Research Paper on The Great Flood: Understanding Ancient Myths of Destruction

Introduction

Stories of great floods that wiped out civilizations have been told and retold over the centuries. Questions on whether the stories tell of real events or are myths arising from imagination have been asked throughout history. A flood myth refers to a narrative of a great flood, commonly sent by a deity to destroy civilization as an act of retribution. Flood myths are found in different cultures around the world (Peschel 120). The need to understand these myths better has led to the emergence of geomythology, a field that seeks to relate folklore and oral traditions to natural phenomena (Vitaliano 20). Though it is difficult to find definite proof, the flood myths in different cultures are consistent with the geological processes that are known to cause disastrous floods in their localities (Montgomery). Therefore, it is highly probable that the floods occurred. However, since the people did not understand the geological processes involved, they made a relationship between the floods and the supernatural. Moreover, different cultures around the world take natural calamities to be a punishment from higher beings. This explains the emergence of flood myths among different cultures across the world. To further understand the topic, this paper will focus on Noah's and the Atrahasis flood myths. The geological, archaeological, historical, and scientific evidence that exists in support of the myths will also be explored.

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The Noah's Flood Story

The account of Noah's Ark as recorded in Genesis 6-9 of the Hebrew Bible is the most studied flood story in history. According to the story, God gave Noah the instructions and guidelines to build an ark. The ark was meant to keep Noah's family as well as animals safe during a flood that God would send. Noah obeyed God's command and built the ark. The other people kept on sinning and ridiculing him. After the construction of the ark, God told Noah to bring in a male and female of every species of animal on earth. He was also instructed to get into the ark with his wife, his sons, and their wives (Jehovah's Witnesses). God then shut the door of the ark and sent rains that lasted forty days and nights. All creation apart from that in Noah's ark was destroyed.

Over the years, scholars have tried to find evidence to prove that the flood happened. Biblical scholars have established that there exist two versions of the story, which have been intricately woven together between chapter 6 and 9 of the book of Genesis. Moreover, it has been advanced that the versions are derived from earlier stories rather than actual events. The two versions are the Gilgamesh Epic and the Atrahasis Epic, which will be discussed in the next section. In both versions, God saves a wise man, his family, and all animal species from a universal flood. Noah is the wise man in the Biblical version. Several details in the Biblical version resemble the Atrahasis Epic, and hence some scholars hold that the Hebrew tradition picked material from the Mesopotamian story and adjusted it to fit their needs (Hendel).

Geoscience has hypothesized at least four probable explanations of Noah's floods. One, the Persian/Arabian Gulf might have flooded as a result of glacial activity in the early Holocene period. Second, the impact of a meteorite might have triggered a worldwide tsunami. Third, scholars advance that a rise of the Mediterranean Sea during the Holocene period might have led to a rapid refilling of the Black Sea basin. Finally, mega-floods in Mesopotamia might have led to the emergence of the myths (Bruckner and Engel 140). Recently, geologists from Columbia University announced that catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea more than 7,000 years ago might be the origin of the flood myth (Hendel). Their theory was published in a book titled Noah's Flood. However, the theory was later refuted by marine biologists who advanced that no massive flooding occurred at the Black Sea at the mentioned period. They had reached this conclusion after carrying out studies on the sea floor (Hendel). However, evidence of the occurrence of huge floods in northern Mesopotamia, and not the Black Sea, exist. For instance, archaeological evidence suggests that rivers Tigris and Euphrates were responsible for floods in the ancient Mesopotamia. Though the floods might not have reached the scale described in the Bible, their magnitude might have been exaggerated as the story grew. Therefore, even if Noah's flood did not happen at the described location, it is a true story that got corrupted and exaggerated over the years (Hendel).

The Atrahasis Flood Myth

As mentioned earlier, this story closely resembles the Biblical version. It tells of a time when the gods sent a great flood to wipe out human life. It is only Atrahasis who survived the flood. He had been warned of the flood by Enki, god, and instructed to build an ark. He followed the instructions and got two of every animal species into the ark too. The story was written in the mid-17th century BC and was during the reign of King Hammurabi (Mark). However, scholars hold that the story might be older and had been passed down the generations through word of mouth.

Though this myth also tells of a flood of an unprecedented magnitude, scholars argue that local flooding might have led to destruction, which was exaggerated as the story was orally passed from one generation to another. They also argue that flooding of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates is the most probable origin of the story. Both archaeological and geological evidence has shown that rivers Tigris and Euphrates were prone to flooding. A huge flood that happened in 2800 BC is thought to be the basis of the story. However, no recognized scholar holds that a worldwide flood that wiped out the entire creation, as advanced in Atrahasis, actually occurred (Mark).

Conclusion

The above discussion shows that a flood of the magnitude depicted in the myths is unlikely to have occurred. However, archaeological and geological evidence has shown that the mentioned areas experienced floods from time to time. Therefore, the flood myths most probably originated from local floods that were common along the banks of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. As these stories got passed from one generation to the next, the magnitude of the catastrophe got exaggerated. This led to the birth of the myth that a worldwide flood led to the destruction of all humankind. Moreover, the similarities between the two flood myths may be taken to mean that both are versions of the same story adjusted by different cultures and people to fit their needs. Lack of more in-depth understanding of these events and their corruption over time led to the establishment of the relationship between the calamities and the supernatural. Generally, most cultures around the world take different calamities as a punishment from a deity. This, therefore, explains why floods in the myths are taken as a punishment from a deity or deities for disobedience.

Works Cited

Bruckner, Helmut and Max Engel. "Noah's Flood-Probing an Ancient Narrative Using Geoscience." Palaeohydrology (2020): 135-151. <https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-23315-0_7>.

Hendel, Ronald S. "The Search for Noah's Flood." 27 March 2017. Biblical Archaelogy Society. 12 September 2019. <https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/hebrew-bible/the-search-for-noahs-flood/>.

Jehovah's Witnesses. "Noah Builds an Ark." 2019. Jehovah's Witnesses. 12 September 2019. <https://www.jw.org/en/publications/books/bible-stories/1/noahs-ark/>.

Mark, Joshua J. "The Great Flood & the Meaning of Suffering." 6 March 2011. Ancient History Encyclopedia. 12 September 2019. <https://www.ancient.eu/article/227/the-atrahasis-epic-the-great-flood--the-meaning-of/>.

Montgomery, David R. "Geomythology: Can geologists relate ancient stories of great floods to real events?" 4 August 2016. The Conversation. 11 September 2019. <https://theconversation.com/geomythology-can-geologists-relate-ancient-stories-of-great-floods-to-real-events-63434>.

Peschel, Enid Rhodes. "Structural parallels in two Flood myths: Noah and the Maori." Folklore 82.2 (1971): 116-123. <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0015587X.1971.9716717>.

Vitaliano, Dorothy B. "Geomythology: geological origins of myths and legends." Geological Society, London, Special Publications 273.1 (2007): 1-7. <https://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/273/1/1.short>.