Lecture Outline Utnapishtim Noah and the Flood I The Flood in the Epic of Gilgamesh a Epic of Gilgamesh popular work in Near East b Standard Version c 1200 revised until 650 Least fragmented version c 12 cuneiform tablets d flood story tablet 11 e Utnapishtim Only mortal man in this story 1 he found life 2 king of Shuruppak 3 cf Atrahasis II Utnapishtim and the Flood a Gilgamesh and immortality Both their names mean something significant Atrahasis means extra wise Gilgamesh realizes that he is going to die To deal with this he goes to the one man who has immortality He asks how he can become immortal b Utnapishtim as narrator So you get a briefer version of the story He wasn t there for everything ex he doesn t know the origin of the flood He never gives us the reason Perhaps we are to assume that it is the same reason as Atrahasis humans are overpopulated and create a lot of noise c Ea trickster and personal god of the flood hero 1 sworn to secrecy In both tales Ea makes a promise not to tell the humans about the flood 1 briefer than Atrahasis 2 beginning a reason for flood b anger of Ellil 3 end immortality 2 reed hut brick wall Again he talks to a wall 3 cf Atrahasis 4 warns Utnapishtim a coming flood b boat c animals d boat building 1 circular as in Atrahasis Tablet 11 The boat that you are to build shall have her dimensions in proportion her width and length shall be in harmony 2 bitumen waterproof 3 Mesopotamians river boats 3 materials dimensions decks e flood begins All life is destroyed besides for Uptnapishtim and his wife and the few animals 1 Ishtar weeps cf Nintu This is unusual Ishtar is not a creator god as Nintu is 2 my people f flood ends 6 days 7 nights 1 Mt Nimush Land on the Mt 2 cf Atrahasis g after 7 days 1 dove 2 swallow 3 raven Sends out birds to see if the flood is really ended Certain sequence dove swallow raven Raven is the important bird because it is the only one that succeeds Maybe this is an expression maybe the author copied Atrahasis we don t know Ishtar Ellil and flood cf Nintu i Ishtar again takes Ellil s place She criticizes Ellil for the flood That a human survived Another hint that the cause of the flood is due to Ellil s anger h sacrifice 1 gods like flies 2 cf Atrahasis j anger of Ellil boat k Ea 1 admits warning Admits that he told the humans and comes up with a solution 2 ways to kill humans Send a plague or wild animals to kill them l Ellil Utnapishtim and wife immortality Strange ending Until now Utnapishtim was mortal But henceforth Utnapishtim and his woman shall be as we gods are Utnapishtim shall dwell far off at the mouth of the rivers Ellil grants Utnapishtim immortality even though he was just angry at them They go to a mystical land off the maps that humans aren t supposed to go to III Adaptations of Near Eastern myth a succession myth in Hittite Song of Kumarbi c 1400 1200 BCE 1 succession myth in Greek poet Hesiod s Theogony c 700 Hesiod heard a version of the story in the Kumarbi Cycle and used elements in his story because this was shared tradition in Anatolia where he comes from 2 influence 3 shared tradition Anatolia c flood myth in Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh c 1200 650 Utnapishtim Perhaps the same thing with Hesiod is going on here 1 flood myth in Hebrew Genesis c 950 550 Noah Not the same as adapting a story from a tradition There are clues in Genesis that hint that the authors of Genesis read the Epic of Gilgamesh and it is a direct influence There are direct echoes to the Epic of Gilgamesh 2 direct influence IV Noah and the Flood Genesis 6 5 9 17 a anger of God 1 moralistic humans wickedness We don t know but we believe that it may be because humans are killing each other 2 cf anger of Ellil 3 destroy all life on earth Same response b Noah 1 righteous moralistic 2 cf personal god c monolatrous view 1 double duty for God Noah is spared for moralistic reasons The other humans are spared because they are wise and that connects them to Ea Noah is instead behaving the way Yahweh wants him to behave In other stories one god brings the flood and one saves humans Here Yahweh plays both roles He both destroys humanity and saves it 2 sender warner d God tells Noah In this order 1 God will destroy life 2 Noah build boat 3 God send Flood first mention 4 God will form covenant with Noah 5 Noah put family animals on boat e Flood announcement 1 polytheistic divine assembly Announced to all gods first in an assembly 2 monolatrous Genesis God to Noah God just announces it to Noah e God and boat building Genesis 6 14 16 Different from the Epic of Gilgamesh 1 materials dimensions decks 2 cf Epic of Gilgamesh 3 cypress wood 4 length six X width Genesis 7 11 12 the two waters that were parted during creation are coming together sea flooding rain falling to destroy everything that was created 5 Israelites sea boats They used boats like these f two different conceptions of flood 1 length 2 flood waters a 40 days 40 nights 7 12 7 17 b 150 days 7 24 a 40 days 40 nights rain b 150 days 8 2 1 sea 2 rain Rain plus sea flooding g author links two conceptions Author weaves them in and out 1 begins with poem 7 11 sea rain 2 then rain 3 finally sea rain 4 mashup i Flood ends We assume that the original Israelite audience knew both of these versions and enjoyed listening to the two versions and seeing how they complimented each other Perhaps a narrative technique 1 boat lands 2 Mt Ararat j Noah sends out 1 raven a to find land b criticism of Epic of Gilgamesh He forgets about the raven deliberate criticism of the Epic of Gilgamesh Importance of birds switched 2 dove 3 dove 7 days olive 4 dove 7 days Doesn t come back proving that there is land k Noah s sacrifice 1 God exit Stays on the boat until god tells him to leave 3 savor of sacrifice smell God savors the smell of the sacrifice l covenant 1 God form covenant Hebrew berit a all life on earth God will preserve all life on earth never send another flood b no Flood 2 Noah human race Says he will recreate the entire human race 3 rainbow symbol of agreement
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