What the Gilgamesh Epic Tells Us
The Gilgamesh Epic is the longest poem of antiquity ever discovered. This tale from Babylon contains an account of a great flood, which closely parallels the biblical account of Genesis 6-9.
Consisting of 12 tablets, each with some 300 lines of cuneiform script, they date from the seventh century BC. The tablets are actually copies of older versions, which go back to the second millennium BC. The tablets were discovered in ancient libraries of Nineveh in the 19th century by Austen Henry Layard, who took them to England where the British Museum had them deciphered by George Smith. He was astonished at the similarity between the account contained in one called the “flood tablet” and the Bible. Further expeditions have since unearthed more fragments and tablets.
The Epic tells the story of Gilgamesh, a historical person who appears on the Sumerian king list, ruling during the First Dynasty of Uruk. After his death, he was deified as the god of the lower world.
Briefly, the Epic recounts the story Gilgamesh, who, as king, arrogantly mistreated his people until they cried to the gods for relief. The gods created Enkidu, a human monster, to divert his attention. At first the two fought, but then became friends. With the aid of the sun-god, they killed the ogre, Huwawa, guardian of the forest.
Enkidu was forewarned in a dream that he would fall ill and die by decree of the gods. When the dream came true, Gilgamesh mourned bitterly. Unable to be reconciled to his loss, he set off in a search of the secret of immortality. Hearing of a man called Utnapishtim who had become immortal, Gilgamesh determined to learn his secret. After a long and difficult journey through mountains and across seas, he found him.
When asked about his immortality, Utnapishtim said it was a blessing from the gods, because he had built a huge boat and survived the great flood. He relates to Gilgamesh the story of the flood and his deliverance, which is contained in the tablets.
parallel stories
The accounts of the flood contained in the Gilgamesh Epic and the Genesis account of the Bible are strikingly similar:
1 Both agree the flood was divinely planned.
The Babylonian account says it was by decree of the “great gods” sitting in council. The god Enlil, who hated the inhabitants of Shurippak, is blamed for the destruction. The Genesis account describes how God brought the flood to destroy humankind along with the wickedness that “his heart was filled with pain” (6:6).
2 In both accounts, the catastrophe is revealed to the hero.
In the Gilgamesh Epic, Ea secretly warns Utnapishtim in a dream: “Tear down thy house, build a ship!” He is to abandon his possessions, disregarding his goods to save his life. In Genesis, God warned Noah personally and gave the world 120 years of probation.
3 Both accounts connect the deluge with moral defection in the human race.
In the Epic, the city of Shurippak is the recipient of divine anger, while the Genesis account is unambiguous in proclaiming it is the sin of humankind that has brought about the Flood (6:1-7).
4 Both accounts tell of the deliverance of the hero and his family.
Utnapishtim means “he who laid hold on life of distant days.” He is saved in a boat with his family and relatives, and rewarded with immortality. In Genesis, Noah is the leading character, and his name means “rest.”
5 Both heroes were instructed to build a boat to preserve life.
The Babylonian word elippu means “ship,” inferring it was a large boat. Utnapishtim was to “cause to go up into the ship the seed of all living creatures.” Likewise Noah was told to build an ark. Both boats were coated with bitumen or pitch to waterproof them and both heroes are instructed to bring in animals and birds, and food. Noah and his family chose to go on board, along with two of every unclean and seven of clean animals (7:1-9). The Babylonian boat held Utnapishtim’s family and relations, the boatman, craftsmen, “the seed of all living creatures,” as well as his “gold and silver.”
6 Both accounts state the boat size.
The Genesis ark was 300 x 50 x 30 cubits (about 150 x 25 x 15 metres), with three decks. Utnapishtim built a ship of equal dimensions, 120 x 120 x 120 cubits, with seven decks.
7 Both accounts specify the duration of the flood.
In Genesis the rain falls for 40 days and nights and “prevailed” for 150 days, followed by 221 days during which the water abated (7:11, 12, 24; 8:3-14). In the Epic there is an unspecified time for building the boat, followed by six days and nights of rain. On the seventh day “the flood, which had fought like an army, subsided in [its] onslaught.” The ship was held fast for seven days by Mount Nisir before a dove was released.
8 Both accounts indicate the physical causes of the flood.
The Epic describes the “destructive rains, winds, lightning and thunder,” as well as the breaking of the dykes, canals and reservoirs. The appearance of the weather was “frightful to behold,” with raging wind and a fierce tempest. The light turned to darkness; people couldn’t see each other, and the frightened gods fled to Anu, the sky-god. “The gods cowered like dogs and crouched in distress.” “Ishtar cried out like a woman in travail”—regretting calling for the destruction of the earth.
The Genesis account indicates a cataclysm of world-engulfing proportions—a 40-day downpour accompanied by land upheavals, the shifting of the earth’s crust, lowering land levels and rising ocean beds, releasing water from huge subterranean reservoirs.
9 Both accounts nominate a landing place.
Genesis says it was one of the mountains in the Ararat range (8:4) in Armenia, west of the Caspian Sea. The Epic names the mountain Nisir.
10 Both accounts describe the sending out of birds.
In Genesis, a raven is sent first, then a dove, which was sent three times at intervals of seven days. Utnapishtim sent out a dove, a swallow and a raven at unspecified intervals.
11 Both Noah and Utnapishtim worship in thankfulness for their deliverance.
Noah offered burnt offerings of animals (8:20), while the Epic account describes the offering of sacrifices and a libation, accompanied by the burning of sweet cane, cedar and myrtle to appease the gods. Deprived of sacrifices for so long, the gods “gather like flies” when they “smell the sweet savour.”
12 Both accounts contain the bestowal of blessings.
Utnapishtim and his wife are made gods as their reward and taken to the realm of the gods “at the mouth of rivers” to live in immortal bliss. Noah is blessed, told to replenish the earth, given dominion over the animals and is party to God’s covenant, sealed with the rainbow (9:1-17).
explanation
That there is a relationship between the two accounts is clear. There are three possible explanations:
1 The Babylonian account borrowed from the Hebrew.
This view isn’t commonly held and is unlikely. The Babylonian account from the second millennium BC is older than the Hebrew account as recorded by Moses between 1485 and 1405 BC.
2 The Hebrew account borrowed from the Babylonian.
This is the most common theory and is based on three arguments:
First, the language of the biblical story suggests it was written in a country susceptible to flooding, for example, Mesopotamia. However, Palestine is a land of subterranean fountains and receives four times the rainfall of Mesopotamia. It is more likely Palestine was considered vulnerable to flooding.
Second, a close resemblance is seen between the biblical phrase “the Lord smelled a sweet savour” and the Babylonian “the gods smelled the sweet savour.” But, although close, there is no word-for-word connection. The biblical wording could be translated as “the Lord smelled the odour of tranquilisation.” The word “odour” in connection with offerings is common Old Testament practice.
Third, there’s some parallelism observed in waterproofing the vessel with pitch and the use of the Babylonian word kofer (pitch) in Genesis. But the bitumen industry probably began in Babylonia and with the spread of this process to the rest of the world, the Babylonian name could have spread with it.
3 Are both stories independent accounts of historical fact?
This view claims there is a common source of fact in an actual occurrence. Many other flood traditions have similar features in common, indicating a single event, giving rise to independent stories in the lands where they were written.
The Gilgamesh Epic is the best example of many flood traditions found in the writings and traditions of the ancients right around the world. They all suggest that the Flood was one of the greatest events of all history, leaving an indelible impression on the memory of the entire human race. Together, they support the biblical story of a worldwide Flood, as both the stories of Noah and Utnapishtim claim.
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