View source for Flood myth

{{short description|Motif in which a great flood destroys civilization}}
{{Redirect|Great Flood}}
[[File:Gustave Doré - The Holy Bible - Plate I, The Deluge.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|"The Deluge", frontispiece to [[Gustave Doré]]'s illustrated edition of the [[Bible]]]]
A '''flood myth''' or a '''deluge myth''' is a [[myth]] in which a great [[flood]], usually sent by a [[deity]] or deities, destroys [[civilization]], often in an act of [[divine retribution]]. Parallels are often drawn between the flood waters of these [[Mythology|myth]]s and the primeval [[Abzu|cosmic ocean]] which appear in certain [[creation myth]]s, as the flood waters are described as a measure for the [[social cleansing|cleansing]] of humanity, for example in preparation for [[wikt:rebirth|rebirth]]. Most flood myths also contain a [[culture hero]], who "represents the human craving for life".<ref>{{cite book |title= Flood {{pipe}} The Oxford Companion to World Mythology | first= David |last= Leeming |publisher= Oxford University Press |year= 2004  |access-date= 17 September 2010 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=kQFtlva3HaYC&pg=PA138 | isbn= 9780195156690 }}</ref>

The oldest known narrative of a [[List of flood myths|divinely inititated flood]] originates from the [[Sumer|Sumerian]] culture in [[Mesopotamia]], among others expressed in the Akkadian [[Atra-Hasis|Athra-Hasis epic]], which dates to the 18th century&nbsp;BCE. Comparable flood narratives appear in many other cultures, including the biblical [[Genesis flood narrative]], ''[[manvantara]]-sandhya'' in Hinduism, [[Deucalion]] and [[Pyrrha]] in Greek mythology, also the [[Cheyenne]], [[Blackfeet]] and [[Puebloan]] traditions.

==Mythologies==
[[File:Babylon's world view.jpg|thumb|300px|The Sumerian Genesis describes the [[Abzu]] as a cosmic freshwater ocean that surrounds our planet (created in its midst) above and below, so the sketch shows the same as [[Babylonian Map of the World|Babylon's map]], now in sideview. A bubble of breathable air clings to Earth, with the Abzu as roof like on Athrahasis' lifeboat. Further details, such as Utnapishtim's (Athrahasis) island ''Dilmun'', are taken from the [[epic of Gilgamesh]]. An important technical detail are the [[Gate valve|sluices]] built into sky. Through them, the gods, skilled in construction of irrigation systems, supplied their Garden of Eden with rain, but also unleashed the Flood.]]
The ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'' (c. 2100–1800 BCE) references an early flood myth.<ref>{{cite book |last = Tigay |first = Jeffrey H. | author-link = Jeffrey H. Tigay | title = The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic | publisher= Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers |year= 2002 |orig-year= 1982 |isbn= 9780865165465 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cxjuHTH6I2sC |pages = 23, 218, 224, 238}}</ref>{{efn|[[Andrew R. George]] points out that the modern version of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' was compiled by [[Sîn-lēqi-unninni]], who lived sometime between 1300 and 1000&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|George|2003|pp= ii, xxiv–v}}}} This story has some parallels to the 18th century BCE epic ''[[Atra-Hasis]]'',{{efn|The ''Atra-Hasis'' flood myth contains some material that the [[Gilgamesh flood myth]] does not.{{sfn|George|2003|p= xxx}}}} in which a group of Sumerian gods begins to transform Mesopotamia into a fertile garden landscape. The hard labour leads to a revolt of the ‘lower’ gods, and to pacify it, a first pair of humans was created to do the work in place of the gods. After a few thousand years, however, the humans have multiplied to such an extent that they disturb the gods with their noise, so [[Enlil]], the highest of all gods, decides to unleash a mighty flood to wipe out humanity. The rebellious god [[Enki]] secretly warns his priest Athrahasis of the impending catastrophe. Giving him detailed instructions for building a boat,<ref>{{cite book |last=Finkel |first=Irving |title=The Ark Before Noah |publisher=Doubleday |date=2014 |isbn=9780385537124 }}</ref> Athrahasis and his family survive, ensuring continued existence of artificially constructed mankind.<ref>{{cite book |editor-link=James B. Pritchard |editor-last=Pritchard |editor-first=James B. |title=Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament |title-link=Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |orig-year=1955 |year=1969 |page=44 |quote=a flood [will sweep] over the cult-centers; to destroy the seed of mankind; is the decision, the word of the assembly [of the gods]. }}</ref>{{fv|reason=This source doesn't speak of Athrahasis, the name here is Ziusudra|date=April 2025}} In the [[Gilgamesh flood myth]], the flood is survived by the man [[Utnapishtim]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Utnapishtim {{!}} Noah, Flood & Epic {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Utnapishtim |access-date=2024-11-04 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> The similar [[Eridu Genesis]] flood myth ({{Circa|1600&nbsp;BCE}}),<ref>{{cite book |year=2004 |chapter=The Flood story |editor1-last=Black |editor1-first=Jeremy A. |editor1-link=Jeremy Black (assyriologist) |editor2-last=Cunningham |editor2-first=Graham |editor3-last=Robson |editor3-first=Eleanor |editor3-link=Eleanor Robson |editor4-last=Zólyomi |editor4-first=Gábor |title=The Literature of Ancient Sumer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a1W2mTtGVV4C |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |publication-date=2006 |page=212 |isbn=9780199296330 |access-date=5 February 2021 |quote=The Sumerian story of the universal Flood [...] resembles the longer version preserved in the Babylonian poems ''Atra-hasis'' and the ''Epic of Gilgamesh''. }}</ref> known from tablets found in the ruins of [[Nippur]] in the late 1890s, was translated by assyriologist [[Arno Poebel]].<ref>Black, Jeremy; Cunningham, G.; Robson, E.; Zolyomi, G. ''The Literature of Ancient Sumer'', Oxford University Press, 2004. {{ISBN| 0-19-926311-6}}{{Full citation needed|date=February 2021}}</ref>[[File:Mr. George Smith, the man who transliterated and read the so-called the Babylonian Flood Story of Tablet XI.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[George Smith (Assyriologist)|George Smith]], who discovered and translated the ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'']]

