In the Bible, the account of Noah’s flood is somewhat similar to the one presented in Greek and Roman mythology; they both deal with the process of a deity’s desire to cleanse the earth of its extensive wickedness and evil, and both beings chose a world-wide catastrophic flood to fulfill it. Despite the similarities, the two depictions of this global cleansing also have their differences, varying from the reactions from the deities, the human continuation, and the extent of the floods themselves. Common details are, of course, the process of the flood itself as the method of extinction, as well as the justification’s being wickedness within humanity, but both deities have unique sentiments towards humanity itself. In Noah’s flood, God is …show more content…
In contrast, God notified Noah to create an ark to harbor him, his wife, his three sons, and their wives, along with two of every animal, male and female, and seven of each “clean” animal, which were fit for sacrifice. This lead to eight human survivors in total, whereas in Zeus’s flood, only two people survived while floating in a chest: one man and one woman. The account of Zeus’s flood also does not mention how animals returned to earth, except for the existence of a small safe haven on the peak of Mt. Parnassus. This leads to critical differences between the two floods themselves. Only in Zeus’s flood is there a place to seek refuge on earth; in the Bible’s flood, every mountain top was covered in water, only allowing the survival of God’s singular chosen family. Also mentionable is the cooperation between brothers Zeus and Poseidon, god of the sea, in mythology, where in the Bible’s account, God works alone as the sole deity. The lengths of the floods vary, too, with Zeus’s lasting a mere nine days in comparison to the Bible’s forty days of rain and nearly one year of waiting until the earth
Lorey, F. 1997. The Flood of Noah and the Flood of Gilgamesh. Acts & Facts. 26 (3) Web. 4 Feb. 2014. When reading the story, someone can take many different viewpoints. In the article above, the author is analyzing the Epic of Gilgamesh through a creationists view point.
Most of us have probably heard the famous bible story about Noah’s Ark and The Flood. What most may not know, is that this story is just one of a great many. A variety of ancient cultures, from the Greeks and the Middle East, to Asia and the Americas, have in their mythologies a story of a Great Flood that drowns the earth. These stories mostly contain the same themes: a god or group of gods becomes angry; they flood the earth but save a small group of people. These people build a boat to survive. After the flood they repopulate the earth.
The Biblical account in Genesis, probably written by Moses around 1500 B.C., and the story of creation and flood in Ovid's Metamorphosis, written somewhere between 8 and 17 A.D., have weathered the criticism and become the most famous. The Genesis account, however, may be the most prominent of the two accounts. Within these accounts, are many similarities, as well as differences, which make these two writings well respected, while holding their own in the literary world. Though both accounts of the creation and flood are well respected on their own, when compared side to side, they are drastically different.
Kai T. Erikson studied the effects of the Buffalo Creek flood and interviewed the survivors left in the community. Erikson documented his research and his analysis in his ethnography Everything in its Path. The flood was unique in the way that it affected the community so drastically and the calamity that it caused in its wake. Buffalo Creek is a small mining community in rural West Virginia. The community has deep roots in the land and has always trusted the land to provide for them as well as trusting the company to treat them fairly. The community is made up of families that have been there for several generations and treats everyone in the community as a family member. Individuals in Buffalo Creek pride themselves on their hard work and
. According to Reading Selections: Reading 1, in The Flood, it says that when a black storm that was ridden by Adad who is God of storm and led by Shullat and Hanish who are minor gods in Babylonian came from the horizon, the gods of abyss destroyed the city. For example, Annunaki burned city with livid flame. As a result, daylight changed to darkness, people were separated from each family member and the place where people live became like the tides of battle, and even gods escaped to heaven. Ishtar, Queen of Heaven laments for her inability to command evil, wars, and people.
