Ancient Documents Confirm Genesis Flood Account

Some scoffers claim that the Genesis account of the Noachian Flood are simply copies of other flood stories that were embellished by ancient Hebrew writers. Such views show not only an anti-biblical bias, but also poor reasoning and lack of knowledge of historical documents. For that matter, the Epic of Gilgamesh (one of the ancient flood accounts supposedly the true source of flood legends) is markedly different from the Genesis Flood account. Even a casual reading shows that the Epic is mostly fantasy, with lots of polytheism and unbelievable material that probably wouldn't interest monotheistic Hebrews. When the flood account is inserted into the story, that part of it has a different tone, and shows similarities to the real Flood narrative in Genesis. For that matter, there are global flood legends around the world that have some remarkable similarities where the earth is covered by water and only eight special people survived.

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There is another account of a global flood that is older than the Epic of Gilgamesh, and seems to have been overlooked by most archaeologists. It has more similarities to the biblical Flood account and predates the Epic. I reckon that some people don't want confirmation of the Bible, but maybe I'm just woolgathering there.

During the last decade of the nineteenth century, the University of Pennsylvania conducted a number of archaeological digs in the ancient Babylonian city of Nippur. Among the remains of the temple library, they found a tiny tablet fragment containing another account of the Flood.3 It was translated by Hermann Hilprecht, an expert Assyriologist, and was found to agree with Genesis remarkably in its details. It speaks of a deluge that would destroy all life, and how God commanded the building of a great ship in which the builder, his family and animals were to be preserved.

To entire article in context, click on "Genesis authenticated in clay". You may also want to see a similar article, "Genesis, Gilgamesh, and an Early Flood Tablet".