Mesopotamia art and similarities with LDS doctrine

[mikbone]

Reviewing the Epic of Gilgamesh I couldn’t help but make comparisons to Adam and Eve and Noah’s flood.

This art looks like an angel tending the tree of life with a bucket of water and picking fruit.

[Carborendum]

I'm not familiar with this relief.  But that doesn't look like a bucket of water.  It looks like a basket in which he places the fruit.

There are many flood myths in many cultures.  This lends credence to idea that there really was some historical event that people believed to be a "great flood."

There are also many garden myths from ancient cultures.  The garden was considered a symbol for paradise.  And all stories begin from paradise and go through the hero's journey from there.

But in both cases, the basic description of a (flood and a boat) or an (idyllic paradise) are where the similarities end.  The details are quite different.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu were invaders into paradise, and they chose to kill the gods and other rightful inhabitants.  Then they cut down the great cedar which connected earth to heaven.  The flood was supposed to be secret among the gods.  And the humans outsmarted the Gods by building a boat the same size as the dimensions of the boat the gods built.

Only in the very general and vague outlines are these stories similar to the Biblical accounts.  And it is in the details that we see the goodness of God rather than the pride of man.

EDIT: I just found a similar relief online.  Apparently, this is a depiction of a djinni (angel) performing his duties in the garden.  The tree to the left is fruit.  The tree to the right is "the sacred tree" (in Assyrian).  In Babylonian, this was the "cedar of heaven."  It was that cedar that gilgamesh and Enkidu chopped down.

Edited January 11, 2024 by Carborendum

[mirkwood]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucket_and_cone

[NeuroTypical]

6 hours ago, mikbone said:

Reviewing the Epic of Gilgamesh I couldn’t help but make comparisons to Adam and Eve and Noah’s flood.

There's a lot of flood stories out there in historical stories/oral tradition/fiction/records.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_myth

[mikbone]

From what I gather,

Gilgamesh is the oldest surviving literary work.  Ignoring the book of Ether and the Golden Plates…

And the similarities with the Garden of Eden and the great flood are unmistakable.

I find it comforting that the ancients were more likely to believe in miracles and a creation story than many of today’s educated experts.

[mordorbund]

My favorite part of the Epic of Gilgamesh is the story of the seven loaves. Many people fear death and shut their eyes to it but it’s a part of the rest we need for our mortal labors.

[Carborendum]

19 hours ago, mikbone said:

And the similarities with the Garden of Eden and the great flood are unmistakable.

Yes, all two of them.

[Traveler]

On 1/11/2024 at 10:56 AM, mikbone said:

From what I gather,

Gilgamesh is the oldest surviving literary work.  Ignoring the book of Ether and the Golden Plates…

And the similarities with the Garden of Eden and the great flood are unmistakable.

I find it comforting that the ancients were more likely to believe in miracles and a creation story than many of today’s educated experts.

I have always felt that the flood epoch is best associated with prophecies concerning the end of times.  Specifically concerning purifications – one by water and one by fire.

 

The Traveler