Noah

==Comparative mythology==
{{Main|Flood myth}}
{{See also|Comparative Mythology}}
Indian and Greek flood-myths also exist, although there is little evidence that they were derived from the Mesopotamian flood-myth that underlies the biblical account.<ref>Frazer, JG., in Dundes, A (ed.),
[https://books.google.com/books?id=E__dnnQwGDwC&q=%22there+is+little+evidence%22 ''The Flood Myth''], University of California Press, 1988,
pp. 121–122.</ref>

===Mesopotamian===
[[File:Mr. George Smith, the man who transliterated and read the so-called the Babylonian Flood Story of Tablet XI.jpg|thumb|upright|[[George Smith (Assyriologist)|George Smith]], who transliterated and read the so-called "Babylonian Flood Story" of Tablet XI of the [[Epic of Gilgamesh]]]]
The Noah story of the Pentateuch is quite similar to a flood story contained in the Mesopotamian [[Epic of Gilgamesh]], composed {{circa|1800 BCE}}.  In the Gilgamesh version, the [[Mesopotamian gods]] decide to send a great flood to destroy mankind. Various correlations between the stories of Noah and Gilgamesh (the flood, the construction of the ark, the salvation of animals, and the release of birds following the flood) have led to this story being seen as the source for the story of Noah. The few variations include the number of days of the deluge, the order of the birds, and the name of the mountain on which the ark rests. The flood story in Genesis 6–8 matches the [[Gilgamesh flood myth]] so closely that "few doubt that [it] derives from a Mesopotamian account."<ref name="George2003">{{cite book|first=Andrew R. |last=George|title=The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=21xxZ_gUy_wC&pg=PA70|access-date=8 November 2012|year=2003|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-927841-1|page=70 |via=Google Books}}</ref> What is particularly noticeable is the way the Genesis flood story follows the Gilgamesh flood tale "point by point and in the same order", even when the story permits other alternatives.<ref>Rendsburg, Gary. "The Biblical flood story in the light of the Gilgamesh flood account," in ''Gilgamesh and the world of Assyria'', eds Azize, J & Weeks, N. Peters, 2007, p. 117</ref>

The earliest written [[flood myth]] is found in the [[Mesopotamian]] [[Epic of Atrahasis]] and Epic of Gilgamesh texts. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' says "These mythologies are the source of such features of the biblical Flood story as the building and provisioning of the ark, its flotation, and the subsidence of the waters, as well as the part played by the human protagonist."<ref>{{Britannica|416799|Noah}}</ref> The ''Encyclopedia Judaica'' adds that there is a strong suggestion that "an intermediate agent was active. The people most likely to have fulfilled this role are the [[Hurrian]]s, whose territory included the city of [[Harran]], where the Patriarch [[Abraham]] had his roots. The Hurrians inherited the Flood story from Babylonia".<ref name=Skolnik287 />
The encyclopedia mentions another similarity between the stories: Noah is the tenth patriarch and [[Berossus]] notes that "the hero of the great flood was Babylonia's tenth antediluvian king." However, there is a discrepancy in the ages of the heroes. For the Mesopotamian antecedents, "the reigns of the antediluvian kings range from 18,600 to nearly 65,000 years." In the Bible, the lifespans "fall far short of the briefest reign mentioned in the related Mesopotamian texts." Also, the name of the hero differs between the traditions: "The earliest Mesopotamian flood account, written in the [[Sumerian language]], calls the deluge hero [[Ziusudra]]."<ref name=Skolnik287 />

However, Yi Samuel Chen writes that the oldest versions of the [[Epic of Gilgamesh]] never mentioned the flood, just mentioning that he went to talk to [[Utnapishtim]] to find the secret of immortality. Starting with the [[Old Babylonian Period]], there were attempts to syncretize Utnapishtim with Ziusudra, even though they were previously seen as different figures. Gilgamesh meeting the flood hero was first alluded to in the Old Babylonian Period in "The Death of Gilgamesh" and eventually was imported and standardized in the Epic of Gilgamesh probably in the Middle Babylonian Period.<ref name="Chen 2013">Chen, Yi Samuel. The Primeval Flood Catastrophe: Origins and Early Development in Mesopotamian Traditions. Oxford University Press, 2013.</ref>

[[Gilgamesh]]'s historical reign is believed to have been approximately 2700 BC,<ref>{{cite book | last=Roux | first=Georges | date=April 1964 | title=Ancient Iraq | publisher=[[George Allen & Unwin]] | publication-place=London |pages=123, 502}}</ref> shortly before the earliest known written stories. The discovery of artifacts associated with [[Aga of Kish|Aga]] and [[Enmebaragesi]] of [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]], two other kings named in the stories, has lent credibility to the historical existence of Gilgamesh.<ref>[[Stephanie Dalley|Dalley, Stephanie]], ''Myths from Mesopotamia'', Oxford University Press (1989), p. 40–41</ref>

