To many people, the story of The Great Flood from the Bible is commonly known. But, what is not typically realized is the many similarities it shares with The Epic of Gilgamesh. In both the Bible and The Epic of Gilgamesh, there are many common themes including a great flood to wipe out humanity, saving the animals from death by the flood and blessing the builder of the ark after the flood subsided. The common theme of a flood wiping out humanity is shared between the Bible and The Epic of Gilgamesh. In The Epic of Gilgamesh the powerful God, Enlil, decides that the humans are being too noisy so he informs the other Gods that he's planning a flood to demolish humanity. "The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible
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While it is somewhat obvious that the gods in both pieces of literature formed a covenant with one human and allowed him or her to live along with their family, all animals were also saved. The quote "Tear down your house and build a boat, abandon possessions and look for life, despite worldly goods and save your soul alive" (The Epic of Gilgamesh ) displays the instructions Ea provided to Utnapishtim in order to save himself and his family. Ea then proceeded to instruct Utnapishtim to save the animals. "Take up into the boat the seed of all living creatures" Ea said to Utnapishtim. Similarly, the Lord instructed Noah in the great flood story of the Bible: "Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms inside the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch...You shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female" (The Great Flood ). Both of these instructions may have been overwhelming to Utnapishtim and Noah at the time yet, they created a comforting mood for them because they knew that they weren't going to die. Also, the Gods' reaching out to them was a symbol of the great trust and responsibility that is placed on their shoulders. The largest responsibility being keeping the animals alive because the animals not only did nothing wrong, but they need to reproduce to ensure the future generations of certain …show more content…
This common idea is displayed through the quote: "In the past Utnapishtim was a mortal man; henceforth he and his wife shall live in the distance at the mouth of the rivers" (The Epic of Gilgamesh ). This quote exemplifies the idea of blessing Utnapishtim and his wife with immortality due to the fact that they are the reasons that the human race is still alive, that all the species of animals are alive, and because the Gods trust him to continue being a good man who follows the rules and ideals of the Gods. This same idea was shown more transparently in the quote, "God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth'" (The Great Flood ). In this case, God wanted them to simply reproduce. As you can see, there are many common threads between the general ideas in The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Great Flood story from the Bible including the ideas of a great flood to wipe out humanity, saving the animals from death by the flood and blessing the builder of the ark after the flood
While it is somewhat obvious that the gods in both pieces of literature formed a covenant with one human and allowed him or her to live along with their family, all animals were also saved. The quote "Tear down your house and build a boat, abandon possessions and look for life, despite worldly goods and save your soul alive" (The Epic of Gilgamesh ) displays the instructions Ea provided to Utnapishtim in order to save himself and his family. Ea then proceeded to instruct Utnapishtim to save the animals. "Take up into the boat the seed of all living creatures" Ea said to Utnapishtim. Similarly, the Lord instructed Noah in the great flood story of the Bible: "Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms inside the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch...You shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female" (The Great Flood ). Both of these instructions may have been overwhelming to Utnapishtim and Noah at the time yet, they created a comforting mood for them because they knew that they weren't going to die. Also, the Gods' reaching out to them was a symbol of the great trust and responsibility that is placed on their shoulders. The largest responsibility being keeping the animals alive because the animals not only did nothing wrong, but they need to reproduce to ensure the future generations of certain …show more content…
This common idea is displayed through the quote: "In the past Utnapishtim was a mortal man; henceforth he and his wife shall live in the distance at the mouth of the rivers" (The Epic of Gilgamesh ). This quote exemplifies the idea of blessing Utnapishtim and his wife with immortality due to the fact that they are the reasons that the human race is still alive, that all the species of animals are alive, and because the Gods trust him to continue being a good man who follows the rules and ideals of the Gods. This same idea was shown more transparently in the quote, "God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth'" (The Great Flood ). In this case, God wanted them to simply reproduce. As you can see, there are many common threads between the general ideas in The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Great Flood story from the Bible including the ideas of a great flood to wipe out humanity, saving the animals from death by the flood and blessing the builder of the ark after the flood