Academic Yi Samuel Chen<ref>{{cite web |title=Yi Samuel Chen |url=https://history.hku.hk/staff-y-chen.html |publisher=[[University of Hong Kong]] |access-date=28 March 2023 |archive-date=28 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328215944/https://history.hku.hk/staff-y-chen.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> analyzed various texts from the [[Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia) |Early Dynastic III Period]] through to the Old Babylonian Period, and argues that the flood narrative was only added in texts written during the [[Old Babylonian Period]]. With regard to the [[Sumerian King List]], observations by experts have always indicated that the portion of the Sumerian King List talking about before the flood differs stylistically  from the King List Proper. Old Babylonian copies tend to represent a tradition of before the flood apart from the actual King List, whereas the [[Ur III]] copy of the King List and the duplicate from the Brockmon collection indicate that the King List Proper once existed independent of mention of the flood and the tradition of before the flood. Chen gives evidence to prove that the section of before the flood and references to the flood in the Sumerian King List were all later additions added in during the Old Babylonian Period, as the Sumerian King List went through updates and edits. The flood as a watershed in early history of the world was probably a new historiographical concept emerging in the Mesopotamian literary traditions during the Old Babylonian Period, as evident by the fact that the flood motif did not show up in the Ur III copy and that earliest chronographical sources related to the flood show up in the Old Babylonian Period. Chen also concludes that the name of "[[Ziusudra]]" as a flood hero and the idea of the flood hinted at by that name in the Old Babylonian Version of "[[Instructions of Shuruppak]]" are only developments during that Old Babylonian Period, when also the didactic text was updated with information from the burgeoning Antediluvian Tradition.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite book |first1=Yi Samuel |last1=Chen |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199676200.001.0001 |title=The Primeval Flood Catastrophe |year=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-967620-0 }}</ref>

In the Hebrew [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] ([[documentary hypothesis|9th century BC]]), the god [[Yahweh]], who had created man out of the dust of the ground,<ref>{{cite book |last=Davidson |first=Robert |title=Genesis 1–11 |date=1973 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521097604 |pages=30 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7cIb7DvR5BsC&q=genesis }}</ref> [[Genesis flood narrative|decides to flood the earth]] because of the corrupted state of mankind. Yahweh then gives the protagonist, [[Noah]], instructions to build [[Noah's Ark|an ark]] in order to preserve human and animal life. When the ark is completed, Noah, his family, and representatives of all the animals of the earth are called upon to enter the ark. When the destructive flood begins, all life outside of the ark perishes. After the waters recede, all those aboard the ark disembark and have Yahweh's promise that he will never judge the earth with a flood again. Yahweh causes a [[rainbows in mythology|rainbow]] to form as the sign of this promise.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cotter |first=David W. |title=Genesis |year=2003 |publisher=Liturgical Press |location=[[Collegeville, Minnesota]] |isbn=0814650406 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6lCVzr4cT9QC&q=great+flood |pages=49–51 }}</ref>

