Flood Myth Essay

The Flood in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Flood of Genesis       The Biblical book, Genesis, of the Old Testament contains an account of an historic Flood which has never been equaled in intensity. Tablet 11of the Sumero-Babylonian version of the epic of Gilgamesh also records a Flood quite expansive and quite devastating. Are they a record of the same event?   E.A. Budge states in Babylonian Story of the Deluge and the Epic of Gilgamesh that the narration of the Flood in Sumero-Babylonian

The Biblical Flood and The Epic of Gilgamesh Flood      In Genesis of the Old Testament the account of the Flood approximates the account recorded on Tablet 11of the Sumero-Babylonian version of the epic of Gilgamesh, discovered in the 1800’s by British archaeologists in Assyria.   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 flood Ishtar and Enlil are

Gilgamesh and Genesis Floods       The rendition of the historic, worldwide Flood recorded in Genesis of the Old Testament is similar to the account recorded on Tablet 11of the Sumero-Babylonian version of the epic of Gilgamesh, discovered in the 1800’s by British archaeologists in Assyria. Let us compare the two in this essay.   Alexander Heidel in his book, The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels, provides a background for the survivor of the Sumero-Babylonian Flood, Utnapishtim:

Flood Myths Myths from many different cultures seem to tell the same story. Themes from Babylonian myth can be seen in Egyptian stories; elements of Christian theology are evident in some ancient Chinese texts, and so on. How is this possible? How can cultures that have had little physical contact present us with such analogous narratives? These questions grow more perplexing when time is considered. Many of these tales are not only from separate corners of the earth, but also seem to have

of creation, population growth and the flood with the ark that destroys the human race. Another famous Mesopotamian account which contains the flood, with descriptions of the ark and birds, that destroyed humanity is found in the Gilgamesh Epic on Tablet XI in the approximate date of 2000 BC. This extra biblical data provides further archeological evidence for the Biblical account of the flood. Yet, according to Clines, these accounts do not attribute the flood to the punishment of the sin due to the

The Flood of the Bible and the Flood of Gilgamesh       The story of Noah’s Ark, as told in the old testament, tells how God punished the world because it had become corrupt. God accomplished this by flooding the world, and annihilating all the creatures upon it, except for Noah and his family and a pair of each type of creature on the earth. Each decade, more insight is gained into the origin of the flood story. Based on the information available at the present time, one could argue that the

A Comparison of the Flood of Gilgamesh and the Bible People grow up listening to the story of Noah and the flood. They remember the length of the flood, the dove, and the rainbow very vividly. However, most people do not realize that the story is told throughout many different cultures and with accounts older than Genesis¹s version in the Bible. Although each of the accounts tells of the flood, there are many variations to the story. One such story can be found in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Although

Flood myths are universal in how they shape and reflect cultures’ values. However, there is controversy on whether or not these floods are literal- having actually happened- or figurative- a symbolic story that the culture is expected to learn from. Considering this, there are literal floods at the roots of these narratives. William Ryan and Walter Pitman, two senior scientists from Columbia University, stated that “Ten cubic miles of water poured through each day, two hundred times what flows over

Though there have been many millennium that have passed allowing for myth to grow, be lost, destroyed, and recreated there is still not one clear definition of myth. Yes, there have been multiple definitions brought forward by philosophers like Euhemerus and scholars like Walter Burkert, but none of these definitions were ever given the honor of being the concrete definition of myth. The same situation goes for the definition of what a hero is. Many credible intellectuals have offered definitions

Apocalyptic Survivors Each of the sacred texts of Christianity, Greek Polytheism, Ancient Macedonian Religion, and Judaism outlines an apocalypse myth which illustrates a near end of the world, and in each myth, the gods or God select survivors. Although each religion is unique, there are some stark similarities among the myths including the methods used to attack the world and the way the survivors rescue themselves and others. Some religious texts portray one person saving people who will repopulate