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109-397: Arkeology is the study of the story of Noah's Ark and the searches for physical evidence which would corroborate it . It may also refer to: Noah%27s Ark Early Christian and Jewish writers such as Flavius Josephus believed that Noah's Ark existed. Unsuccessful searches for Noah's Ark have been made from at least the time of Eusebius (c. 275–339 CE). Believers in

218-529: A cuneiform tablet. He translated it and discovered an hitherto unknown Babylonian version of the story of the great flood. This version gave specific measurements for an unusually large coracle (a type of rounded boat). His discovery lead to the production of a television documentary and a book summarizing the finding. A scale replica of the boat described by the tablet was built and floated in Kerala, India. Searches for Noah's Ark have been made from at least

327-421: A temple prostitute , as the first step in taming him. After six days and seven nights (or two weeks, according to more recent scholarship ) of lovemaking, Enkidu is 'weakened'; his herd flees in horror into the steppe. Enkidu is shocked by his loneliness, but Shamhat tries to comfort him: Do not grieve, you now have knowledge, like the gods . She then takes him to a shepherd's camp, teaching him civilised: his hair

436-633: A "box" or " chest " to describe the Ark, surah 29:15 of the Quran refers to it as a safina , an ordinary ship; surah 7:64 uses fulk, and surah 54:13 describes the Ark as "a thing of boards and nails". Abd Allah ibn Abbas , a contemporary of Muhammad , wrote that Noah was in doubt as to what shape to make the Ark and that Allah revealed to him that it was to be shaped like a bird's belly and fashioned of teak wood. The medieval scholar Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn Masudi (died 956) wrote that Allah commanded

545-579: A century, scholars have said that the Bible's story of Noah's Ark is based on older Mesopotamian models. Because all these flood stories deal with events that allegedly happened at the dawn of history, they give the impression that the myths themselves must come from very primitive origins, but the myth of the global flood that destroys all life only begins to appear in the Old Babylonian period (20th–16th centuries BCE). The reasons for this emergence of

654-477: A crack in the earth, and Enkidu's ghost jumps out of it. The tablet ends with Gilgamesh questioning Enkidu about what he has seen in the underworld. This version of the epic, called in some fragments Surpassing all other kings , is composed of tablets and fragments from diverse origins and states of conservation. It remains incomplete in its majority, with several tablets missing, and those found having sizable lacunae . They are named after their current location or

763-471: A critic who doubted that the Ark could contain all the animals in the world, argued that Moses, the traditional author of the book of Genesis, had been brought up in Egypt and would therefore have used the larger Egyptian cubit. He also fixed the shape of the Ark as a truncated pyramid , square at its base, and tapering to a square peak one cubit on a side; only in the 12th century did it come to be thought of as

872-467: A detailed account of the logistics of the Ark, down to arrangements for the disposal of dung and the circulation of fresh air. The 16th-century geometer Johannes Buteo calculated the Ark's internal dimensions, allowing room for Noah's grinding mills and smokeless ovens, a model widely adopted by other commentators. Irving Finkel , a curator at the British Museum, came into the possession of

981-486: A famous line from the epic, Gilgamesh clings to Enkidu's body and denies that he has died until a maggot drops from the nose of the corpse. Gilgamesh delivers a lament for Enkidu, in which he calls upon mountains, forests, fields, rivers, wild animals, and all of Uruk to mourn for his friend. Recalling their adventures together, Gilgamesh tears at his hair and clothes in grief. He commissions a funerary statue, and provides grave gifts from his treasury to ensure that Enkidu has

1090-631: A favourable reception in the realm of the dead. A great banquet is held where the treasures are offered to the gods of the Netherworld. Just before a break in the text there is a suggestion that a river is being dammed, indicating a burial in a river bed, as in the corresponding Sumerian poem, The Death of Gilgamesh . Tablet nine opens with Gilgamesh roaming the wild wearing skins, grieving for Enkidu. Having now become fearful of his own death, he decides to seek Utnapishtim ("the Faraway"), and learn

1199-677: A letter falsely stating that it had been inside a box of ancient bronze fragments purchased in a 1981 auction. In 2014, Hobby Lobby privately purchased the tablet for display at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. In 2019, the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet was seized by US officials and was returned to Iraq in September 2021. Recent developments in the use of Artificial Intelligence software have vastly accelerated

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1308-501: A literary style that was used for literary purposes. This version was compiled by Sin-leqi-unninni sometime between 1300 and 1000 BC from earlier texts. One impact that Sin-leqi-unninni brought to the work was to bring the issue of mortality to the foreground, thus making it possible for the character to move from being an "adventurer to a wise man." The Brazilian scholar Lins Brandão saw the standard version can be seen in this sense as "sapiential literature," ("wisdom literature"), which

1417-403: A loaf of bread on each of the days he is asleep, so that he cannot deny his failure to keep awake. Gilgamesh, who is seeking to overcome death, cannot even conquer sleep. After instructing Urshanabi, the ferryman, to wash Gilgamesh and clothe him in royal robes, they depart for Uruk. As they are leaving, Utnapishtim's wife asks her husband to offer a parting gift. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that at

1526-402: A local flood, which is described in the 1910 edition as part of a "gradual surrender of attempts to square scientific facts with a literal interpretation of the Bible" that resulted in "the ' higher criticism ' and the rise of the modern scientific views as to the origin of species" leading to "scientific comparative mythology" as the frame in which Noah's Ark was interpreted by 1875. In Europe,