In [[Hinduism]], texts such as the [[Satapatha Brahmana]]<ref>{{cite book |author-last= Eggeling |author-first= Julius |author-link= Julius Eggeling |title= Satapatha Brahmana, Part 1 |date= 1882 |url= https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbr/sbe12/sbe1234.htm |pages=216–218 (1:8:1:1–6)}}</ref> ({{circa}} 6th century BCE)<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/Erdosy1995.pdf|title=Early Indian history: Linguistic and textual parametres|first= Michael|last= Witzel|year= 1995|page= 136|encyclopedia=The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture, and Ethnicity|editor-first=George |editor-last=Erdosy|location= Boston |publisher=De Gruyter}}</ref> and the [[Puranas]] contain the story of a great flood, ''[[manvantara]]-sandhya'',<ref>{{cite book |author-last= Gupta |author-first= S. V. |year= 2010 |chapter= Ch. 1.2.4 Time Measurements |editor-last1= Hull |editor-first1= Robert |editor-last2= Osgood |editor-first2= Richard M. Jr. |editor-link2= Richard M. Osgood Jr. |editor-last3= Parisi |editor-first3= Jurgen |editor-last4= Warlimont |editor-first4= Hans |title= Units of Measurement: Past, Present and Future. International System of Units |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pHiKycrLmEQC&pg=PA7 |series=Springer Series in Materials Science |volume=122 |publisher= [[Springer Publishing|Springer]] |pages= 7–8 |isbn=9783642007378 |quote= Paraphrased: Mahayuga equals 12,000 Deva (divine) years (4,320,000 solar years). Manvantara equals 71 Mahayugas (306,720,000 solar years). Kalpa (day of Brahma) equals an Adi Sandhya, 14 Manvantaras, and 14 Sandhya Kalas, where 1st Manvantara preceded by Adi Sandhya and each Manvantara followed by Sandhya Kala, each Sandhya lasting same duration as Satya yuga (1,728,000 solar years), during which the entire earth is submerged in water. Day of Brahma equals 1,000 Mahayugas, the same length for a night of Brahma (Bhagavad-gita 8.17). Brahma lifespan (311.04 trillion solar years) equals 100 360-day years, each 12 months. Parardha is 50 Brahma years and we are in the 2nd half of his life. After 100 years of Brahma, the universe starts with a new Brahma. We are currently in the 28th Kali yuga of the first day of the 51st year of the second Parardha in the reign of the 7th (Vaivasvata) Manu.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author-last= Krishnamurthy |author-first= V. |date= 2019 |chapter= Ch. 20: The Cosmic Flow of Time as per Scriptures |title=Meet the Ancient Scriptures of Hinduism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HF2NDwAAQBAJ&q=%227th+manvantara%22+%2228th%22&pg=PT407 |publisher= Notion Press |isbn= 9781684669387 |quote= Each manvantara is preceded and followed by a period of 1,728,000 (= 4K) years when the entire earthly universe (bhu-loka) will submerge under water. The period of this deluge is known as manvantara-sandhya (sandhya meaning, twilight).}}</ref> wherein the [[Matsya]] [[Avatar]] of [[Vishnu]] warns the first man,[[Sraddhadeva Manu| Manu]], of the impending flood, and also advises him to build a giant boat.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/369611/Matsya "Matsya"]. ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''.</ref><ref>{{cite book |title= A Survey of Hinduism | first= Klaus K. |last= Klostermaier |author-link= Klaus Klostermaier |publisher= SUNY Press|year= 2007|isbn= 978-0-7914-7082-4 |page= 97 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=E_6-JbUiHB4C&q=the+great+flood+in+Hinduism&pg=PA97 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title= Encyclopaedia of Hinduism |volume=2: C–G |first= Sunil |last= Sehgal |publisher= Sarup & Sons |year= 1999 |isbn= 81-7625-064-3 |pages= 401–402 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=zWG64bgtf3sC&q=Noah%27s+Ark+in+Hinduism&pg=PA401}}</ref> In [[Zoroastrian]] [[Mazdaism]],<!-- later than 405 BC --> [[Ahriman]] tries to destroy the world with a drought, which [[Mithra]] ends by shooting an arrow into a rock, from which a flood springs; one man survives in an ark with his cattle.<ref>{{cite book | last1= Smith | first1= Homer W. | author-link1= Homer W. Smith | title= Man and His Gods |date= 1952 |publisher= [[Grosset & Dunlap]] |location= New York |pages= 128–29}}</ref> Norbert Oettinger{{who|date=March 2022}} argues that the story of [[Jamshid#In scripture|Yima and the ''Vara'']] was originally a flood myth, and the harsh winter was added in due to the dry nature of Eastern Iran, as flood myths did not have as much of an effect as harsh winters. He has argued that the mention of melted water flowing in [[Vendidad | Videvdad]] 2.24 is a remnant of the flood myth, and mentions that the Indian flood myths originally had their protagonist as Yama, but it was changed to Manu later.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/6083055 |title=Before Noah: Possible Relics of the Flood-Myth in Proto-Indo-Iranian and Earlier |last1=Oettinger |first1=Norbert |journal=Proceedings of the 24th Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference |editor-first=S. W. |editor-last=Jamison |editor-first2=H. C. |editor-last2=Melchert |editor-first3=B. |editor-last3=Vine |location=Bremen |year=2013 |pages=169–183 }}</ref>

In [[Plato]]'s ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'', written {{circa|360 BCE}}, [[Timaeus of Locri|Timaeus]] describes a flood myth similar to the earlier versions. In it, the [[Ages of Man|Bronze race of humans]] angers the high god [[Zeus]] with their constant warring. Zeus decides to punish humanity with a flood. The [[Titan (mythology)|Titan]] [[Prometheus]], who had created humans from clay, tells the secret plan to [[Deucalion]], advising him to build an ark in order to be saved. After nine nights and days, the water starts receding and the ark lands on a mountain.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Platon Timaios |url=http://www.24grammata.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Platon-Timaios.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024022417/http://www.24grammata.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Platon-Timaios.pdf |archive-date=2018-10-24 |website=www.24grammata.com}}</ref>

