As for borrowing from the Babylonians, that is the most easy thing to prove, the flood story is almost stolen verbatim from them as is most of what is known as Genesis. But who really cares, a young teenager today could make these stories up, or even younger child?
The Gilgamesh Epic was known to the ancient Sumerian and Babylonian cultures. The epic was almost certainly composed before 2000 BC. It has been estimated by some to be based on a tradition as old as 3000 BC. There are significant similarities between the Gilgamesh epic and the flood account in Genesis, which defy coincidence.
In Gilgamesh, a god speaks to a man Utnapishtim in a dream, telling him to constuct a boat because of a great flood which is coming. In the Gilgamesh Epic, Utnapishtum took his family, some friends as well as many animals on the boat. To deny any possible common root of this flood story is only by those in total denial, but that would be a normal state for you.
You lose again. |