The Epic of Gilgamesh: Even the Babylonians had a flood myth

The Story
Gilgamesh was a man without equal, king of Uruk. But as a king he abused his power with excessive force so the gods created Enkidu, the wild man, to rival his strength and to stop his excesses. Enkidu is a wild man and lives in the forest, at peace with the animals. Until, he encounters a temple prostitute, who convinces him to lie with her. Because of this the forest no longer welcomes him, so she teaches him to be a civilised man and tells him of Gilgamesh's excesses. Enkidu stops Gilgamesh from entering a bridal chamber and they wrestle. Gilgamesh wins but they become friends and go on to make a name for themselves.
They head to the forest of cedar, fight and vanquish Humbaba, with the help of the god Shamash. They cut down the forest and float a city gate down the river to Uruk.
The goddess Ishtar propositions Gilgamesh, who turns her down. So, she petitions her father for the the bull of heaven, to be sent to cause problems. Gilgamesh and Enkidu wrestle the bull of heaven into submission and killed it. The gods are angry and kill Enkidu with an illness.
Gilgamesh morns for Enkidu and wrestles with his mortality. He goes to find Utnapishtim, the one who survived the flood, and gets the story of the flood from him. He asks how to gain immortality and Utnapishtim asks him to stay awake for a week: which he fails at. Utnapishtim's wife tells Gilgamesh of a plant that can give him eternal life. He trys to take it back with him but the serpent steals it. He returns to Uruk empty-handed but is now comfortable with his mortality.

Reflections
The flood story in the Gilgamesh Epic has similarities and differences to the biblical account. They agree that mankind is saved by going aboard a boat with animals. But, the biblical account has God choosing to save mankind, rather than the Epic, where one god warns the survivors, but the rest of the gods, morn the loss of mankind which they had caused.
Gilgamesh is a great and strong man but he has the faults of many a strong man. He abuses that strength and his people groan under the strain. Even with this he, is described as a great and beautiful man and after Enkidu arrives he begins to act as such.
The Aurochs was a very large, very aggressive now extinct Bovine. It is the most likely to have been the bull of heaven (Find out more here). There has been nothing else in the fossil and historical record that has been the right size and with the "right" temper to have given the pair much of a fight.


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