[equalitybeforethelaw]

I tend to think the Gilgamesh story is the Akkadian version of the Hebrew original, with distortions added via “telephone game” effect.

Couldn’t have been, there were no Jewish peoples at the time. There were slaves in Egypt, but the Gilgamesh story predates the Pharoahs and slaves of Egypt. Ditto the Eden story. BTW, the story of Eden is quite different in its original form versus its Jewish form.

[Androcles]

Couldn’t have been, there were no Jewish peoples at the time. There were slaves in Egypt, but the Gilgamesh story predates the Pharoahs and slaves of Egypt. Ditto the Eden story. BTW, the story of Eden is quite different in its original form versus its Jewish form.

Interesting. I concur re the Gilgamesh side, but I'm ignorant regarding Eden variants. Can you point me to any good sources?

[Springfield Reformer]

Could’ve been. You never heard of toledoth analysis, I take it? The Biblical account has textually identifiable headers and footers (toledoth). It was likely a composite from tablets more ancient than the immediate Jewish editor, be it Moses or any other. As the original teller of the story would, under the Hebrew primacy theory, be Noah and his children, one would need to show that Gilgamesh predated Noah to prove Gilgamesh primacy with any sense of certainty. Therefore, absent such proof, the question is open, unless other grounds can be found for conclusive determination.