The Flood Myth: The Epic Of Gilgamesh

There are hundreds of flood myths in every culture around the world. Certain commonalties exist in all of them. For instance, in 95 percent of the stories the flood was worldwide; in 88 percent, a certain family was favored; in 70 percent, survival was by means of a boat; in 67 percent, animals were also saved; in 66 percent, the flood was due to the wickedness of man; in 66 percent, the survivors had been forewarned; in 57 percent, they ended up on a mountain; in 35 percent, birds were sent out from the boat; and in 9 percent, exactly eight people were spared . Another commonality in some of these myths are giants being the cause of the flood. If the events of Genesis 6 are true, then this is exactly what we should expect to see. Tales of

The two battle it out but end up becoming close friends and going on many adventures together. On one of their adventures, the two travel together to the Cedar Mountain and defeat a giant named Huwawa. Later the goddess Ishtar asks Gilgamesh to marry her but he refuses. Spurned she goes to heaven and complains to her father Anu, and so the gods sentence Enkidu to death as punishment. After Enkidu falls ill and dies, Gilgamesh becomes distressed and goes on a quest to discover immortality. On his journey he searches for his ancestor, named Utanapishtim, who is a survivor of the Great Flood. But Utanapishtim councils Gilgamesh to abandon his quest for immortality, and so he returns home to Uruk in

In the story Utanapishtim is tasked by the creator god Enki to build a giant ship, called The Preserver of Life, for an upcoming flood that will wipe out all animals and humans. He brings onboard his wife, family, relatives, craftsmen of his village, animals, and grain. Just like with Noah, he sends out a dove and a raven to see if the waters have receded. The ship eventually comes to rest on Mount Nisir and once on dry land he releases the animals and makes a sacrifice to the gods.

It is largely accepted that Gilgamesh was an actual historical figure that later became embellished in myth. Some have identified Gilgamesh as the biblical figure Nimrod. Just as parallels exist between Utanapishtim and Noah, so too between Gilgamesh and Nimrod:

• Nimrod opposed God (Yahweh), Gilgamesh opposed Huwawa. “Yahweh” is phonetically similar to “Huwawa.”

• Gilgamesh did just as the “sons of God” in Genesis 6 did by forcibly taking men's wives.

• The Bible calls Nimrod a tyrant, Gilgamesh was a tyrant.

• There was a flood in the Bible; there is a flood in the Epic. Both stories take place after a great deluge.

• Cush is mentioned in the Bible, Kish in the