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Gilgamesh and Parallels to the Bible

© Linda Casselman

If you remember, last time we promised we would look at the parallels between the Bible and The Epic of Gilgamesh. Certainly, we find several similarities between the two works. In this article, we will look more closely at the Flood myth found in both works, as well as at the serpent and the loss of immortality.

Let's begin with the Flood. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, our hero encounters Utnapishtim and his wife who are the survivors of the Great Flood in his quest for immortality.

Babylonian myth tells us that the god Enlil was disturbed so much by the noise of mankind that he decided to destroy them with a flood. The goddess Ishtar had pity on them, however, and chose to help Utnapishtim and his family to survive the great cataclysm. This recalls the story of the Flood in the Bible where God decided to punish mankind for its wickedness by cleansing the earth with the Great Flood. Like Ishtar, God decided to spare some of his creation. He chose the righteous man Noah and his family and instructed them to build a giant ark. Utnapishtim and his family also built a huge ark, and both families brought a host of animals on board for the journey. Also, in both stories it is a bird that found land after many long days and nights of rain. And both arks come to rest on mountain tops. In the Babylonian myth, the survivors land on Mount Nisir while the biblical survivors land on Mount Ararat. There is a difference at the end though. Utnapishtim and his wife gained immortality from the gods after their ordeal and were allowed to live in Dilmun - the land of Paradise. Noah, on the other hand, received the Covenant of the Rainbow - God's promise not to send another Flood.

Both the Babylonian Flood myth referred to in The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Biblical Flood story share many similarities as you can see. This is indeed evidence that the writers of the Bible drew upon older stories and myths to create their own tales. But the story of the Flood and Flood myths are quite common and they are found in cultures of all times all around the world.

Is there some truth to the Flood myth? Did a great deluge of cataclysmic proportions ravage the earth in some remote time in history? Are these myths the collective human memory of that terrifying event? Or do the myths recall smaller local floods that effected past cultures? The mystery of the Flood myth remains unknown for certain.