Before the great flood, the god Ea tells Utnapishtim to build an enormous boat to preserve mankind. Ea is also the god who criticizes Enlil for sending the flood as an excessive punishment for mankind’s noisy cities. Ea enforces his idea of a correct relationship between gods and men, while Enlil violates this relationship by ordering mankind’s destruction.
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Ea Character Timeline in The Epic of Gilgamesh
The timeline below shows where the character Ea appears in The Epic of Gilgamesh. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 5: The Story of the Flood
...agree to wipe out all the mortals. Enlil attempts to do so, but the god Ea appears in Utnapishtim’s dream and warns him to take apart his house and build a...
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Utnapishtim agrees to do what Ea told him in the dream. He asks how he will explain himself to others, and...
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...When Enlil does arrive, he’s enraged to find that Utnapishtim and his companions have survived. Ea then criticizes Enlil for trying to destroy mankind.
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The chapter then relays Ea’s words. Ea says “Lay upon the sinner his sin,” and he speaks of transgressions and...
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Ea says that he was not the one who told Utnapishtim how to avoid his fate;...
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