Literary art began to develop in ancient times, many centuries before our era. People recorded the events they experienced, described natural phenomena that they saw, and passed on their wisdom to future generations. Later, they started adding fantasy to literary works to make them more interesting and let impossible become possible, at least in books. It may seem surprising, but there are obvious or hidden connections that may be found between various literary works from different historical eras. The purpose of this paper is to provide backgrounds, summaries, and analyses of The Epic of Gilgamesh, the book of Genesis, and The Divine Comedy and find connections between them. Then, several scholarly sources about these literary works will be discussed.
The Epic of Gilgamesh
The Background of the Poem
The Epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient Mesopotamian poem that is believed to be the second oldest religious text and the earliest surviving great literary work. The poem’s literary history starts with five Sumerian stories that tell about the king of Uruk, Gilgamesh, and date from 2100 BC (“The Epic of Gilgamesh”). These poems were independent and later served as source material for a combined epic written in the Akkadian language. The “Old Babylonian,” which is known as the first surviving version of the poem, dates back to the eighteenth century BC, and there are only several tablets that have been saved until nowadays (“The Epic of Gilgamesh”). As for the later version, Standard Babylonian, it was created between the thirteenth and the tenth centuries BC, and its twelve tablets have been recovered.
The Summary of the Poem
The poem’s first half is dedicated to the description of the king of Uruk, Gilgamesh, and Enkidu. Gilgamesh is a one-third man and two-thirds god, has great knowledge and wisdom, and “preserves the information of the days before the flood” (Lorey 1). Enkidu is a wild man who was created by the gods to stop Gilgamesh from oppressing the citizens of Uruk (The Epic of Gilgamesh. 1:40). Enkidu travels to the city and challenges the king to a test of strength; the king wins the contest, and the two men become good friends. Together, they decide to make a journey to the legendary cedar forest, and travel there for six days to slay Humbaba the Terrible, the Guardian demon, and cut down the sacred trees of Cedar (The Epic of Gilgamesh. 4-5). The goddess of love Ishtar gets angry and asks Anu, her father, to make the Bull of Heaven punish Gilgamesh (The Epic of Gilgamesh. 6:95). After the two friends kill the Bull of Heaven, the gods decide to sentence Enkidu to death by poisoning him.
Gilgamesh becomes devastated; he cannot stop grieving for Enkidu and thinking about his future death. He decides to find the Mesopotamian Noah, Utnapishtim, who was rewarded with eternal life after the flood (The Epic of Gilgamesh. 10:5-10). Gilgamesh also wants to avoid death and hopes that Utnapishtim will tell him how to do that. After various challenges, he finally meets Shiduri, a tavern keeper. She warns him that it is futile and dangerous to seek immortality and asks him to be satisfied with the world’s pleasures (The Epic of Gilgamesh. 10:79-91). However, realizing that she cannot change his mind, Shiduri directs him to the one he is looking for. From Utnapishtim, Gilgamesh learns the story of the flood, and it convinces him of the desire to become immortal.
The gods got disappointed with humankind, met in council, and agreed to destroy all people. However, Utnapishtim was warned by Ea, the god of wisdom, and was told to build a huge boat and save his family and one of every creature (The Epic of Gilgamesh. 11:23-47). After the flood finished, the gods presented Utnapishtim with eternal life so that people would die, but humankind would continue living.
Gilgamesh gets inspired by the story and the opportunity of living forever and asks Utnapishtim to tell him the secret of eternity. Instead, Utnapishtim insists on Gilgamesh putting on his royal clothes and returning to Uruk, where he belongs. He also presents him with a miraculous Plant of Heartbeat that restores youth (The Epic of Gilgamesh. 11:295). Gilgamesh wants to share the plant, but one night a snake steals it (The Epic of Gilgamesh. 11:305). After returning to Uruk, the king accepts the fact of his mortality and takes comfort in knowing that humankind will live forever. Finally, he notices that the city that he had abandoned in his terror and grief is a wonderful, magnificent, and enduring achievement. Uruk is the closest thing to eternity and immortality to which a person can aspire, as it will get Gilgamesh remembered for centuries.
