Its that time of year where the rain just doesn’t seem to stop. Whether its day-long downpours or a week worth of on-off showers, it feels like the world is slowly flooding. Flood: Our not-so-smooth segue into the topic for this week. My initial post about Gilgamesh hinted at this topic, and I feel like I can’t put it off for any longer. Thats right! In the spirit of observing long term commitments, we’ll be discussing the Flood myths that are prominent throughout many of the world’s religions, past and present.
The Facts
I would wager that a good portion of the western world can identify some form of a flood myth in their own upbringing. Heck, I got kicked out of Sunday School, and I can even name tell you about Noah’s ark. These myths, as their names imply, deal with floods that wipe out the vast majority of humanity. These flood waters are normally sent by the gods, and are a form of punishment for the humans they afflict. More often than not the floods are survived by either one or only a few members of humanity that go on to repopulate the world. As I’ve mentioned, countless cultures throughout the world have these similar myths in their religions, and we’ll be going over what a few of those myths are.
Examples Throughout Time and Space
The oldest example of the Flood myth exists within Mesopotamian lore. The greatest god of Sumerian mythology, Enlil, had conspired to flood the land and destroy humanity. He swore his fellow gods to secrecy, but one of these gods, Ea, chose to warn a mortal man, Utnapishtim. Ea instructed the man to construct a boat from his very home, and decry society to save himself. The gods flooded the world, destroying all of humanity, save for Utnapishtim and his wife. The gods were horrified at Enlil’s actions, and wept for the loss of humanity. However, when the waters grew calm, and Utnapishtim emerged from his boat, Enlil became enraged. However, the sorrow of the other gods and Ea’s reminder of compassion convinced Enlil to allow them to survive. Utnapishtim and his wife are granted immortality by Ea, who decrees “Let Utnapishtim reside far away, at the mouth of the rivers.” where Gilgamesh later finds the immortal couple.
the most well known in our western world, we have the Flood myth found within Christian mythology. The story of Noah’s ark is one that many Sunday School students find themselves familiar with. Noah, a righteous, God-fearing man, is instructed by God to build an ark in preparation for a flood. This flood is to be the work of God himself, as the deity has found humanity to be too violent and corrupt. Noah, heading God’s orders, builds an ark and boards it with his family and two of every animal on earth. God proceeds to flood the world with scolding hot water, performing over-kill of biblical proportions by both burning and drowning all of humanity. Eventually, God bids the waters to recede and Noah and his family are the sole remnants of humanity.
Similarly, the Greeks had, not one, but two myths consisting of gods destroying humanity via floods. Firstly, the Silver Age of man. In this time, men lived long lives under the dominion of their mothers, and grew old for short amounts of time that were full of strife. Zeus brought this age to an end via flood for humanity’s refusal to worship the gods. The second flood was at the ending of the Bronze Age, where the violence prevalent in the world incited another flood by the gods.
Another, lesser known, Flood myth belongs to Hinduism. Shraddhadeva, a king in the south of India, is visited by a magical carp that asks the king to save him. Shraddhadeva aids the carp, transporting it between increasing large containers until it fills the entirety of the ocean. This carp reveals itself as an avatar of the god Vishnu, and warns Shraddhadeva of the incoming flood. Shraddhadeva, as you may have guessed after reading a few of these, constructs a boat to save himself and his family. Vishnu appears once more as a massive horned fish that pulls the boat free of the waters.
Persisting Mystery
There are a lot of theories surrounding the prominence of these myths throughout the world. Ranging from meteor-created tidal waves to glacial fallout in the Mediterranean, scientists the world over have struggled to reconcile what may have prompted so many society’s to have a prevailing common myth. Maybe it actually happened. Maybe, like spiders, humanity has an innate fear of the water. Whatever the reason, the mere fact that so many of these cultures, disconnected throughout time and space, have stories that are so close to one another is something that baffles and intrigues countless comparative historians the world over.
