Table of Contents
InspiringPhilosophy answers the charge that Genesis took its flood from Gilgamesh. The narrator says the works differ in kind. Gilgamesh follows a king of Uruk and Enkidu through grief and a stolen plant of youth, ending on fame as a mortal’s only lasting life. The deluge appears only when he visits Utnapishtim. Citing Jeffrey Tigay, the video calls that section a late insert. Older fragments disagree, a final tablet even brings Enkidu back, and the flood’s formulas sit nearer Atrahasis than the rest of the epic. Genesis, he says, shows no borrowed lines, only a few related words. Walton and Longman are used for a shared oral memory, as when two nations describe one battle without copying. Kitchen is cited to call the biblical telling shorter and plainer, not a trimmed poem. A boxlike boat in Gilgamesh is called unfit to sail, while Genesis is offered as the more practical picture. Likeness, the channel concludes, is not plagiarism.
Key points
- Gilgamesh is an adventure about death and fame, and the flood is only the story told by Utnapishtim.
- The narrator, citing Tigay, says that flood section was added late and leans on Atrahasis.
- Early fragments of the epic change plot and wording, so he treats the text as fluid.
- He finds no copied formulas in Genesis, only a few related words and a shared outline.
- Walton and Longman are used for oral tradition rather than one author borrowing a book.
- Kitchen is cited to call the biblical flood shorter and simpler, not a cut down Mesopotamian poem.
Short quotes
the only immortality one can hope to achieve is to make a name for yourself
InspiringPhilosophy, Genesis and the Gilgamesh flood
In this telling, Gilgamesh ends on fame, not on living forever. Watch at 2:06
there is most likely one exception to this namely the flood account
InspiringPhilosophy, Genesis and the Gilgamesh flood
Tigay is cited for one late insert inside an otherwise older epic. Watch at 7:01
there is no evidence of direct literary dependence in genesis
InspiringPhilosophy, Genesis and the Gilgamesh flood
This is the channel’s answer to the plagiarism charge. Watch at 10:05
the similarities between both accounts do not mean one side copied the other
InspiringPhilosophy, Genesis and the Gilgamesh flood
Shared details, he says, can come from a common memory of one event. Watch at 12:41
genesis 6 to 8 was probably the simplest and shortest of all ancient versions
InspiringPhilosophy, Genesis and the Gilgamesh flood
Kitchen is used to rank the biblical flood as the plainest telling. Watch at 16:13
such a vessel is unlikely to float and seems to be entirely mythical
InspiringPhilosophy, Genesis and the Gilgamesh flood
The cubic boat in Gilgamesh is offered as a sign of legend, not of a workable hull. Watch at 18:58
Video by InspiringPhilosophy. Watch on YouTube.