The story of Noah is not copied. The Gilgamesh story teaches the glory of battle, that strength is the source of morality; and that is its point. It is garbage compared to the story of Noah.
Oh come now! The story of Noah is plainly a version of the story (in Gilgamesh) of the (non-Semitic) Sumerian story of Ziasudra from the third millennium BCE, who pass the story on to their Semitic neighbors the Akkadians, where the hero is called Uta-Napishti; no surprise that the story passes on to the Semitic tribes of Canaan including the Hebrews.
Here, read that part of the Gilgamesh story in Andrew George's fine translation, and then let me know what you think:
Said Gilgamesh to him, to Uta-napishti the Distant:
I look at you, Uta-napishti:
your form is no different, you are just like me,
you are not any different, you are just like me.
I was fully intent on making you fight, XI 5
but now in your presence my hand is stayed.
How was it you stood with the gods in assembly?
How did you find the life eternal?’
Said Uta-napishti to him, to Gilgamesh:
‘Let me disclose, O Gilgamesh, a matter most secret,
to you I will tell a mystery of gods. XI 10
‘The town of Shuruppak, a city well known to you,
which stands on the banks of the river Euphrates:
this city was old – the gods once were in it –
when the great gods decided to send down the Deluge.
‘Their father Anu swore on oath, XI 15
and their counsellor, the hero Enlil,
their chamberlain, the god Ninurta,
and their sheriff, the god Ennugi.
‘Princely Ea swore with them also,
repeating their words to a fence made of reed: XI 20
“O fence of reed! O wall of brick!
Hear this, O fence! Pay heed, O wall!
‘ “O man of Shuruppak, son of Ubar-Tutu,
demolish the house, and build a boat!
Abandon wealth, and seek survival! XI 25
Spurn property, save life!
Take on board the boat all living things’ seed!
‘ “The boat you will build,
her dimensions all shall be equal:
her length and breadth shall be the same, XI 30
cover her with a roof, like the Ocean Below.”
‘I understood, and spoke to Ea, my master:
“I obey, O master, what thus you told me.
I understood, and I shall do it,
but how do I answer my city, the crowd and the elders?” XI 35
‘Ea opened his mouth to speak,
saying to me, his servant:
“Also you will say to them this:
‘For sure the god Enlil feels for me hatred.
‘ “ ‘In your city I can live no longer, XI 40
I can tread no more [on] Enlil’s ground.
[I must] go to the Ocean Below, to live with Ea, my master,
and he will send you a rain of plenty:‘ “
‘[an abundance] of birds, a profusion of fishes,
[he will provide] a harvest of riches. XI 45
In the morning he will send you a shower of bread-cakes,
and in the evening a torrent of wheat.’ ”
‘At the very first glimmer of brightening dawn,
at the gate of Atra-hasis assembled the land:
the carpenter carrying [his] hatchet, XI 50
the reed-worker carrying [his] stone,
[the shipwright bearing his] heavyweight axe.
‘The young men were . . . . . . ,
the old men bearing ropes of palm-fibre;
the rich man was carrying the pitch, XI 55
the poor man brought the . . . tackle.
‘By the fifth day I had set her hull in position,
one acre was her area, ten rods the height of her sides.
At ten rods also, the sides of her roof were each the same length.
I set in place her body, I drew up her design.
‘Six decks I gave her, XI 60
dividing her thus into seven.
Into nine compartments I divided her interior,
I struck the bilge plugs into her middle.
I saw to the punting-poles and put in the tackle. XI 65
‘Three myriad measures of pitch I poured in a furnace,
three myriad of tar I . . . within,
three myriad of oil fetched the workforce of porters:
aside from the myriad of oil consumed in libations,
there were two myriad of oil stowed away by the boatman. XI 70
‘For my workmen I butchered oxen,
and lambs I slaughtered daily.
Beer and ale, oil and wine
like water from a river [I gave my] workforce,
so they enjoyed a feast like the days of New Year. XI 75
‘At sun-[rise] I set my hand [to] the oiling,
[before] the sun set the boat was complete.
. . . . . . . . . were very arduous:
from back to front we moved poles for the slipway,
[until] two-thirds of [the boat had entered the water.] XI 80
‘[Everything I owned] I loaded aboard:
all the silver I owned I loaded aboard,
all the gold I owned I loaded aboard,
all the living creatures I had I loaded aboard.
I sent on board all my kith and kin, XI 85
the beasts of the field, the creatures of the wild, and members of
every skill and craft.
‘The time which the Sun God appointed –
“In the morning he will send you a shower of bread-cakes,
and in the evening a torrent of wheat.
Go into the boat and seal your hatch!” –
‘that time had now come: XI 90
“In the morning he will send you a shower of bread-cakes,
and in the evening a torrent of wheat.”
I examined the look of the weather.
‘The weather to look at was full of foreboding,
I went into the boat and sealed my hatch.
To the one who sealed the boat, Puzur-Enlil the shipwright, XI 95
I gave my palace with all its goods.
