Originally Posted by asaris

The Greek myth is also very similar, at least in the same details as the other two. The Gilgamesh epic is different enough from the Biblical epic that, even if some material was borrowed, some material is unique. I don't believe, for example, that the Gilgamesh epic has anything about "two of every kind". Also IIRC, Utnapishtim was the only human survivor, rather than eight survivors as in the Biblical story.

Incidentally, the mere fact that the Babylonian epic was written down earlier doesn't entail anything about who borrowed from who. There could be a third source, or there could be an earlier Hebraic tradition that just didn't get written down until later. And I'm sure there's other. even less likely possibilities.