The flood story in the Gilgamesh Epoth

The Gilgamesh Epoth is a representative one in ancient literatures. It is the oldest epoth in Babylonia, and it tells about the hero, Gilgamesh who controlled city-state, Uruk. The flood story in this epoth is that the God warned he would make a flood to punish because of the corruption of human. Then he said make an ark and then load family, servant, jewelry, animal and various seeds. After that, the world was flooded since the rain continued for whole 6 days, and the people died. Only the ark survived and reached the mountain Nisir. On the 7th day, the storm stopped and he let birds fly. And he noticed that there is a land since the birds did not come back. After reaching at a land, they dedicated an offering to God and had eternal life in return. This story is discovered in the site of a library Ashurbanipal, the king of Nineveh, founded. After that, a researcher George Smith found that there is a similar story to the Holy Bible, and that was the story of flood. Finally he collected the rest part of a clay tablet, and figured out the whole story. The Gilgamesh Epoth gives lesson to the people. The theme of the Gilgamesh Epoth is that the human cannot get the eternal life, therefore just the best way to live well is seeking the happiness as a human. In other words, the Gilgamesh Epoth tells that the hope of eternal life is vanity in life.