1635-502: A mountain, and perform a dream ritual. Gilgamesh has five terrifying dreams about falling mountains, thunderstorms, wild bulls, and a thunderbird that breathes fire. Despite similarities between his dream figures and earlier descriptions of Humbaba, Enkidu interprets these dreams as good omens, and denies that the frightening images represent the forest guardian. As they approach the cedar mountain, they hear Humbaba bellowing, and have to encourage each other not to be afraid. The heroes enter

1744-568: A numerological preoccupation with the number 60, the same number characterizing the vessel of the Babylonian flood hero. Its three internal divisions reflect the three-part universe imagined by the ancient Israelites: heaven, the earth, and the underworld. Each deck is the same height as the Temple in Jerusalem, itself a microcosmic model of the universe, and each is three times the area of

1853-499: A piece believed to have contained the first lines of the epic in the storeroom of the British Museum; the fragment, found in 1878 and dated to between 600 BC and 100 BC, had remained unexamined by experts for more than a century since its recovery. The fragment read "He who saw all, who was the foundation of the land, who knew (everything), was wise in all matters: Gilgamesh." The discovery of artifacts ( c.  2600 BC ) associated with Enmebaragesi of Kish , mentioned in

1962-558: A raft and return home along the Euphrates with the giant tree and (possibly) the head of Humbaba. Gilgamesh rejects the advances of the goddess Ishtar because of her mistreatment of previous lovers like Dumuzi . Ishtar becomes angry and denies Gilgamesh entry into E-Ana, interfering with his business. Ishtar asks her father Anu to send Gulaana- the Bull of Heaven to avenge her. When Anu rejects her complaints, Ishtar threatens to raise

2071-485: A rectangular box with a sloping roof. Early Christian artists depicted Noah standing in a small box on the waves, symbolizing God saving the Christian Church in its turbulent early years. Augustine of Hippo (354–430), in his work City of God , demonstrated that the dimensions of the Ark corresponded to the dimensions of the human body, which according to Christian doctrine is the body of Christ and in turn

2180-580: A short discussion, Sur-sunabu asks him to carve 300 oars so that they may cross the waters of death without needing the "stone ones". The rest of the tablet is missing. The text on the Old Babylonian Meissner fragment (the larger surviving fragment of the Sippar tablet) has been used to reconstruct possible earlier forms of the Epic of Gilgamesh , and it has been suggested that a "prior form of

2289-407: A swallow, and a raven. When the raven fails to return, he opens the ark and frees its inhabitants. Utnapishtim offers a sacrifice to the gods, who smell the sweet savor and gather around. Ishtar vows that just as she will never forget the brilliant necklace that hangs around her neck, she will always remember this time. When Enlil arrives, angry that there are survivors, she condemns him for instigating

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2398-582: A symbol of the Christ who was expected", stating that the vessel had its door on the east side—the direction from which Christ would appear at the Second Coming —and that the bones of Adam were brought aboard, together with gold, frankincense , and myrrh (the symbols of the Nativity of Christ ). Hippolytus furthermore stated that the Ark floated to and fro in the four directions on the waters, making

2507-451: A test of strength. Gilgamesh wins the contest; nonetheless, the two become friends. Together, they make a six-day journey to the legendary Cedar Forest , where they ultimately slay its Guardian, Humbaba , and cut down the sacred Cedar. The goddess Ishtar sends the Bull of Heaven to punish Gilgamesh for spurning her advances. Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill the Bull of Heaven, insulting Ishtar in

2616-530: A word which always refers to birds' nests elsewhere in the Bible, leading some scholars to emend this to qanim , reeds. The finished vessel is to be smeared with koper , meaning pitch or bitumen ; in Hebrew the two words are closely related, kaparta ("smeared") ... bakopper . Bitumen is more likely option as "koper" is thought to be a loanword from the Akkadian " kupru ", meaning bitumen. For well over

2725-540: Is an epic from ancient Mesopotamia . The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames" ), king of Uruk , some of which may date back to the Third Dynasty of Ur ( c.  2100 BC ). These independent stories were later used as source material for a combined epic in Akkadian . The first surviving version of this combined epic, known as

2834-603: Is common in the Middle East, but this idea has not been widely accepted. The Standard Babylonian version has different opening words, or incipit , from the older version. The older version begins with the words "Surpassing all other kings", while the Standard Babylonian version has "He who saw the deep" ( ša naqba īmuru ), "deep" referring to the mysteries of the information brought back by Gilgamesh from his meeting with Uta-Napishti ( Utnapishtim ) about Ea ,

2943-414: Is cut, he learns to eat human food and drink beer. Gilgamesh, meanwhile, has been having dreams about the imminent arrival of a beloved new companion and asks his mother, the goddess Ninsun , to help interpret these dreams. In the shepherds' camp, to whose way of life he has become accustomed, Enkidu is appointed night watchman. Learning from a passing stranger about Gilgamesh's treatment of new brides, he

3052-456: Is derived from an unknown version of that story. The contents of this last tablet are inconsistent with previous ones: Enkidu is still alive, despite having died earlier in the epic. Because of this, its lack of integration with the other tablets, and the fact that it is almost a copy of an earlier version, it has been referred to as an 'inorganic appendage' to the epic. Alternatively, it has been suggested that "its purpose, though crudely handled,

