For more information
Call 1-800-351-0222
Call 1-800-351-0222
ANCIENT FLOOD STORY.
Term Paper ID:30064
Get This Paper Free! or
Essay Subject:
Compares the flood story of Noah in THE BIBLE with the great flood in THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH.... More...
7 Pages / 1575 Words
7 sources, 10 Citations,
MLA Format
$28.00
More Papers on This Topic
Paper Abstract:
Compares the flood story of Noah in THE BIBLE with the great flood in THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH. Links between the ancient Sumerian epic and the account of Noah in Genesis. Biblical account of Johah deriving from Mesopotamian originals. Similarities between the two accounts; use of the arc, sacrifice to their God, start of age-span for human beings.
Paper Introduction:
INTRODUCTION
The flood story recurs in many ancient civilizations, even in distant parts of the world, though the nature of the story may be very different in some cultures. There do seem to be links between the flood story as told in the ancient Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh and the flood story of Noah as told in Genesis, in fact the older Sumerian tale may have served as the basis for the biblical account. There is recent evidence that there may have been a great flood in the area of the Black Sea
Text of the Paper:
The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper.
The Bible includes oral material handeddown over several generations, and it was then put into written form byvarious people. The story of Gilgamesh shows how such a leader mightdevelop, and in time the leader would be able to anoint his own successorand so consolidate power and create a dynasty. The two stories derive from different social structures and servedifferent purposes in teaching lessons to the reader, though the primarylesson of giving fealty to the god or God remains the same. to 1 B.C., long after thecreation of The Epic of Gilgamesh. Old Testament Commentary. In Atrahasis, the flood is ameans of population control and a divider of epochs, while in Gilgamesh, itexplains how immortality was once granted to a mortal. In the Atrahasis version of the story, the Flood portion of the text,which is quite damaged, presents a narrative account of Mesopotamianprimeval history that parallels the version in Genesis 1-11 inclusively.The Flood Story in Atrahasis is more than twice the length of the Gilgameshversion. Gibson writes about thearchaeological evidence for the Flood and notes that evidence for aninundation in Mesopotamia is clear and has been attributed to circa 35 B.C. Great empires were formedin this manner and lasted for centuries. The flood story in Gilgamesh should be compared with another ancienttext, that of the Babylonian flood story found in the epic of Atrahasis inwhich the flood is the climax of a series of punishments inflicted onmankind. New York: Macmillan, 1981. Enlil calls a divine assembly to discuss theproblem, and a compromise is reached to limit the expanding population.The Genesis version parallels the Atrahasis Epic but comes to precisely theopposite conclusion. Enkidu dreams that he must die forhis role in killing the bull, and he does die. In the older, Yahwist version, the Flood was caused byrain which continued forty days, while in the Elohim story it was caused bya cosmic convulsion causing the waters to rise and prevail for 15 days.In the Yahwist, J version, the flood disappears after three times sevendays, while in the Elohim, Priestly account, the water subsides slowly overa period of a year and 1 days. The tendency was thus toward greatercentralization and increased power in the hands of whatever leader couldachieve this. Indeed, at least three such floods have been discovered in the regiondating from different periods, though none of these could have been morethan local (Gibson 175-176). War in Mesopotamia helped shapethe nature of civilization. (ed.). Introduction to the Old Testament. In ancient Sumeria, the people came more and more to depend on anyleader who could accomplish such a feat and protect them from theirneighbors, intruders from outside the area, and any marauders who mightwant to plunder their villages. The biblical story shows how the Hebrews used traditionalmythological material to illustrate and reinforce their ideas about God'sjudgment and mercy on the one hand and human dignity and recalcitrance onthe other (Laymon 7). Every aspect of life is ascribed to a god or gods--the death of Gilgamesh is attributed to Ereshkigal, the Queen of Death,and "to all the gods of the dead" (Sandars 119). While they seem to tell the same story, the function of thefloods in the two epics is quite different. and J. The first five books were separated from the whole about 4 B.C. The Atrahasis Epic suggests birth control as a meansto curb the human population, while Genesis suggests dispersion as a meansof accommodating the expanding population (Freedman 1124-1125). Humbaba is such a ruler, and his domain is theforest known as "the Country of the Living," "lying somewhere on the outerbounds of earth and reality" (Sandars 33). The lifespans of the antediluvian fathers are exaggerated with an average of betterthan 85 years each, which is typical of ancient conceptions of thelongevity of earlier human beings. 12 B.C. Each book was rewritten by numerous hands (Miller andMiller 71). What was thenfound was the Mesopotamian version of the Flood. However, in 12 years thepeople had multiplied so much that they made a great "noise," to theannoyance of Enlil, who tries first to exterminate them with a famine, then12 years later with a drought, and another 12 years later with a flood. Both make a sacrifice to their god. The primary segment of the Old Testament is a historical andlegal work originally in nine volumes and extending from Genesis through IIKings 25. Sir Henry Layard conducted excavations on the sites of Nineveh andNimrud between 1845 and 1854 and brought back several large crates filledwith cuneiform tablets, not really examined until 1863. Both arks land on a mountain. