Closely parallel to these two variant Biblical accounts of the
flood are the two Babylonian versions, which have fortunately been
almost wholly recovered. The older Babylonian account is found in
the eleventh tablet of the Gilgamesh epic, which comes from the
library of Asshurbanipal. This great conqueror lived
contemporaneously with Manasseh during whose reign Assyrian
influence was paramount in the kingdom of Judah. In his quest for
healing and immortality Gilgamesh reached the abode of the
Babylonian hero of the flood. In response to Gilgamesh's question
as to how he, a mortal, attained immortality the Babylonian Noah
recounts the story of the flood. It was brought about by the
Babylonian gods in order to destroy the city of Shurippak, situated
on the banks of the Euphrates. The god Ea gave the warning to his
worshipper, the hero of the flood, and commanded him:
Construct a house, build a ship,
Leave goods, look after life,
Forsake possessions, and save life,
Cause all kinds of living things to go up into the ship.
The ship which thou shalt build,--
Exact shall be its dimensions:
Its breadth shall equal its length;
On the great deep launch it.
I understood and said to Ea, my lord:
"Behold, my lord, what thou hast commanded,
I have reverently received and will carry out."
A detailed account then follows of the building of the ark. Its
dimensions were one hundred and twenty cubits in each direction.
It was built in six stories, each of which was divided into nine
parts. Plentiful provisions were next carried on board and a great
feast was held to commemorate the completion of the ark. After
carrying on board his treasures of silver and gold he adds:
All the living creatures of all kinds I loaded on it.
I brought on board my family and household;
Cattle of the field, beasts of the field, the craftsmen,
All of them I brought on board.
In the evening at the command of the god Shamash the rains began to
descend. Then the Babylonian Noah entered the ship and closed the
door and entrusted the great house with its contents to the
captain. The description of the tempest that follows is
exceedingly vivid and picturesque.
When the first light of dawn shone forth,
There rose from the horizon a dark cloud, within which Adad thundered,
Nabu and Marduk marched at the front,
The heralds passed over mountains and land;
Nergal tore out the ship's mast,
Ninib advanced, following up the attack,
The spirits of earth raised torches,
With their sheen they lighted up the world.
Adad's tempest reached to heaven,
And all light was changed to darkness.
So great was the havoc wrought by the storm that
The gods bowed down, sat there weeping,
Close pressed together were their lips.
For six days and nights the storm raged, but on the seventh day it
subsided and the flood began to abate. Of the race of mortals,
however, every voice was hushed. At last the ship approached the
mountain Nisir which lay on the northern horizon, as viewed from
the Tigris-Euphrates valley. Here the ship grounded. Then,
When the seventh day arrived,
I sent forth a dove and let it loose,
The dove went forth, but came back;
Because it found no resting-place, it returned:
Then I sent forth a swallow, but it came back;
Because it found no resting-place, it returned.
Then I sent forth a raven and let it loose,
The raven went forth and saw that the waters had decreased;
It fed, it waded, it croaked, but did not return.
Then I sent forth everything in all directions, and offered a sacrifice,
I made an offering of incense on the highest peak of the mountain,
Seven and seven bowls I placed there,
And over them I poured out calamus, cedar wood and fragrant herbs.
The gods inhaled the odor,
The gods inhaled the sweet odor,
The gods gathered like flies above the sacrifice.
At the intercession of Ea, the Babylonian Noah and his wife were
granted immortality and permitted "to dwell in the distance at the
confluence of the streams."
A later version of the same Babylonian flood story is quoted by
Eusebius from the writings of the Chaldean priest Berossus who
lived about the fourth century B.C. According to this version the
god Kronos appeared in a dream to Xisuthros, the hero, who, like
Noah in the priestly account, was the last of the ten ancient
Babylonian kings. At the command of the god he built a great ship
fifteen stadia long and two in width. Into this he took not only
his family and provisions, but quadrupeds and birds of all kinds.
When the flood began to recede, he sent out a bird, which quickly
returned. After a few days he sent forth another bird, which
returned with mud on its feet. When the third bird failed to
return, he took off the cover of the ship and found that it had
stranded on a mountain of Armenia. The mountain in the Biblical
account is identified with Mount Ararat. Disembarking, the
Babylonian Noah kissed the earth and, after building an altar,
offered a sacrifice to the gods.
Thus the variations between the older and later Babylonian accounts
of the flood correspond in general to those that have been already
noted in the Biblical versions. Which Biblical account does the
earliest Babylonian narrative resemble most closely? In what
details do they agree? Are these coincidences merely accidental or
do they point possibly to a common tradition? How far do the later
Biblical and Babylonian accounts agree? What is the significance
of these points of agreement?