3161-674: Is forced to rebuild it. In Book 18 of the Right Ginza , a Mandaean text , Noah and his family are saved from the Great Flood because they were able to build an ark or kawila (or kauila , a Mandaic term; it is cognate with Syriac kēʾwilā , which is attested in the Peshitta New Testament, such as Matthew 24 :38 and Luke 17 :27). In contrast to the Jewish tradition, which uses a term that can be translated as

3270-448: Is generally imagined, not amounting to a hundred species of quadrupeds ." It also endorses a supernatural explanation for the flood, stating that "many attempts have been made to account for the deluge by means of natural causes: but these attempts have only tended to discredit philosophy, and to render their authors ridiculous". The 1860 edition attempts to solve the problem of the Ark being unable to house all animal types by suggesting

3379-568: Is identified by tradition with a hill near the town of Jazirat ibn Umar on the east bank of the Tigris in the province of Mosul in northern Iraq, and Masudi says that the spot could be seen in his time. The Baháʼí Faith regards the Ark and the Flood as symbolic. In Baháʼí belief, only Noah's followers were spiritually alive, preserved in the "ark" of his teachings, as others were spiritually dead. The Baháʼí scripture Kitáb-i-Íqán endorses

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3488-600: Is in a sad mood. In order to cheer him up Gilgamesh suggests going to the Pine Forest to cut down trees and kill Humbaba (known here as Huwawa). Enkidu protests, as he knows Huwawa and is aware of his power. Gilgamesh talks Enkidu into it with some words of encouragement, but Enkidu remains reluctant. They prepare, and call for the elders. The elders also protest, but after Gilgamesh talks to them, they agree to let him go. After Gilgamesh asks his god (Shamash) for protection, and both he and Enkidu equip themselves, they leave with

3597-467: Is incensed and travels to Uruk to intervene at a wedding. When Gilgamesh attempts to visit the wedding chamber, Enkidu blocks his way, and they fight. After a fierce battle, Enkidu acknowledges Gilgamesh's superior strength and they become friends. Gilgamesh proposes a journey to the Cedar Forest to slay the monstrous demi-god Humbaba in order to gain fame and renown. Despite warnings from Enkidu and

3706-478: Is nearly identical to the Babylonian word for an oblong boat ( ṭubbû ), especially given that "v" and "b" are the same letter in Hebrew: bet (ב). However, the causes for God or the gods sending the flood differ in the various stories. In the Hebrew myth, the flood inflicts God's judgment on wicked humanity. The Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh gives no reasons, and the flood appears the result of divine caprice. In

3815-623: Is no "Sumerian or Akkadian word for myth or heroic narrative, just as there is no ancient recognition of poetic narrative as a genre." Lins Brandão 2019 suggested, though with little supporting evidence, that the prologue of "He who Saw the Abyss" recalls the inspiration of the Greek Muses, even though there is no assistance from the Sumerian gods here. In more popular treatments, Sir Jonathan Sacks , Neil McGregor , and BBC Radio 4 interpret

3924-414: Is oppressing his people, who cry out to the gods for help. For the young women of Uruk this oppression takes the form of a droit du seigneur , or "lord's right", to sleep with brides on their wedding night. For the young men (the tablet is damaged at this point) it is conjectured that Gilgamesh exhausts them through games, tests of strength, or perhaps forced labour on building projects. The gods respond to

4033-406: Is regarded as a foundational work in religion and the tradition of heroic sagas, with Gilgamesh forming the prototype for later heroes like Heracles ( Hercules ) and the epic itself serving as an influence for Homeric epics . It has been translated into many languages and is featured in several works of popular fiction . ...this discovery is evidently destined to excite a lively controversy. For

4142-645: Is to explain to Gilgamesh (and the reader) the various fates of the dead in the Afterlife" and in "an awkward attempt to bring closure", it both connects the Gilgamesh of the epic with the Gilgamesh who is the King of the Netherworld, and is "a dramatic capstone whereby the twelve-tablet epic ends on one and the same theme, that of "seeing" (= understanding, discovery, etc.), with which it began." Gilgamesh complains to Enkidu that various of his possessions (the tablet

4251-476: Is unclear exactly what – different translations include a drum and a ball) have fallen into the underworld. Enkidu offers to bring them back. Delighted, Gilgamesh tells Enkidu what he must and must not do in the underworld if he is to return. Enkidu does everything which he was told not to do. The underworld keeps him. Gilgamesh prays to the gods to give him back his friend. Enlil and Suen do not reply, but Enki and Shamash decide to help. Shamash makes

4360-476: The Encyclopædia Britannica from 1771 describes the Ark as factual. It also attempts to explain how the Ark could house all living animal types: "... Buteo and Kircher have proved geometrically, that, taking the common cubit as a foot and a half, the ark was abundantly sufficient for all the animals supposed to be lodged in it ... the number of species of animals will be found much less than

4469-713: The Library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh by Austen Henry Layard , his assistant Hormuzd Rassam , and W. K. Loftus in the early 1850s. Late in the following decade, the British Museum hired George Smith to study these; in 1872, Smith read translated fragments before the Society of Biblical Archaeology , and in 1875 and 1876 he published fuller translations, the latter of which was published as The Chaldaean Account of Genesis . The central character of Gilgamesh

