Three Flood Stories

The three flood stories, The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Deluge and the Repeopling of the Earth, and The Flood Story from Genesis, have similarities and differences. All three revolve around supernatural beings destroying all living creatures and saving a select person as well as their family and animals. The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Flood Story are the closest, probably due to the fact that they are both from the same region, and more than likely, The Flood Story is based off of The Epic of Gilgamesh. Both mention a heavenly being telling the chosen person that a great flood is coming and that they need to build a boat and take every type of animal on it. In both stories, the boat-builder is given one week to complete their boat and get all of the passengers on board. One of the main differences between the two stories is that in The Epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim is commanded to take the seed of all living creatures, whereas in The Flood Story, Noah is commanded to take seven pairs of every clean animal and only one pair of each unclean animal. Utnapishtim also takes many different craftsmen into the boat with him, while Noah takes his wife, sons, and their wives only. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, rain falls for six days and six nights, while in The Flood Story, it falls for forty days and nights. Both floods end with the men releasing birds to test the water level and see if had fallen. While Utnapishtim starts by sending out a dove, followed by a swallow and a raven, Noah sends out a raven first, then a dove three times. Both stories end with the men burning sacrificial animals as a sign of devotion, and the supernatural beings promising to never again destroy all the people.

The Deluge and the Repeopling of the Earth is the only story to contain monsters during the flood. This story is also the only one to make reference to saving plants as well, since the prophet was instructed to gather seeds. It is also the only story to not use a boat, but a cane. There is no time frame given, either by the supernatural being before the flood, or for the duration of the flood. The supernatural being simply instructs the prophet to go north and tell a man that everything is ready. This story also puts power into the prophets hands, which none of the other stories did. In The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Flood Story, Utnapishtim and Noah do as instructed. They are not really given a choice in what they must do. The prophet in The Deluge and the Repeopling of the Earth is told to take all the animals he saw fit into the cane and leave out all the “bad” animals.

From an ethnographic standpoint, many things are easily noticeable. The Epic of Gilgamesh has many gods in