A Conversation for Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh & the flood

Post 1

Gilgamesh of Uruk

Two thoughts on the Sumerian accounts of the flood occur.
Firstly, IIRC Woolley found a 10ft mud layer in the excavation of Ur. This could be supporting evidence for at least a local flood having occurred.
Secondly, the bible (according to Isaac Asimov) is the result of collating two texts, the J (Jehovah or, more accurately, Yahweh) text and the P or priestly text. This, he says, explains the two entirely incompatible creation stories in 1 Genesis & 2 Genesis. This conflation, according to his sources, occurred during the captivity in Babylon, where it is entirely possible that the Siusudra/Utnapishtim legend was current. He further suggests that internal evidence suggests that the 7-day creation story is a modification of an earlier 8-day legend. If he is correct in this, it does make it more likely that other borrowings may have occurred.


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Gilgamesh & the flood

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