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4578-490: The Renaissance saw much speculation on the nature of the Ark that might have seemed familiar to early theologians such as Origen and Augustine . At the same time, however, a new class of scholarship arose, one which, while never questioning the literal truth of the ark story, began to speculate on the practical workings of Noah's vessel from within a purely naturalistic framework. In the 15th century, Alfonso Tostada gave

4687-481: The "Old Babylonian" version, dates back to the 18th century BC and is titled after its incipit , Shūtur eli sharrī ("Surpassing All Other Kings"). Only a few tablets of it have survived. The later Standard Babylonian version compiled by Sîn-lēqi-unninni dates to somewhere between the 13th to the 10th centuries BC and bears the incipit Sha naqba īmuru ("He who Saw the Deep(s)", lit.   ' "He who Sees

4796-399: The 12th-century Jewish commentator Abraham ibn Ezra interpreted the ark as a vessel that remained underwater for 40 days, after which it floated to the surface. The First Epistle of Peter (composed around the end of the first century AD ) compared Noah's salvation through water to Christian salvation through baptism. Hippolytus of Rome (died 235) sought to demonstrate that "the Ark was

4905-535: The Archons , a 3rd-century Gnostic text, Noah is chosen to be spared by the evil Archons when they try to destroy the other inhabitants of the Earth with the great flood. He is told to create the ark then board it at a location called Mount Sir, but when his wife Norea wants to board it as well, Noah attempts to not let her. So she decides to use her divine power to blow upon the ark and set it ablaze, therefore Noah

5014-504: The Ark continue to search for it in modern times, but no scientific evidence that the Ark existed has ever been found, nor is there scientific evidence for a global flood. The boat and the natural disaster as described in the Bible would have been contingent upon physical impossibilities and extraordinary anachronisms. Some researchers believe that a real (though localized) flood event in the Middle East could potentially have inspired

5123-432: The Ark. A differing opinion is that the Ark itself distinguished clean animals from unclean, admitting seven pairs each of the former and one pair each of the latter. According to Sanhedrin 108b, Noah was engaged both day and night in feeding and caring for the animals, and did not sleep for the entire year aboard the Ark. The animals were the best of their kind and behaved with utmost goodness. They did not procreate, so

5232-684: The Armenians believed that the remains of the Ark lay "in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans", in a location they called the Place of Descent ( Ancient Greek : αποβατηριον ). He goes on to say that many other writers of "barbarian histories", including Nicolaus of Damascus , Berossus , and Mnaseas mention the flood and the Ark. In the fourth century, Epiphanius of Salamis wrote about Noah's Ark in his Panarion , saying "Thus even today

5341-590: The Babylonian Atrahasis version, the flood is sent to reduce human overpopulation, and after the flood, other measures were introduced to limit humanity. A consensus among scholars indicates that the Torah (the first five books of the Bible, beginning with Genesis) was the product of a long and complicated process that was not completed until after the Babylonian exile . Since the 18th century,

5450-460: The Bull lowers the level of the Euphrates river, and dries up the marshes. He opens up huge pits that swallow 300 men. Without any divine assistance, Enkidu and Gilgamesh kill him and offer up his heart to Shamash. When Ishtar cries out, Enkidu hurls one of the hindquarters of the bull at her. The city of Uruk celebrates, but Enkidu has an ominous dream about his future failure. In Enkidu's dream,

5559-507: The Earth to absorb the water, and certain portions which were slow in obeying received salt water in punishment and so became dry and arid . The water which was not absorbed formed the seas, so that the waters of the flood still exist. Masudi says the ark began its voyage at Kufa in central Iraq and sailed to Mecca , circling the Kaaba before finally traveling to Mount Judi , which surah 11:44 gives as its final resting place. This mountain

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5668-462: The Epic of Gilgamesh's flood myth as having a pantheon of gods who are misanthropes willing to condemn humanity to death, with the exception of Ea. Such an interpretation is an unhelpful contemporary take on Mesopotamia's polytheistic religion (and on polytheistic systems more generally), in which the gods may be helpful or harmful in diverse situations. It is also made explicit that Gilgamesh rose to

5777-463: The Flood, Noah, and the Ark as we know it today certainly originated in the landscape of ancient Mesopotamia, modern Iraq." Linguistic parallels between Noah's and Atrahasis' arks have also been noted. The word used for "pitch" (sealing tar or resin) in Genesis is not the normal Hebrew word, but is closely related to the word used in the Babylonian story. Likewise, the Hebrew word for "ark" ( tēvāh )

5886-498: The Gods, a paradise in which trees full of delicious jewels grow. Gilgamesh meets alewife Siduri in her pub. First she assumes that he would be a murderer or thief because of his disheveled appearance, but Gilgamesh tells her about the purpose of his journey. She attempts to dissuade him from his quest, but sends him to Urshanabi the ferryman, who will help him cross the sea to Utnapishtim. Gilgamesh, out of spontaneous rage, destroys

5995-607: The Islamic belief that Noah had numerous companions on the ark, either 40 or 72, as well as his family, and that he taught for 950 (symbolic) years before the flood. The Baháʼí Faith was founded in 19th century Persia, and it recognizes divine messengers from both the Abrahamic and the Indian traditions. Multiple Jewish and Christian writers in the ancient world wrote about the ark. The first-century historian Josephus reports that

