8. The biblical story of Noah’s ark is copied almost exactly from a far older Mesopotamian legend found in the Epic of Gilgamesh
The story of Noah forms a central component of the early Christian tradition. In perhaps the most blatant act of religious plagiarism, the biblical narrative, however, is almost identical to the flood story found in the Epic of Gilgamesh written almost 1500 years earlier. In the ancient Mesopotamian text, Utnapishtim is tasked by Enki to create a giant ship, named Preserver of Life, onto which he would bring his relatives and baby animals to survive an impending flood that would wipe out all life not on the vessel. Made from timber and two hundred feet in length, Utnapishtim’s ark had seven floors and was, in true Christian fashion, completed on the seventh day.
After many days aboard the ark, Utnapishtim sends out a dove to check whether the waters had receded. Discovering they had, Utnapishtim released the animals and Enki rewards his devotion, making a covenant with his future generations. Scholarly opinion has concluded that since the biblical story follows the older Gilgamesh version “point by point and in the same order”, “few doubt that it derives from a Mesopotamian account”. This copying does not, however, undermine either tales’ potential veracity, with the story of Utnapishtim believed to have been influenced by a real-life flood in Mesopotamia approximately 7000 years ago.