Although the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Book of Genesis were written many years apart, their described flood stories are both very similar in many ways and told for a particular reason. It seems that Genesis story of flood has a lot of identifiable improvements and effectiveness in the manner in which story presented. Also it looks obvious that written many years after Gilgamesh, Genesis is a modified copy of it.
The flood story in the Babylonian text The Epic of Gilgamesh and Hebrew text The Book of Genesis are identical in many ways. Gilgamesh was written between 2500-1500 b.c. and later Genesis was written between 1000-300 b.c. There are obvious similarities in these two flood stories. In both texts actions are taking place in former Mesopotamia, the territory between two rivers Tigris and Euphrates in Middle East. The main reason for the floods is exterminate the mankind. In Gilgamesh human race was punished because they annoyed the God Enlil with their intolerable noise. Enlil was tired of this noise and decided to destroy mankind with a great flood. All the gods agreed in secret to do this, and all agreed not to tell any mortal of the oncoming revenge. “In those days the world teemed, the people multiplied, the world bellowed like a wild bull, and the great god was aroused be the clamour. Enlil heard the clamour and he said to the gods in council, ‘The uproar of the mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the babel.’ So the gods agreed to exterminate the mankind.” (35) Similarly in Genesis story, God is also unhappy with the behavior of mankind, so He too decided to bring a flood to cleanse the world of all its inhabitants. However, the reasons for God's wrath in Genesis are somewhat different that the reasons in Gilgamesh. He destroyed the world not because people noisy, but because He realized that people of the world became evil and wicked. So, He brought the flood to clean the earth He created. “And God saw that the wickedness of the man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth….” (60)
The main characters of both floods Untapishtim in Gilgamesh and Noah in Genesis are also very similar. In Gilgamesh, gods knew one righteous man and Ea, the god of creation of mankind, chose Utnapishtim. Ea intentionally speaks to a wall of the house where Utnapishtim lives with his family, not to break the agreement with the other gods and make Utnapishtim hear that gods are planning to exterminate mankind. Ea tells Utnapishtim to make an Ark.“He whispered their words to my house of reeds, ‘Reed-house, reed-house! Wall, O wall, hearken reed-house, wall reflect; O man of Shurrupak, son of Ubara-Tutu; tear donw your house and build a boat, abandon possessions and look for life, despise worldly goods and you’re your soul alive.”(35) Similarly in Genesis, God chose Noah because he was the righteous man and He warned Noah he will destroy mankind with the earth and told him to build an Ark as well. “And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark….. “(60) In Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim brought with him on the boat his wife and children and their families. He also brought two of every animal. In Genesis Noah brought his wife, his sons, and their wives. And like Utnapishtim, Noah also brought along a male and a female of every living animal, as Lord said, so that they would be able to replenish the land after the flood. There are couple significant differences in these stories. In Gilgamesh, besides his family, Utnapishtim brought with him craftsmen, food, gold jewels, and other valuables from the city. There were no craftsmen, jewels and any valuables on Noah's ark. The Ark itself in both texts is very different. The Untapishtim’s boat was 6 stories high and square. It looked exactly like a cube with a slate roof. Obviously, this boat would immediately flip over or roll around in the water. In contrast, the ark of Noah was 3 stories high and rectangular in shape and had dimensions that were ideal for a seaworthy ship. This is serious improvement in Genesis story because people in period when Gilgamesh was written had no experience and most likely technology in shipbuilding.
Another comparison between the floods in Gilgamesh and in Genesis are the landing of both Arks and the role that birds play in each of these stories. After the flood Utnapishtim’s ark landed at the mountain of Nisir and Noah’s ark landed at the mountain of Ararat. These two mountains are many miles apart, but both of them are in the Middle East and play very important role in stories. Both arks landed to rest at the mountain and after that both heroes sent birds to determine when the waters had receded and the dry land is near. In Gilgamesh, a dove was sent out first, where in Genesis, it is a raven. The second bird that was sent is a swallow in Gilgamesh and a dove in Genesis. A third bird, a raven, was sent in Gilgamesh who did not return, and the same dove, in Genesis and returns with an olive leaf, signifying that the water had subsided and there was land to be found. However, that is where the similarities end with birds. “….I loosed a dove and let her go. She flew away, but finding no resting-place she returned. Then I loosed a swallow, and she flew away but finding no resting-place she returned. I loosed a raven, she saw that the waters had retreated, she ate, she flew around, she cawed, and she did not come back.”(37) Unlike Utnapishtim, who sent out a dove, a swallow and then lastly sent out a raven who did not return, Noah never used a swallow, but released a dove after a few more days. “….And he stayed yet another seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the arkl and the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.”(62) The dove returned to the ark bearing an olive leaf in its mouth, this is proving that there is land somewhere on the earth. Using doves in Genesis story is a huge improvement because at the time when Genesis was written people used dove as messengers and they are smarter as well. So it makes a lot more sense and effect to use dove on Genesis flood story to make the story more realistic.
Another common thing in flood stories was a sacrificial offering made to the gods or God, when the main character had been delivered from the flood. The details of the offerings were a little bit different. In Gilgamesh, the text describes the offering of wines and a sheep. “Then I threw everything open to the four winds, I made a sacrifice and poured out a libitaion on the mountain top. Seven and again seven cauldrons I set up on their stands, I heaped up wood and cane and cedar and myrtle.”(37) In Genesis, Noah sacrificed burnt offerings of all the clean animals on the ark, but no drink offering. “And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.”(62) It obvious that offerings were made to please the gods and show them an act of appreciation. However, after the sacrifice ceremony, in Gilgamesh, the Babylonian gods seemed genuinely sorry for the genocide that they had created and quarrel among themselves. In Genesis story, God regretted his actions as well but promised not to destroy humanity by the flood again. And again we can see a little improvement in Genesis story. Gilgamesh story looks silly and unreal at first. Gods are constantly fighting amongst each other, plotting and deceiving each other because of the obviously human-like behavior of the gods. In contrast, God, in Genesis story, is omnipotent and omniscient and has sense of judgment. He does not behave like a child and does not capriciously destroy humans, as was done in the Gilgamesh flood.
I think these stories were told because they related to the world and people. Back in that time people looked to the flood stories for religious reasons. When people looked at these stories they felt that if they start to become corrupt and chaotic that god might make a natural disaster to wipe out mankind. The main idea in Genesis story is to love a God who is all-powerful and good, the world He created is perfect and beautiful, and that God always rewards human beings who fear and love him.
There are similarities and differences between flood stories in the Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis of the Bible. But there are obviously some improvements in Genesis story. Some of them are significant and some are not. The main idea, in both stories are the same, is extermination of mankind. Gilgamesh story is a rather silly myth. In contrast, the Genesis text, that look improved and more effective, is a logical, seemingly factual account of a historical event. The flood topic gradually evolved from the original Babylonian version, The Epic of Gilgamesh, to the Hebrew version, The Book of Genesis.
