Flood tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh (Nineveh, 800s BC).The cuneiform text on this tablet is an ear
Flood tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh (Nineveh, 800s BC).The cuneiform text on this tablet is an earlier version of thebiblical Great Flood story. When the scholar and translator GeorgeSmith first read this inscription, he “rushed around the room”and “to the astonishment of those present, began to undresshimself,” according to one of his colleagues.This tablet, the 11th of the Epic of Gilgamesh tablets,describes how the gods sent a flood to destroy mankind. But the godEa (Enki to the Sumerians) warned Utnapishtim in secret, telling himto build a boat and rescue two of every animals. As in the laterGenesis version, birds were released before the boat landed safely onMount Nitsir in northern Assyria.Versions of this story are known from at least 1,000 years beforethis tablet was written. It is from the library of the Assyrian kingAshurbanipal II at Kouyunjik (Nineveh) in Mesopotamia. -- source link
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