Cultural Differences In Ancient Culture

From the dawn of civilization, myths have defined our culture, shaping it in more ways than one can comprehend. Just like the natural events that so shape our world, the evolving and changing of myths have a vast impact on the development of a culture. Through studying these myths, we can see the history of this change, becoming literary archeologist in order to better understand the interactions between the cultures of our world. By brushing off the dust and comparing the creation myths of ancient cultures one can see the relationship between said cultures and examine the bones of the societies in order to see their impact on one another. Etiological myths allow one to view cross-cultural contamination between civilizations. By tracing …show more content…
When comparing the etiological myths of early Middle Eastern cultures, myriad similarities arise. Due to their close proximity, a great deal of cultural exchange happened between the Sumerians, who inhabited the area that is now Iraq, and the Hebrew people of Israel, allowing a great deal of cross-cultural contamination to occur. Said contamination can be seen in the cultures’ shared myth about a world flood. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest existing Sumerian text, the gods are angered by humanity and decide to send a flood. Instead of allowing everyone to perish, the gods allow one family to live, giving the patriarch specific instructions on how to accomplish this. As the god Enil instructs, “…Son of Ubara-Tutu; tear down your house and build a boat …take up into the boat the seed of all living creatures” (“The Epic of Gilgamesh” 20). These instructions are eerily similar to those given to Noah in the Hebrew Bible. As the book of Genesis states, “So make yourself an ark of cypress wood…you are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you” (New International Version, Gen. 1:14-19). Additional similarities exist between the two stories, especially between Utnapishtim and Noah, the heroes of their respective stories. The similarities between these texts cannot be mere coincidence, but must result from cultural contamination that occurred due to contact between the Hebrew people and the ancient Sumerians. Since similarities are evident between the Hebrew and Sumerian societies, one can assume that some sort of relation was present. By studying these and similar texts, one can see that the relationships between ancient societies are evident in their