The [[Cheyenne]], a North American [[Plains Indians|Great Plains tribe]], has a tradition where a flood altered the course of their history, perhaps occurring in the [[Missouri River Valley]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Seger |first=John H. |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.75643/page/n155/mode/2up |title=Early Days Among the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians |date=1934 |pages=147–148 |author-link=John Homer Seger}}</ref> The [[Blackfeet]], another Great Plains tribe, have a story called "[[Blackfoot_mythology#Language_on_a_Mountain|Language on a Mountain]]". In this story the deity Napi, referred to as Old Man, tells the story of a  great flood that swept through the land. After the flood Old Man made the water different colors. He gathered the people on top of a large mountain where he gave them water of different colors. Old Man then told the people to drink the water, then speak, and so they did.<ref name="Duvall and Wissler"/> Everyone was speaking a different language except those who received the black water; they were speaking the same language, and they consisted of the [[Blackfoot Confederacy|bands of the Blackfoot]], the [[Piegan Blackfeet|Piegan]] (Apatohsipikuni and Amskapipikuni), the [[Siksika Nation|Siksika]], and the [[Kainai Nation|Blood]] (Kainai). This was said to have taken place in the highest mountain in the Montana [[Indian reservation|reservation]].<ref name="Duvall and Wissler">{{cite book|last=Duvall|first=D.C.|title=Mythology of the Blackfoot Indians|year=1995|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|location=Lincoln, NE|pages=19|url=https://www.questia.com/library/book/mythology-of-the-blackfoot-indians-by-d-c-duvall-clark-wissler.jsp|author2=Clark Wissler|access-date=2017-08-24|archive-date=2008-08-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080803035419/http://www.questia.com/library/book/mythology-of-the-blackfoot-indians-by-d-c-duvall-clark-wissler.jsp|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[Hopi]], southwestern United States, have a tradition of a flood that nearly reached the tops of the mountains, and other [[Puebloans]] have similar legends.<ref name="The Hopi Indians, 1915">{{cite book |last1=Hough |first1=Walter |author1-link=Walter Hough |title=The Hopi Indians |date=1915 |publisher=Torch Press |pages=144, 203 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.79357/page/n205/mode/2up?q=flood}}</ref>

== Historicity ==

Floods in the wake of the [[Last Glacial Period]] (c. 115,000 – c. 11,700 years ago) are speculated to have inspired myths that survive to this day.<ref>{{cite web |date=2012-08-29 |title=Biblical-Type Floods Are Real, and They're Absolutely Enormous |url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/biblical-type-floods-are-real-and-theyre-absolutely-enormous |access-date=2023-03-20 |publisher=DiscoverMagazine.com}}</ref> Plato's allegory of [[Atlantis]] is set over 9,000 years before his time, leading some scholars to suggest that a [[Stone Age]] society which lived close to the [[Mediterranean Sea]] could have been wiped out by the rising [[sea level]], an event which could have served as the basis for the story.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Legends of Atlantis |series=[[Drain the Oceans]] |network=[[National Geographic (American TV channel)|National Geographic]] |date=2018 |season=1 |number=5 |minutes=42–45}}</ref>

Archaeologist Bruce Masse stated that some of the narratives of a great flood discovered in many cultures around the world may be linked to an oceanic asteroid impact that occurred between Africa and [[Antarctica]], around the time of a [[solar eclipse]], that caused a [[tsunami]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Alan Boyle |title=Adding up the risks of cosmic impact |url=http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3077868/ |agency=MSNBC |date=Feb 24, 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060203130446/http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3077868/ |archive-date=2006-02-03 }}</ref> Among the 175 myths he analyzed were a Hindu myth speaking of an alignment of the five planets at the time, and a [[Flood Mythology of China|Chinese story]] linking the flood to the end of the reign of Empress [[Nu Wa]]. Fourteen flood myths refer to a full [[solar eclipse]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sandra Blakeslee |title=Did an Asteroid Impact Cause an Ancient Tsunami? |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/14/science/14WAVE.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|agency=The New York Times |date=Nov 14, 2006}}</ref> According to Masse these indications point to the date May 10, 2807 BC.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Scott Carney |title=Did a Comet Cause the Great Flood? |journal=Discover |date=Nov 15, 2007 |url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/did-a-comet-cause-the-great-flood|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230209050517/https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/did-a-comet-cause-the-great-flood |archive-date=2023-02-09 }}</ref> His hypothesis suggests that a [[meteor]] or [[comet]] crashed into the [[Indian Ocean]] around 3000–2800&nbsp;BCE, and created the {{convert|18|mi|km|adj=on}} undersea [[Burckle Crater]] and [[Fenambosy Chevron]], and generated a giant tsunami that flooded coastal lands.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/14/science/14WAVE.html|title=Ancient Crash, Epic Wave|date=14 November 2006|work=The New York Times}}</ref>

