Flood in Epic of Gilgamish and Book of Genesis of the...

The Flood in The Epic of Gilgamish and The Bible The story of the great flood is probably the most popular story that has survived for thousands of years and is still being retold today. It is most commonly related within the context of Judeo-Christian tradition. In the Holy Bible, the book of Genesis uses the flood as a symbol of Gods wrath as well as His hope that the human race can maintain peace and achieve everlasting salvation. The tale of Noahs Ark begins with Gods expression of dismay as to the degenerate state of the human race at the time. People were behaving wickedly and sinfully and God decided that a genetic cleansing was necessary. He spared only Noah and his family, along with two of every type of animal; one†¦show more content†¦Other similarities consist of the following criteria found in the two stories: The Gods (or God) knew of one righteous man, Utnapishtim or Noah. The Gods (or God) ordered the heros to build a multi-story wooden ark. Both of the heros, in the stories, initially complained ab out their assignment to build the boat. The ark would be sealed with pitch, and have many internal compartments. It would have a single door, and at least one window. The ark was built and loaded with the hero, a few other humans, and samples from all species of other land animals. A great rain came pouring down, covering the land with water. The heros sent out birds at regular intervals to find if any dry land was in the vicinity. The first two birds returned to the ark. The third bird apparently found dry land because it did not return. The heros and their families left the ark, ritually killed an animal, and offered it as a sacrifice. God (or the gods in the Epic of Gilgamish) smelled the roasted meat of the sacrifice. The heros were blessed. The Babylonian gods seemed genuinely sorry for the genocide that they had created. The God of Noah appears to have regretted his actions as well, because he promised never to do it again. As much as there were similarities, there were also a number of differences between the two stories. For instance, Noah received his