Essay on Ancient Texts

Zac Callen

Prof.Carson

Engl.2110

9/13/2016

Essay on Ancient Texts

The flood stories told from the Epic of Gilgamesh, New Testament, and Quran all tell a story of the gods causing a flood that cleanses, or wipes out the population. While there are some similarities and differences between them, one thing can be concluded. The widespread amount of flood story culture in humanity provides great evidence that there was most definitely a great flood. There are many symbolic meanings when considering the gods, humans, and their relations in how the flood happened.

Specifically, The New Testament and The Quran relate by both having one specific god. In both of these stories, God tells Noah, or Allah tells Nuh, about the great flood and how to build a massive arc to survive the flood. While in the Epic of Gilgamesh there are multiple gods deciding on the fate of humans. Gilgamesh isn’t contacted by the gods, instead he learns about the flood in one of his dreams. The Gods in the Epic of Gilgamesh are ordered to cause the flood and swear to do it in secrecy. This is one of the key differences when looking at the Gods because it is the only story where the Gods intervene on the affairs of humans and take control of the outcome.

When looking at the Epic of Gilgamesh the Gods expect the humans to, in little ways, serve them. In return for the humans’ obedience and sacrifice, it is expected by the humans that they will be protected by the Gods. When the flood happens, the gods and humans become very similar. The humans are afraid and don’t know what to do while the gods don’t understand what they have just done. When considering the humans in the flood stories of The New Testament and The Quran, they believe that “Noah” or “Nuh” is the hero CHOSEN by god and told to build a great big arc to survive the flood. The reason behind the flood was the sin of man that needed to be cleansed from the earth. The reason behind the flood in The Epic of Gilgamesh is uncertain but it was caused by the great gods who really did not want to perform the act. It was later discovered that all but one of the gods were opposed to causing the flood. Even though there was no purpose for the flood, it still showed great meaning about human existence. It showed that even when gods are unpredictable and men must die, human kind is meant to live on and endure.

With that being said, The Gods are in place to guide and provide moral directions for humans and their relationships with others. The different stories tell different ways that Gods choose to guide humans. One thing that is apparent between the relationship between God and man in the stories is that it is meant to be separate. They act in mysterious ways but are always of influence. Meeting divinity is no easy feat and as shown in The Gilgamesh story, becoming divine, is impossible.