===Mesopotamia===
{{anchor|Sumerian floods}}
[[Mesopotamia]], like other early sites of [[River valley civilization|riverine civilisation]], was flood-prone; and for those experiencing valley-wide inundations, flooding could destroy the whole of their known world.<ref>Compare:{{cite book | last1 = Peloubet | first1 = Francis Nathan | title = Select Notes on the International Sabbath School Lessons | year = 1880 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4TAXAAAAYAAJ | location = Boston | publisher = W. A. Wilde and Company | publication-date = 1880 | page = 157 | access-date = 29 April 2021 | quote = ... the flood ... extended to all ''the then known world''.}}</ref> According to the excavation report of the 1930s excavation at [[Shuruppak]] (modern Tell Fara, Iraq), the [[Jemdet Nasr period|Jemdet Nasr]] and [[Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)|Early Dynastic]] layers at the site were separated by a 60-cm yellow layer of alluvial sand and clay, indicating a flood,<ref>{{cite journal |first=Erich |last=Schmidt |title=Excavations at Fara, 1931 |url=https://www.penn.museum/sites/journal/9356/|journal=University of Pennsylvania's Museum Journal |volume=2 |pages=193–217 |year=1931 }}</ref> like that created by [[Avulsion (river)|river avulsion]], a process common in the [[Tigris–Euphrates river system]]. Similar layers have been recorded at other sites as well, all dating to different periods, which would be consistent with the nature of river avulsions.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Morozova|first=Galina S.|date=2005|title=A review of Holocene avulsions of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and possible effects on the evolution of civilizations in lower Mesopotamia|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/gea.20057|journal=Geoarchaeology|language=en|volume=20|issue=4|pages=401–423|doi=10.1002/gea.20057|bibcode=2005Gearc..20..401M | s2cid=129452555 |issn=1520-6548|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
Shuruppak in Mesopotamian legend was the city of [[Uta-napishtim]], the king who built a boat to survive the coming flood. The alluvial layer dates from around 2900 BC.<ref name=HalloSimpson>{{cite book |last1=[[William W. Hallo]] and [[William Kelly Simpson]] |title=The Ancient Near East: A History |date=1971}}</ref>

[[File:Post-Glacial Sea Level.png|thumb|Earth's [[sea level]] rose dramatically in the millennia after the [[Last Glacial Maximum]].]]

The geography of the Mesopotamian area changed considerably with the filling of the [[Persian Gulf]] after sea waters rose following the last glacial period. Global sea levels were about {{convert|120|m|abbr=on}} lower around 18,000&nbsp;[[Before Present|BP]] and rose until 8,000&nbsp;BP when they reached current levels, which are now an average {{convert|40|m|abbr=on}} above the floor of the Gulf, which was a huge ({{convert|800 x 200|km|mi|abbr=on|disp=comma}}) low-lying and fertile region in Mesopotamia, in which human habitation is thought to have been strong around the [[Gulf Oasis]] for 100,000 years. A sudden increase in settlements above the present-day water level is recorded at around 7,500&nbsp;[[Before Present|BP]].<ref>{{citation |title= Lost Civilization Under Persian Gulf?|url= https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101208151609.htm |work= Science Daily |date=December 8, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{citation |title= New Light on Human Prehistory in the Arabo-Persian Gulf Oasis |first=Jeffrey I. |last=Rose |journal=Current Anthropology |volume= 51 |issue=6 |doi=10.1086/657397 |date=December 2010 |pages=849–883 |s2cid=144935980 |url= https://zenodo.org/record/896327 }}</ref>

===Mediterranean Basin===
The historian [[Adrienne Mayor]] theorizes that global flood stories may have been inspired by ancient observations of seashells and fish fossils in inland and mountain areas. The ancient Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans all documented the discovery of such remains in such locations; the Greeks hypothesized that Earth had been covered by water on several occasions, citing the seashells and fish fossils found on mountain tops as evidence of this idea.<ref>{{cite book|first=Adrienne|last= Mayor|title=The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times: with a new introduction by the author|location=Princeton|publisher= Princeton University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0691058634}}</ref>

