Superphysics
Utnapishtim as Noah
4 minutes • 686 words
The will of Enlil and the Assembly of the Gods was done.
But, unknown to them, Enki’s scheme had also worked: Floating in the stormy waters was Noah’s ark.
With the storm over, Utnapishtim “opened a hatch; light fell upon my face.” He looked around; “the landscape was as level as a flat roof.” Bowing low, he sat and wept, “tears running down on my face.”
He looked about for a coastline in the expanse of the sea; he saw none. Then: There emerged a mountain region;
On the Mount of Salvation the ship came to a halt;
Mount Ni ir [“salvation”] held the ship fast, allowing no motion.
For 6 days Utnapishtim watched from the motionless ark, caught in the peaks of the Mount of Salvation—the biblical peaks of Ararat.
Then, like Noah, he sent out a dove to look for a resting place, but it came back.
A swallow flew out and came back. Then a raven was set free—and flew off, finding a resting place.
Utnapishtim then released all the birds and animals that were with him, and stepped out himself.
He built an altar “and offered a sacrifice”—just as Noah had.
But here again the single-Deity-multideity difference crops up.
When Noah offered a burnt sacrifice, “Yahweh smelled the enticing smell”.
But when Utnapishtim offered a sacrifice, “the gods smelled the savor, the gods smelled the sweet savor. The gods crowded like flies about a sacrificer.”
In the Genesis version, it was Yahweh who vowed never again to destroy Mankind.
In the Babylonian version, it was the Great Goddess who vowed: “I shall not forget… I shall be mindful of these days, forgetting them never.”
When Enlil finally arrived on the scene, he had little mind for food. He was hopping mad to discover that some had survived.
Has some living soul escaped? No man was to survive the destruction!
Who, other than Ea, can devise plans? It is Ea alone who knows every matter.
Far from denying the charge, Enki launched one of the world’s most eloquent defense summations.
Praising Enlil for his own wisdom, and suggesting that Enlil could not possibly be “unreasoning”—a realist—Enki mixed denial with confession.
I did not disclosed the secret of the gods. I merely let one Man who was exceedingly wise perceive by his own wisdom what the gods’ secret was.
If indeed this Earthling is so wise, Enki suggested to Enlil, let’s not ignore his abilities. N
Take counsel in regard to him!
All this, the “Epic of Gilgamesh” relates, was the “secret of the gods” that Utnapishtim told Gilgamesh.
He then told Gilgamesh of the final event. Having been influenced by Enki’s argument, Enlil went aboard the ship.
Holding me by the hand, he took me aboard. He took my wife aboard, made her kneel by my side. Standing between us, he touched our foreheads to bless us:
“Hitherto Utnapishtim has been but human. Henceforth Utnapishtim and his wife shall be to us like gods. Utnapishtim shall reside in the Far Away, at the Mouth of the Waters!”
Utnapishtim concluded his story to Gilgamesh. After he was taken to reside in the Far Away, Anu and Enlil Gave him life, like a god, Elevated him to eternal life, like a god.
But what happened to Mankind in general?
The biblical tale ends with an assertion that the Deity then permitted and blessed Mankind to “be fruitful and multiply.”
Mesopotamian versions of the Deluge story also end with verses that deal with Mankind’s procreation.
The partly mutilated texts speak of the establishment of human “categories”:
Enlil was outmaneuvered. Mankind was saved and allowed to procreate. The gods opened up Earth to Man.