The earliest [[Sumer]]ian Gilgamesh poems date from as early as the [[Third dynasty of Ur]] (2100–2000 BC).{{sfn|George|2003|p=xix}} One of these poems mentions Gilgamesh’s journey to meet the flood hero, as well as a short version of the flood story, although Chen writes that his was included in texts written during the Old Babylonian Period.<ref name="Chen 2013"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=t.1.8.1.3#|title=The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature|website=etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk}}</ref> The earliest [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] versions of the unified epic are dated to c. 2000–1700 BC.<ref>{{harvnb|George|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=21xxZ_gUy_wC&pg=PA101 101]}}: "The great list of kings of Sumer and Akkad was, in the form that we know it, compiled early in the second millennium, from sources already current, to legitimize the [[Dynasty of Isin|kings of Isin]] as the successors of the [[Third Dynasty of Ur|Ur III dynasty]]."</ref> Due to the fragmentary nature of these Old Babylonian versions, it is unclear whether they included an expanded account of the flood myth; although one fragment definitely includes the story of Gilgamesh’s journey to meet [[Utnapishtim]]. The "standard" Akkadian version included a long version of the flood story and was edited by [[Sin-liqe-unninni]] sometime between 1300 and 1000 BC.{{sfn|George|2003|pp=xxiv–xxv}}

Yi Samuel Chen analyzes various texts from the [[Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)|Early Dynastic III Period]] through to the Old Babylonian Period, and argues that the flood narrative was only added in texts written during the Old Babylonian Period. When it comes to the [[Sumerian King List]], observations by experts have always indicated that the portion of the Sumerian King List talking about before the flood is stylistically different from the King List Proper. Essentially Old Babylonian copies tend to represent a tradition of before the flood apart from the actual King List, whereas the [[Ur III]] copy of the King List and the duplicate from the Brockmon collection indicate that the King List Proper once existed independent of mention to the flood and the tradition of before the flood. Essentially, Chen gives evidence to prove that the section of before the flood and references to the flood in the Sumerian King List were all later additions added in during the Old Babylonian Period, as the Sumerian King List went through updates and edits. The Flood as a watershed in early History of the world was probably a new historiographical concept emerging in the Mesopotamian literary traditions during the Old Babylonian Period, as evident by the fact that the flood motif didn't show up in the Ur III copy and that earliest chronographical sources related to the flood show up in the Old Babylonian Period. Chen concludes that the name of Ziusudra as a flood hero and the idea of the flood hinted by that name in the Old Babylonian Version of "[[Instructions of Shuruppak]]" are only developments during that Old Babylonian Period, when also the didactic text was updated with information from the burgeoning Antediluvian Tradition.<ref name="Chen 2013"/>

===Ancient Greek===
Noah has often been compared to [[Deucalion]], the son of [[Prometheus]] and [[Pronoia]] in [[Greek mythology]]. Like Noah, Deucalion is warned of the flood (by [[Zeus]] and [[Poseidon]]); he builds an ark and staffs it with creatures – and when he completes his voyage, gives thanks and takes advice from the gods on how to repopulate the Earth. Deucalion also sends a pigeon to find out about the situation of the world and the bird returns with an olive branch.<ref>'{{Britannica|159650|Deucalion}}</ref><ref>Wajdenbaum, P., [https://books.google.com/books?id=3kiPBAAAQBAJ&q=noah&pg=PA92 ''Argonauts of the Desert: Structural Analysis of the Hebrew Bible''], Routledge, 2014, pp. 104–108.</ref> Deucalion, in some versions of the myth, also becomes the inventor of wine, like Noah.<ref>Anderson, G., [https://books.google.com/books?id=G9IQt92pbjwC&dq=noah+deucalion&pg=PA130 ''Greek and Roman Folklore: A Handbook''], Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006. pp. 129–130.</ref> [[Philo]]<ref>Lewis, JP.; Lewis, JP., [https://books.google.com/books?id=mO_H2lVTyhkC&q=philo+noah&pg=PA101 ''A Study of the Interpretation of Noah and the Flood in Jewish and Christian Literature''], BRILL, 1968, p. 47.</ref> and [[Justin (historian)|Justin]] equate Deucalion with Noah, and [[Josephus]] used the story of Deucalion as evidence that the flood actually occurred and that, therefore, Noah existed.<ref>Peters, DM., [https://books.google.com/books?id=MXU3PTrFe6gC&q=manu+noah&pg=PA4 ''Noah Traditions in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Conversations and Controversies of Antiquity''], Society of Biblical Lit, 2008, p. 4.</ref><ref>Feldman, LH., [https://books.google.com/books?id=S349d-yRgCIC&q=deucalion&pg=PA166 ''Josephus's Interpretation of the Bible''], University of California Press, 1998, p. 133.</ref>

The motif of a [[weather deity]] who headed the pantheon causing the great flood and then the trickster who [[Creation of life from clay|created men from clay]] saving man is also present in [[Sumerian Mythology]], as [[Enlil]], instead of Zeus, causes the flood, and [[Enki]], rather than Prometheus, saves man. Stephanie West has written that this is perhaps due to the Greeks borrowing stories from the Near East.<ref>West, S. (1994). Prometheus Orientalized. Museum Helveticum, 51(3), 129–149.</ref>