Many cultures around the world have a story with a similar plot line: A god gets angry at humans, so they send a great flood to try to destroy humanity or living things. Most people immediately think of Noah's Ark when they hear something like this, but the first story of this kind was actually the Epic of Gilgamesh. This was an ancient Mesopotamian story, where the gods get mad at humans for making too much noise, so they try to kill off the human race. They do this by sending a large flood. But, one god warns a man named Utnapishtim that the flood is coming, so he builds a boat to survive. Many other cultures also have flood stories like these. In Greece, Zeus sends a flood to destroy the Bronze age men. A god named Prometheus told his son Deucalion to build a chest so he could survive the flood. This is similar to the Epic of Gilgamesh because one god wanted to destroy humanity, and another god warned someone about how to survive. These people built boats and lived through the flood. In the Greek story, the flood lasts for 9 days and 9 nights, and in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the flood lasts for 6 days and 6 nights. Chest vs boat, 6 days vs 9 days, these are very minor differences. Because in general, these stories are very similar. The only major difference is that in the Greek story, when the flood ended, he sacrificed to Zeus. The endings are different but the main ideas are the same.
Source:
Crystalinks.com
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