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The Olive Branch “ Like dragonflies their [dead bodies] have filled the river. Like a raft they have moved to the edge [of the boat]. Like a raft they have moved to a river bank ” (flood-myth.com, 3/15/00). Whether the above is fact, fiction, myth, or legend it appears that all civilizations have a strong fascination with The Deluge. Bible believers feel that it was an act of God, who intern wanted to cleanse the earth of immoral people and evildoers. Chosen survivors, for example Noah, as well as present day Christians believe that the Flood was a marking point for a new covenant between God and themselves. However, the myths that have accumulated from each culture provide great colorful characters and death defying heros against the angst of the gods. Often times the bible is compared to the “Gilgamesh Epic”, which is the oldest fictional novel known to man. The Babylonian epic tells a similar story of the flood. The gods within the story are very angered by humankind’s behavior. So they decided to punish them a flood. Ea, a Babylonian God, disagrees with extremely harsh treatment. He then instructs Utnapishtim to flee with his family and all the animals on a boat. This basic myth emerges from the “Gilgamesh Epic” but neighboring civilization, such as Sumeria, retell the same with different protagonist gods. Traveling east into China the flood legend seems to take on a new meaning. The myth is recorded around 1000 b.c. by the Chou Dynasty. “The main difference between the Chinese flood myth and that of Western cultures seems to be the emphasis on why there was a flood. In the Western Myths the floods are brought about because of the anger of the gods, or at a whim of the gods, while in the Chinese myth the emphasis is on a very practical matter, the channeling of unruly waters in such a way to make the cultivation of land possible.”( cybercomm.com ,15 March) In other words, the purpose of the flood was to create better farm land. There was no sense of divine intervention. Continuing east, the story picks up in the Mayan ruins. The “Popol-Vuh” , the Mayans sacred book, relates the tale of the destruction from flood. They felt that the purpose of the flood was to remedy the faulty creation of man, not to punish to mankind. The Feathered Serpent, who is the Mayan creator, first created man from mud, but they were without sight or substance.
Floods can be a very dangerous natural disaster because a flood has the power to move cars, buildings, and cause massive damage to life and property. Even the small floods that are only 30 centimetres or so can do massive damage to houses and if the
hydrology of a great flood on a great river, you many only be interested in parts of the book, and I would suggest looking elsewhere for more detail.
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.
...ly compares to the building of the Ark in Genesis (Reider and Bergstrom 12). Both floods are associated with bringing back life and preserving the life of the lands.
Isaak, Mark. "Flood Stories from Around the World." The Talk. Origins Archive. 4 July 2004. <http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html>
The amazing stories of the great flood that are described in The Epic of Gilgamesh which is translated by N.K. Sandars and “The Story of the Flood” which is the King James version, both stories similarly. Many of the events of each story are very similar in ways and very different in some of them. From reading both stories I concluded that there was a huge flood that took place in that area of the world. Even though the way both stories describe the flood; The Epic of Gilgamesh is more imaginable. I say that because it is more realistic to have rain for six days, six nights than for forty days, forty nights. Both flood stories have a major similarity and difference though. Both stories described the same flood but they did it in different ways.
When someone thinks of the word “flooded,” they tend to think of something being completely covered with water and it is more of a devastation than relief. In One Foot in Eden, there is a company called Carolina Power and they are coming into Jocassee to flood the land. Rash presented the fact of Carolina Power coming into the land to flood it when he states “I’d farm this land until Carolina Power ran us all out and drowned these fields and creeks and the river itself (40). For more factual evidence, the flooding in the Ron Rash’s book was based on true events. “In 1963, Duke Power Company (a Duke Energy Company, or DEC) formed Carolina Land and Timber Company, which purchased an 83,400-acre tract of land in the Horsepasture area from Singer Corporation and private landowners. Duke Power Company (DPC) announced construction of the Keowee Toxaway Project on January 2, 1965, and began development in 1967. The construction resulted in the formation of 18,400-acre Lake Keowee and 7,500-acre Lake Jocassee” (History of Lake Jocassee). Along with the flooding in the book, there was a Great Flood in the Bible that God made happen. In Genesis 7:4 NKJV, God said “For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made (biblegateway.com).” As a comparison of the two events that took place, the flooding
Though scientists cannot agree on whether or not a global flood occurred, the effect of these stories on science has been monumental, as well as the effect of the stories on cultures and religions throughout the world. If this great flood did , in fact, occur, it’s effect on history would have been great because of the huge numbers of people lost to it. Though they may be fables, one must keep asking themselves if they may have been based on fact.
