The Gilgamesh Epic

The Gilgamesh EpicThe Gilgamesh Epic was a widely known and often copied epic about Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk. One episode of this lengthy epic contains an account of a flood. After losing his best friend and thereby confronting the issue of human mortality, Gilgamesh went to Utnapishtim to learn the secret of eternal life. Utnapishtim was a pre-flood hero who survived the flood and was granted eternal life by the gods. The following is Utnapishtim's recollection of what the gods advised him to do to survive the coming flood:

Tear down (this) house, build a ship!
Give up possessions, seek thou life.
Forswear (worldly) goods and keep the soul alive!
Aboard the ship take thou the seed of all living things. Six days and [six] nights
Blows the flood wind, as the south-storm sweeps the land.
When the seventh day arrived,
The flood(-carrying) south-storm subsided in the battle,
Which it had fought like an army.
The sea grew quiet, the tempest was still, the flood ceased. When the seventh day arrived,
I sent forth and set free a dove.
The dove went forth, but came back; Then I sent forth and set free a raven.
The raven went forth and, seeing that the waters had diminished,
He eats, circles, caws, and turns not round.
Then I let out (all) to the four winds and offered a sacrifice. The gods smelled the sweet savor,
The gods crowded like flies about the sacrificer. (Pritchard 1969: 93-95, selections)

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Figure 1.F Flood Tablet The eleventh tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic contains an account of an ancient Mesopotamian flood, a subplot within the larger tale of Gilgamesh. Seventh century B.C.E. London, Britism Museum -- Rogers (1912) Plate 11

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 Gilgamesh Epic and Bibliography. The Gilgamesh epic is the single most important work of ancient Mesopotamia.

Biblical parallels. The Gilgamesh Epic has notable parallels to the biblical flood story, from the waters that come, to the boat, to the birds Utnapishtim sent out the window to look for dry land. And as with Noah, Utnapishtim sacrificed to the deity after he abandoned the boat. The Gilgamesh Epic may be based on the flood story found in the Atrahasis Epic (see Lambert 1969). The version quoted here dates to around 650 B.C.E. The Gilgamesh Epic has a long literary history going back as early as 2000 B.C.E. (see Tigay 1982). After closely examining its tradition history, Tigay says this in defense of the plausibility of Pentateuchal source analysis: "The stages and processes through which this epic demonstrably passed are similar to some of those through which the Pentateuchal narratives are presumed to have passed. What is known about the evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic shows that some of the results of biblical criticism are at least realistic" (Tigay 1985: 27).