Comparing Noah's Ark And The Epic Of Gilgamesh

Although flood myths are found around the world, each one differs slightly. In the story of Noah’s Ark, God is angry that the Sons of God and human women bore children, creating the race of giants. Following this, God instructs Noah to build the Ark to save his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, along with animals, to repopulate the earth. Then, God sends torrential rain for forty days and forty nights, covering the highest peaks with more than twenty feet of water. The water, eventually, recedes. In another version, Noah sends out doves and crows until they no longer come back, at which point he knows it is safe to go onto the land again.
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, where the Biblical Flood likely come from, one of the five great gods, Ea, tells Utnapishtim that the great gods plan to cause a flood. He commands Utnapishtim to build a boat, giving him specific instructions. Once it is finished, he loads his relatives, craftsmen, and all animals onto the boat. The next morning, a frightful storm comes and the people seal themselves in the boat, terrified about whether they will survive. The Gods regret their actions, and weep for the people who died at their hands. As the storm comes to an end and the flood waters recede, Utnapishtim sends out birds until one doesn’t come back, signifying

A minority, the Miao, from Southeast Asia, have a flood story very similar to the one found in Genesis, including an ark and a dove. The Han, who make up ninety percent of the Chinese population, however, have a flood myth involving “a multi-generational struggle against destructive annual flooding from rivers” (Callahan). Emperor Yu and his people eventually “solve the problem by building dikes and digging canals that lead the floodwaters into deep basins, which eventually become seas” (Callahan). The myth has no god(s), no ark, and no emphasis on the destruction of