• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
You are here: Home / M to Z / Bible Myths / Noah’s Ark and the Flood

Noah’s Ark and the Flood

19th May 2017 by Red Johnson Leave a Comment

Points of similarity between the
Babylonian and Noachian flood stories

horizontal rule

 

horizontal rule

Comparing the stories

The Chaldean Flood Tablets from the city of Ur in what is now Southern Iraq contain a story that describes how the Babylonian god Enlil had been bothered by the incessant noise generated by humans. He convinced the other gods to completely exterminate every person on Earth as well as land animals and birds with a great flood. One of the gods, Ea, went against the decision of the rest of the gods, and told a human, Ut-Napishtim, to build an ark to save a few humans, and some animals.

Excerpt from the Epic of Gilgamesh as translated by N. K. Sandars:

“You know the city Shurrupak, it stands on the banks of the Euphrates. That city grew old and the gods that were in it were old. There was Anu, lord of the firmament {earth}, their father, and warrior Enlil their counselor, Ninurta the helper, and Ennugi, watcher over canals; and with them also was Ea. In those days the world teemed, the people multiplied, the world bellowed like a wild bull, and the great god was aroused by the clamor. Enlil heard the clamor and he said to the gods in council, ‘The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the babel {everyone talking at once}.’ So the gods agreed to exterminate mankind. Enlil did this, but Ea warned me in a dream. He whispered their words to my house of reeds, “Reed-house, reed-house! Wall, O wall, hearken reed-house, wall reflect; O man of Shurrupak, son of Ubara-Tutu; tear down your house and build a boat, abandon possessions and look for life, despise worldly goods and save your soul alive. Tear down your house, I say, and build a boat. These are the measurements of the barque {boat} as you shall build her: let her beam equal her length, let her deck be roofed like the vault that covers the abyss; then take up into the boat the seed of all living creatures.” 1

The flood story from “The Epic of Gilgamesh” 1,8 and the Hebrew story in Genesis are very similar with almost 20 major points in common. Their texts are obviously linked in some way. Either:

bullet Genesis was copied from an earlier Babylonian story, or
bullet The Gilgamesh myth was copied from an earlier Hebrew story in Genesis, or
bullet Both were copied from a common source that predates them both.

In both the Genesis and Gilgamesh stories:

bullet The Genesis story describes how mankind had become obnoxious to God; they were hopelessly sinful and wicked. In the Babylonian story, they were too numerous and noisy.
bullet The gods (or God)  decided to send a worldwide flood. This would have drowned all men, women, children, babies and infants, as well as eliminate all of the land animals and birds.
bullet God (or one of the gods) knew of one righteous man, Ut-Napishtim or Noah.
bullet One of the gods (or God) ordered the hero to build a multi-story wooden ark (called a chest or box in the original Hebrew).
bullet The ark would be sealed with pitch.
bullet The ark would have many internal compartments
bullet It would have a single door
bullet It would have at least one window.
bullet The ark was built and loaded with the hero, a few other humans, and samples from all species of other land animals.
bullet A great rain covered the land with water.
bullet The mountains were submerged under water.
bullet The ark landed on a mountain in the Middle East.
bullet The hero sent out birds at regular intervals to find if any dry land was in the vicinity.
bullet The first two birds returned to the ark. The third bird apparently found dry land because it did not return.
bullet The hero and his family left the ark, ritually killed an animal, offered it as a sacrifice.
bullet God (or the gods in the Epic of Gilgamesh) smelled the roasted meat of the sacrifice.
bullet The hero was blessed.
bullet The Babylonian gods seemed genuinely sorry for the genocide that they had created. The God of Noah appears to have regretted his actions as well, because he promised never to do it again.

