TimeWake

            A nation or society coming into existence or emerging out of antiquity must establish itself through various foundations.  These foundations include political, social, religious, and economic stability, which are the driving forces that allow us to survive and exist because it limits chaos and evil.  In the stories of the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Book of Genesis, there are many reoccurring themes and motives that I believe suggest obedience and belief on the basis of faith.  My essay will discuss similarities and differences of both stories, which have helped shape western thought. 

            To some, the stories of the Old and New Testament are nothing more than expressions of poetic imagination, which proclaims a truth that is emotionally satisfying.  It avoids reason because reason challenges the certitude that knowledge had been forever fixed by God.  In the story of Genesis, we see an angry and vindictive God that floods

the earth to make an example of his omnipotence.  “And God saw that the wickedness of men was great in the earth.  The lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth.  But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (683).  This statement clearly suggests that there are bonds that humans and God can achieve if one prostrates oneself before the Lord.  In the Epic of Gilgamesh, there is a similar flood story, but it does not expound on the wickedness of humanity.  Rather it seems that fickle gods were annoyed at human activities instead of sin.  “Enlil heard the clamor and he said to the gods in council, the uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the Babel.  So the gods agreed to exterminate mankind” (820).  There are other passages in the stories that mirror each other, such as the meticulous construction of the ark and the importance of bringing animals unto the ark.  Apart from those superficial similarities, nothing profound comes to mind.  Another striking resemblance I both stories is the creation of man.  In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the goddess Aruru creates Enkidu out of clay and water.  “She dipped her hands in water and pinched off clay, she let it fall in the wilderness, and noble Enkidu was created.  He was innocent of mankind” (800).  Enkidu’s entry into the human race is interesting because he is proclaimed “innocent of mankind” until he meets the harlot.  Subsequently, Enkidu spends a week with the woman and in a roundabout way, enters civilization and alters the bond that he shared with the animals of the forest.  

            She was not ashamed to take him, she made herself naked and welcomed

            his eagerness; For six days and seven nights they lay together, for Enkidu 

            has forgotten his home in the hills; but when he was satisfied he went back          

to the wild beasts.  Then, when the gazelle saw him, they bolted away…

            In the Book of Genesis, Adam is created out of the earth by God, and loses his righteousness with nature because of a woman too.  “Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above cattle, and above every beast of the field.  And I will put enmity between the and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed” (681).  These similarities are indicative to a male mindset.  The literature in the Book of Genesis definitely puts man before the woman, and that man’s fall from God’s grace is the result of Eve’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden. With this type of literary ammunition, society can be regrouped to accommodate a male dominated community and policies.  If the Bible speaks of a woman as subordinate to man, the message actively becomes the social reality.  It’s a great way to manipulate the masses.  

            Religious philosophies tend to generally speak of humanity as subservient and worthless.  Each religion has a system of In my opinion, religious harnesses systems of physical and psychological impressments