God is a Dick - Part XIII: The Flood
Gilgamesh was the fifth king of Uruk (probably around 2,600 BCE if he was a real person). The most complete version we have of his story is from a collection of clay tablets that are now about 2,700 years old. There is much to the story before the episode I will be discussing, but all you need to know is that Gilgamesh is a demigod who has lost a close friend, and his resulting fear of death has sent him searching for the secret to immortality. He seeks out Utanapishtim, who has been granted everlasting life, and questions him. Utanapishtim tells him the following story:
Once upon a time, gods still inhabited the city of Shuruppak, on the Euphrates river. Enlil, god of the wind, found humans too noisy and decided to send a great flood to silence them. Ea (a.k.a. Enki), the water god, didn’t want all life on the surface of the Earth to be destroyed, so he told Utanapishtim that the flood was coming and instructed to build a large boat. Furthermore, he was to gather together a breeding pair of each species of animal. Utanapishtim and his neighbors manage to complete the boat in only seven days. It was then loaded with the animals, all of Utanapishtim’s possessions and his entire household. They set sail on the Euphrates as the clouds grew dark, and the top hatch was sealed.
Then like pushing waters escaping from a dam above came rain pushing down to us below. Nergal from his underground home did break the posts and up water from below did come. Ninurta let watery chaos abound drowning babe, cattle, and then trees. South wind pushed waters into eyes so people scrambling around flowing water could not see and so were drowned. Like pieces of a broken pot lay the pieces of land among the spreading water. So high did the water go that even the gods scrambled for mountain so high and cringed like rain whipped dogs in the storm.
Some of the gods screamed and cried, regretting the words they had spoken in the council. The storm raged for six days, but on the seventh day, Enlil rested. Utanapishtim opened the hatch and wept when he found that everything had been destroyed. The boat ran aground on Mt. Nishur. After seven days, Utanapishtim released a dove, which found nowhere to land and returned to the boat. After another seven days, he repeated this with a swallow, and then with a raven a week after that. After yet another seven days, he released all three birds, and when none of them returned, he knew it was safe to leave the boat. Utanapishtim performed sacrifices to appease the gods, and Eanna came down with a “necklace of lapis lazuli, gold and amethyst,” which was thereafter known as a rainbow.
Enlil was furious when he saw that some humans were still alive. Ea spoke to Enlil, telling him that the flood was unjust because he was convicting the innocent along with the guilty. Enlil granted Utanapishtim and his wife immortality in order to make amends with the council of gods.
Let’s review. Enlil finds humans too noisy (who doesn’t?) and decides that the solution is to UTTERLY DESTROY ALL LIFE ON THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH. Ea feels this might be overkill and warns Utanapishtim, instructing him to build a boat. Enlil unleashes a week-long, global storm that even scares the other gods and erases humanity, save those who are on the boat. When Enlil sees that a handful of humans have survived, he’s angry about it. He grants the victims immortality as a token gesture, just to make the other gods happy. There’s something really familiar about this story, but I just can’t put my finger on it. Well, since it’s the oldest known written story in the world, I guess it must be an original. I feel like I’ve forgotten something. Oh yeah… Dick.
~I AM~
September 25th, 2005 at at 9:53 am
So that’s where it came from! I’ve always heard about the similarities existing, but now I can see where it came from. Thanks for keeping me up to speed I AM. This series is most enjoyable.
September 25th, 2005 at at 11:20 am
Haha, great post.
This talks about how some religions incorporate others into themselves (Enlil’s flood incorporated into Noah’s). It talks about a ton more as well. Pretty interesting.
September 25th, 2005 at at 12:31 pm
This is an amazing series.
“I feel life I’ve forgotten something. Oh yeah… Dick.”
Typo?
September 25th, 2005 at at 12:40 pm
Kele,
Jesus tap dancing Christ, that was a fantastic link! It’s like watching the creation of the bible from all it’s non-divine origins. Wow dude. Great, absolutely great.
September 25th, 2005 at at 1:02 pm
Aeger:
Oops. Thanks. I fixed it.
September 25th, 2005 at at 2:02 pm
Good find, I had thought that it was likely a rip-off of another story but didn’t know where it was from. The gods really are such bastards.
September 25th, 2005 at at 2:05 pm
“So high did the water go that even the gods scrambled for mountain so high and cringed like rain whipped dogs in the storm.”
Wimps
September 25th, 2005 at at 2:18 pm
Would it be copieing to do a post about stories turning into the chapters in the bible?
September 25th, 2005 at at 2:20 pm
I don’t think it would. So for lack of an answer I shall procede.
September 25th, 2005 at at 2:20 pm
A link would be cool, but ideas are always up for grabs.
September 25th, 2005 at at 2:23 pm
Wouldn’t “The Gods are Dicks” be more appropriate for this post? But I like it anyhow.
September 25th, 2005 at at 2:23 pm
Meanwhile south of the border…
“And this year was that of Ce-calli, and on the first day all was lost. The mountain itself was submerged in the water, and the water remained tranquil for fifty-two springs.