The were a number of details in which the two stories differed:

bullet Noah received his instructions directly from Yahweh; Ut-Napishtim received them indirectly during a dream.
bullet Noah’s ark was 3 stories high and rectangular in shape. Two estimated dimensions are 547 x 91 ft. and 450 x 75 ft. The Babylonian ark was 6 stories high and square.
bullet Ut-Napishtim invited additional people on board: a pilot and some skilled workmen.
bullet Noah’s ark landed on Mt. Ararat; Ut-Napishtim’s at on Mt. Nisir; these locations are both in the Middle East, and are located few hundred miles apart.
bullet In the Bible, some of the water emerged from beneath the oceans. The rains from above lasted for 40 days and nights. A 40 day interval often symbolized a period of judgment in the Hebrew Scriptures. 2 In the Babylonian account, the water came only in the form of rain, and lasted only 6 days.
bullet Noah released a raven once and a dove twice; Ut-Napishtim released three birds: a dove, swallow and raven.

horizontal rule

 

horizontal rule

The Babylonian tablets which contain the full story of the flood have been dated circa 650 BCE. However, portions of the story have been found on tablets from about 2000 BCE. A study of the language used in the tablets indicates that the story originated much earlier than 2000 BCE. 3Variations of the original story have been found translated into other ancient languages. 4Which Came First Noah or Ut-Napishtim?

Liberal theologians, noting the different names used to refer to God, and the different writing styles throughout the Pentateuch (first 5 books of the Hebrew Scriptures), believe that Genesis was assembled over a 4 century interval, circa 950 to 540 BCE by authors from a variety of Hebrew traditions. 6 

J and P seem to have based their stories on two original stories from Mesopotamian sources, perhaps based on a massive series of floods in Ur and surrounding areas circa 2800 BCE which would be perceived by the local population as being very extensive; perhaps world wide. Alternatively, it may have been based on the catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea.

horizontal rule

Related essays on this web site

bullet Who wrote the 5 books of Moses?

 

bullet Who wrote the book of Genesis?

 

bullet A possible source for the flood stories

horizontal rule

References

  1. Susan M. Pojer, “The great flood — two different versions,” HistoryTeacher.net, at: http://www.historyteacher.net/ This is a PDF file.
  2. Numbers 14:34
  3. Alexander Heidel, “The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels”. Univ. of Chicago, Chicago IL (1949)
  4. Werner Keller, “The Bible as History”, W. Morrow, New York, NY, (1956)
  5. Schofield Reference Bible. Genesis, chapters 6 to 9
  6. C.M. Laymon, ed., “The Interpreter’s One Volume Commentary on the Bible”, Abingdon Press, Nashville, TN (1991)
  7. Frank Lorey, Impact #285: The Flood of Noah and the Flood of Gilgamesh”, Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, CA (1997) Online at: http://www.icr.org/pubs/imp/imp-285.htm
  8. “Myths of the flood: The flood narrative from the Gilgamesh epic,” at: http://www-relg-studies.scu.edu/netcours/rs011/restrict/
  9. Image of book cover N. K. Sandars, translator, “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” Penguin. Various editions are available from Amazon.com at prices ranging from $6.33 plus shipping to $499 for the 1972 edition! Read reviews or order the year 1960 version of this book safely from Amazon.com online book store

Filed Under: Bible Myths, Bible Parallels in Other Religions, Biblical Contradictions, Biblical Discrepancies, Code of Law by Hammurabi, Creation Myths, Empires, Epic of Gilgamesh, Exodus, Genesis, Hammurabi's Code and the Law of Moses, History, Israel, Jews, Judeo-Christian, Judiasm, Mesopotamia, Moses, Myths, Noah Flood, Noahide Laws, Old Testament, Old Testament/Torah/Tanach, Original Sin, Pious Fraud and Lies, Plagiarise, Psychosis and Fanaticism, Religion, Religion is used as an emotional hook to control, Religious Lies, Science and Religion, Sumerians, Talmud, The problem with Miracles, Theological Terrorism, Torah, Ugarit, Yahweh, Yahweh

