Essay Comparing Noah And Gilgamesh

When one is little, bedtime stories are a special tradition. Whether the story was coming from a book or the imagination, every child’s interpretation was different. The concept of storytelling has been around for ages. Before technology was so advanced, people used their voice to spread stories, sometimes creating more than one story from one core idea. The similarities and differences from the story of Noah and Gilgamesh are a perfect example of this idea. The Babylonian exile contributed to the creation of these two different stories. The Babylonian king became very strong and forcefully removed the Jewish people from Israel. He did this to make the people of Israel abandon their Jewish Culture. Therefore, Jewish people began to experience more babylonian ideas. Myth, language, history, religion, and art all came together. Noah’s Arc and Gilgamesh became very similar. Gilgamesh is a Sumerian text; however it …show more content…
Therefore, these two stories have many similarities. First, the God’s or god's’ purpose was the same. Both stories tell about the disappointment of God and the gods. The purpose of God and the gods was to demolish the world with of flood because of the “noisiness” of humans. In both stories, the hero is divinely told to build an ark in order to preserve life. Both heroes are instructed to save their life, their families and a pair of every animal. The idea of a bird being sent to see if the water has receded is in both stories. In Gilgamesh, the hero Utnapishtim releases a dove, a swallow, and a raven; while in Genesis Noah releases a dove only. Both heros also make sacrifices after their long journey. Also, Utnapishtim and Noah both receive some type of immortality. Utnapishtim turns into a god for saving humanity, while Noah achieves immortality through his story and his ancestors. Although, these two stories had many similarities, they also contradicted in