Flood myths show similar cultural influence. Predating the biblical Noachian flood story by centuries, the Epic of Gilgamesh was written around 1800 BCE. Warned by the Babylonian Earth-god Ea that other gods were about to destroy all life by a flood, Utnapishtim was instructed to build an ark in the form of a cube that was 120 cubits (180 feet) in length, breadth, and depth, with seven floors, each divided into nine compartments, and to take aboard one pair of each living creature. Virgin birth myths likewise spring up throughout time and geography. Among those alleged to have been conceived
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