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The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis both describe sending out three birds to see if the flood has gone down. In each, a dove returns but a raven does not, suggesting that Genesis is following existing Mesopotamian traditions.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Epic of Gilgamesh XI 147
Ancient Near East, Babylonian
147 When the seventh day arrived — 148 I brought out a dove, setting it free: 149 Off went the dove, … 150 No perch was available for it, so it came back to [me]. 151 I brought out a swallow, setting it free: 152 Off went the swallow, … 153 No perch was available for [it], so it came back to me. 154 I brought out a raven, setting it free: 155 Off went the raven and it saw the waters receding. 156 So it could eat, scratch, peck (food), and did not come back to me. 157 I brought out an offering and sacrificed to the four corners of the earth, 158 I scattered incense on the peak of the mountain. 159 Seven flasks and seven I set in position, 160 below them I heaped up (sweet) reed, cedar and myrtle. 161 The gods smelled the aroma, 162 the gods smelled the sweet aroma, 163 the gods gathered like flies round the sacrificer.
Date: 2100 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Genesis 8:7
Hebrew Bible
5 The waters kept on receding until the tenth month. On the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains became visible. 6 At the end of 40 days, Noah opened the window he had made in the ark 7 and sent out a raven; it kept flying back and forth until the waters had dried up on the earth. 8 Then Noah sent out a dove to see if the waters had receded from the surface of the ground. 9 The dove could not find a resting place for its feet because water still covered the surface of the entire earth, and so it returned to Noah in the ark. He stretched out his hand, took the dove, and brought it back into the ark.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... In the extensive flood story Genesis 6–9, only a brief kernel of the Yahwist’s version can be identified as pre-editorial text ... The editor has rendered the religiously significant scenes at the beginning and end in his own words. Where the Akkadian epics speak of the conflict among the gods, the Bible has the monologue of the god YHWH. The later elaboration of the flood account clearly also incorporates additional knowledge of the narrative tradition. This is evident especially in the birds scene 8:8–12, which has a parallel in Gilgamesh XI 145–54. External influence is also apparent in the version in the Priestly Writing, which has further details, such as the building of the ark ..."
Christoph Levin, “Genesis in Form and Tradition Criticism Today,” in The Cambridge Companion to Genesis, ed. Bill T. Arnold (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022), 74–98.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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