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To: The Right Stuff; Ippolita; blam
Although many "creation" and "flood" myths are similar, don't the Hebrew ones predate them all?

I believe that there is one very similar to Genesis that predates the Hebrew one. I don't remember the culture though.

3 posted on 09/02/2003 6:05:17 PM PDT by farmfriend ( Isaiah 55:10,11)
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To: farmfriend
"I believe that there is one very similar to Genesis that predates the Hebrew one. I don't remember the culture though."

I think the Gilgamesh flood story predates them all and has a lot of similarities. There is also a story about Gilgamesh being set adrift in a basket as a baby just like Moses.

26 posted on 09/02/2003 6:27:18 PM PDT by blam
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To: farmfriend
I believe that there is one very similar to Genesis that predates the Hebrew one. I don't remember the culture though.

The culture was Sumarian and the actual tale was the Gilglamesh Epic

32 posted on 09/02/2003 6:49:24 PM PDT by jscd3
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To: farmfriend
"Although many "creation" and "flood" myths are similar, don't the Hebrew ones predate them all?

I believe that there is one very similar to Genesis that predates the Hebrew one. I don't remember the culture though."

I think you are referring to The Epic of Gilgamesh (Sumerian). Here's the part about the flood:

 In the time before the Flood, there was a city, Shuruppak, on the banks of the Euphrates. There, the counsel of the gods held a secret meeting; they all resolved to destroy the world in a great flood. All the gods were under oath not to reveal this secret to any living thing, but Ea (one of the gods that created humanity) came to Utnapishtim's house and told the secret to the walls of Utnapishtim's house, thus not technically violating his oath to the rest of the gods. He advised the walls of Utnapishtim's house to build a great boat, its length as great as its breadth, to cover the boat, and to bring all living things into the boat. Utnapishtim gets straight to work and finishes the great boat by the new year. Utnapishtim then loads the boat with gold, silver, and all the living things of the earth, and launches the boat. Ea orders him into the boat and commands him to close the door behind him. The black clouds arrive, with the thunder god Adad rumbling within them; the earth splits like an earthenware pot, and all the light turns to darkness.

 The Flood lasts for seven days and seven nights, and finally light returns to the earth. Utnapishtim opens a window and the entire earth has been turned into a flat ocean; all humans have been turned to stone. Utnapishtim then falls to his knees and weeps.

Utnapishtim's boat comes to rest on the top of Mount Nimush; the boat lodges firmly on the mountain peak just below the surface of the ocean and remains there for seven days. On the seventh day Utnapishtim releases first a dove and then a swallow, both of which circle around and return. He then releases a raven, which flies off and finds land.

33 posted on 09/02/2003 7:00:37 PM PDT by EdJay
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