Flood Myths

  • Many ancient civilisations held a Flood Myth where the world was destroyed by a divine deluge.
  • The Flood Myth tells of one survivor or survivors who escaped the Flood because they had received a divine warning.

Flood Myths in the Ancient World

  • Ancient Levant
    • Noah and the Ark
  • Ancient Mesopotamia
    • Utnapishtim
    • The British Archeologist Sir Charles Leonard Woolley excavated Ur between 1928/9 and suggested a Flood Date of 3,500 BCE, but this later proved to only apply locally.
  • Ancient China
    • The Flood of Gun Yu.
      • Dated to c. 2,200 BCE or 1,900 BCE
  • Ancient India
    • The Pralaya (Destruction) in Hinduism.
      • The main character is Manu Vaivasvata, who’s story bears strong similarities to Noah in The Bible.
    • Dwarka
      • The sunken city of Dwarka was lost to a flood which has been dated by archeological Finds to c. 1,500 BCE.
  • Ancient Greece: Three Flood Myths
  • Ancient Ireland
    • A Flood is survived by Cessair (c.2361 BCE), as described in the third book of the Lebor Gabala Erenn (The Book of Invasions, c.1160 CE).

 

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