Differences Between Gilgamesh And Genesis

Differences between gilgamesh and genesis

However, some Christians have studied the ideas of creation and the afterlife presented in the Epic. Even secular scholars have recognized the parallels between the Babylonian, Phoenician, and Hebrew accounts, although not all are willing to label the connections as anything more than shared mythology. Cuneiform writing was invented by the Sumerians and carried on by the Akkadians.

Babylonian and Assyrian are two dialects of the Akkadian, and both contain a flood account. While there are differences between the original Sumerian and later Babylonian and Assyrian flood accounts, many of the similarities are strikingly close to the Genesis flood account. The Epic of Gilgamesh is contained on twelve large tablets, and since the original discovery, it has been found on others, as well as having been translated into other early languages.

The main figure is Gilgamesh, who actually may have been an historical person. Indeed, after Gilgamesh, the kings lived a normal life span as compared with today.

He was one who had great knowledge and wisdom, and preserved information of the days before the flood. Gilgamesh wrote on tablets of stone all that he had done, including building the city walls of Uruk and its temple for Eanna. He was an oppressive ruler, however, which caused his subjects to cry out to the "gods" to create a nemesis to cause Gilgamesh strife. The two set off to win fame by going on many dangerous adventures in which Enkidu is eventually killed. Gilgamesh then determines to find immortality since he now fears death.

It is upon this search that he meets Utnapishtim, the character most like the Biblical Noah. He brought all of his relatives and all species of creatures aboard the vessel. Utnapishtim released birds to find land, and the ship landed upon a mountain after the flood. The story then ends with tales of Enkidu's visit to the underworld. The table below presents a comparison of the main aspects of the differences between gilgamesh and genesis accounts of the flood as presented in the Book of Genesis and in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

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