After the Flood · Gilgamesh and Genesis · Elias Thorn
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After the Flood · Gilgamesh and Genesis

Gilgamesh XI · survivors, offering and divine dispute; Genesis 6:11–13, 6:17–19, 8:20–22, 9:8–11

Gilgamesh XI · the survivors · Thompson, p. 51, block 80–85 [All I possess’d I] laded aboard her; the silver I laded All I possess'd; gold, all I possess’d I laded aboard her, All I possess’d of the seed of all living [I laded aboard] her. Into the ship I embark’d all my kindred and family (with me), Cattle (and) beasts of the field (and) all handicraftsmen embarking.

Genesis 6:11–13 11 And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. 13 And God said unto Noah: 'The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Genesis 6:17–19 17 And I, behold, I do bring the flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; every thing that is in the earth shall perish. 18 But I will establish My covenant with thee; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.

Gilgamesh XI · the offering · pp. 52–53, “Unto the four winds” to “making the off’ring” Unto the four winds (of heaven) I freed (all the beasts), and an off’ring Sacrificed, and a libation I pour’d on the peak of the mountain, Twice seven flagons devoting, (and) sweet cane, (and) cedar, and myrtle, Heap’d up beneath them; the gods smelt the savour, the gods the sweet savour Smelt; (aye,) the gods did assemble like flies o’er him making the off’ring.

Genesis 8:20–22 20 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar. 21 And the LORD smelled the sweet savour; and the LORD said in His heart: 'I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. 22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.'

Gilgamesh XI · Ea’s reply · p. 53, “Whereat Ea” to “on his counsel” Whereat Ea Answer’d and spake unto Enlil, the warrior, saying: 'O chieftain Thou of the gods, thou warrior! How, forsooth, how (all) uncounsell’d Couldst thou a deluge bring on? (Aye,) visit his sin on the sinner Visit his guilt on the guilty, (but) O, have mercy, that (thereby) He shall not be cut off; be clement, that he may not [perish]. O, instead of thy making a flood, let a lion come, man to diminish; O, instead of thy making a flood, let a jackal come, man to diminish; O, instead of thy making a flood, let a famine occur, that the country May be [devour’d(?)]; instead of thy making a flood, let the Plague-god Come and the people [o’erwhelm]; Sooth, indeed ’twas not I of the Great Gods the secret revealéd, (But) to th’ Abounding in Wisdom vouchsafed I a dream, and (in this wise) He of the gods heard the secret. Deliberate, now, on his counsel'.

Genesis 9:8–11 8 And God spoke unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying: 9 'As for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the fowl, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that go out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. 11 And I will establish My covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of the flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.'

Reading notes

Rescue aboard a vessel and sacrifice after the disaster occur in both accounts. In the epic, family, animals and craftspeople board the vessel; the selected passage in Genesis instructs Noah to preserve his family and living creatures. Genesis later distinguishes clean and unclean animals (7:2–3), so “two of every sort” does not exhaust the account’s details.

The causes and the distribution of decisions differ. Genesis explicitly connects the catastrophe with violence and corruption. At the opening of Tablet XI, the gods decide to cause a flood and Ea conveys a way to survive. Human noise, known from Atra-hasis, is not given here as the reason; inserting it as though it were a line of Gilgamesh would be inaccurate.

After the offering, the gods do not immediately agree: Enlil is angered by the survivors, while Ea challenges the destruction of everyone together. Ea does not reject all punishment: he proposes a lion, a jackal, famine and disease. In Genesis the same God sends the flood, gives instructions for survival and promises not to destroy all flesh by such a flood again.

Uta-Napishtim and his wife ultimately receive an exceptional, godlike fate. Noah remains mortal (Genesis 9:28–29); the covenant also addresses descendants and living creatures. Similar scenes therefore do not make the endings mean the same thing.

These parallels let us compare who is offered survival and what is supposed to change after catastrophe. By themselves, they establish neither the route by which a narrative travelled nor that both texts describe a single historical event.

Separate passages from two works are placed together here, not joined into one continuous narrative. Each passage is labelled with its boundaries. Gilgamesh follows R. Campbell Thompson’s historical English translation (1928); Genesis follows the Jewish Publication Society version of 1917 at Mechon-Mamre. Russian translates these English versions, not Akkadian or Hebrew directly. Thompson’s brackets and (?) are retained, indicating his supplements and uncertain readings. Verses between the selected biblical passages are omitted, but each selected passage is complete. The interrupted direct speech in Genesis 6 follows the excerpt boundaries. Both historical English translations are public domain. The Hebrew texts and an Akkadian transcription of the opening of Tablet XI are linked in the sources.

Open source ↗ (https://sacred-texts.com/book/the-epic-of-gilgamish/the-eleventh-tablet-the-flood)

Gilgamesh XI · Thompson, 1928, pp. 51, 52–54 (https://sacred-texts.com/book/the-epic-of-gilgamish/the-eleventh-tablet-the-flood)

Genesis 6 · Hebrew and JPS 1917 (https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0106.htm)

Genesis 8 · Hebrew and JPS 1917 (https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0108.htm)

Genesis 9 · Hebrew and JPS 1917 (https://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0109.htm)

SOAS · Akkadian and George · XI 1–163 (https://www.soas.ac.uk/baplar/recordings/epic-gilgames-standard-version-tablet-xi-lines-1-163-read-karl-hecker)

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