Global Antiquity is pleased to co-sponsor a talk titled Reconnaissance-Birds and Celestial Signs in the Gilgamesh Epic and Genesis Flood Accounts by Adam Miglio (Wheaton College) on Thursday, January 25 at 4:00 pm in Kaplan Hall 365. The event is organized by the Kershaw Chair of Eastern Mediterranean Studies and the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. It is also co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Religion.

The similarities between the Flood stories in the Gilgamesh Epic and the book of Genesis have piqued scholarly curiosity over the past century. A conspicuous similarity in the two stories is an account of three birds released by the lone survivor of the Flood to determine if the floodwaters were subsiding. This lecture examines Mesopotamian divinatory texts and astrological compendia to demonstrate that the birds from the Gilgamesh Epic are celestial symbols that explain the seasonal patterns of ancient Mesopotamian life. Additionally, it explores how the Israelite Flood account adopts and adapts the significance of these reconnaissance birds from the Gilgamesh Epic in its retelling of this event.