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • peanuts
  • zd
  • (no title)
  • ASSYRIOLOGY ITS USE AND ABUSE IN OLD TESTAMENT 5*
  • Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Christianity are all connected 5*INFO

Archives

  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2021
  • October 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • November 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • August 2018
  • March 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016

Categories

  • 10 Commandments
  • A Categories
    • A ICCEBERG – 5*
    • A ICCEBERG – IS THE WORLD A FRIENDLY PLACE?
    • A ICEBERG – 123 P R I V A T E
    • A ICEBERG – 6 DAY WAR
    • A ICEBERG – ABRAHAM
    • A ICEBERG – ADAM AND EVE
    • A ICEBERG – Adam's Penis Bone/Baculum
    • A ICEBERG – Against Our Better Judgment: l by Alison Weir
    • A ICEBERG – ALISON WEIR
    • A ICEBERG – AMAZON KINDLE BOOKS
    • A ICEBERG – ANCIENT EGYPTIAN GODS AND LAWS
    • A ICEBERG – ANCIENT GREEKS AND MYTH
    • A ICEBERG – ANCIENT LAWS AND THE 10 COMMANDMENT SIMILARITY
    • A ICEBERG – AZUSA STREET AND THE WELSH REVIVAL
    • A ICEBERG – BABYLON AND NINEVEH
    • A ICEBERG – BABYLONIANS AND HEBREWS
    • A ICEBERG – BIBLICAL CONTRADICTIONS
    • A ICEBERG – BILL ZEBUB
    • A ICEBERG – BOOKS TO READ
    • A ICEBERG – BRITISH EMPIRE
    • A ICEBERG – BULLSHIT – BELIEVING BULLSHIT ET AL
    • A ICEBERG – CANAAN/ISRAEL
    • A ICEBERG – CHRISTIAN ZIONISM/JEWISH ZIONISM
    • A ICEBERG – CHRISTIANITY REVEALED
    • A ICEBERG – CIRCUMCISION
    • a iceberg – Code of Hammurabi
    • A ICEBERG – CONSPIRACY THEORIES – TITANIC
    • A ICEBERG – CREATION OF ISRAEL AND THE REFORMATION
    • A ICEBERG – CROMWELL AND THE JEWS
    • A ICEBERG – DISPENSATION ISM
    • A ICEBERG – EDENS SERPENTS AND MYTHS
    • A ICEBERG – EDWARD IRVING
    • A ICEBERG – ELBA – ANCIENT CITY, SYRIA
    • A ICEBERG – EVANGELICALS TO BRING ABOUT THE NT APOCALYPSE
    • A ICEBERG – EVOLUTION
    • A ICEBERG – EXODUS
    • A ICEBERG – FALL OF MAN
    • A ICEBERG – FLOOD MYTHS
    • A ICEBERG – FRENCH REVOLUTION/ZIONISM
    • A ICEBERG – FROM THE EXODUS MYTH FACEBOOK
    • A ICEBERG – GENESIS
    • A ICEBERG – Genesis 1-11 and Its Mesopotamian Problem
    • A ICEBERG – GENESIS-LILITH
    • A ICEBERG – Genetic Roots of the Ashkenazi Jews
    • A ICEBERG – H.L. Mencken
    • A ICEBERG – HAMMURABI HIS LAWS AND HIS GODS
    • a iceberg – Heaven and Hell are not ancient Jewish and Christian ideas
    • A ICEBERG – Hebrew and Babylonian Traditions/Similarities
    • A ICEBERG – HECTOR AVALON
    • A ICEBERG – HOLOCAUST OF HUMANS NOT JUST JEWS
    • A ICEBERG – HOW AND WHY GOD EVOLVED
    • A ICEBERG – HOW THE BIBLE COPIED FROM OLDER STORIES
    • A ICEBERG – HOW USA CAME INTO WW1
    • a iceberg – human genocide
    • A ICEBERG – INVENTION OF THE HEBREW BIBLE
    • A ICEBERG – IS THE TORAH DIVINE
    • A ICEBERG – IS THE WORLD A FRIENDLY PLACE?
    • A ICEBERG – ISRAELI TERRORISM – CREATION OF ISRAEL AND 6 DAY WAR
    • A ICEBERG – JERICHO
    • A ICEBERG – JOHN NELSON DARBY