Speculation regarding the [[Deucalion]] myth has postulated a large tsunami in the Mediterranean Sea, caused by the [[Thera eruption]] (with an approximate geological date of 1630–1600&nbsp;BCE), as the myth's historical basis. Although the tsunami hit the South [[Aegean Sea]] and [[Crete]], it did not affect cities in the mainland of Greece, such as [[Mycenae]], [[Athens]], and [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], which continued to prosper, indicating that it had a local rather than a region-wide effect.<ref>Castleden, Rodney (2001) "Atlantis Destroyed" (Routledge).</ref>
====Black Sea deluge hypothesis====
The [[Black Sea deluge hypothesis]] offers a controversial account of long-term flooding; the hypothesis argues for a catastrophic irruption of water about 5600&nbsp;BCE from the Mediterranean Sea into the [[Black Sea]] basin. This has become the subject of considerable discussion.<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20090208061257/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/090206-smaller-noah-flood.html 'Noah's Flood' Not Rooted in Reality, After All?]" ''National Geographic News'', February 6, 2009.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-11/uoe-fk111507.php |title= Noah's flood kick-started European farming |author= Sarah Hoyle |date= November 18, 2007 |publisher= [[University of Exeter]] |access-date= 17 September 2010 |archive-date= 20 November 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231120105237/https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-11/uoe-fk111507.php |url-status= dead }}<!-- "The Mother of All Floods?"] Turney, C.S.M. and Brown, H. (2007) "Catastrophic early Holocene sea level rise, human migration and the Neolithic transition in Europe." ''Quaternary Science Reviews'', 26, 2036–2041 ???--></ref> The [[Younger Dryas impact hypothesis]] offered another proposed natural explanation for flood myths. However, this idea was similarly controversial<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Boslough |first1=Mark |date=March 2023 |title=Apocalypse! |url=https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/graham-hancocks-ancient-apocalypse-hypothesis-put-to-test/ |journal=Skeptic Magazine |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=51–59|quote=plagued by self contradictions, logical fallacies, basic misunderstandings, misidentified impact evidence, abandoned claims, irreproducible results, questionable protocols, lack of disclosure, secretiveness, failed predictions, contaminated samples, pseudoscientific arguments, physically impossible mechanisms, and misrepresentations}}</ref> and has been refuted.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Holliday |first1=Vance T. |last2=Daulton |first2=Tyrone L. |last3=Bartlein |first3=Patrick J. |last4=Boslough |first4=Mark B. |last5=Breslawski |first5=Ryan P. |last6=Fisher |first6=Abigail E. |last7=Jorgeson |first7=Ian A. |last8=Scott |first8=Andrew C. |last9=Koeberl |first9=Christian |last10=Marlon |first10=Jennifer |last11=Severinghaus |first11=Jeffrey |last12=Petaev |first12=Michail I. |last13=Claeys |first13=Philippe |date=2023-07-26 |title=Comprehensive refutation of the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis (YDIH) |journal=Earth-Science Reviews |volume=247 |language=en |pages=104502 |doi=10.1016/j.earscirev.2023.104502 |issn=0012-8252|doi-access=free |bibcode=2023ESRv..24704502H }}</ref>

=== Comets ===
[[File:John Martin - The Eve of the Deluge - WGA14146.jpg|upright=1|thumb|alt=Painting from 1840 depicting a comet causing the Great Flood|''The Eve of the Deluge'', by [[John Martin (painter)|John Martin]], 1840. Depicts a comet causing the [[Genesis flood narrative|Great Flood]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Martin (1789-1854) - The Eve of the Deluge |url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/407176/the-eve-of-the-deluge |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429124834/https://www.rct.uk/collection/407176/the-eve-of-the-deluge |archive-date=2021-04-29 |access-date=2021-07-15 |website=[[Royal Collection Trust]]}}</ref>]]

The earliest known hypothesis about a comet that had a widespread effect on human populations can be attributed to [[Edmond Halley]], who in 1694 suggested that [[Genesis flood narrative|a worldwide flood]] had been the result of a near-miss by a comet.<ref>{{Cite Q |Q94018436 |last=Levitin |first=Dmitri |name-list-style=vanc |doi-access=free |quote=However, [Edmond Halley] returned to the subject a year later in a lecture 'About the Cause of the Universal Deluge' read to the Society on 12 December 1694. Halley advanced a theory of periodic catastrophism; specifically, he suggested—two years before a similar idea was put forward by William Whiston—that the Flood was caused by a comet.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Q |Q108458886 |last=Halley |first=Edmond |author-link=Edmond Halley |name-list-style=vanc |doi-access=free}}</ref> The issue was taken up in more detail by [[William Whiston]], a protégé of and popularizer of the theories of [[Isaac Newton]], who argued in his book ''[[A New Theory of the Earth]]'' (1696) that a comet encounter was the probable cause of the Biblical Flood of [[Noah]] in 2342 BCE.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Strauss |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Strauss (journalist) |name-list-style=vanc |date=2016-12-30 |title=Why Newton Believed a Comet Caused Noah's Flood |work=[[National Geographic]] |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/comet-new-years-eve-newton-flood-bible-gravity-science |url-status=dead |url-access=limited |access-date=2021-11-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920213012/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/comet-new-years-eve-newton-flood-bible-gravity-science |archive-date=2021-09-20 |quote=Working backward, Whiston noted that one such cosmic encounter occurred in 2342 B.C., which, at the time, was believed to be the date of the great Deluge.}}</ref> Whiston also attributed the origins of the atmosphere and other significant changes in the Earth to the effects of comets.<ref name="Meehan1999">{{Cite web |last=Meehan |first=Richard L. |name-list-style=vanc |date=1999 |title=Whiston's Flood |url=https://web.stanford.edu/~meehan/donnelly/whiston.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125011405/https://web.stanford.edu/~meehan/donnelly/whiston.html |archive-date=25 January 2021 |access-date=7 June 2019}}</ref>

