Origins+of+Flood+Myth

=Proving Fiction=

Almost everyone today has heard some form of the flood myth, the most famous being the biblical, Noah's Ark. However, what if something like this actually happened thousands of years ago, and the myth that is commonly passed off as just legend is more real than people think?

This page will examine the archaeological and historical evidence for a catastrophic flood, after which the fabled flood myth originated. It will also explore the similarities and variations between the multiple accounts of the flood myth. The page will also look at the question, If one flood started this myth how and why did the story spread throughout the world?




 * Background**

The details of the flood myth vary from culture to culture but the primary storyline generally follows this pattern. The gods become unhappy with the human race (often because they are evil, or noisy and annoying) and devise a plan to wipe them out. The gods realize that the humans should not become extinct so they designate one man and his family so survive and restart life after the flood.

This lucky man is forewarned by the gods of the flood and is instructed to build an enormous ark. The gods send him the plans and explain to him how to build the boat. The builder is also instructed to bring his entire family and a male and female of every animal on earth, as well as food and supplies for all the creatures.

When the man has finished building the ark and gathering its passengers, the gods instruct him to seal the doors and set sail. Next the gods bring down a voluminous downpour upon the earth. Waters splash downwards from openings in the heavens, as well as gushing from underground springs. Soon all life that is not on the ark is stamped out, the storms quell, and the earth becomes still. The ark must wait for an extended period of time before venturing out.

Eventually the ark comes to rest on top of a mountain and the builder of the ark sends out birds to tell him when it is safe to leave. The people then re-inhabit and re-populate the earth, and the gods usually imply some type of apology or regret for destroying all this life.


 * Body**

In Dr. William B. F. Ryan and Dr. Walter C. Pittman 3rdconducted a study about the deluge of the Black Sea and it's effect on farming. John Noble Wiltford wrote about the study in the issue of the New York Times.

Before 5500 B.C. there was a small community living on the Bosporus Straight, near present day Istanbul. The Bosporus Straight is the link between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea, and eventually the Mediterranean. All of the sudden a massive, tsunami-like, flood cascaded upon the area with 400 times the force of the Niagara Falls, bringing with it a tremendous roar. The powerful waters flowed into the Black Sea, witch flooded about three quarters of a mile of land every day, increasing it's size by 30% and submerging 60,000 square miles. The scholars note that in addition to possible igniting farming, the flood may have also inspired the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is extremely closely linked with the Noah's Ark flood myth, to close for coincidence say Ryan and Pittman. The dates line up but there is no hard evidence that the Biblical flood was derived form the Babylonian one (Black Sea Deluge, NYT, Wiltford). One can only speculate.

If this massive deluge really did inspire the flood myth there are a couple of ways it could have been turned into the myth commonly heard today. The people who the flood directly affected had to flee and told their story by word of mouth to the different cultures they moved to and over time the story got embellished to include the God's wrath and the ark... etc. Or the people could have really believed the flood was sent from the Gods to destroy the earth, so they had to flee the area and just the ark idea was invented. Similarly some ancient storyteller could have simply got their idea from the flood and created an entirely new myth. Again, it is impossible to know for sure. (picture caption) [ After the Deluge, the Black Sea swelled to the size of the dotted line]]]]]

If the Black Sea Deluge did inspire Gilgamesh and Noah's flood it would be saying alot about the story and human kind's oral history books. This is because the deluge happened two and a half millenniums before Gilgamesh was the king of Uruk and even then the story was not recorded on clay until a millennium after that.(BSD, NYT, Wiltford) This story had to endure by word of mouth for thousands of years, so in fact, it would be a miracle if it did not get altered over time. Additionally in order to link this story to the Biblical flood it would have had to have traveled a vast distance geographically. Considering this, it is incredible how similar the Biblical flood and the Babylonian floods are. This information shows that either this story had to be either a very popular and important story to endure for so long or the word of mouth was more of an accurate and thorough method of recording history than one might assume upon first glance.

Many scholars disagree with Pittman and Ryan's hypothesis that the Black Sea Deluge inspired the Gilgamesh flood and later Noah's Ark, in stead they say that the frequent flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers inspired the myth (Plumbing the Black sea for Proof of the Deluge, NYT, Wiltford). These opposing scholars agree that the geological and chronological evidence for Ryan and Pittman's idea holds us but they like to contradict at the jump between the deluge actually occurring and the deluge inspiring the myth. One of their arguments asks why is there no flood myth in eastern Europe where most of the deluge survivors migrated too. Ether way the flood myth designated from one part of the world and spread outward through word of mouth.

If the story moved all around the world, different cultures have put their own spin on the tale. For example, in the Norse creation myth there were two different floods, on of which was more similar to the Biblical flood but the other the world was flooded with blood. The Vikings were stereotypically a very violent and ruthless society who believed that by killing another one would receive gifts in heaven (Valhalla) so it makes sense that they would add the blood element to their version of the flood myth. On the other hand in the Mayan creation myth, the Earth was flooded with sap, this is also understandable because the Mayans are stereotypically more in tune with nature, and commonly use herbal medicines and such. So they too add their own element into the flood myth. Therefore human nature will take something almost universal and modify it slightly to adapt to it's culture while still keeping the meaning intact.

Because this flood story is so widespread and long-lasting one would assume that there is some important morale, theme, or unknown element that makes it so important to human kind. The story has been told thousands and thousands of years before Christ, and to today's small children in Sunday school. Maybe it is the fact that the story demonstrates the God's power and their total control over us. Or maybe, the story is important because the Gods make a massive mistake and it tells humans that nobody is perfect, even the Gods, and makes us feel better about our mistakes. Or it is possible that the story is so popular because there is a little bit of a hero element in it. Similar to today's action TV dramas, one man holds the fate of all life in his hands, and there is a little bit of intriguing suspense hidden in there. Anyway it is looked at the story is a powerful, important, and traditional story that has many interesting elements that has allowed it to survive for so many years.


 * Conclusion**

A few important notes about human nature can be discovered from this story. Firstly, human culture is not formed all on it's own, often natural disasters and things of the sort can be important factors in cultural development. Another is that humans will almost always take one general idea that is attractive to the human spirit and modify it to fit their cultural values, weather climate, or social society. Lastly, stories like the flood myth are so important to humans that they get told by word of mouth for thousands of years because they have elements in them that make people feel good about themselves.


 * Questions**

1. If this myth was based off an actual historical event, could other myths have been based off real people or events? 2. If the flood in the flood myth actually happened is there any evidence for an ark? 3. Was there any one leader who led the people's migration away from their flooded homelands that the Noah figure was based on? 4. What other effects did the Black Sea Deluge have on society? 5. What does the story of the great flood mean to people today? 6. About what percent of people today are aware that the flood myth was based off an actual event?





Works Cited: Wiltford, John N. "Geologists Link Black Sea Deluge to Farming's Rise." Ney York Times 17 Dec. 1996, sec. C1: 1-2. __Historical New York Times__. Boswell. 15 Dec. 2007. Keyword: Black Sea Deluge.

Wiltford, John N. "Plumbing Black Sea for Proof of Deluge." New York Times 5 Jan. 1999, sec. F3: 1. __Historical New York Times__. Boswell. 16 Dec. 2007. Keyword: Black Sea Deluge.

Ballard, Robert. "Proof of Noah's Flood At the Black Sea." __Awnsers in Genesis__. 1 Jan. 2008 <[|http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/4168.asp>.]

http://www.vegetarianfriends.net/NoahsArk.jpg

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