    • A ICEBERG – LAW
    • A ICEBERG – LIST OF BLOGS AND INFO
    • A ICEBERG – LLOYD GEORGE WW2
    • A ICEBERG – MAN MADE GODS
    • A ICEBERG – MEME
    • A ICEBERG – Michael David Magee
    • A ICEBERG – MISCELLANEOUS
    • A ICEBERG – MONTANISM
    • A ICEBERG – MOSES
    • A ICEBERG – MOSES VS SARGON
    • A ICEBERG – MOUNT SINAI AND THE LUNAR GOD SIN
    • A ICEBERG – MOUNT SINAI AND THE LUNAR GOD SIN
    • A ICEBERG – Nanna/Suen/Sin (god)
    • A ICEBERG – Napoleon and the Jews
    • A ICEBERG – NOAH AND THE FLOOD
    • A ICEBERG – ORIGINAL SIN
    • A ICEBERG – PALESTINE
    • A ICEBERG – PDF
    • A ICEBERG – Persistence of Myth
    • A ICEBERG – PIOUS FRAUD
    • A ICEBERG – Protocols of the Elders of Zion FACT OR FICTION
    • A ICEBERG – RABBINICAL JUDAISM
    • A ICEBERG – RED HEIFER
    • A ICEBERG – RED JOHNSON
    • A ICEBERG – REVIEW
    • A ICEBERG – SABBATH
    • A ICEBERG – SCOFIELD PRE MILL bs
    • A ICEBERG – SCRIBED
    • A ICEBERG – SIN
    • A ICEBERG – SIN DOES NOT EXIST
    • A ICEBERG – Stephen Sizer
    • A ICEBERG – Sumerian Influences on Western Religion
    • A ICEBERG – SUMERIAN LIFE AND BELIEFS
    • A ICEBERG – THE BIBLE IS NOT HISTORY
    • A ICEBERG – THE CHURCH OF TRUTH
    • A ICEBERG – THE CREATION OF GOD
    • A ICEBERG – THE GOD ENKI SUMERIAN
    • A ICEBERG – THE JEWISH PARASITE
    • A ICEBERG – THE MORAL ANIMAL BY ROBERT WRIGHT
    • A ICEBERG – THE PENTECOSTAL-CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT
    • A ICEBERG – UGANDA CHOSEN FOR THE JEWSS
    • A ICEBERG – Ugaritic story of Athtar
    • A ICEBERG – Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld
    • A ICEBERG – Whitney Webb 5*+
    • A ICEBERG – WHY FARMING?
    • A ICEBERG – Why Humans Have No Penis Bone
    • A ICEBERG – WHY THE BIBLE CANNOT BE THE WORD OF GOD
    • A ICEBERG – WOODROW WILSON BRANDIS COL HOUSE SAMUEL UTTERMAYER
    • A ICEBERG – YAHWEH
    • A ICEBERG – ZIONISM AND CREATION OF ISRAEL
    • A ICEBERG -VICTORIAN HORROR STORIES
    • A ICEBERG 5*+
    • A iceberg Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind – Yuval Noah Harari
    • A ICEBERG SUMERIAN DICTIONARY GODS AND DEMONS…..
    • A ICEBERG-SINAI
    • A ICEBERG-Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld
    • A ICEBURG – RECEPTION HISTORY
    • A ICELAND – FROM THE EXODUS MYTH FACEBOOK
    • A ICELAND – VIDEOS
    • A ICELBERG – AGAINST THE GRAIN JAMES SCOTT
    • Abraham
    • Abrahamic Religions
    • Afterlife?
    • AI ICEBERG – BOOKS TO READ
    • Alexander Heidel
    • Allah
    • Animal Sacrifice
    • Animals
    • Anthropomorphic
    • Anunnaki
    • Apocalypticism
    • Ark of the Covenant
    • ASSYRIOLOGY ITS USE AND ABUSE IN OLD TESTAMENT
    • Astrology 
    • Atheistism
    • Author Unknown
    • HUMAN GENOCIDE
  • Ancient Civilizations
    • Animal Sacrifices
    • Human Sarcrifice
  • Authors
    • Baron Paul Henri D'Holbach
    • Bart D. Ehrman
    • Colin Wilson
    • Eustace Mullins
    • Frank Moore Cross
    • G. W. Foote
    • Jason Long
    • John Byrne MD
    • Joseph Campbell
