Epic of Gilgamesh vs. Hebrew Bible-Genesis The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible share a number of archetypes. These archetypes are found in many of the myths of most religions that we hear about today. They have the same archetype as Noah, a disastrous event that wiped out the earth. You will find all these stories in the Hebrew Bible, in the Christian Bible, in the Greek myths. They are everywhere. This essay, however, is about comparing and contrasting the Epic of Gilgamesh and the first chapter of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Take the flood, for example. In both tales there is an archetype of a character who is favored by one or more gods and is warned of an event destined to wipe out humanity and give the earth a clean slate. In Gilgamesh, the character Utanapishtim is secretly warned that Enlil is too bothered by the noise of the humans he created and is planning to exterminate them. Utanapishtim builds a boat and takes his family aboard. He spends six days and nights on the boat, then sends several birds to search for land. Utanapishtim and his wife are made immortal later. Instead, God directly tells Noah to build a boat, so that he can wipe out the Nephilium that had plagued the earth. Bring its close relatives and two specimens of each animal on the boat. Forty days and forty nights later he also sends out several birds, when finally one returns with an olive branch in his mouth. When they return to dry land, God promises that he will never again flood the earth with a rainbow symbolizing that promise. Noah is not immortal, but he lives to about 1000 years old. When looking at the immortality archetype, you may also notice similarities where immortality is lost. Gilgamesh is returning from Utanapishtim's house and stopped by a lake. While he is bathing, a serpent comes and eats the seaweed of immortality, and Gilgamesh returns home empty-handed, but ready to begin improving his city. With Adam and Eve, however, it is different. They already had immortality and were all cheerful and didn't care about being naked or exposing themselves to anything. But when the serpent tempted Eve to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, she fell into temptation and enjoyed the apple. She liked it so much that she offered it to Adam and he ate an apple. Then they realized they were naked and exposing themselves. Then they covered themselves with grass, leaves and other green things. And when God said, "Where are you?" and Adam and Eve hid from him, knowing that they would get into trouble for eating the forbidden fruit. Eventually they were found and punished. Eve had to face the pain of childbirth and Adam had to work the cursed earth. The snake, however, did not go unpunished, it was condemned to crawl on its belly. Therefore, both immortalities were taken away by a serpent, which is a representation of evil. Now let's look at the similarities between the city of Uruk and the Tower of Babel. Now, I doubt that Uruk was built for the same reason as Babel, but there is no doubt that Uruk was a beautiful and powerful fortress. Back then, the bigger the walls, the more powerful you were. The tale says that "seek the copper foundation box, free its bronze lock." Now, they weren't as rare as they are now, but copper and bronze still weren't cheap. The walls themselves were not made of either precious metal, but of “kiln-fired bricks.” And if I'm not mistaken there were stone stairs and the upper wall “shined like copper”. It was truly a beautiful city. Now, Babel was enough.