6104-558: The Mesopotamian flood story was written in Greek in the third century BCE by a Babylonian priest named Berossus . From the fragments that survive, it seems little changed from the versions of 2,000 years before. The parallels between Noah's Ark and the arks of Babylonian flood heroes Atrahasis and Utnapishtim have often been noted. Atrahasis's Ark was circular, resembling an enormous quffa , with one or two decks. Utnapishtim's ark

6213-465: The Old Babylonian version, or Surpassing all other kings . Five earlier Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh have been partially recovered, some with primitive versions of specific episodes in the Babylonian version, others with unrelated stories. The Standard Babylonian version was discovered by Hormuzd Rassam in the library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh in 1853. "Standard Babylonian" refers to

6322-572: The Unknown" ' ). Approximately two-thirds of this longer, twelve-tablet version have been recovered. Some of the best copies were discovered in the library ruins of the 7th-century BC Assyrian king Ashurbanipal . The first half of the story discusses Gilgamesh (who was king of Uruk) and Enkidu , a wild man created by the gods to stop Gilgamesh from oppressing the people of Uruk. After Enkidu becomes civilized through sexual initiation with Shamhat , he travels to Uruk, where he challenges Gilgamesh to

6431-448: The animals of the field". A violent storm then arose which caused the terrified gods to retreat to the heavens. Ishtar lamented the wholesale destruction of humanity, and the other gods wept beside her. The storm lasted six days and nights, after which "all the human beings turned to clay". Utnapishtim weeps when he sees the destruction. His boat lodges on the Mt. Nimush , and he releases a dove,

6540-478: The ark have been suggested but have never been confirmed. Search sites have included the Durupınar site , a site on Mount Tendürek , and Mount Ararat , both in eastern Turkey , but geological investigation of possible remains of the ark has only shown natural sedimentary formations. While biblical literalists often maintain the Ark's existence in archaeological history, its scientific feasibility, along with that of

6649-545: The auras, they chop down part of the forest and discover the gods' secret abode. The rest of the tablet is broken. The auras are not referred to in the Standard Babylonian version, but are in one of the Sumerian poems as "sons". Partially overlapping the felling of the trees from the Ishchali tablet. Partially overlapping the Standard Babylonian version tablets IX–X. Gilgamesh mourns the death of Enkidu wandering in his quest for immortality. Gilgamesh argues with Shamash about

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6758-580: The body of the Church. Jerome ( circa 347–420) identified the raven, which was sent forth and did not return, as the "foul bird of wickedness" expelled by baptism ; more enduringly, the dove and olive branch came to symbolize the Holy Spirit and the hope of salvation and eventually, peace. The olive branch remains a secular and religious symbol of peace today. According to the Hypostasis of

6867-445: The bottom of the sea there lives a boxthorn -like plant that will make him young again. Gilgamesh, by binding stones to his feet so he can walk on the bottom, manages to obtain the plant. Gilgamesh proposes to investigate if the plant has the hypothesized rejuvenation ability by testing it on an old man once he returns to Uruk. When Gilgamesh stops to bathe, it is stolen by a serpent , who sheds its skin as it departs. Gilgamesh weeps at

6976-496: The cedar forest. Humbaba , the guardian of the Cedar Forest, insults and threatens them. He accuses Enkidu of betrayal, and vows to disembowel Gilgamesh and feed his flesh to the birds. Gilgamesh is afraid, but with some encouraging words from Enkidu the battle commences. The mountains quake with the tumult and the sky turns black. The god Shamash sends 13 winds to bind Humbaba, and he is captured. Humbaba pleads for his life, and Gilgamesh pities him. He offers to make Gilgamesh king of

7085-449: The coming deluge, but was ignored or mocked. God placed lions and other ferocious animals to protect Noah and his family from the wicked who tried to keep them from the Ark. According to one Midrash , it was God, or the angels , who gathered the animals and their food to the Ark. As no need existed to distinguish between clean and unclean animals before this time, the clean animals made themselves known by kneeling before Noah as they entered

7194-453: The common fate of humans is futile and diminishes life's joys. Gilgamesh observes that Utnapishtim seems no different from himself, and asks him how he obtained his immortality. Utnapishtim explains that the gods decided to send a great flood. To save Utnapishtim the god Enki told him to build a boat. He gave him precise dimensions, and it was sealed with pitch and bitumen . His entire family went aboard together with his craftsmen and "all

7303-473: The council of elders, Gilgamesh is not deterred. The elders give Gilgamesh advice for his journey. Gilgamesh visits his mother, Ninsun, who seeks the support and protection of the sun-god Shamash for their adventure. Ninsun adopts Enkidu as her son, and Gilgamesh leaves instructions for the governance of Uruk in his absence. Gilgamesh and Enkidu journey to the Cedar Forest . Every few days they camp on

7412-418: The court of the tabernacle, leading to the suggestion that the author saw both Ark and tabernacle as serving for the preservation of human life. It has a door in the side, and a tsohar , which may be either a roof or a skylight . It is to be made of gopher wood " goper ", a word which appears nowhere else in the Bible, but thought to be a loan word from the Akkadian gupru – and divided into qinnim ,

7521-417: The dead who will "outnumber the living" and "devour them", as well as screaming loud enough to be heard by the heavens and earth. Anu states that if he gives her the Bull of Heaven, Uruk will face 7 years of famine. Ishtar provides him with provisions for 7 years in exchange for the bull. Ishtar leads the Bull of Heaven to Uruk, and he causes widespread devastation. Drinking continuously without being satisfied,

