor the standards deemed appropriate by the Anti doping Agencies, to promote healthy sportsmanship for all competitors.
Steroids thrived in the Olympics in the 1960s and early ‘70s. Finally, in 1975, the International Olympic Committee imposed a ban on steroids. This, however, did not stop the athletes....
The flood story that is told in The Epic of Gilgamesh has the same principle as the story of Noah told in the book of Genesis in the Bible, but there are some major differences. In the epic, Utnapishtim is immortal and, although Noah was extremely old when he died, he wasn’t immortal. Utnapishtim was a human, but because he saved mankind, Enlil said, “Hitherto Utnapishtim has been a human, now Utnapishtim and his wife shall become like us gods.” (Gilgamesh 11.206-207) In the Biblical story, God told Noah that he was going to send a flood and asked him specifically to make the ark in order to save mankind. In Genesis 6:13-22, God tells Noah why he’s flooding the earth and exact instructions to build the ark. “13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress[a] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.[b] 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit[c] high all arou...
French authorities are not alone in punishing athletes who use performance-enhancing drugs. From the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to the National Basketball Association (NBA) to the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), most high-profile sports organizations have taken substantial steps to crack down on doping. Stronger anti-doping initiatives are considered necessary to preclude scandals that damage the image of sports and to silence critics who contend that not enough is being done to rid sports of drugs. The IOC, for example, which enforces the rules of the Olympic Games, set up the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 1999 as an independent body charged with coordinating a consistent system for testing Olympic athletes. WADA works with international sports federations and Olympic committees and has begun conducting unannounced, out-of-competition tests on Olympic hopefuls. This practice reduces the chance that competitors will rid their systems of drugs before being tested. The list of banned substances on the Olympic Movement’s Anti-Doping Code includes stimulants, narcotics, anabolic steroids, beta blockers, diuretic...
Other similarities closely tie these two Flood Myths almost mirroring the symbolic ideas within both stories. The number seven is very significant in both of these stories. In the story of Utnapishtim, the Boat he built was finished on the seventh day. Also the rain that flooded the earth, stopped on the seventh day. In the Hebrew story of Noah, the waters of the flood were upon the earth seven days after Noah constructed the arc. After the earth was flooded and the rain subsided, during two seven day instances, Noah sent forth a dove to determine if dry land existed nearby. The two stories also showed that the Gods gave specific instructions down to the dimension regarding the construction of the two boats and both men were ordered to keep the blood line of animals alive by sparing the lives of a male a female being of each species.
In this age of change, the international financial is progressing promptly on various fronts, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) play a pivotal role in international financial system. Yet at the same time, many criticisms point out that IMF are not efficient enough to react to settle the problems that have accompanied with this trend. This issue has drawn widespread attention in recent decades. This essay will give an overview about what the IMF it is first, and then put forward by some examples that what kind of role the IMF has done to address financial issues, good or bad. Finally, this essay will propose some solutions about the IMF how could it be more useful to solve the financial crisis.
“Fans have created such high expectations for athletes that success seems to require steroid use for any sport requiring speed, power or a combination of the two.” (Schmidt) Doping in sports is when athletes use enhancement drugs to try to improve their performance in their sport they are in. If athletes believe they need to improve their performance, they should be able to use PEDs. Doping in sports should not be considered a transgression; it should be used to help improve sports to make them better for the athlete. In the past, doping in sports wasn’t frowned upon.
At the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis Thomas Hicks used raw egg, Brandy, and injections of strychnine to win the marathon race. This event caused most people to realize that performance enhancing drugs need to be outlawed, for the safety of the athlete and the spectator both. It wasn't until 1928 that the IAAF (athletics) became the first International Sport Federation (IF) to ban doping (use of stimulating substances). And not till 1966 the UCI (cycling) and FIFA (football/soccer) were among the first IFs to introduce doping tests in their respective World Championships. It was in 1967 that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) instituted its medical commission and finally set up its first list of banned substances.
Møller, Verner. The Ethics of Doping and Anti-Doping: Redeeming the Soul of Sport?Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2009. Print.