Utnapishtim Noah and the Flood I The Flood in the Epic of Gilgamesh a Epic of Gilgamesh most popular work in Near East b Standard Version c 1200 BCE revised until 650 c 12 cuneiform tablets d flood story part of tablet 11 e Utnapishtim 1 means he found life a Finds immortality eternal life b Granted by gods 2 king of Shuruppak Mesopotamian city 3 cf Atrahasis a More or less same hero with different name b Slightly different stories c King of the same city II Utnapishtim and the Flood a Gilgamesh wants immortality 1 Heard Utnapishtim is the only person who has become immortal 2 Goes on a quest to find Utnapishtim b Utnapishtim as narrator tells his own story chooses details to include 1 briefer than Atrahasis a Atrahasis had a big build up to the flood myth b Utnapishtim goes right into the flood myth bc that s what Gilgamesh asked about beginning 2 reason for flood a b Says gods decided to send a flood doesn t say why c Probably due to anger of Ellil 3 end immortality a 2 humans are granted eternal life b Not known what happens to other humans 4 imbedded narrative story within story Utnapishtim is telling a story to Gilgamesh in the bigger narrative of the epic of gilgamesh c Ea trickster and personal god to Utnapishtim 1 Ea had been sworn to secrecy that he would not tell humans about the coming flood 2 Talks to reed hut brick wall and tells them there s a flood coming and they should a Utnapishtim is behind the wall and hears build a boat ect cf Atrahasis 3 4 warns Utnapishtim coming flood a b boat c animals d boat building 1 circular as in Atrahasis a Epic of gilgamesh tablet 11 b shall have her dimensions in proportion her width and length shall be in harmony 2 bitumen waterproof 3 4 Mesopotamians river boats tells Utnapishtim materials dimensions decks order is important e flood begins 1 Ishtar weeps cf Nintu a Nintu created humans so makes sense she would cry over them b But Ishtar is the goddess of sexual desire like Aphrodite war c morning evening star planet Venus Ishtar is the most important Mesopotamian goddess plays a big role in Epic of Gilgamesh my people 2 3 narrative economy a Rather than bringing in another goddess Nintu author uses Ishtar b Gives her the role that Nintu had in Atrahasis c Although it doesn t really make sense f flood ends 6 days 7 nights 1 Boat lands on Mt Nimush 2 g after 7 days cf Atrahasis don t know where boat landed because Atrahasis is fragmentary missed the whole flood section sends dove concludes there is not enough land above water 1 2 waits sends swallow also comes back Utnapishtim draws the same conclusion 3 Finally releases raven does not come back Utnapishtim concludes that there is enough land above water now h sacrifice after exiting the boat 1 2 gods gather around the smell of the burning sacrifice like flies cf Atrahasis a picks up at this point after the flood b uses same phrase like flies c Author of gilgamesh might be referring to Atrahasis or like flies could have been a common thing to say i Ishtar Ellil and flood cf Nintu 1 Reconciliation between humans and gods 2 3 Ishtar says they should not have listened to Ellil and sent the flood Ishtar says what Nintu said in Atrahasis j k anger of Ellil boat Ea 1 admits warning the humans the flood was coming 2 ways to kill humans a Says sending the flood was overkill to kill humans b Says plague famine sending a tiger to kill a few humans would be better l Ellil grants Utnapishtim and wife immortality 1 utnapishtim and his woman shall be as we gods are 2 Ellil does not explain why he gives them immortality III Adaptations of Near Eastern myth a succession myth in Hittite Song of Kumarbi c 1400 1200 BCE succession myth in Greek poet Hesiod s Theogony c 700 influence No direct influence Hesiod never read Song of Kumarbi 1 2 3 There is shared tradition Anatolia that went on for hundreds of years b flood myth in Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh c 1200 650 Utnapishtim flood myth in Hebrew Genesis c 950 550 Noah direct influence on Genesis from Epic of Gilgamesh 1 2 3 Author is consciously referring to Gilgamesh IV Noah and the Flood Genesis 6 5 9 17 a anger of God 1 moralistic humans wickedness god thinks humans are so wicked he regrets 2 making them cf anger of Ellil sends flood in Atrahasis because of the noise humans are making instead of because the humans moral failing 3 Decides he wants to destroy all life on earth doesn t mention flood yet b Noah righteous moralistic good man 1 2 Morally good instead of morally bad like the rest of the humans 3 cf personal god c Israelites had monolatrous view when this was written 1 double duty for God Yahweh 2 Has to be angry sender and kind warner instead of when Ellil sent flood and Ea warned humans about it d God tells Noah I God will destroy life on earth 1 2 Noah is to build a boat 3 God is going to send a Flood first mention 4 God form covenant 5 Noah is to put his family animals on boat e Flood announcement 1 polytheistic divine assembly divine council myth a Atrahasis Ellil has a divine council to decide on sending the flood b Can be done because polytheistic 2 monolatrous Genesis God to Noah a God has to take place of the missing gods b noah is a stand in for polytheistic gods why God announces flood to him f God and boat building 1 2 14 materials 15 dimensions 16 decks cf Epic of Gilgamesh a Same order b Can t be a coincidence cypress wood length six times its width big rectangle Israelites sea boats 3 4 5 6 Different from Atrahasis Mesopotamians used circular basket boats g two different conceptions of flood 1 length 40 days 40 nights 7 12 7 17 a b 150 days 7 24 2 flood waters a 40 days 40 nights rain b 150 days 8 2 1 2 sea rain h author links two conceptions 1 begins with poem 7 11 sea rain 2 3 4 then rain finally sea rain mashup combines 2 for Israelite audience i Flood ends 1 boat lands 2 Mt Ararat j Noah sends out raven first 1 a Sent out to find land then never mentioned again b criticism of Epic of Gilgamesh 1 Sent raven last was most important bird for Mesopotamian 2 By sending it and then forgetting it makes it unimportant for Genesis 2 dove comes back 3 7 days later sends another dove returns with olive branch a Olive trees grow in Israel b Not in Mesopotamia 4 7 days later dove doesn t return a Dove was least important in Gilgamesh b Becomes most important …
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