Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Flood


We have learned that in just about every culture there is a story of a flood.The story of the flood in the epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest known flood story.I read the flood story from the Transylvanian Gypsy culture (http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Turkey) .Just like any flood story there are similarities and differences from the Gilgamesh version.In this story there are no gods that create the flood.The flood in this story is a consequence of someones wrong doings.This flood lasted for very long, just about one year.The flood in Gilgamesh only takes place for 6 days.Almost all people were wiped out in this flood due to it lasting for so long. it took thousands of years for the people who were on the boat to repopulate the land.And unlike many other flood stories there was no bird set free in search of land.I found it strange that in this story after the husbands wife died he had
to just pick a new one to bring aboard the ship.In both stories the men were able to take their families on the ship. Unlike Upta-napishti this man brought along seeds of trees and herbs so that when the water subsided he could begin to farm the land again.He also brought along animals.After the flood this man was not confronted by anyone who caused the flood or the old traveler to tell him what to do next.All floods stories have their own unique details but follow a basic story line of something bad happening, a person of greater power warning a normal person, the building of a boat, and the after math.This shows that after all these years people still take interest in their cultures past.All cultures may have seemed from one.

Source: Talkorigins.org

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