The roles of Noah and Utnapishtim in the Flood Myths are quite similar. There are several differences regarding the two flood myths, but the general idea behind the two remains consistent. In the Mesopotamian Flood Myth, the Gods were overwhelmed by the amount of humans that existed on Earth and were unable to sleep due to the noise of men. So they decided to "exterminate mankind." While in the Hebrew story of Noah and the Flood Myth, God grew tired of the evil that had plagued mankind and engulfed the earth. So God decided to start the world over to undue the mistakes of man. Both of these stories display an attempt by the Gods to start the world over to cleanse the earth. Both Utnapishtim and Noah were spoken to by Gods and asked to build large boats from which all who were to be spared would seek shelter during the storm. Both men were allowed to spare the lives of their family via the safety of the boats. Also, the method used by the Gods in these myths are the same, the skies would rain down upon the earth flooding the land and killing all who were not ordered onto the boats.
When someone thinks of the word “flooded,” they tend to think of something being completely covered with water and it is more of a devastation than relief. In One Foot in Eden, there is a company called Carolina Power and they are coming into Jocassee to flood the land. Rash presented the fact of Carolina Power coming into the land to flood it when he states “I’d farm this land until Carolina Power ran us all out and drowned these fields and creeks and the river itself (40). For more factual evidence, the flooding in the Ron Rash’s book was based on true events. “In 1963, Duke Power Company (a Duke Energy Company, or DEC) formed Carolina Land and Timber Company, which purchased an 83,400-acre tract of land in the Horsepasture area from Singer Corporation and private landowners. Duke Power Company (DPC) announced [the] construction of the Keowee Toxaway Project on January 2, 1965, and began development in 1967. The construction resulted in the formation of 18,400-acre Lake Keowee and 7,500-acre Lake Jocassee” (History of Lake Jocassee). Along with the flooding in the book, there was a Great Flood in the Bible that God did happen. In Genesis 7:4 NKJV, God said: “For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made (biblegateway.com).” As a comparison of the two events that took place, the
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...
Ancient world literature and early civilization stories are mostly centered on human’s relationship with higher beings. Ancient civilizations were extremely religious, holding the belief that their very lives were in the hands of their almighty god or goddess. This holds true for both the people of biblical times as well as those of the epic era. However, their stories have some differences according to cultural variation but the main structure, ideas, and themes are generally found correlative. It is hard to believe that one work did not affect the others. The first great heroic epic poem of Gilgamesh and the Old Testament are parts of two cultures that are hundreds of years apart. Whereas Gilgamesh is a myth and the book of Genesis is the basis of many religions, they both have notably similar accounts of symbols, motifs, meaningful events according to the relationship between the divine and humans in literature.
There are also a lot of myths like this which indicates that there were a lot of floods in these regions like Greece(Deucalion Myth), India(Manu), Africa(Tumbainot Myth), and Israel(Noah Ark)(all of the myths can be found on talkorigins.org). There is also the case that it could have started in Greece as Alexander the Great move country to country, passing down this story which the country in question has reproduce to fit their ideals and alternated the myth so it would be considered different to other stories. The stories could either been common events or it could have been passed down to different countries alter to fit
Killing nearly 4 million people, this flood is known as the deadliest flood ever recorded. This flood didn’t just cause death. It also caused destruction to thousand of square feet of the land in China. “...34,000 square miles (88,000 square km) of land were completely inundated, and approximately 8,000 square miles (21,000 square km) more were partially flooded, leaving 80 million people homeless.” (Encyclopedia Britannica: Huang He Floods). Levees were built along the Huang He River (Yellow River), but they caused the river to rise, so the levees actually didn't help the floods at all. These failed levees are thought to be the cause of this disastrous flood. Also, it is said that the Huang He River has flooded about 1500 times in 200 years, so a flood wasn't uncommon for the people by the river. “Countless people died of drowning or from waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhus, while there were widespread reports of wives and daughters being sold, infanticide and cannibalism. The death toll estimated between 3.7 and 4 million people, with a further 30 million affected.” (This Day In History: Central China Floods of 1931) From this, you can see that this flood was the worst recorded flood of all time and caused many people to lose their lives, homes, and
Thousands of years ago before people built towns and planted crops, rivers cut deep canyons and molded the continents. Often these rivers overflowed their banks and flooded the surrounding areas, depositing mineral rich silt and soil in the surrounding plains and valleys. Because of the way floods enrich soil some of the first cities were built along rivers. The most important ones grew along the Indus River in Pakistan; the Nile in Egypt; the Yellow River in China; and the Tigris and Euphrates in the Middle East. These rivers floodplains are called the “cradles of civilization”. (Michael Burgan &Robin Doak) Even though floods happen everywhere, there are only four types of floods. River floods occur along rivers and usually happen because of heavy rain over a large area. This can also be caused by melting snow and ice jams and can last for weeks. In most parts of the world dams and levees help keep rivers from flooding by blocking off water and storing it in lakes and reservoirs. Sometimes a dam will break causing another kind of flood. Dam failure floods happen when dams or other manmade structures are neglected, poorly designed, or damaged. These floods are very dangerous because a huge amount of water is released suddenly and with no warning. Flash floods happen when a large amount of rain falls very quickly. Flash floods generally occur in mountainous areas and are so deadly because they happen with little or no warning. Coastal floods occur along the shores ...