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION The flood story as found in The Epic of Gilgamesh derived from anoral tradition in Sumeria that probably reflected long-term historicalmemories of a real cataclysmic flood, probably in the Black Sea region.The flood story of Noah and the ark was very likely derived from theSumerian story. When Gilgameshdies, the people lament. There are numerous points of similarity. Noah offers a sacrifice in the J version,and God makes a covenant with Noah in the Priestly account (Alleman andFlack 181). Bothseafarers send out birds to find land. New York: Harper & Row, 1973.Sandars, N.K. The flood epic is framed by two J traditions, the first the sons ofGod and the daughters of men, and the second the cursing of Canaan. What is notcertain is whether there was a direct link between the Epic of Gilgameshand the Old Testament or if the tale was processed through other versions,such as the epic of Atrahasis or one of the other versions of the floodstory known in the ancient world. The Anchor Bible Dictionary: Volume 4. Three times Enlil's this plan is foiled by Enki and his faithfulworshipper Atrahasis. The people see the worldas a place of dangers, ruled by different gods who behave as rulers oftheir particular kingdom. The leader is not overly revered and is seen as embodying the fate,security, and stability of the people and their kingdom. The tabletswere found in the nineteenth century and date from the seventh century B.C. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1981.Laymon, Charles M. Gilgamesh is a rulerwho is seen as too devoted to war, and the gods hear the lament of thepeople and send their own created hero, Enkidu, to do battle withGilgamesh. The two chiefsources have since been identified in Genesis on the basis of theirrespective uses of Yahweh or Elohim in referring to the deity. Many of the elements in this epic can be found in other heroic epics,from the journey as a quest for some advantage to the slaying of a creaturesent to do destruction. In both stories, after the flood, humanbeings begin living to normal ages rather than the long life-spansdescribed before. The epic also echoes certain social values in itscelebration of the hero, its reverence for the gods, and its belief in theruler-hero as a god himself. Gilgamesh lives in a waythat is ordained by the gods: "The destiny was fulfilled which the fatherof the gods, Enlil of the mountain, had decreed for Gilgamesh" (Sandars118). Noah obeys God precisely, and when the waters recedefinally and the land is dry, the Noah and his family venture forth from theark as activity upon the earth is renewed, with God vowing never to repeatthe Flood (West 1-93). When Gilgamesh refuses themarriage proposal of the goddess of love, Ishtar, she sends a divine bullagainst him, and he and Enkidu kill it. New York: Doubleday.Gibson, John C.L. West further states that the flood story is the first example inGenesis of a close interweaving of the Yahwistic and the Priestly sourcesinto a single narrative. Gilgamesh defeats Enkidu, after which they are friends. In the Sumerian story, Utnapishtim and his wife are made immortal, whileNoah has a covenant with God. Both end with the god or God promising never to use aflood to destroy humankind again. New York: Penguin, 1972.West, James King. The account of the flood in the Old Testament is considered to be aninterweaving of the J and P versions, both of which derive fromMesopotamian originals. Theflood in this story is removed from Creation by 1,656 years. Both feature an ark, thoughthey are described differently. INTRODUCTION The flood story recurs in many ancient civilizations, even in distantparts of the world, though the nature of the story may be very different insome cultures. In both, God beholds the prevailing wickedness of manand decides to destroy his creation, though He exempts Noah because of hisrighteousness. Gilgamesh seeks a way tosee that his friend is granted eternal life and sets out on a journey tomeet the one man who survived the Great Flood (Freedman 1124). Genesis: Volume 1. The people value the warlikestrength of Gilgamesh because he can protect them from these other gods, aswell as from other rules who might attack them. Nearly all authorities find the story of the Floodto be a composite. The Atrahasis Epicbegins with the creation of humankind because the labor-class gods aretired of the heavy tasks imposed on them by the management-class gods.Because of their objection, the mother goddess Mami created procreatingpeople as a substitute for the laboring gods. The New Harper's Bible Dictionary. They arecalled J for the Jehovistic or Yahwistic source and E for the Elohisticsource, and P for the Priestly source was later separated from the E source(Miller and Miller 698-699). as the Pentateuch, and Jean Astruc in the eighteenth century notedthat the Pentateuch is based on even earlier sources. and E.E. The people of this time also believe in fateand place their fate in the hands of the gods. Theyset out together against Humbaba to do battle. New York: Abingdon Press, 1971.Miller, Madeleine S. The composition of the bible took over 1, years, with the OldTestament being developed between c. Theseare set in turn within the genealogies of Adam and Noah, respectively. Flack. West cites a Sumerian list of kingsshowing each king reigning for an average of 3 , years. The time of the tale is one in which human beings felt close to the godsand believed that the gods intervened in their lives. Two separate versions can be distinguished on thebasis of the different names for God and characteristic vocabularies andstyles, and the two versions virtually duplicate the basic features of thefamiliar Noah story. CRITICISM In literature, the ultimate expression of a society constantly undersiege may be seen in The Epic of Gilgamesh. Lane Miller. There is recent evidence that there mayhave been a great flood in the area of the Black Sea which may have becomea continuing tribal memory that was eventually embodied in The Epic ofGilgamesh and reshaped to fit the theology of the Israelites for the taletold in Genesis. The two versions of the flood story have many points ofagreement, suggesting that they are somehow connected, and in the Noahstory, the role of God differs from the role of the gods in Gilgamesh. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1948.Freedman, David Noel. In both, a godor God used the flood to cleanse the earth. The Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary on the Bible. The Epic of Gilgamesh is acycle of poems preserved on 12 incomplete Akkadian-language tablets foundat Nineveh in the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. Works CitedAlleman, H.C. The Epic of Gilgamesh. There do seem to be links between the flood story as toldin the ancient Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh and the flood story of Noah astold in Genesis, in fact the older Sumerian tale may have served as thebasis for the biblical account.
If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again:
or
We can write a Custom Essay just for you.
Browse Essays by Subject