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Genesis and Gilgamesh comparison
Genesis and Gilgamesh comparison
Relationship between enkidu and gilgamesh
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“Religion is about turning untested belief into unshakable truth through the power of institutions and the passage of time- Richard Dawkins”. We all know the breath taking story of the Genesis flood, but have we ever noticed how similar it is to the Epic of Gilgamesh. Genesis is the story of how one God created mankind, along with everything else on Earth, and what punishments he put upon them when they acted wrong .Genesis is a chapter in the Holy Bible, which was written in the 18th century B.C. by Moses. Genesis is a Hebrew story about the creation of life and how God once destroyed it and Earth. The main characters were Adam, Eve, and the serpent. Each of them was provided a task from God, but disobeyed him and was punished forever. Some events from Genesis that God promised are happening in everyday life. The Epic of Gilgamesh discusses the story of how Gilgamesh and Enkidu became friends, going against what the Gods wanted, and then how Gilgamesh dealt with the death of his new friend. The stories are very much the same, but when comparing the details within the story it unfolds to be very different.
Even though The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis: Noah and The Flood have similar details they both differ dramatically, because of the religious aspects, their different views of destroying mankind , and the importance of the arc.
The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis are two different texts from different time periods. “The Epic of Gilgamesh was written before 2000 B.C.” (The Epic of Gilgamesh) and “Genesis was written in 1445 B.C. which was much later than the Gilgamesh flood” (GTY). The question many people ask is whether the Epic of Gilgamesh really occurred or if Genesis: Noah and the Flood were plagiarized from Gilgamesh. Be...
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...esh travels. Gilgamesh grows and changes, and is confronted by his desire to gain immortality, which satisfies the moral and significance of the epic. One is also known as a myth while the other is believed to be plagiarized. However, it hasn’t been proven but true Christians will believe in Genesis and others will continue to debate whether the Epic of Gilgamesh happened or not.
Works Cited
"GTY Website Error." GTY Website Error. N.P., n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2013
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James, King. "Genesis 6:7." kingjamesbibleonline.org
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Lorey, F. N.P. Web. 12 Nov 2013.
"The Epic of Gilgamesh." Letters, Arts & Social Sciences. N.P., n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2013. .
Lorey, F. 1997. The Flood of Noah and the Flood of Gilgamesh. Acts & Facts. 26 (3) Web. 4 Feb. 2014. When reading the story, someone can take many different viewpoints. In the article above, the author is analyzing the Epic of Gilgamesh through a creationists view point.
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.
The Epic of Gilgamesh records a story of a world-wide flood and pre-dates Genesis. So some claim that this invalidates the Genesis record. But P.J. Wiseman presents an interesting theory in this regard in his book Ancient Records and the Structure of Genesis (New York: Thomas Nelson, 1985).
The theme in Gilgamesh, Genesis and Sur 11 are comparably the same in that the people in each story were with sin and wickedness. In all three literatures, the people in the beginning were mean and sinful. The people in the Epic of Gilgamesh were evil and when Gilgamesh came to power he did not known what to since it was his first time beinging king. So, he would rule in a stern way to keep the people from sin. On Genesis God wanted to flood the Earth from the people who were sinful. God asked Noah to build an ark and to take his family and two of each animal.
The Epic of Gilgamesh. Trans. Benjamin R. Foster. Text. Martin Puncher. New York: W.W and Company, 2013.Print.
Some of the simpler similarities are that the extent of the flood reaches every part of the earth, the flood is intended to destroy mankind, aside from the heros and their families, Utnapishtim and Noah are found righteous by their God or gods, and they build an ark to certain qualifications. An example of a less obvious similarity is the location of where the arks first touche land. In the general sense, they both landed on a mountain: Noah’s “ ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventh day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat” (Genesis 75) and Utnapishtim's “boat stuck fast beside Mt. Nimush” (Gilgamesh 57). Taking this information a Step deeper reveals that Mt. Ararat and Mt. Nimush are about 300 miles apart. Both boats land in a relatively close proximity. Further proving the idea that the Sumerians and Hebrews experience the same event. Utnapishtim’s and Noah’s lives are dramatically changed by the flood. They sacrifice all that is familiar to them in order to receive the blessings of God or the gods. The heroes are both examples of a term I will call the archetypal path of blessing. Utnapishtim and Noah are both comfortable with what they have before the flood, but as Christopher Columbus States “One can never cross the ocean until one has the courage to leave the shore.” Utnapishtim and Noah give up what is ordinary to receive what is great. The blessings of both characters exceed
One obvious distinction between "The Epic of Gilgamesh" and Genesis can be traced back to the cultures of the authors. The Gilgamesh epic comes from a culture and religion that is polytheistic. The author (and thus the characters in the epic) believed in a pantheon of gods and goddesses, each possessing human attributes and vices. The Hebraic culture that gave us Genesis revolved around the belief in one Almighty God. The Hebrew God was above man in every way: He was omniscient and all-powerful and yet retained compassion for the humans He had created. While Noah had but one God to serve, Gilgamesh was responsible to many. It seems that many human-like gods each command less respect than one all-powerful God. This idea can be examined by looking at Ishtar's advances to Gilgamesh. This goddess desired the mortal Gilgamesh and he responds by shunning her, thereby being disobedient to his gods. Gilgamesh may be king of Uruk and two-thirds god but that does not make him an equal. "Come to me Gilgamesh, ...
Ancient world literature and early civilization stories are mostly centered on human’s relationship with higher beings. Ancient civilizations were extremely religious, holding the belief that their very lives were in the hands of their almighty god or goddess. This holds true for both the people of biblical times as well as those of the epic era. However, their stories have some differences according to cultural variation but the main structure, ideas, and themes are generally found correlative. It is hard to believe that one work did not affect the others. The first great heroic epic poem of Gilgamesh and the Old Testament are parts of two cultures that are hundreds of years apart. Whereas Gilgamesh is a myth and the book of Genesis is the basis of many religions, they both have notably similar accounts of symbols, motifs, meaningful events according to the relationship between the divine and humans in literature.
"The Epic of Gilgamesh." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3rd ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton & Compnany, 2012. 99-150. Print
The Epic of Gilgamesh. Trans. Foster, Benjamin R. New York: W W Norton & Co Inc, 2001. Print.
Foster, Benjamin R. "The Epic of Gilgamesh." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Gen. Ed. Martin Puchner. 3rd ed. Vol. A. New York: Norton, 2012. 95-151. Print. 13 March 2014.
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.
The Gilgamesh Epic is an ancient Mesopotamian story about life and the suffering one must endure while alive. Included in the story, is a tale of a great flood that covered the earth, killing all but a select few of it’s inhabitants. This story of a great flood is common to most people, and has affected history in several ways. It’s presence in the Gilgamesh Epic has caused many people to search for evidence that a great flood actually happened. It has also caused several other religions and cultures to take the same basic story, claiming it for their own.
"Epic of Gilgamesh." Academy for Ancient Texts. Ancient Texts Library. Web. 12 Oct. 2011. .
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.