7630-502: The deluge, has been contested. In the modern era, individuals and organizations have sought to reconstruct Noah's ark using the dimensions specified in the Bible, Noah's Ark replicas and derivatives Johan's Ark was completed in 2012 to this end, while the Ark Encounter was finished in 2016. Commentaries on Genesis General Epic of Gilgamesh The Epic of Gilgamesh ( / ˈ ɡ ɪ l ɡ ə m ɛ ʃ / )

7739-468: The earliest surviving tablets for a single Epic of Gilgamesh narrative. The older Old Babylonian tablets and later Akkadian version are important sources for modern translations, with the earlier texts mainly used to fill in gaps ( lacunae ) in the later texts. Although several revised versions based on new discoveries have been published, the epic remains incomplete. Analysis of the Old Babylonian text has been used to reconstruct possible earlier forms of

7848-695: The elders' blessing and counsel. Possibly another version of the contents of the Yale Tablet, practically irrecoverable. In the journey to the cedar forest and Huwawa, Enkidu interprets one of Gilgamesh's dreams. Fragments from two different versions/tablets tell how Enkidu interprets one of Gilgamesh's dreams on the way to the Forest of Cedar, and their conversation when entering the forest. After defeating Huwawa, Gilgamesh refrains from slaying him, and urges Enkidu to hunt Huwawa's "seven auras". Enkidu convinces him to smite their enemy. After killing Huwawa and

7957-403: The epic. The most recent Akkadian version, also referred to as the Standard Babylonian version, consists of twelve tablets and was edited by Sîn-lēqi-unninni , who is thought to have lived sometime between 1300 BC and 1000 BC. From the diverse sources found, two main versions of the epic have been partially reconstructed: the Standard Babylonian version, or He who saw the deep , and

8066-422: The flood narrative has been analysed as a paradigm example of the combination of two different versions of a story into a single text, with one marker for the different versions being a consistent preference for different names "Elohim" and "Yahweh" to denote God. The Talmudic tractates Sanhedrin , Avodah Zarah , and Zevahim relate that, while Noah was building the Ark, he attempted to warn his neighbors of

8175-512: The flood. Enki also castigates him for sending a disproportionate punishment. Enlil blesses Utnapishtim and his wife, and rewards them with eternal life. This account largely matches the flood story that concludes the Epic of Atra-Hasis . The main point seems to be that when Enlil granted eternal life it was a unique gift. As if to demonstrate this point, Utnapishtim challenges Gilgamesh to stay awake for six days and seven nights. Gilgamesh falls asleep, and Utnapishtim instructs his wife to bake

8284-411: The forest, to cut the trees for him, and to be his slave. Enkidu, however, argues that Gilgamesh should kill Humbaba to establish his reputation forever. Humbaba curses them both and Gilgamesh dispatches him with a blow to the neck, as well as killing his seven sons. The two heroes cut down many cedars, including a gigantic tree that Enkidu plans to fashion into a gate for the temple of Enlil . They build

8393-526: The form of a spirit to relate the nature of the Underworld to Gilgamesh. In terms of form, the poetic conventions followed in the Standard Babylonian version appear to be inconsistent and are still controversial among scholars. There is, however, extensive use of parallelism across sets of two or three adjacent lines, much like in the Hebrew Psalms . When it was discovered in the 19th century,

8502-408: The fountain of wisdom. Gilgamesh was given knowledge of how to worship the gods, why death was ordained for human beings, what makes a good king, and how to live a good life. The story of Utnapishtim, the hero of the flood myth , can also be found in the Babylonian epic of Atra-Hasis . The Standard version is also known as iškar Gilgāmeš , "Series of Gilgamesh". The 12th tablet is a sequel to

8611-412: The futility of his efforts, because he has now lost all chance of immortality. He returns to Uruk, where the sight of its massive walls prompts him to praise this enduring work to Urshanabi. This tablet is mainly an Akkadian translation of an earlier Sumerian poem, "Gilgamesh and the Netherworld" (also known as " Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld " and variants), although it has been suggested that it

8720-407: The futility of his quest. After a lacuna, Gilgamesh talks to Siduri about his quest and his journey to meet Utnapishtim (here called Uta-na'ishtim). Siduri attempts to dissuade Gilgamesh in his quest for immortality, urging him to be content with the simple pleasures of life. After one more lacuna, Gilgamesh smashes the "stone ones" and talks to the ferryman Urshanabi (here called Sur-sunabu). After

8829-498: The gods decide that one of the heroes must die because they killed Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven. Despite the protestations of Shamash, Enkidu is marked for death. Enkidu curses the great door he has fashioned for Enlil's temple. He also curses the trapper and Shamhat for removing him from the wild. Shamash reminds Enkidu of how Shamhat fed and clothed him, and introduced him to Gilgamesh. Shamash tells him that Gilgamesh will bestow great honors upon him at his funeral, and will wander into

8938-458: The hero is King Ziusudra . This story, the Sumerian flood myth , probably derives from an earlier version. The Ziusudra version tells how he builds a boat and rescues life when the gods decide to destroy it. This basic plot is common in several subsequent flood stories and heroes, including Noah. Ziusudra's Sumerian name means "he of long life." In Babylonian versions, his name is Atrahasis , but