    • Joseph Wheless
    • Joshua J. Mark
    • Karl Marx and Communism
    • M. D. Aletheia
    • Marlene Winell
    • Matt (Blogger)
    • Mike Magee
    • Peter Dudink
    • Prof. Ze'ev Herzog
    • Richard Carrier
    • Richard Dawkins
    • Robert Cooper
    • Robert Green Ingersoll
      • Freethought
    • Saladin
    • Sam Harris
    • Samuel Noah Kramer
    • Scott Atran
    • Valerie Tarico.
    • Vexen Crabtree  
    • Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld y de la Torre
  • B to L Cat
    •  Conspiracy Theory
    • Ashkenazi
    • Babylon
    • Babylonian Legends of the Creation
    • Balfour Declaration
    • Belief in Belief
    • Belief Systems
    • Bible Archaeology
    • Bible Contradictions
    • Bible Inconsistencies
    • Biblical Myths
    • Biblical Nonsense
    • Birth of Civilisation
    • Black Race
    • Blood Sacrifice
    • Bolshevik Revolution
    • Bolshevism
    • Book Form
    • Books to Read
    • Bullshit
    • Canaanite Religion
    • Christianity
    • Christianity-Biggest Lie Ever Told
    • Circumcision
    • Code of Jewish Law is Called "HALACHA" (The Way)
    • Cognitive Dissonance
    • Collapse of Ancient Civilisation
    • Concept of Sin
    • Conspiracy
    • Constellation Legends
    • Contradictions in the Bible
    • Counsel of the Gods
    • Creation
    • Creation Myths
    • Creation of Israel
    • Cure from Religion – Judaism/Christianity/et al
    • David and Solomon – Kings of Israel
    • Did humans invent Gods?
    • Divine Number 12
    • Documentary Hypothesis
    • Does God Exist?
    • Doublethink
    • Egyptian Ancient
    • Elul
    • Empires
    • Epic of Gilgamesh
    • Evil God
    • evilbible.com
    • Evolution
    • Exodus
    • Exodus Did Not Happen
    • Fables
    • Free Will
    • Freemasonry
    • Genesis
    • God
    • God is Imaginary
    • God is Nonexistent
    • Gods of Ancient Egypt
    • Ham (Noah)
    • Hebrew Myths
    • Hermeticism
    • Hide and Seek God
    • Historical Deception
    • Historical Revisionism
    • History
    • History's Greatest Lies
    • Hitler
    • Hittite
    • Holocaust
    • Human Sacrifice
    • ICEBERG – Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld
    • Iceberg – Zionism
    • ICEBERG – ZIONSIM
    • Illusion/Reality
    • In Gods We Trust
    • infidels.org
    • Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
    • Janus Parallelism
    • Jehovah
    • Jesus
    • Jewish Bullshit
    • Jewish law
    • Jews
    • Joshua
    • Judaism/Christianity/Islam
    • Judeo-Christian
    • Judeo/Christian god does not exist
    • Judiasm
    • Khazars
    • King David
    • King Saul
    • King Solomon
    • KJV
    • Kuzari Argument
    • Law
    • Laws of the Moral and Physical World
    • Leaving Religion
    • Link to Webpage
    • List of Books for Atheists/Agnostics/Free-Thinkers
    • Mass Revelation (Sinai, Fatima et al)
    • Pious Fraud and Lies
    • Racism
    • Sephardi
    • Solomon's Temple and its Cost
  • DESERT FABLE
  • M to Z
    • Bible Myths
    • Bible Parallels in Other Religions