The Book of Genesis
The Background of the Genesis
Genesis is the first book of the Bible that is divided into two parts that describe the concepts of humankind’s relationship with its creator and the nature of the deity. The first part lasts from the first chapter to the eleventh and narrates the primeval history of the world (“Genesis”). These are the stories about the Creation, the Garden of Eden, Abel and Cain, Noah and the Flood, and the Tower of Babel. The second part, which is from the twelfth to the fiftieth chapters, tells the patriarchal history of the Israelite people (“Genesis”). The opening sentence of Genesis is probably the most famous in the whole literature: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (New International Version, Gen. 1.1). Moses is believed to be the author of Genesis; however, the modern opinion sees it as a product of the sixth and fifth centuries BC.
The Divine Comedy
The Background of the Poem
The Divine Comedy is a long narrative poem that was written by the Italian writer Dante Alighieri, in 1320, which is a year before his death. Not only in Italian but also the world literature, this poem is considered to be one of the most essential, successful, and mysterious literary works (“The Divine Comedy”). The Divine Comedy is a masterpiece that brought Dante immortality and eternal glory. The answer to the question of why the writer called his work a comedy lies in his essay “De Vulgari Eloquentia” (“The Divine Comedy”). As any comedy starts with something bad and ends with a good, the poem begins with the terrible and sometimes disgusting scenes of Hell and ends with beautiful pictures of heavenly bliss.
The Divine Comedy is a kind of mysterious vision that comes to Dante, the main character. It describes the state and life of souls after death in the three kingdoms of the underworld and therefore is divided into three parts: Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Paradise (Paradiso) (“The Divine Comedy”). Each cantica of the poem consists of thirty-three cantos, and the whole book, including the introduction, is one hundred cantos (14.233 lines). The Divine Comedy is distinguished by remarkable architectonics as the Hell consists of nine circles, Purgatory – of nine lands, and Paradise has nine rotating celestial spheres, above which is Empyrean, the motionless seat of the deity.
The Summary of the Poem
In The Divine Comedy, Dante embarks on a journey through these three worlds. The shadow of the ancient poet Virgil, which is a personification of the human mind and philosophy, comes to Dante when he gets lost in the dense forest and tries to get out of there (Alighieri, Inf. 2:40-49). The shadow prompts the poet that he should take a different path. Also, on behalf of Beatrice, Dante’s deceased beloved, Virgil himself will lead the poet through Hell and Purgatory to the blessed dwelling, where a more worthy soul will help him (Inf. 2:50-55). The poets pass through all the levels of Hell, meet different sinners, and then get to Purgatory. In there, penitent souls are being punished to completely free themselves from sin and enter Heaven (“The Divine Comedy”). Its levels are associated with the seven deadly sins, which are envy, pride, wrath, covetousness, sloth, gluttony, and lust.
Having passed the threshold of Purgatory and all the terraces, the two poets approach the earthly Paradise located at the very top. At the entrance, Virgil, as promised before, leaves Dante, whom Beatrice, the personification of divine revelation and theology, takes and leads through the third and the last level – Paradise. The first seven heavens bear the names of the planets: these are the spheres of Mercury, Moon, the Sun, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn. Beatrice, having led the poet throughout Paradise, leaves him to Saint Bernard, with the help of whom the poet receives the vision of a deity, who appears to him in a mystical vision.
Connections Between Literary Works
The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Book of Genesis
After reading the poem and the first book of the Old Testament, one may notice that the flood descriptions are almost the same. It is rather difficult not to see the striking similarities between the story Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh and the one written in the sixth, seventh, and eighth chapters of Genesis. However, the book of Genesis was written at least four centuries later, if not even more. Hence, there arises the question of whether the poem served as one of the primary sources for the Old Testament’s first book, or both of the literary works had the same resources. If the second assumption is correct, then it means that they used them with the difference of many centuries.