9047-586: The legends as the father of one of Gilgamesh's adversaries, has lent credibility to the historical existence of Gilgamesh. In the early 2000s, the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet was imported illegally into the United States. According to the United States Department of Justice , the tablet was encrusted with dirt and unreadable when it was purchased by a US antiquities dealer in 2003. The tablet was sold by an unnamed antiques dealer in 2007 with

9156-404: The lowest of the Ark's three decks, humans and clean beasts on the second, and the unclean animals and birds on the top. A differing interpretation described the refuse as being stored on the topmost deck, from where it was shoveled into the sea through a trapdoor. Precious stones, as bright as the noon sun, provided light, and God ensured the food remained fresh. In an unorthodox interpretation,

9265-512: The meaning is the same. In the Atrahasis version, the flood is a river flood. The version closest to the biblical story of Noah is that of Utnapishtim in the Epic of Gilgamesh . A complete text of Utnapishtim's story is contained on a clay tablet dating from the seventh century BCE, but fragments of the story have been found from as far back as the 19th century BCE. The last known version of

9374-447: The moon god Sin . Then, waking from an encouraging dream, he kills the lions and uses their skins for clothing. After a long and perilous journey, Gilgamesh arrives at the twin peaks of Mount Mashu at the western end of the earth. He comes across the tunnel of the sun god Shamash , which no man has ever entered, guarded by two scorpion monsters , who appear to be a married couple. The husband tries to dissuade Gilgamesh from passing, but

9483-409: The number of creatures that disembarked was exactly equal to the number that embarked. The raven created problems, refusing to leave the Ark when Noah sent it forth, and accusing the patriarch of wishing to destroy its race, but as the commentators pointed out, God wished to save the raven, for its descendants were destined to feed the prophet Elijah . According to one tradition, refuse was stored on

9592-572: The oral and later written narratives; a Persian Gulf flood, or a Black Sea Deluge 7,500 years ago has been proposed as such a historical candidate. The structure of the Ark (and the chronology of the flood) is homologous with the Jewish Temple and with Temple worship. Accordingly, Noah's instructions are given to him by God (Genesis 6:14–16): the ark is to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high (approximately 134×22×13 m or 440×72×43 ft). These dimensions are based on

9701-414: The original 11, and was probably appended at a later date. It bears little relation to the well-crafted 11-tablet epic; the lines at the beginning of the first tablet are quoted at the end of the 11th tablet, giving it circularity and finality. Tablet 12 is a near copy of an earlier Sumerian tale, a prequel, in which Gilgamesh sends Enkidu to retrieve some objects of his from the Underworld, and he returns in

9810-432: The people's pleas by creating an equal to Gilgamesh who will be able to stop his oppression. This is the invincibly strong Enkidu , covered in hair, who lives in the wilderness with his herd of animal relatives. He is spotted by a trapper, whose livelihood is being ruined because Enkidu destroys all his traps. The trapper tells the sun god Shamash about the man, and it is arranged that Enkidu will be seduced by Shamhat ,

9919-401: The place where they were found. Surpassing all other kings Tablet II, greatly correlates with tablets I–II of the Standard Babylonian version. Gilgamesh tells his mother Ninsun about two dreams he had. His mother explains that they mean that a new companion will soon arrive at Uruk. In the meanwhile the wild Enkidu and the priestess (here called Shamkatum) have sex. She tames him in company of

10028-642: The present the orthodox people are in great delight, and are very much prepossessed by the corroboration which it affords to Biblical history. It is possible, however, as has been pointed out, that the Chaldean inscription, if genuine, may be regarded as a confirmation of the statement that there are various traditions of the deluge apart from the Biblical one, which is perhaps legendary like the rest. The New York Times , front page, 1872 About 15,000 fragments of Assyrian cuneiform tablets were discovered in

10137-441: The process of uncovering new fragments of the epic dispersed, and often unread, in museums around the world. Distinct sources exist from over a 2000-year timeframe. The earliest Sumerian poems are now generally considered to be distinct stories, rather than parts of a single epic. Some of these may date back to as early as the Third Dynasty of Ur ( c.  2100 BC ). The Old Babylonian tablets ( c.  1800 BC ) are

10246-565: The process, after which the gods decide to sentence Enkidu to death and kill him by giving him a fatal illness. In the second half of the epic, distress over Enkidu's death causes Gilgamesh to undertake a long and perilous journey to discover the secret of eternal life. Finally, he learns from the Babylonian Noah (cf. Atrahasis ) that "Life, which you look for, you will never find. For when the gods created man, they let death be his share, and life withheld in their own hands". The epic

10355-480: The rank of an "ancient wise man" (antediluvian). Lins Brandão continues, noting how the poem would have been "put on a stele" ("narû"), that at first "narû" could be seen as the genre of the poem, taking into consideration that the reader (or scribe) would have to pass the text on, without omitting or adding anything. This summary is based on Andrew George 's translation. The story introduces Gilgamesh , king of Uruk . Gilgamesh, two-thirds god and one-third man,

10464-532: The relationship to Nimrod was dropped, the view of "Greek epic" was retained. Martin Litchfield West , in 1966, in the preface to his edition of Hesiod , recognized the proximity of the Greeks to the middle eastern center of convergence: "Greek literature is a Near East literature." Considering how the text would be viewed from the standpoint of its time is tricky, as George Smith acknowledges that there

