Similarities and Differences

The Epic of Gilgamesh contains one of many three Akkadian flood urban myths. When you look at the Atrahasis Epic, Enlil, the god of wind, utilizes famine and drought to regulate the overpopulation of people (in other variations it is uncertain in the event that reason for the gods’ distress is overpopulation or some unnamed iniquity). Enlil finally chooses to deliver a catastrophic flooding. Enki (the Sumerian form of the Akkadian Ea), the god of water, just isn’t permitted to warn the people, but he does tell Atrahasis (“Extremely Wise”) to construct a big watercraft covered in bitumen. Although Enlil is furious that Enki interfered, he agrees to locate different ways to manage adult population. Some think that the Gilgamesh flooding tale had been a later on paraphrase of this Atrahasis Epic.

The Sumerian creation myth comes with tale of the flooding. Ziusudra (Sumerian when it comes to Akkadian Utnapishtim, meaning “he who laid hold on tight lifetime of remote times”) is warned by Enki to create a ship. The story is significantly the exact same, except that the ship floats down the Euphrates to an area, perhaps Bahrain. The names fond of the Noah figure are confusing, however they are connected: Atrahasis (“the wise one”) ended up being changed to Ziusudra/Utnapishtim (“he found life”) after he survived the flooding as well as the gods made him immortal.

The biblical flooding story, present in Genesis 6-9, has its own similarities. Both in instances, it absolutely was a worldwide flooding delivered by Jesus or gods to manage individuals. Jesus or gods contacted the hero and told him to construct an ark of timber covered in pitch. The ark had been really big and contained specimens of all of the pets. The hero determined the final end associated with the ordeal by delivering down wild wild wild birds. If the inhabitants associated with ark had been released, the hero sacrificed to God/the gods, whom blessed him.

You can find distinctions, too. Needless to say, the Genesis tale talks of Jesus, although the Akkadian mentions gods that are several. The Akkadian ark was square, even though the biblical ark ended up being rectangular. The Akkadian hero conserved not merely their family, but craftsmen whom labored on the ark also. The rains that are biblical forty times and evenings, as the Akkadian variation states six. As well as the arks landed on various hills.

What’s the relationship involving the Akkadian flood fables and also the account that is biblical? Scholars are not precisely yes. Secular scholars declare that because remnants of this Akkadian account pre-date the writing of Genesis, Moses (or any other author) copied through the story that is akkadian. But biblical scholars mention that there surely is no record of a akkadian that is complete myth until 650 BC, very long after Genesis ended up being written. Other scholars declare that the Akkadian myth copied Genesis, but this really is extremely not likely. Genesis ended up being published by 1400 BC whilst the first Gilgamesh story that references the flood that is global evidently from 2100 BC. It is so much more likely that both tales produced from equivalent source—an real worldwide flooding.

It really is an interesting exercise to speculate the way the tales can be connected. Possibly scholars that are modern relationship of Gilgamesh the guy had been incorrect, in which he actually did fulfill Noah. The name Utnaphistim, interpreted as “he whom laid hold on tight life of remote times, ” could effortlessly make reference to a person who had resided prior to the Flood—not somebody who ended up being immortal (although, with Noah’s extensive lifespan he may have appeared as if immortal). Abraham had been from Ur, similar area where the pills had been discovered, and came to be a comparable time whilst the version that is oldest regarding the Sumerian creation misconception (including components of the storyline of Ziusudra) is dated.

But this might do not have impact on the veracity associated with the biblical account. If there clearly was a flood that is worldwide and all sorts of the individuals regarding the planet descended through the few survivors, it can add up that there is different accounts—as you will find from such disparate places as Mayan and Hindu mythology. Also it would make feeling that people tales became altered through the many years.

Variation Accuracy

Just what exactly validates the biblical account regarding the Flood on the Sumerian fables? There are numerous real and educational evidences:

– The archaeology: into the 1890s, within the town of Nippur (northwest of Ur), archaeologists discovered a tablet dated 2200 BC—shortly following the Flood. Catalogued as CBM 13532, the main points regarding the occasion are almost just like the biblical account. Both CBM 13532 and Genesis 6-7 read like a no-nonsense historical account in particular, unlike the fanciful Sumerian tales.

– this content associated with the texts: The account that is biblical more particular and step-by-step. The actual individuals who survived the Flood are mentioned, because are their descendants that are direct. In addition, the Genesis story provides more particulars concerning the sort and amount of pets which were rescued within the ark.

– The Flood: The description associated with the Gilgamesh account generally seems to infer a international flooding. All people had been to show into clay. No body would be to endure. And Utnapishtim needed seriously to conserve representatives of the many pets. Nevertheless the poem will not acceptably explain exactly how such a flooding happened. Six times of rainfall alone wouldn’t normally overflow the planet. Genesis, nonetheless, defines how forty times and evenings of rainfall coupled with waters through the deep covered perhaps the tops of this greatest hills.

– The ark: the style regarding the ark as offered within the Bible is uniquely suited to a big vessel in rough waters. It had been a flat-bottomed rectangle which evenly compromised between storage capability and stability. The ark when you look at the Gilgamesh tale is a cube created from the remnants of a reed hut, covered in pitch and naturally-occurring asphalt. This type of framework wouldn’t normally have now been in a position to properly see dozens of pets via a flooding.

– The development of faith: Secular scholars assert that Judaism ended up being composed, that it’s a simplification for the typical polytheistic religions of this time. The data claims otherwise. Archaeology offers proof that the earliest human religions had been monotheistic. Through the years, monotheism provided option to anthropomorphized nature worship. Thus giving proof that the monotheistic biblical account is predicated on early in the day information.

All this work means is the fact that descendants regarding the survivors regarding the Flood knew in regards to the Flood and passed on the tale with ever increasing decoration. The flooding mythology based in the Epic of Gilgamesh and other places serves to provide significant evidence that a worldwide flood did happen. The similarities involving the 2200 BC tablet as well as the biblical story provide fat to Moses’ account.

Timeline 2700 BC: Calculated time of Gilgamesh depending on relationship of walls of Uruk. 2350 BC: Approximate time for the Flood. 2200 BC: Estimated age of CBM 13532 2100 BC: obvious beginning for the earliest Gilgamesh epic (Akkadian, AKA Old Babylonian). Alludes to your xpress online Flood. Before Hammurabi (

1700 BC): obvious time frame of Atrahasis tale 1600 BC: obvious origin associated with oldest content for the Atrahasis tale 1400 BC: Approximate time associated with the writing of this guide of Genesis. 1400 BC: Standard Babylonian variation including all 12 pills. Flood tale complete as copy of Atrahasis. 668-626 BC: Assurbanipal (Assyrian master referenced in Ezra 4:10) finds and stores the earliest preserved copy of this Epic of Gilgamesh in the library. Rediscovered in 1849.

For the considerable treatise on The Epic of Gilgamesh vs. The Genesis Flood, start to see the exceptional article at Answers in Genesis.