Three Different Cultures with Three Similar Flood Stories Globally, floods are one of the most devastating natural disasters. This is expected, as massive amounts of water drench the land, causing a great deal of damage to everything in its path. In many cultures, specifically in Greek, Christian, and ancient Mesopotamian beliefs, floods play a big role towards the “rebirth” of a better mankind. A flood story is present in each culture, each story having a main character: Deucalion, Noah, and Utnapishtim surviving the flood in order to regenerate the world. Deucalion’s flood story, “Noah and the Flood”, and The Epic of Gilgamesh have numerous similarities, yet each story contains its own features to make it individual for its culture. Towards the start of all three stories, prior to the floods beginning, the world was filled with violence, evil, and an abundance of noise. This behavior of mankind was unsatisfactory for the main deities in the story, so each deity, in their own story, set out to destroy all humanity. In the Greek flood story, Deucalion is warned by his father, Prometheus, that there will be a day “when Zeus will send a flood to destroy mankind from the Earth,” (Baldwin). Prometheus goes on to warn his son to be prepared for this day. Meanwhile in “Noah and the Flood”, from The King James Bible, Noah was instructed by God to build an ark of gopher wood measuring three hundred cubits in length. Two animals of every species will enter the ark to remain safe from the flood. In the third story, “The Story of the Flood” from The Epic of Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim was warned by Ea, the god of water to build a boat out of his reed house. Ea warned
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Noah began to fill his ark with animals of every species: one male, one female. In this story, rain continued to fall for forty days and nights. Once the rainfall ended, water covered the world for an additional 150 days. On the other hand, the flood that Utnapishtim was involved with was rather short in contrast to Noah’s. “‘For six days and nights the winds blew torrent and tempest and flood overwhelmed the world, tempest and flood raged together like warring hosts,’” (Sandars, pg 42). It was on the seventh day where the skies were clear and the ocean was calm. Unlike “Noah and the flood” and “The Story of the Flood” from The Epic of Gilgamesh, the length of the flood with Deucalion was not very specific, but the storm and standing waters lasted for a long while. While Noah had many animals aboard his ark and Utnapishtim had his family and ship crew, Deucalion was accompanied on his boat by only his wife …show more content…
Once his boat hit shore on top of Mount Parnassus, Deucalion and Pyrrha were unhappy that they were the only humans left. Hermes, the messenger god came to grant their wishes of a land filled with more people. They walked down the mountain, throwing stones behind them. “The stones which Deucalion threw sprang up as full-grown men...and the stones which Pyrrha threw sprang up as full-grown women,” (Baldwin). Deucalion and Pyrrha became the leader of these people, and taught them many useful things. Deucalion’s flood experience had been much different than Noah’s and
Noah began to fill his ark with animals of every species: one male, one female. In this story, rain continued to fall for forty days and nights. Once the rainfall ended, water covered the world for an additional 150 days. On the other hand, the flood that Utnapishtim was involved with was rather short in contrast to Noah’s. “‘For six days and nights the winds blew torrent and tempest and flood overwhelmed the world, tempest and flood raged together like warring hosts,’” (Sandars, pg 42). It was on the seventh day where the skies were clear and the ocean was calm. Unlike “Noah and the flood” and “The Story of the Flood” from The Epic of Gilgamesh, the length of the flood with Deucalion was not very specific, but the storm and standing waters lasted for a long while. While Noah had many animals aboard his ark and Utnapishtim had his family and ship crew, Deucalion was accompanied on his boat by only his wife …show more content…
Once his boat hit shore on top of Mount Parnassus, Deucalion and Pyrrha were unhappy that they were the only humans left. Hermes, the messenger god came to grant their wishes of a land filled with more people. They walked down the mountain, throwing stones behind them. “The stones which Deucalion threw sprang up as full-grown men...and the stones which Pyrrha threw sprang up as full-grown women,” (Baldwin). Deucalion and Pyrrha became the leader of these people, and taught them many useful things. Deucalion’s flood experience had been much different than Noah’s and