Many of the same ancient stories can be found in different cultures. Each
story differs in some aspects, but the general themes can have striking similarities.
One story that is paralleled in several cultures is the legend of a great, disastrous
flood. The epic of Gilgamesh resembles the Bible's story of Noah's Ark, but
specific details differ on several occasions. The story of Gilgamesh originates
from twelve fire-hardened, mud tablets, written in cuneiform, in the
Mesopotamian culture from around 2500 B.C.E. It has been passed down through
generations for centuries, teaching obedience to gods. The story of Noah's Ark,
found in the Old Testament, seems to do the same thing; teach the importance of
Both sagas start with the earth being extremely populated, with no foreseen
break in the continuation of a booming culture. The earth was too full. People
were rowdy and reckless. Crime was widespread and grew day to day. These
heretical activities would not be tolerated for long; the flood is now scheduled to
arrive soon.. Noah's story creates the theme that the flood was sent because the earth had
violence, (Genesis, 6). The only way to destroy this violence was to drown
everyone but the chosen few. These chosen few were hand-picked by God as good
people to start a new, more wholesome and obedient civilization. Gilgamesh's
story says the reason for the flood was the volume the people created. The noise
was intolerable and the gods insisted on ending the racket at once, (Duiker, 20).
The singular reason Gilgamesh was spared is that he was informed of the flood by
Ea, the water god, through a dream. Ea was one of many gods in this time. He told
him to build a boat of equal width and length. He was to tear down his house for
wood and tell the curious townspeople that he was instructed to leave the city and
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