The Great Flood: Comparison
The Great Flood: mythological story about a great destruction that once befell the earth. There are several variants; the Biblical version is the most famous. The possibility that there is a historical event behind the story (a local flood in southern Babylonia in the twenty-eighth century BCE) cannot be excluded.
In the table below, you can find thirty-two parallels for the main flood stories. It shows that they are closely related.
Eridu Genesis |
Atrahasis |
Gilgameš |
Bible |
Berossus |
| Step up to the wall to my left and listen! (94) | Wall, listen to me! (i.c20) | Wall, wall! (21) | ||
| the decision that mankind is to be destroyed, has been made. (98) | the Great Gods moved to inflict the Flood (14) | I have determined to make an end of all flesh (6.13) | ||
| build a boat! (i.c23) | build a boat! (23) | Make yourself an ark (6.14) | he was to build a boat (54) | |
| Flee the house ... forsake possessions, and save life. (i.c23) | Tear down the house ... spurn possessions and keep alive living beings! (23) | |||
| the seed of mankind (183) | Make the seed of all living beings go up into the boat. (27) | to keep their seed alive (7.3) | ||
| Roof her over like the Apsu (i.c29) | Roof it over like the Apsu. (31) | Make a roof for the ark (6.16) | ||
| the coming of the seven-day deluge (i.c37) | And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth (7.10) | |||
| said to the Elders (i.c.41) | I answer the city, the populace, and the Elders (35) | |||
| I cannot live in your city (i.c47) | I cannot reside in your city (40) | |||
| a windfall of birds, a spate of fishes (ii.35) | a profusion of fowl, myriad fishes (44) | |||
| The carpenter carried his axe, the reedworker carried his stone, the rich man carried the pitch, the poor man brought the materials needed. (ii.11) | The carpenter carried his hatchet, the reedworker carried his stone, the child carried the pitch, the weak brought whatever else was needed. (50) | |||
| units of pitch [to cover] it (66) | cover it inside and out with pitch (6.14) | scrape off pieces of bitumen (55) | ||
| his family was brought on board" (ii.42) | I had all my kin go up into the boat (85) | Go into the ark, you and all your household (7.1) | He boarded the finished ship ... with his wife, children, and closest friends. (54) | |
| the creatures of the steppe, he brought on board (ii.37) | all the beasts and animals of the field (86) | Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground (7.8) | to take on board wild animals and birds an all four-footed animals (54) | |
| He brought pitch to seal his door. (ii.51) | I went into the boat and sealed the entry. (93) | And they that entered ... and YHWH shut him in (7.16) | ||
| He cut the mooring rope and released the boat (ii.55) | Erragal pulled out the mooring poles (101) | |||
| The deluge belowed like a bull (iii.15) | He shattered the land like a raging bull, (107) | |||
| broke its clamor like a pot (iii.10) | broke it into pieces like a pot (107) | |||
| The flood came forth, its power came upon the peoples like a battle (iii.11) | And the flood came, overwhelming the people like an attack (109) | |||
| one person did not see another, they could not recognize each other in the catastrophe. (iii.13) | No one could see his fellow, they could not recognize each other in the torrent. (111) | |||
| for seven days and seven nights after the flood had swept over the country (134) | Six days and seven nights came the wind and flood (127) | And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. (7.12) | ||
| all the human beings had turned to clay (134) | And all flesh died that moved upon the earth (7.21) | |||
| Ziusudra then drilled an opening in the big boat (138) | I opened a vent (136) | Noah opened the window of the ark (8.6) | He broke open a seam on a side of the ship (55) | |
| On Mount Nimuš the boat lodged firm (141) | the ark came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat (8.4) | the ship had come to rest on a mountain. (55) | ||
| When a seventh day arrived (146) | He waited another seven days (8.10a) | |||
| I sent forth a dove and released it. The dove went off, but came back to me (147) | he sent forth the dove out of the ark, and the dove came back to him (8.10b) | Xisuthrus freed several birds (54) | ||
| I sent forth a raven (153) | He sent forth a raven (8.7) | |||
| The king was butchering oxen, was being lavish with the sheep (142) | I sacrificed ... I burned incense (156) | Then Noah built an altar to YHWH, ... and offered burnt offerings on the altar. (8.20) | He set up an altar and sacrificed to the gods (55) | |
| The gods smelled the savor (160) | YHWH smelled the pleasing odor. (8.21) | |||
| may I be mindful of these days, and never forget them (165) | I will remember my covenant ... I will remember (9.15) | |||
| He blessed us (201) | God blessed Noah and his sons (9.1) | |||
| making lasting breath of life, like a god's, descend into him (181) | let Ut-napištim and his wife become like us, the gods (203) | had gone to the dwelling place of the gods (55) |