Comparing Bible And The Flood In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

Since the creation of writing in the Bronze Age, scribes have been recording information of both the fictional and nonfictional nature. These stories speak of morals and themes that cross through many cultures. They tell tales of great battles and of natural disasters of epic proportion. One of the most commonly mentioned natural disasters in these stories tells of a great flood. Although the flood story in the Bible and the flood in the Epic of Gilgamesh are two different stories, they are telling the same historical event. For instance, in the Bible, there is a singular God who watches the corruption of his people. Clearly stated in the bible is God’s motive: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”(Corcoran, 47). God is upset by his
In both stories, large amounts of description are used to build an ark. These specifications make it very easy for historians to reconstruct what the arks would look like. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the boat was described as such: “…let her beam equal her length, let her deck be roofed like the vault that covers the abyss; then take up into the boat the seed of all living creatures.”(Corcoran, 24). The construction lasts for 7 days. During the time of construction great feasting and celebration occurred. In the Bible, God also gives specific instructions on how to build the boat. “Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.’ ‘And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it it thirty cubits.”(Corcoran, 57). When the construction techniques are compared to one another it becomes very obvious that shipbuilding was somewhat uniform across cultures (with slight variation due to local