The Epic of Gilgamesh has a lot of similarities with the Old Testament in the bible because of the common factor of the flood that washed everything away. The two stories show some similarities, but they cannot be traced when they were written because they had come before the version of Christianity came and the events taking place. The floods that happened had challenges but resulted in a new era and the use of godly figures to provide education on the tales, which helped in differentiating activities and events (Kovacs). An example is the meaning of the names of heroes, which have differences in the connections and the root of the challenge. Noah had a meaning of rest, while Utnapishtim had a meaning of finder of life. There are differences between the story in the Old Testament and the Epic of Gilgamesh. One of the differences is the time the flood took because in the Old Testament, it took 40 days, and in the Epic of Gilgamesh took six days.
The story of the epic of Gilgamesh is different from the story of Noah in the New Testament because the story in the bible is holy. The gods of Gilgamesh behave in selfish and unethical ways, unlike the God in the Old Testament. Additionally, the gods in the epic of Gilgamesh don’t allow people to act of free will in a way that pleases them. They also believe that humans are judges based on their sins, and they believe that the only way to wash their sins is through floods without considering that humans make mistakes that humans don’t have their actions based on their ways (Kovacs). Humans were made to make mistakes that are different from the bible people. God allowed people to have free will and do things their way so long as it was for the good of God. Humans were given time to build the ark, and when the floods came, people and animals who were not in the ark were killed by the floods.
Relationship between Gods and Humans
The relationship between gods and humanity is the same. In each event in the book, the gods are seen to be close to humans and are always present. This is because they give guidance to humans and humans have no freedom to do their activities. Humans are seen to be under gods who are seen as living through the gods’ mercy. gods have the power to control and harm the life of humans (Kovacs). The gods in the book epic of Gilgamesh have the duty to ensure that humans are controlled in their way to destiny. The relationship is very close, and humans perform their work with the guidance of the gods.
The relationship between humans and gods is based on interference because Gilgamesh was immoral since he raped and slept with many women in the book. The gods protect all humans who seek their protection without judging them, which gives a good relationship between humans and gods. The purpose of the gods is to protect without looking from the moral perspective of the individual. The book shows the importance of a good relationship between gods and humans because humans depend on favors from gods in their actions.
Relationship between Gilgamesh and gods
There is a misconception in the book that the gods are powerful after Enkidu kills the Bull of Heaven (Kovacs). The killing of the bull resulted in man’s activities because the gods decided one of the brothers must die. After all, the act of killing was evil. The relationship was fearful because humans feared for their lives when they did ungodly deeds. Gilgamesh has no power over their actions but performs the gods guide them. An element of a dictatorship is there because Gilgamesh is tired of the rues and the gods permit activities. Gods determined the destiny of Gilgamesh, and once a decision was made, humans had no power over the gods (Kovacs).
An instance is when Gilgamesh is not successful in immortality because the gods had decided against her eternity. Despite the chances that Gilgamesh was given, immortality was never achieved because of the power of the gods. Gilgamesh was given a chance and tried to overcome the requirement of staying awake for seven days which they failed. Once a destination is decided, Gilgamesh has no power over it.
Gilgamesh was innocent of his abilities because he believed that all gods are powerful. No other god can fulfill the actions, which is different because he wanted the brother to be spared from death but realized he was mortal. When Gilgamesh realized he was mortal, he wanted to become immortal to enjoy eternity, which was unsuccessful. Gilgamesh realized that he could not change the wishes of other gods (Kovacs). Gilgamesh searched for the key to immortality but did not make it. The power of other gods is unchanged because Gilgamesh failed o accomplish the task given to be immortal in the search for immortality.
The gods had their favors on Gilgamesh, and he prayed to Shamash so that he could get strength and safety in the forest. The prayer favors Gilgamesh, who can kill Humbaba despite being the giant and God. The favors show a strong relationship between Gilgamesh and other gods. The favors are because of the godlike characteristics that Gilgamesh has. Gilgamesh has an advantage because he is two-thirds the God and king of Uruk.
Work Cited
Kovacs, Maureen Gallery. The epic of Gilgamesh. Stanford University Press, 1989.
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