Many stories were born from these civilizations, such as The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis. After reading these works, it is easy to notice several similarities. For example, both tell of a global flood sent by one or more higher powers. Not only that, the protagonist's means of escape were similar. Furthermore, in Genesis the protagonist, Noah, was warned of the flood by God and was ordered to build an ark for him, his family and 2 of each animal. By comparison, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim was instructed by a god that a flood was coming and that he should demolish his house and build an ark for him, his family, and 2 of each animal. However, the dimensions of the ark were different, as were the species of birds used to find the land. Despite this, there are strong similarities between the two. Additionally, many people claim that one was essentially a copy of the other, however, due to lack of record-keeping, it is difficult to know which came first. Furthermore, there are many reasonable explanations for this. Because of the traditions maintained orally throughout much of that era, things could easily have gotten confusing. Also, it's not hard to think that perhaps they originated as the same story, but as the cultures split they became separate stories with similar plot.