To prove the evident similarities, it is crucial to provide several quotations from both of the books. After the flood was over, Noah “sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground” (Gen. 6.8) However, “the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth” (Gen. 6.9). The same happens to Utnapishtim:
On the seventh day when it came,
I brought out a dove, I let it loose:
off went the dove but then it returned,
there was no place to land, so back it came to me. (The Epic of Gilgamesh. 11:147-150).
After surviving the flood, both men in both literary works make sacrifices to plead their gods. Utnapishtim says: “I brought out an offering, to the four winds made a sacrifice” (The Epic of Gilgamesh. 11:157). As for Noah, he built “an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it” (Gen. 8.20). These are just several out of dozens of almost similar sentences that prove that there is not much difference between the descriptions in the books.
The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Divine Comedy
As for the connections between the poems, there are two of them. The first is friendship and love that guide the characters and help them to overcome problems and get through challenging periods of their lives. In The Divine Comedy, Dante feels lost and is ready to give up; what keeps him alive is the eternal love for Beatrice, who is not alive and whom he still remembers. Their meeting makes Dante strong, hopeful, and alive again. Also, it is possible to assume that the two poets, Dante and Virgil, have become good friends while traveling together and witnessing horrible sufferings. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, there is an example of the universal friendship between Enkidu and Gilgamesh who travel together, have common adventures, and cannot imagine betraying each other. After Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh feels devastated and does not have any hope for the future (The Epic of Gilgamesh. 10:122-148). His friend’s death is the reason he is so sad, and his heart is full of sorrow.
Another connection between these poems refers to the way that the main characters’ souls have to overcome to change. Gilgamesh’s tyrannous ruling and their crimes in the forest are like his own Hell; Enkidu’s death and Gilgamesh’s speaking with Utnapishtim are his Purgatory since he suffers and purifies himself from the sins. When he returns to his city and finds peace, it seems like he gets to Heaven and, just like Dante, receives the vision of a deity. Hence, the part of his life described in the poem is similar to Dante’s trip through the three worlds.
Scholarly Sources’ Incorporation
There is an interesting note that both Noah and Utnapishtim were given special but different rights that belong only to the gods. Noah was allowed to kill animals, “which the context implies was formerly the prerogative of God alone” (Fisher 394). On the other hand, Utnapishtim was granted eternal life, which is also something only the gods are believed to have. I agree that this is another connection between the book of Genesis and The Epic of Gilgamesh.
The second studied article provides a table with a comparison of the main aspects of the two accounts of the flood. This table has not only the similarities but also the differences, and the author insists that they are rather serious (Lorey 3). However, after analyzing the table, I may say that those differences do not play an important role and do not eliminate the power of the similarities. As for me, the main difference is that, in Genesis, means of the announcement were direct from God, while in the poem, they were gotten in a dream (Lorey 3). Also, it is hard not to notice that the flood Noah had to survive lasted much longer than the flood in The Epic of Gilgamesh. Since these differences do not change the fact that the floods’ descriptions have dozens of similarities, I assume that they are not crucial.
Works Cited
Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy: Longfellow Edition. Lulu.com, 2018.
Fisher, Eugene. “Gilgamesh and Genesis: The Flood Story in Context.” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, vol. 32, no. 3, 1970, pp. 392–403.
“Genesis.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 2016. Web.
Lorey, Frank. “The Flood of Noah and the Flood of Gilgamesh.” Acts and Facts, vol. 26, no. 3, 1977, pp. 1-9.
New International Version. Bible Gateway. Web.
“The Divine Comedy.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 2019. Web.
“The Epic of Gilgamesh.” Ancient Texts. Web.
The Epic of Gilgamesh. Translated by Andrew George, Penguin Classics, 2017.