Creation of Men & The Flood Myths Essay Example for Free

Creation of Men The Flood Myths Essay The three well-known stories about the Creation of Men The Flood are the Epic of Gilgamesh, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and the story of creation in the bible’s book of Genesis. Among the three, I believe the story that best describes the story of creation and the flood is the Epic of Gilgamesh. Although all three stories were well-constructed, the Epic of Gilgamesh stands out because it has a more human side to it and it is more dynamic than the other two. The problem with Ovid’s Metamorphoses is that it jumps from one tale to another. Moreover, the Metamorphoses mainly focused on Greek myths and not on other parts of the world. The story of creation in the bible’s genesis, on the other hand, is too dogmatic and its plot is too linear. I believe that the Epic of Gilgamesh is better than the two because it tells a story from a human perspective. In the story, it was depicted that Gilgamesh was one-third man and two-thirds God. Being part human, Gilgamesh is also vulnerable to a lot of things that most humans are prone to such as sin. He also possesses certain weaknesses like humans such as having the capability to grieve and mourn death as shown in his immense sadness when his friend, Enkidu died. It also illustrated a brief and interesting account of the flood when Utnapishtim, the immortal, shared with Gilgamesh how he survived the floods brought about by the gods through building massive boat and brining with him the offspring and seed of all the living creatures. The story also gave an interesting lesson in immortality when Gilgamesh failed to obtain the secret of eternal life from Utnapishtim and lost the magical plant that would restore his youth. However, he believed he achieved the closest thing to immortality when he said in the end: Go up, Urshanabi, onto the wall of Uruk and walk around. Examine its foundation, inspect its brickwork thoroughly is not (even the core of) the brick structure of kiln-fired brick, and did not the Seven Sages themselves lay out its plan! † (Ancienttexts. org) His words at the end of the story meant that even though he could not attain immortality, his legacy would live on forever through his kingdom of Uruk, which for him was his best achievement that would endure the test of time. Works Cited Ancienttexts. org. The Epic of Gilgamesh. † 2008. 3 October 2008 http://www. ancienttexts. org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/.