The Sumerian Gilgamesh, Noah, and native Americans

Hello all,

Gilgamesh was a Sumerian hero, whose (c2750 - 2500 B.C.) exploits were written in cuneiform script on 12 clay tablets that were discovered in the royal library of Ashurbanipal, King of Assyria at Nineveh, by a Sir A. H. Layard (c1845-47). Sir Layard transported them (causing considerable damage) to the British Museum where they were translated by a Mr. George Smith.

George Smith discovered in translating the cuneiform, that the tablets (specifically the 11th tablet) described the Biblical Noah event in full, and complimentary manner.

Smith was subsequently asked by the president of the Society of Biblical Archaeology to present his findings. This he did in a treatises which appeared in the Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology 2, 1873, p 213-34.

The following lines, as George Smith stated, stand as proof that the Old Testament account of Noah and the Flood (hence revealing the source of it's wisdom) was reproduced from Gilgamesh.

Paraphrased from Gilgamesh:

Be moderate as you flee for survival in a boat that has no place for riches.
Take the seed of all you need aboard with you and carefully weigh anchor after securing a roof that will let in no water.

Prepare the way for your whole boat and set to sail when the storm begins to threaten you. For the whole next week the sky screamed and storms wrecked the earth.

Ocean silent.
Winds dead.
Flood ended

Then I searched high and low for the shoreline, finally spotting an island near and dear.

Our boat stuck fast beside Mt. Nimush. Mt. Nimush held the hull that could not sway for one whole week. "I released the watch-bird, to soar in search of land. The bird came back within a day exhausted, unrelieved from lack of rest. I then released a swallow, to soar in search of land, The bird came back within a day exhausted, unrelieved from lack of rest.

I then released a raven, to soar in search of land.

To be continued

bc
.

Hello All,

George Smith, in his Society of Biblical Archaeology treatises, suggested that the two versions of the Flood (Gilgamesh v Noah) were written by two different types of people.

Smith wrote:

"The Biblical account is the version of an inland people, the name of the ark in Genesis means a chest or box, and not a ship; there is no notice of the sea, or of launching, no pilots are spoken of, no navigation is mentioned. The inscription (on the tablets) on the other hand belongs to a maritime people, the ark is called a ship, the ship is launched into the sea, trial is made of it, and it is given in charge of a pilot."

This difference makes for some interesting speculation and discovery.

To be continued

bc
.

it would have been far easier to prove your point if you'd just done a line by line comparison like this

Gilgamesh: -
When a seventh day arrived
I sent forth a dove and released it.
The dove went off, but came back to me;
no perch was visible so it circled back to me.

Genesis 7
8 And he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him to the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth

Gilgamesh
I sent forth a raven and released it.
The raven went off, and saw the waters slither back.
It eats, it scratches, it bobs, but does not circle back to me.

Genesis 7
7 And he sent forth a raven, and it went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth

and then just pointed out that the text of the Epic of Gilgamesh predates the bible by at least 1500 years

Originally posted by beforebc
The following lines, as George Smith stated, stand as proof that the Old Testament account of Noah and the Flood

There was no global flood. The gilgamesh epic has a story about a flood, this from a society that lives in a region between two rivers, near a coast and marshes, that are all prone to flooding. The story says it was a world wide flood. It also says that Astarte sent a giant bull from heaven for the dynamic duo to fight. And that a giant protected the cedar forests of lebanon, and that there's a magic plant at the bottom of the ocean that Gilgamesh swam to that makes you immortal. It says a lot of things, that doesn't mean any of them are true.
The fact that a group of semites to the west have a similar story to these semites from the plains and rivers, doesn't mean anything other than that they shared the same cultural stories.

The reason there are so many different accouts of a global flood in so many cultures is because there was a global flood.

Gilgamesh is Bibical Nimrod............Marduk is Bibical Nimrod.

"The Biblical account is the version of an inland people, the name of the ark in Genesis means a chest or box, and not a ship; there is no notice of the sea, or of launching, no pilots are spoken of, no navigation is mentioned. The inscription (on the tablets) on the other hand belongs to a maritime people, the ark is called a ship, the ship is launched into the sea, trial is made of it, and it is given in charge of a pilot."

I have no idea where I'm going with this, but it suddenly occurred to me that the Bible (at least in English) uses exactly the same word for two totally different things. Noah's ARK and the ARK of the Covenant. I am curious if anyone has a take on this. Also, does anyone know if the words are the same in the original hebrew, or whether the words clearly refer to a ship and a box, respectively?

Never thought about it before, but how would you describe a ship to a people who have never sailed? Like a box or chest that floats on the water?

No wonder Noah's 'ark' was a rectangular box-like vessel rather than a traditional boat shaped one. The people telling the stories which were collated into Genesis never even know what a boat should look like ....

I thought Gilgamesh was biblical Noah?

And to whom said the words "semites to the west",

You know "Semite" comes from "Shemite" which is "from Shem" the middle son of Noah. All Jews & Arabs are supposed to be Semites, descendants of Shem.

Very dark skinned people, like east Africans, are called Hamitic, the youngest son of Noah's name was Ham.

And of course.. Europe/Asia/Mediterannian is supposed to be Japhetic, Japheth the eldest son of Noah.

But alot of people have proven this to be incorrect and just a story. Mainly because the Africans were the 1st people and set off from Africa into the Middle East. Apparently back then, pre-flood era, people's skin wasn't black. Then, after the flood erased humanity, Ham's descendants move off into Africa and become today's modern black people?

Hmmph.. i do not know about that, its pretty far fetched.