Deffinbaugh, B. (2004, May 11). The Noahic Covenant - A New beginning. Retrieved March 29, 2011, from Bibke.org: http://bible.org/print/book/export/html/69
In Genesis, God is upset with the world, especially with the corruption and the amount of sin that has spread within the people; as a result, God spares Noah, who is worthy of salvation, to build an ark, survive the waters, and witness the death of the humans. The flood was used as a symbol of Gods regret; He had not been satisfied with the first wave of humans, so the flood was used to start over again. In Popol Vuh, the flood was used similarly like a punishment and cleansing. The Maker and Serpent carved the third creation of wood. They looked like people, talked, walked and multiplied, but they had no minds. They forget the heart of creation. They did not remember the Maker and Serpent, so they brought upon them a flood, made to destroy them. The presence of floods used to wipe humanity is a similar catastrophe used within both works of
In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, God can be seen as having a sort of bi-polar attitude. In the beginning chapters God is shown as a caring person when he is creating the earth and when he talks about how he wants Adam and Eve to succeed and do well and how he gives Adam a companion, Eve because he feels Adam will be lonely. As the book unfolds God becomes very angry with how his world is turning out. Sin has been introduced and humans seem to be falling away from the righteous. This upsets God and he creates an idea that he will flood the world so that only Noah and the people and animals inside the ark will live. His intentions seem horrible, trying to kill humans because they have sinned, but in reality he is trying to free the world of sin so that the remaining humans will live wonderful lives free of pain and despair. The flood can be seen as both a positive and negative thing. To non-believers they may find fault in the idea that God felt that he had to punish the world as a result of how sinful the people of earth had become. To help promote their ideas they could use statements from the Bible such as this one when God's feelings are stated about how he seems to be dissatisfied with the people of earth, "The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain" (Genesis 6:6). It can also be revealed when God states, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth" (Genesis 6:13).
and the animals on his ark. In the story of Gilgamesh they also tell of a deadly flood and many
Other similarities closely tie these two Flood Myths almost mirroring the symbolic ideas within both stories. The number seven is very significant in both of these stories. In the story of Utnapishtim, the Boat he built was finished on the seventh day. Also the rain that flooded the earth, stopped on the seventh day. In the Hebrew story of Noah, the waters of the flood were upon the earth seven days after Noah constructed the arc. After the earth was flooded and the rain subsided, during two seven day instances, Noah sent forth a dove to determine if dry land existed nearby. The two stories also showed that the Gods gave specific instructions down to the dimension regarding the construction of the two boats and both men were ordered to keep the blood line of animals alive by sparing the lives of a male a female being of each species.
Man’s sin became so unbearable to God that he finally decided to get rid of humanity through a Flood. As the sole survivors of the Flood, Noah and his family mark the transition from the Adamic Age to the current age.
Flood myths help to explain events which cannot be controlled, such as natural disasters. The Hebrew flood myth tells of a man named Noah, who is selected, along with his family, to survive an epic flood. The flood must occur to cleanse the world of its impurities (Leeming, 47-53). The “flood” in Mabel’s own life involves the many things she loses: her mother, her family’s money, her idea of the future. However, these losses allow her to become a stronger person, to move away from merely being a daughter or a sister and become Mabel (Lawrence, 1-15).
The flood story that is told in The Epic of Gilgamesh has the same principle as the story of Noah told in the book of Genesis in the Bible, but there are some major differences. In the epic, Utnapishtim is immortal and, although Noah was extremely old when he died, he wasn’t immortal. Utnapishtim was a human, but because he saved mankind, Enlil said, “Hitherto Utnapishtim has been a human, now Utnapishtim and his wife shall become like us gods.” (Gilgamesh 11.206-207) In the Biblical story, God told Noah that he was going to send a flood and asked him specifically to make the ark in order to save mankind. In Genesis 6:13-22, God tells Noah why he’s flooding the earth and exact instructions to build the ark. “13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress[a] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.[b] 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit[c] high all arou...
Comparing each record of the flood can reveal how different cultural and religious backgrounds explain events of the world, and despite the stories differences, their similarities prove
Throughout history many civilizations and cultures have had their own ways of explaining the world and its creation. Each of these civilizations has created unique descriptions and accounts of such events. However, when comparing them to each other, are they really different? Look at the ancient Greco - Roman creation myths as told by Hesiod in his Theogony and Works and Days and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, when compared to the creation myths as seen in the Old Testament’s book of Genesis they may not be as different as one would think. Taking a more in-depth look at both Genesis and Hesiod’s and Ovid’s work more closely, the reader can see that on multiple occasions the myths have almost identical similarities which reflect their views in society. The similarities in particular are the myths of the creation of man, women with their subsequent role of evil in ancient times, and the great floods. These similarities prove that even though these two scriptures were centuries apart, the concepts presented in each myth were almost identical to one another.