10573-511: The remains of Noah's ark are still shown in Cardyaei." Other translations render "Cardyaei" as "the country of the Kurds". John Chrysostom mentioned Noah's Ark in one of his sermons in the fourth century, saying ""Do not the mountains of Armenia testify to it, where the Ark rested? And are not the remains of the Ark preserved there to this very day for our admonition? The first edition of

10682-439: The secret of eternal life. Utnapishtim and his wife are the only couple of humans artificially created by the gods who were allowed to survive the great flood and even endowed with divine immortality in gratitude for food sacrifices to the gods, so Utnapishtim seems to be identical to the pious priest Atra-Hasis . Gilgamesh crosses a mountain pass at night and encounters a pride of lions. Before sleeping he prays for protection to

10791-420: The shepherds by offering him bread and beer. Enkidu helps the shepherds by guarding the sheep. They travel to Uruk to confront Gilgamesh and stop his abuses. Enkidu and Gilgamesh battle but Gilgamesh breaks off the fight. Enkidu praises Gilgamesh. Surpassing all other kings Tablet III, partially matches tablets II–III of the Standard Babylonian version. For reasons unknown (the tablet is partially broken) Enkidu

10900-642: The sign of the cross, before eventually landing on Mount Kardu "in the east, in the land of the sons of Raban, and the Orientals call it Mount Godash; the Armenians call it Ararat". On a more practical plane, Hippolytus explained that the lowest of the three decks was for wild beasts, the middle for birds and domestic animals, and the top for humans. He says male animals were separated from females by sharp stakes to prevent breeding. The early Church Father and theologian Origen ( circa 182–251), in response to

11009-542: The stone charms that Urshanabi keeps with him. Gilgamesh tells his story, but when he asks for help, Urshanabi informs him that he has just destroyed the objects that can help them cross the Waters of Death, which are deadly to the touch. Urshanabi instructs Gilgamesh to cut down 120 trees and fashion them into punting poles. When they reach the island where Utnapishtim lives, Gilgamesh recounts his story, asking him for his help. Utnapishtim reprimands him, declaring that fighting

11118-521: The story of Gilgamesh was classified as a Greek epic, a genre known in Europe, even though it predates the Greek culture that spawned epics, specifically, when Herodotus referred to the works of Homer in this way. When Alfred Jeremias translated the text, he insisted on the relationship to Genesis by giving the title " Izdubar-Nimrod " and by recognizing the genre as that of Greek heroic poetry. Although

11227-497: The story – earlier even than that preserved on the Old Babylonian fragment – may well have ended with Siduri sending Gilgamesh back to Uruk..." and "Utnapistim was not originally part of the tale." There are five extant Gilgamesh stories in the form of older poems in Sumerian . These probably circulated independently, rather than being in the form of a unified epic. Some of the names of the main characters in these poems differ slightly from later Akkadian names; for example, "Bilgames"

11336-454: The time of Eusebius (c. 275 – 339 CE) to the present day. In the 1st century, Jewish historian Flavius Josephus claimed the remaining pieces of Noah's Ark had been found in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans, which is understood to be Mount Ararat in Turkey . Today, the practice of seeking the remains of the Ark is widely regarded as pseudoarchaeology . Various locations for

11445-463: The typical Mesopotamian flood myth may have been bound up with the specific circumstances of the end of the Third Dynasty of Ur around 2004 BCE and the restoration of order by the First Dynasty of Isin . Nine versions of the Mesopotamian flood story are known, each more or less adapted from an earlier version. In the oldest version, inscribed in the Sumerian city of Nippur around 1600 BCE,

11554-454: The wife intervenes, expresses sympathy for Gilgamesh, and (according to the poem's editor Benjamin Foster) allows his passage. Entering the tunnel's gate, he follows the path of Shamash in total darkness and actually manages to reach the eastern exit within 12 ‘double hours’, just before he would have been caught up by the sun god, burning him alive. Astonished, he enters the marvellous Garden of

11663-486: The wild consumed with grief. Enkidu regrets his curses and blesses Shamhat instead. In a second dream, however, he sees himself being taken captive to the Netherworld , a "house of dust" and darkness whose inhabitants eat clay, and are clothed in bird feathers, supervised by terrifying beings. For 12 days, Enkidu's condition worsens. Finally, after a lament that he could not meet a heroic death in battle, he dies. In

11772-501: Was a cube with six decks of seven compartments, each divided into nine subcompartments (63 subcompartments per deck, 378 total). Noah's Ark was rectangular with three decks. A progression is believed to exist from a circular to a cubic or square to rectangular. The most striking similarity is the near-identical deck areas of the three arks: 14,400 cubits , 14,400 cubits , and 15,000 cubits for Atrahasis, Utnapishtim, and Noah, only 4% different. Irving Finkel concluded, "the iconic story of

11881-464: Was initially reintroduced to the world as " Izdubar ", before the cuneiform logographs in his name could be pronounced accurately. In 1891, Paul Haupt collected the cuneiform text, and nine years later, Peter Jensen provided a comprehensive edition; R. Campbell Thompson updated both of their work in 1930. Over the next two decades, Samuel Noah Kramer reassembled the Sumerian poems. In 1998, American Assyriologist Theodore Kwasman discovered

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