Scholars and historians are fascinated with the flood account in Genesis as well as the account of a flood in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Much attention has been given to these two narratives due to their parallels and dissimilarities. The flood accounts in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible are similar in their basic story and outcome and are different in many areas including their depiction of divine beings, the amount of time between events, and details concerning the central character. Although the central stories of the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible are vastly different, their accounts of a worldwide flood are remarkably similar. In the epic of Gilgamesh, the immortal man and survivor of the great flood, Utanapishtim, states that he was warned by a god that a devastating flood would soon arrive. The account found in …show more content…
The Bible includes, as does the Epic of Gilgamesh, the effort put into building the boat that would save them from the flood. The parallel accounts continue the story with a heavy rain and subsequent flood. The waters destroy all men not in the boat but eventually subside. The details of the aftermath of the flood in the Epic of Gilgamesh are nearly identical to the aftermath of the biblical flood. The hero in both stories waits for a few days after the rain stops, sends off three birds to discover whether the flood waters have lowered, offer a sacrifice to the divine beings, and is rewarded by the divine beings. Whereas the similarities between the two stories are found in the overall story of the flood account, the differences lie in the details of the two narratives. In the Epic of Gilgamesh the divine beings are depicted as powerful gods that quarrel among