    • Biblical Contradictions
    • Biblical Discrepancies
    • Books and Articles pdf
    • Breaking the Spell of Religion
    • Code of Law by Hammurabi
    • Colonel House
    • Creation Myths
    • Cyrus Scofield
    • El
    • Eustace Mullins
    • Evil
    • Exodus
    • Genesis
    • Gods/Goddesses
    • Hammurabi's Code and the Law of Moses
    • Israel
    • Israel
    • Man invented gods
    • Man invented religion
    • Memes
    • Mesopotamia
    • Mind Virus
    • Miscellaneous
    • Molech
    • Monotheism
    • Morality
    • Moses
    • Moses/Hitler
    • Myth of Sin
    • Myth of the Ten Lost Tribes
    • Myths
    • Nephilim
    • No Gods
    • No pork we're Jewish
    • Noah Flood
    • Noahide Laws
    • NWO
    • Old Testament
    • Old Testament/Torah/Tanach
    • Original Sin
    • Palestine
    • Parasites
    • Passover
    • Pdf
    • PDF articles
    • PDF Books
    • Persia
    • Personality Flaws Hide Behind Religion
    • Philosophy
    • Pictures (pic)
    • Plagiarise
    • Plato
    • Poetry and Verse
    • Psychology
    • Psychosis and Fanaticism
    • Pyramids
    • Quotations
    • Racism
    • Red Johnson
    • Red's anti-religious Rants
    • Red's Muse
    • Religion
    • Religion and Climate
    • Religion Exposed
    • Religion is a Man-made concept
    • Religion is used as an emotional hook to control
    • Religion Without God
    • Religious Lies
    • Religious Lies
    • Religious Trauma
    • Sabbath Origins
    • Samuel Untermyer
    • Satan/Devil/Old Nick Myth
    • Science and Morality
    • Science and Religion
    • Sea Peoples
    • Sicarii, or Dagger-men
    • Sin
    • Sinai
    • Sir Francis Bacon
    • Skepticism
    • Sky God(s)
    • Starred *
    • Storytelling and Fairy Tales
    • Sumerians
    • Summaries
    • Sun and Moon worship
    • Supernatural nonsense
    • Talmud
    • Terrorism
    • TGP
    • The "church" of Truth
    • The Bible Was Influenced By Other Religions
    • The Biggest Lie Ever Told
    • The Body of God
    • The Church of Truth
    • The First World War 1914-1918
    • The Foundations of Western Civilization
    • The Gilgamesh Epic
    • The God Hypothesis
    • The Impossible Voyage of Noah's Ark
    • The Jewish State/Israel
    • The Nonsense of Noah
    • The Philosophy of Horror
    • The Problem of Evil
    • The problem with Miracles
    • The Religion Virus
    • The Second World War – (1939-1945)
    • Theological Terrorism
    • There is no god
    • Timeline
    • Torah
      • The OT fabrication that the Israelite's were slaves in Egypt.
    • Torah – Biggest Lie Ever Told
    • Torah is Ahistorical
    • Ugarit
    • Videos
    • Violence/Bible
    • War
    • Western Civilisations
    • Western Philosophy
    • White Race
    • Why do Jews circumcise on the 8th day?
    • William Shakespeare
    • Winston Churchill
    • Wizard of Oz
    • Woodrow Wilson
    • Yahweh
    • Yahweh
    • YouTube
    • Zeitgeist
    • Zionism
    • Zootheism
    • Zoroaster
    • Zoroastrianism

© 2023 &middot From The Exodus To The Ridiculous