‘At the very first glimmer of brightening dawn,
there rose on the horizon a dark cloud of black,
and bellowing within it was Adad the Storm God.
The gods Shullat and Hanish were going before him, XI 100
bearing his throne over mountain and land.
‘The god Errakal was uprooting the mooring-poles,
Ninurta, passing by, made the weirs overflow.
The Anunnaki gods carried torches of fire,
scorching the country with brilliant flashes. XI 105
‘The stillness of the Storm God passed over the sky,
and all that was bright then turned into darkness.
[He] charged the land like a bull [on the rampage,]
he smashed [it] in pieces [like a vessel of clay.]
Tor a day the gale [winds flattened the country,]
quickly they blew, and [then came] the [Deluge.] XI 110
Like a battle [the cataclysm] passed over the people.
One man could not discern another,
nor could people be recognized amid the destruction.
‘Even the gods took fright at the Deluge,
they left and went up to the heaven of Anu, XI 115
lying like dogs curled up in the open.
The goddess cried out like a woman in childbirth,
Belet-ili wailed, whose voice is so sweet:
‘ “The olden times have turned to clay,
because I spoke evil in the gods’ assembly. XI 120
How could I speak evil in the gods’ assembly,
and declare a war to destroy my people?
‘ “It is I who give birth, these people are mine!
And now, like fish, they fill the ocean!”
12 ‘And now, like fish, they fill the ocean!’
The Anunnaki gods were weeping with her, XI 125
wet-faced with sorrow, they were weeping [with her,]
their lips were parched and stricken with fever.
‘For six days and [seven] nights,
there blew the wind, the downpour,
the gale, the Deluge, it flattened the land.
‘But the seventh day when it came, XI 130
the gale relented, the Deluge ended.
The ocean grew calm, that had thrashed like a woman in labour,
the tempest grew still, the Deluge ended.
‘I looked at the weather, it was quiet and still,
but all the people had turned to clay. XI 135
The flood plain was flat like the roof of a house.
I opened a vent, on my cheeks fell the sunlight.
‘Down sat I, I knelt and I wept,
down my cheeks the tears were coursing.
I scanned the horizons, the edge of the ocean, XI 140
in fourteen places there rose an island.
‘On the mountain of Nimush the boat ran aground,
Mount Nimush held the boat fast, allowed it no motion.
One day and a second, Mount Nimush held the boat fast, allowed it no motion
a third day and a fourth, Mount Nimush held the boat fast,
allowed it no motion, XI 145
a fifth day and a sixth, Mount Nimush held the boat fast, allowed it no motion.
‘The seventh day when it came,
I brought out a dove, I let it loose:
off went the dove but then it returned,
there was no place to land, so back it came to me. XI 150
‘I brought out a swallow, I let it loose:
off went the swallow but then it returned,
there was no place to land, so back it came to me.
‘I brought out a raven, I let it loose:
off went the raven, it saw the waters receding, XI 155
finding food, bowing and bobbing, it did not come back to me.
‘I brought out an offering, to the four winds made sacrifice,
incense I placed on the peak of the mountain.
Seven flasks and seven I set in position,
reed, cedar and myrtle I piled beneath them. XI 160
‘The gods did smell the savour,
the gods did smell the savour sweet,
the gods gathered like flies around the man making sacrifice.
‘Then at once Belet-ili arrived,
she lifted the flies of lapis lazuli that Anu had made for their courtship: XI 165
“O gods, let these great beads in this necklace of mine
make me remember these days, and never forget them!
‘ “All the gods shall come to the incense,
but to the incense let Enlil not come,
because he lacked counsel and brought on the Deluge, XI 170
and delivered my people into destruction.”
‘Then at once Enlil arrived,
he saw the boat, he was seized with anger,
filled with rage at the divine Igigi:
“[From] where escaped this living being? XI I75
No man was meant to survive the destruction!”
‘Ninurta opened his mouth to speak,
saying to the hero Enlil:
“Who, if not Ea, could cause such a thing?
Ea alone knows how all things are done.” XI 180
‘Ea opened his mouth to speak,
saying to the hero Enlil:
“You, the sage of the gods, the hero,
how could you lack counsel and bring on the Deluge?
‘ “On him who transgresses, inflict his crime! XI 185
On him who does wrong, inflict his wrongdoing!
‘Slack off, lest it snap! Pull tight, lest it [slacken!]’
“Instead of your causing the Deluge,
a lion could have risen, and diminished the people!
Instead of your causing the Deluge, XI190
a wolf could have risen, and diminished the people!
‘ “Instead of your causing the Deluge,
a famine could have happened, and slaughtered the land!
Instead of your causing the Deluge,
the Plague God could have risen, and slaughtered the land! XI 195
‘ “It was not I disclosed the great gods’ secret:
Atra-hasis I let see a vision, and thus he learned our secret.
And now, decide what to do with him!”
‘Enlil came up inside the boat,
he took hold of my hand and brought me on board. XI 200
He brought aboard my wife and made her kneel at my side,
he touched our foreheads, standing between us to bless us:
Interesting, yes. Cultural, yes. World changing no.