Similarities Between The Old Testament And The Epic Of Gilgamesh

What makes the story of Noah so captivating? Possibly the perspective of a widespread flood, or maybe that the story is considered unique to the Old Testament. However, what if I told you that the story of a global flood is not unique to the Old Testament, but it is in fact a story told in many different cultures. This is the case with the Old Testament, and the ancient Mesopotamian story the Epic of Gilgamesh. Although the two stories share many similarities, the flood stories in both piece of literature are not the exact same. In the Old Testament the nature of God is loving, he is heartbroken to see his creations go to waste, however, in the Epic of Gilgamesh the gods can be seen as selfish, and impulsive. Humankind in both of these stories exhibit a strong similarity, they are both good in nature but the population has been tainted; in both of …show more content…
Lastly, the relationship between the God/gods and human kinds is different in each of these stories. In the Old Testament God is loving, he has a caring relationship with humans and is deeply hurt that they have betrayed him. However, in the Epic of Gilgamesh the gods decide to exterminate the humans without a second thought, leaving the reading to assume that the relationship was not happy and loving to begin with. The nature of the God/gods is a key element when comparing and contrasting the flood stories in the Old Testament, and the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the Epic of Gilgamesh the gods make an impulse decision to flood the earth and exterminate humankind simply because the humans were annoying them. The Epic of Gilgamesh describes the world as generally annoying