The Sagas of the Flood. By Hermann Usener, 1899; Tr. by Robert Hutwohl, 2024 (2024)

A Literary Analysis of the Flood as a Semitic Type-Scene

Some Observations on the Indian and the Mesopotamian Flood Myths

2014

Having taken (with the help of Yuri Berezkin's Catalogue) a bird's eye view on the distribution of various flood motifs all over the world, one can see that Indian (fixed in the Sanskrit sources) and Near Eastern (primarily Mesopotamian) flood myths contain the unique common sequence of motifs. Some points of similarity have been noticed previously, some have escaped attention of scholars until now. The measure of similarity is so high that it points to a kind of genetic connection. A link connecting the Sumero-Babilonian myth with the flood stories in Indo-Aryan, Sanskrit sources was provided probably by the civilization of the Indus Valley.

A NEW LOOK AT THE THEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND OF THE MESOPOTAMIAN AND BIBLICAL FLOOD STORIES

A comparative study between the Mesopotamian and Biblical traditions of the Flood: What were the reasons for bringing flood upon humanity in the different traditions?

A Comparison of the Ancient Zoroastrian Flood Saga and the Story of Noah in the Book of Genesis

International Journal of Current Research , 2017

A Comparison of the Ancient Zoroastrian Flood Saga and the Story of Noah in the Book of Genesis concerns the myth as related to Noah in the Book of Genesis, which originated in the ancient Near East. Commonalities among Noah's Ark and ancient Sumerian and Babylonian flood stories include a chosen hero, godly wrath, and flood warnings, instructions to build a mechanism to survive the flood, gathering of animal and human lives, survival, and repopulation. This article contextualizes and compares overlapping features of Mesopotamian, affirming the ancient Zoroastrian flood myth as an important part of the myth's overall cross-cultural universality.

“Asking Questions of the Divine Announcements in the Flood Stories from Ancient Mesopotamia and Israel.”

Gilgames̆ and the World of Assyria: …, 2007

“Asking Questions of the Divine Announcements in the Flood Stories from Ancient Mesopotamia and Israel.” In: Joseph Azize and Noel Weeks (eds.). Gilgameš and the World of Assyria. Proceedings of the Conference held at Mandelbaum House, The University of Sydney, 21-23 July 2004. Ancient Near Eastern Studies Supplement Series 21. Leuven, Paris, Dudley MA: Peeters 2007, 147-172. E-mail: r.toddstanton@gmail.com

Floating from Babylon to Rome. Ancient Near Eastern Flood Stories in the Mediterranean World

The Flood Legends. An Ethnographic Consideration. Richard Andree [1891, Translation from German, 2024]

Druck und Verlag von Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn, 1891

The difficulty of the task to recover the past is an issue the ethnologist must always take into consideration, due to Christian Missionary influence: From pages 70–71: The flood sagas of the North American Indians were for the most part collected very late, and the later, the greater the danger that Christian reports under the influence of the missionaries seem to have distorted them. Biblical appurtenances crystallized on the originally existing authentic core of a flood tradition, a mixture often took place from which the genuine can often only be separated with difficulty. The rule is that the biblical narrative was wrapped in an Indian garment, but it is often so transparent that when it is removed the naked account of Genesis immediately appears, as is easily recognizable in the flood narrative of the dog’s ribs, the whole story of creation of which is also the biblical is retold. When considering the North American flood legends, the influence of Christian missionaries must be rated very highly and every report must be examined with particular caution. On the other hand, however, the universality of them again provides a guarantee for their original occurrence.

A Biblical Theology of the Flood

2002

A. Terminology: mabbûl (13x) and several other terms B. Extra-biblical Flood stories 1. Flood stories are almost universal (see Nelson, Deluge in Stone) 2. Stories nearest area of dispersion closest to Biblical account 3. Four main flood stories from Mesopotamian sources a. Eridu Genesis (Sumerian, ca. 1600 B.C.)–See T. Jacobsen, JBL 100(1981): 513-529 = Creation, Antediluvian Period, Flood b. Atrahasis Epic (Old Babylonian version, ca. 1600 B.C.)–see W. G. Lambert and a. R. Millard, Atrahasis (Oxford, 1969) = Creation, Anediluvian, Flood c. Gilgamesh Epic, 11 tablet (Neo-Assyrian version, 8th-7th cen. B.C.)–see Pritchard, ANET, pp. 23-26; and Alexander Heidel, The Gilgamesh Epic and OT Parallels (Chicago: University Press, 1946) = only Flood d. Berossus' account (Babylonian priest 3 cent. B.C.)–See Lamber and Millard, pp. 134-137 = just Flood C. Unity of the Genesis Flood Story–see accompanying photocopy from W. Shea, The Structure of the Genesis Flood Narrative and Its Implica...

ANALYSIS OF FLOOD MYTHS AMONG GREAT AND LITTLE TRADITIONS

THE EASTERN ANTHROPOLOGIST , 2023

Across all cultures folklore has an expression of existence comprising the universal value of collectivity and brotherhood and togetherness. Religions like Hinduism, Christianity, Ancient Greeks and Aztecs and several other tribal groups around the globe have diverse cultural histories. But one mythical story has in common about the great deluge. Although these stories are different in detail of events or in specific plot, the premise remains remarkably the same. The recurring theme of flood and myths of a giant deluge constitute an underlying and important theme in all the classic literature as well as in oral tradition. Even Indian classical writings have evidence of flood myth narratives along with the primitive folkloric traditions, especially in the tribal minorities of central India. It can be seen by interpretation of certain characteristics of mythology that are almost universal and have a wide range of distribution and acceptance in all forms of societies. The purpose of this paper would be focusing specifically on the classical collection of flood myths. There would be an attempt on identifying and analyzing a plurality among classical flood myths by selecting the four flood myths from the perspective of great tradition and little tradition in which two are from great and two are from little traditions. Here I am focusing upon comparing and analyzing the deluge stories from Europe and India. By comparing the folklore stories of Bhil and Kamar deluge as little tradition and from great tradition Hindu and Judeo-Christian deluge. However, the original historical occurrence of events can be observed through the modification and enhancement in the myth from generation to generation.

The Flood and the Floods of Antiquity. A Presentation. Ludwig Diestel. [1876, Tr. by Robert Hutwohl, 2024]

“Nevertheless the [Asian] Indians possess a legend of the flood, which we can even trace through several stages in its gradual development [In the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa]. . . . the flood is mentioned as if the waters had carried out a holy, guiding washing and cleansing upon the world—an idea not found in the Old Testament, but paralleled in Plato and then in the New Testament. In the Timaeus dialogue, the Egyptian priests who speak to Solon call the waters of the flood “purifying”; and in the first letter of Peter (3:21) it becomes the symbol of baptism. . . . Of later origin and much more detailed is the saga in the epic poem Mahābhārata. . . . Here the flood is a great foreboding washing of the earth. As peculiar features appear that Manu boards the ship with 7 holy singers or Rischis [ṛṣi-s] and takes the seeds of all herbs with him. . . . But Max Müller rightly says in Essays (I, 141): “up to now not a single point has been discovered which compels us to be convinced that the story of the Deluge as described in the Satapatha-Brāhmana [Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa] and repeated in the Mahābhārata and the Purānas [purāṇa-s], is of Semitic origin.” Methinks we add that, given the oldest figure in this saga, the floods in the Indus Delta provide a perfectly adequate basis for motivating the origin of the saga.”