The Great Flood

Greetings all!

Today's post is actually an old essay of mine from a mythology class.  With a little bit of tweaking, I felt that it fit for this blog's theme.  Without further ado, let's jump into the myth of the great flood!

In many cultures across the world stories are told about a great flood that all but wipes out humanity.  The stories vary depending on the locale, but all of them have much in common, leading one to wonder where these stories originate.  Some common themes include the great flood itself, and the fact that a god normally comes to warn a worthy human of the coming disaster.

In the Bible a great flood is depicted as God's wrath upon the world. Mankind had fallen into evil, and most were corrupt. God, looking down upon them, decided that He had had enough. He warned a man named Noah, one of the few good men left, and told him to build a great Ark that would carry he, his family, and two of every animal on the world - one male and one female. When the flood came Noah was prepared, and he and his family were saved.

A similar story is found in the writings of many Greek scholars, though all have a slightly different take on it. During what is known as the Age of Iron, mankind became so corrupt that Zeus looked down upon them with loathing. He swore to destroy them and called upon a great flood of waters to do so. Ovid and others speak of two humans surviving aboard a raft, but it is Apollodorus who offers an interesting perspective. He claims that the man, Deucalion, was warned by his father Prometheus that the flood was coming. Prometheus bade him build a great ark with which to escape, and Deucalion did so. He and his wife Pyrrha escaped because of this, and were instrumental in the repopulation of the earth.

The Sumerian myth of Ziusudra dates back to the old Babylonian Empire. The tablet it is inscribed upon speaks of a man named Ziusudra.  The god Enki, lord of the sea, warns that a great flood is coming. Ziusudra is told to build a boat to survive the waters. He complies.  Though much of the tablet is lost, it is obvious that he survives from the last part of the tablet, where he may be found prostrating himself before the gods as thanks for his survival.

In Hindu mythology the god Matsya appears to the first man, named Manu, and warns him that a great deluge is coming to destroy the earth. Manu is told to build a great boat to house his family and animals, who will later repopulate the world.  He obeys.

You can see that a powerful god bidding a man to build a boat to save himself and his family is a somewhat common theme against numerous mythologies. The trend continues in many other stories from many different cultures; the Qur'an and the Epic of Gilgamesh are but two of many that exist.

For me, the most interesting part of these stories is the fact that they originate from so many different places. While I am leery to believe that only two people survived to repopulate the earth, the number of cultures that reference the flood leads me to believe that it may have happened. The fact that cultures that had little to no interaction all bear the same myths fascinates me. Did such a disaster truly happen? The evidence of seashells and fishbones scattered beneath what is now solid ground across many countrysides leads me to wonder.

I hope you guys enjoyed this!  And if you're near an area where flooding is expected, please, stay safe.

Posts for the next several weeks are likely to be a bit shorter than usual.  I sprained my hand, and typing is somewhat difficult (and painful) with my thumb immobilized by a brace.  I do apologize for the inconvenience.  I'll do my best to keep my posts interesting, whatever their length!

I'll see you next week!