In [[Pierre-Simon Laplace]]'s book ''Exposition Du Systême Du Monde'' (''The System of the World''), first published in 1796, he stated:<ref>{{Cite book |last=May |first=Andrew |url=https://iconbooks.com/ib-title/cosmic-impact/ |title=Cosmic impact: understanding the threat to Earth from asteroids and comets |publisher=Icon Books, Limited |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-78578-493-4 |location=London |pages=8 |oclc=1091996674 |quote=In his book The System of the World, first published in  1796, Laplace speculated that cometary impacts might result in global extinctions. |name-list-style=vanc}}</ref>

{{blockquote|text=[T]he greater part of men and animals drowned in a universal deluge, or destroyed by the violence of the shock given to the terrestrial globe; whole species destroyed; all the monuments of human industry reversed: such are the disasters which a shock of a comet would produce.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Laplace |first=Pierre Simon |url=https://archive.org/details/expositiondusyst02lapl/page/61/mode/2up |title=Exposition Du Systême Du Monde |publisher=[[Cercle social]] |year=1796 |location=Paris, France |pages=61–62 |language=French |quote=[U]ne grande partie des hommes et des animaux, noyée dans ce déluge universel, ou détruite par la violente secousse imprimée au globe terrestre; des espèces entières anéanties; tous les monumens de l’industrie humaine, renversés; tels sont les désastres que le choc d’une comète a dû produire. |author-link=Pierre-Simon Laplace |name-list-style=vanc}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Laplace |first=Pierre Simon |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_f7Kv2iFUNJoC/page/n71/mode/2up |title=The System of the World |year=1809 |pages=64 |translator-last=Pond |translator-first=John |quote=[T]he greater part of men and animals drowned in a universal deluge, or destroyed by the violence of the shock given to the terrestrial globe; whole species destroyed; all the monuments of human industry reversed: such are the disasters which a shock of a comet would produce. |author-link=Pierre-Simon Laplace |translator-link=John Pond |name-list-style=vanc}}</ref>}}

A similar hypothesis was popularized by Minnesota congressman and [[pseudoarchaeology]] writer [[Ignatius L. Donnelly]] in his book ''[[Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel]]'' (1883), which followed his better-known book ''[[Atlantis: The Antediluvian World]]'' (1882). In ''Ragnarok'', Donnelly argued that an enormous comet struck the Earth around 6,000 BCE to 9,000 BCE,{{efn|In ''[[Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel]]'' (1883) [[Ignatius L. Donnelly|Donnelly]] suggested that the [[Genesis flood narrative|flood of Noah]] "probably occurred somewhere from eight to eleven thousand years ago" (6,117 [[BCE]] to 9,117 BCE);<ref>{{Cite book |last=Donnelly |first=Ignatius Loyola |url=https://archive.org/details/ragnarokageoffir00donn/page/404/mode/2up |title=Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel <!-- |title-link=Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel --> |year=1883 |pages=404 |publisher=New York, D. Appleton and Company |quote=The Deluge of Noah probably occurred somewhere from eight to eleven thousand years ago. Hence, about twenty thousand years probably intervened between the Drift and the Deluge. These were the 'myriads of years' referred to by Plato, during which mankind dwelt on the great plain of Atlantis. |author-link=Ignatius L. Donnelly |name-list-style=vanc}}</ref> in his previous book ''[[Atlantis: The Antediluvian World]]'' (1882) Donnelly followed [[Plato]]'s timeline and gave a date of 9,600 BCE (11,550 [[Before Present|BP]]) for the destruction of [[Atlantis]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Donnelly |first=Ignatius Loyola |url=https://archive.org/details/atlantisantedil00donn/page/29/mode/2up |title=Atlantis: The Antediluvian World <!-- |title-link=Atlantis: The Antediluvian World --> |year=1882 |pages=29 |quote=Plato states that the Egyptians told Solon that the destruction of Atlantis occurred 9000 years before that date, to wit, about 9600 years before the Christian era. |author-link=Ignatius L. Donnelly |name-list-style=vanc}}</ref>}} destroying an advanced civilization on the "lost continent" of [[Atlantis]]. Donnelly, following others before him, attributed the Biblical Flood to this event, which he hypothesized had also resulted in catastrophic fires and [[Climate change (general concept)|climate change]]. Shortly after the publication of ''Ragnarok'', one commenter noted, "Whiston ascertained that the deluge of Noah came from a comet's tail; but Donnelly has outdone Whiston, for he has shown that our planet has suffered not only from a cometary flood, but from cometary fire, and a cometary rain of stones."<ref name="Donnelly1883">{{Cite journal |last=Winchell |first=Alexander |author-link=Alexander Winchell |name-list-style=vanc |date=1887 |title=Ignatius Donnelly's Comet |url=https://archive.org/details/theforum04newy/page/105/mode/2up?view=theater |journal=The Forum |volume=IV |page=115}}</ref>