“Now toward the close of the year Titlacahuan had forewarned the man named Nata and his wife Nena, saying, ‘Make no more pulque, but straightway hollow out a large cypress, and enter it when in the month Tozoztli the water shall approach the sky.’ They entered it, and when Titlacahuan had closed the door he said, ‘Thou shalt eat but a single ear of maize) and thy wife but one also.’
“As soon as they had finished eating, they went forth, and the water was tranquil; for the log did not move any more; and opening it they saw many fish.
“Then they built a fire, rubbing together pieces of wood, and they roasted fish. The gods Citallinicue and Citallatonac, looking below, exclaimed, ‘Divine Lord, what means that fire below? Why do they thus smoke the heavens?’
“Straightway descended Titlacahuan-Tezcatlipoca, and commenced to scold, saying, ‘What is this fire doing here?’ And seizing the fishes he moulded their hinder parts and changed their heads, and they were at once transformed into dogs.”
I don’t think they were smoking heavens…
September 25th, 2005 at at 6:56 pm
I Am:
Of course I’ll link you. Nothing would please me more than to ascosiate myself with you and your world wide fame. (:wink:)
September 25th, 2005 at at 7:02 pm
Hey, I’ve had 35 page views from Slovenia this month. I don’t know if it’s fame, but it’s definitely worldwide.
September 25th, 2005 at at 7:52 pm
For those who are interested in other flood myths, check out Talk Origins.
September 25th, 2005 at at 7:57 pm
Great post, I Am. I always wonder how anyone with a decent knowledge of mythology could deny the often derivative nature of the Bible.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of my favorite stories. On one hand it’s a very simple story of a tribal ruler and adventurer; on the other hand it’s a deeply moving expression of the search for the value of life in the face of the inevitability of death and a search for meaning in a fickle and cruel world.
Say– you said you’re a religion major, you’ve probably got tons of this mythology stuff stored away in that head of yours. More, I say!
September 26th, 2005 at at 6:13 am
I’m quite pleased at the direction you chose to take with this. Brilliant.
Remember, the Israelites i>were captive in Babylon. Plenty of time to absorb some myths.
I think that Enlil is the major DICK in question.
I think the concept of six days and resting on the seventh is also interesting.
Also note that animals were sacrificed to the god(s) once the humans were in the clear (pretty stupid ass idea considering your dooming them to extinction through sacrifice, but oh, well). Also note the spplication of birds to ascertain safety, and the inclusion of the rainbow (it was claimed that rainbows are a sign of YHWH’s promise to never flood us again - not sure if it’s in the books that form the canon).
What we’re completely missing here is the obvious foolishness of this story, since there’s more than ONE god. That’s just stupid. They’re not even triune, they’re just separate gods. Geesh.
September 26th, 2005 at at 6:21 am
We should take note that the JudeoChristian system does not say there WERE no other gods. Their God just doesn’t want the others getting any credit. YHWH was the big guy.
September 26th, 2005 at at 9:11 am
To me the real dicks have always been those who believe that something that acts like the gods do in the various myths, is worthy of anything other than human emnity and disgust. Assume the stories are true and you have to ask: why revere or worship this muderous scum? Use them as an example of how NOT to behave,fear them sure, but respect or worship them?
September 26th, 2005 at at 9:22 am
The sad thing is that theist (especially Christians and Jews) use the very fact that the ‘flood’ story appears so often throughout history that it must be true.
Even if the Judeo Christian flood myth was completely seperate from every other flood myth, there is nothing special about a flood myth. Virtually every place on earth undergoes flooding and combine this with the symbolic nature of ‘god’ washing the world of sin. The simple fact is the flood myth is possibly the most obvious of god myths.
September 28th, 2005 at at 3:21 pm
Just for the fun of it, I created a thread a while back entitled, “How much water was required for Noah’s Flood?”
http://www.kcfs.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=000014#000000
The short answer: ALL The waters of THREE additional earth’s!
October 4th, 2005 at at 9:45 pm
Wonderful extrapolation on the Gilgamesh theme.
Recommended reading is Ingersoll’s “Some mistakes of Moses.” Wonderful.
Ingersoll dissects this very well. Says that here we have an ark too small, how did all the animals converge on the ark (I can hear it now: “Is it time, honey?” Noah: “No, not yet. Still waiting for the tortoises!”)
Lest we forget: Manu (Hindi), the Chinese (Shan Hai Jing), Deucalion (Greek), Aztec, Incan, Hopi, oh, the list does go on.
Some deep-seated racial memory, perhaps? If so, maybe (just guessing here) a memory from when we as a species 1st crawled onto the land?
Nicely done, BTW.
November 15th, 2005 at at 5:53 pm
Watched a show recently on the annual flooding of the Nile… people still make sacrifices to the gods so he/they will limit the amount of flooding… amazingly, this works most years… then, for some reason (they must have made some mistake in their rituals), it rains more than other years and the floods destroy their homes and cattle and kill a bunch of them… they sacrifice more, and lo and behold, the rain eventually stops… the miracles never cease…
… if only meteorologists would get it straight, it’s sin that causes rain… and sacrifice that stops it… eventually…