The Flood Myth…. I told ya it was raining!

This is a guest post by Secular Scarlet, whose fantastic blog can be found here.

I have always had a fascination for ancient mythology and how through the ages it is altered to suit the peoples of that area. One such famous myth is The Great Flood. To the western religious majority, this of course means the Biblical flood with the lead role being played by Russell Crowe, erm , sorry I mean Noah!

In actual fact there are over 600 flood myths from our mythological histories, the oldest being Sumerian, but here are just a few examples of the ones I have found fascinating reading over the years.

SUMERIAN

The earliest record of the Sumerian creation myth and flood is found on a single fragmentary tablet, excavated in Nippur, called the ‘ERIDUF GENESIS’. Written in the Sumerian language and dated around 1600 BC during the Babylonian Dynasty.

At some point the gods became angry and decided not to save mankind from an impending flood. The hero (Atra-hasis) is warned by the water god who gives him instructions and tells him to build an Ark. A terrible storm rocks the huge boat for seven days and nights, then Utu (the sun god) appears and creates an opening in the boat, Atra-hasis, prostrates himself and sacrifices an oxen and a sheep.

THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH

Gilgamesh’s supposed historical reign is to have been believed to be around 2700 BCE, shortly before the earliest known written stories. The discovery of artifacts associated with Aga and Emmebaragesi of Kish, two other kings named in the stories, gives credibility to the existence of Gilgamesh.

The earliest Gilgamesh poems date from as early as the 3rd Dynasty of Ur (2100-2000 BC) Gilgamesh, seeking immortality, searches out Utnapishtim in Dilmun. Utnaphishtim tells how Enki (Ea) warned him of the gods plan to destroy all life through a great flood and instructed him to build a vessel in which he could save his family, his friends and his wealth and cattle. After the flood he is given immortality by the gods.

The flood tablet may be seen in Room 55 of the British Museum.

GENESIS FLOOD

The best known version of the deluge myth is contained in the Book of Genesis.

God selects Noah, and commands him to build an ark to save Noah, his family and the Earth’s animals and birds. After Noah builds the ark rain falls for 40 days, the water rises 150 days and all the high mountains are covered. When all is well again, Noah offers a sacrifice to God, and God places a rainbow in the clouds as a sign that he will never again destroy the earth by water. How nice!

ISLAMIC

The Qu’ran has a similar story, the major differences being only Noah and a few believers enter the ark. Noah’s son (one of four) and his wife refuse to enter the ark thinking they will manage the flood themselves. The Qu’ranic ark comes to rest on mount Judi, traditionally identified with the mountain near Mosul in modern Iraq, the name appears to derive from the local name of the Kurdish people.

CHINA

There are several flood legends in Chinese literature. Some appear to refer to a worldwide flood others to regional floods.

The ancient Chinese civilization concentrated at the bank of the yellow River near present day Xian . They believed that the severe flooding along the river bank was caused by dragons (representing the gods) living in the river being angered by the mistakes of the people.

INDIA

According to Matsya Purana and Shatapatha Brahmana, the Matri to the kind of pre-ancient Dravida, Satyavata who became known as Manu was washing his hands in the river when a little fish jumped into his hands and begged him to save his life. Manu took the fish home and cared for him. The fish warned him of a great deluge that would destroy all mankind. Manu built a boat which the fish towed to the mountainside when the flood came .

GREEK

Greek mythology tells of three floods. The flood of Ogyges, the flood of Deucalion and the flood of Dardanus, two of which ended two Ages of Man: The Ogygian Deluge ended the Silver Age and the flood of Deucalion ended the First Bronze Age.

DEUCALION – Prometheus advises his son to build a chest. The mountains of Thessaly part and all the world is overwhelmed by a deluge. Decualion and his wife Pyrrha, float in the chest for nine days and nights and finally land in Parnassus.

DARDANUS – Dardanus leaves Pheneus in Arcadia to colonise a land in the North East of the Aegean Sea. The land is then flooded and the mountain on which he and his family survive forms the Island of Samothrace. He leaves Samothrace on an inflated skin to the opposite shores of sia Minor and settles at the foot of Mount Ida. Due to the fear of another flood they don’t build a city but live in the open for fifty years. His grandson Tros eventually builds the city of Troy.

INCA

In Incan mythology, Viracocha destroyed the giants with a Great Flood, and two people repopulated the earth. Uniquely, they survived in sealed caves.

MI’KMAQ

In Mi’kmaq mythology, evil and wickedness causes men to kill each other. This causes great sadness to the creator sun-god, who weeps tears that become rains sufficient to trigger a deluge. The people attempt to escape on canoes, but only one single old man and a woman survive to repopulate the earth.

MALAYSIA

According to the legend of Temuan, the 18 tribes of the peninsula angered the gods so much a great flood was sent in punishment. Only two of the Temuan tribes, Mamak and Inak Bungsuk, survived the flood by climbing the Eaglewood tree at Royal Mountain, which thereafter became the birth place and ancestral home of the Temuan tribe.

MARQUESAS

The great war god Tu angered by critical remarks made by his sister Hii-hia cries tears which tear through heavens floor to the world below and creates a torrential downpour, carrying everything in its path. Only six people survive.

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As you can see there are no lack of stories to read on the flood mythology. The religious mythologies theists take as fact are simply interpretations, to explain natural phenomenon’s of local origin. Explanations needed to keep the populace in check and disable fear.

You can of course find many articles that say otherwise, by the so called “creationists” and “flood geologists”, but the only thing this proves sadly is how they interpret and ignore evidence that does not fit into their “biblical novel”

It is really too easy to dispute, but as with cognitive dissonance, they will studiously ignore what they are too afraid to admit – their religion is pure mythology.

What is happening right now is a knee jerk reaction from the religious community to rewrite the facts to suit. They are creating a fiction as big as the “first edition” ie The Bible.

They have the ignorance and gullibility of the theist believers on their side. They have been conditioned to believe any bullshit they are told that helps them to carry on with their delusion.

Lets be in no doubt – the brainwashing continues…