==Art==
<gallery>
File:Matsya Avatar, ca 1870.jpg|Matsya-[[avatara]] of Lord [[Vishnu]] pulls [[Sraddhadeva Manu|Manu]]'s boat after having defeated the demon.
File:Manabozhointheflood.png|[[Nanabozho]] in [[Ojibwe]] flood story from an illustration by R. C. Armour, in his book ''North American Indian Fairy Tales, Folklore and Legends'' (1905)
File:Anoniem - De zondvloed.jpg|''The Great Flood'', by anonymous painter, ''The vom Rath bequest'', [[Rijksmuseum]]
File:Francis Danby deluge.jpg|''The Deluge'', by [[Francis Danby]], 1840. Oil on canvas. Tate Gallery
File:Noah's ark and the deluge.JPG|Noah's Ark from the ''[[Zubdat al-Tawarikh]]'' in the [[Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts]] in Istanbul, dedicated to Sultan [[Murad III]] in 1583
File:Study for The Deluge.jpg|[[commons:File:Study_for_The_Deluge.jpg|"Study for The Deluge"]] 1843 painting by [[William Etty]] depicting the aftermath of a mythological deluge, or, "great flood".
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Portal|Mythology|Religion}}
*[[Bølling–Allerød warming]]
*[[List of flood myths]]
*[[Sea level rise]]

==References==
'''Footnotes'''
{{notelist}}

'''Citations'''
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Sources===
{{Commons category|Deluge (mythology)}}

* {{cite book|translator=Andrew R. George|year=2003|orig-year=1999|title=The Epic of Gilgamesh|edition=reprinted|publisher=Penguin Books|location=London|isbn=0-14-044919-1|ref={{harvid|George|2003}}}}

==Further reading==
* Bailey, Lloyd R. ''Noah, the Person and the Story'', University of South Carolina Press, 1989. {{ISBN|0-87249-637-6}}
* Best, Robert M. ''Noah's Ark and the Ziusudra Epic, Sumerian Origins of the Flood Myth'', 1999, {{ISBN|0-9667840-1-4}}
* {{cite EB9 |wstitle = Deluge |volume= VII |last= Cheyne  |first= Thomas Kelly  |author-link= Thomas Kelly Cheyne | pages=54-57 |short=1 }}
* Dundes, Alan (ed.) ''The Flood Myth'', University of California Press, Berkeley, 1988. {{ISBN|0-520-05973-5}}
* Faulkes, Anthony (trans.) ''Edda'' (Snorri Sturluson). [[Everyman's Library]], 1987. {{ISBN|0-460-87616-3}}
* Greenway, John (ed.), ''The Primitive Reader'', Folkways, 1965. {{ISBN?}}
* Grey, G. ''Polynesian Mythology''. Whitcombe and Tombs, Christchurch, 1956. {{ISBN?}}
* Lambert, W. G. and [[Alan Millard|Millard, A. R.]], ''Atra-hasis: The Babylonian Story of the Flood'', Eisenbrauns, 1999. {{ISBN|1-57506-039-6}}
* Masse, W. B. "The Archaeology and Anthropology of Quaternary Period Cosmic Impact", in Bobrowsky, P., and Rickman, H. (eds.) ''Comet/Asteroid Impacts and Human Society: An Interdisciplinary Approach'' Berlin, Springer Press, 2007. pp.&nbsp;25–70. {{ISBN?}}
* Reed, A. W. ''Treasury of Maori Folklore'' A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington, 1963. {{ISBN?}}
* Reedy, Anaru (trans.), ''Nga Korero a Pita Kapiti: The Teachings of Pita Kapiti''. Canterbury University Press, Christchurch, 1997. {{ISBN?}}
*Like many other [[oral tradition|folk-tale]] elements from around the world, the story of flood survival and human restart (motif A 1021.0.2 and associated elements) appears in [[Stith Thompson]]'s ''[[Motif-Index of Folk-Literature]]''.<ref>
Quoted in:
{{cite book
 | last1 = Lindell
 | first1 = Kristina
 | last2 = Swahn
 | first2 = Jan-Öjvind
 | last3 = Tayanin
 | first3 = Damrong
 | chapter = The Flood: Three Northern Kammu Versions of the Story of Creation
 | editor1-last = Dundes
 | editor1-first = Alan
 | editor1-link = Alan Dundes
 | title = The Flood Myth
 | year = 1988
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=E__dnnQwGDwC
 | location = Berkeley
 | publisher = University of California Press
 | publication-date = 1988
 | page = 279
 | isbn = 9780520063532
 | access-date = 5 February 2021
 | quote = A 1021.0.2 [...] Escape from deluge in wooden cask (drum)
}}
</ref>

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Flood myths| ]]
[[Category:Catastrophism]]
[[Category:Comparative mythology]]
[[Category:Megafloods]]
[[Category:Mesopotamian myths]]
[[Category:Jemdet Nasr period]]