The Flood

The Flood Stories

It is strange to find so many similarities between the flood Story in Gilgamesh and Noah’s flood story in Genesis. Noah’s flood story is supposed to be part of the origin of mankind, yet the flood story of Gilgamesh was recorded earlier. The stories are comparable in a number of ways, yet there are many differences that make the two stories vary.
The similarities that exist between the two stories include the main idea and the order in which the events occur. For instance, the reason for the need of a flood in both stories is the same. In Gilgamesh, the gods see that the uproar of mankind is intolerable and decide to exterminate the evil in the land. In The Old Testament, God sees that the wickedness of man is great and it disgusts Him, so He decides to destroy mankind. In both stories one man is given work to build a boat. Utnapishtim is the chosen man in Gilgamesh as is Noah in The Old Testament. Both ar...