Comparing the Epic of Gilgamesh Flood Myth and Book of Genesis Biblical

Comparing the Gilgamesh and Genesis Floods The rendition of the historic, worldwide Flood recorded in Genesis of the Old will is similar to the account recorded on inking pad 11of the Sumero-Babylonian version of the epic of Gilgamesh, discovered in the 1800s by British archaeologists in Assyria. Let us comp are the two in this essay. Alexander Heidel in his book, The Gilgamesh big and Old Testament Parallels, provides a orbit for the survivor of the Sumero-Babylonian Flood, Utnapishtim Utnapishtim was the son of Ubara-Tutu, the Otiartes, or, rather, Opartes of Berossus. According to Berossus, the deluge hero was the tenth Prediluvian tycoon in Babylonia. Also in the Sumerian inscription he is referred to as king there he occupies also a priestly office, viz., that of the decision maker of the temple provisions of a certain god. In the Gilgamesh epic, Utnapishtim is not invested with both royal power or entrusted with any priestly office from it we observe simply that he w as a citizen of Shurippak (Tablet XI23) and a man of bulky wealth (XI70ff). (227) N.K. Sandars in the Introduction to his book, The Epic of Gilgamesh, sums up the involvement by the pagan gods in the Sumero-Babylonian Flood narrative In the Gilgamesh gush Ishtar and Enlil are as usual the advocates of destruction. Ishtar speaks, perhaps in her capacity as goddess of war, still Enlil prevails with his weapon of the storm. Only Ea, in superior wisdom, either was not present, or being present was silent, and with his usual cunning saw to it that at to the lowest degree one of the race of men should survive. (41) Column 1 on Tablet 11 begins the Sumero-Babylonian Flood narrative (Gardner 226). The sage Utnap... ...nd his family to be fruitful and multiply, and submit the earth. God promises that never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. The offering of sacrifice, and its acceptance by God these are restate in both accounts of the Flood. WORKS CITED Gardner, John and John Maier. Gilgamesh Translated from the Sin-leqi-unninni version. New York Alfred A. Knopf, 1984. Harris, Stephen L. Gilgamesh. The humane Tradition in World Literature. Ed. Stephen Harris. Columbus, OH Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co., 1970. Heidel, Alexander. The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels. Chicago University of Chicago Press, 1949. Ignatius Holy Bible. Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition. San Francisco Ignatius Press, 1966. Sandars. N. K. The Epic of Gilgamesh. New York Penguin Books, 1972.