Downpour
The Flood is a myth prevalent in many cultures. It is also one of the oldest. He relates generally rains and catastrophic floods consecutive men who exterminated and animals with the exception of a single pair of species that would repopulate the Earth afterwards.
The stories of the Flood
Mesopotamian texts
It was around 1700 BC , in the Epic of Atrahasis or "Poem Supersage" , resumed around 1200 BC in the Assyrian-Babylonian Version "standard" of the Epic of Gilgamesh which originally Sumerian back She, in 2700 before our era , What appears with more detail than the other versions, the episode of a man named Ziusudra according to sources Sumerian , Atrahasis "Le Supersage" or Utnapishtim to Babylon or in Ninevah ( Mesopotamia Ancient Iraq modern). The man told the story to Gilgamesh the anger of the great gods , who wanted to depopulate the earth because men, more and more, made a deafening uproar that prevented the gods to rest, the instigators were Anu , Ninurta , Ennugi and Enlil , the supreme god. However, the god Ea groundwater, protecting humans, had betrayed them by preventing dream Atrahasis his friend, and told him to build an ark in sealed bitumen and pick with him specimens of all living beings. Barely had the hatch was closed as she Nergal tore the valves were heavenly, and Ninurta rushed to overflow the dam from above. Adad in the sky stretched his silence-of-death, cutting into darkness all that was bright! Gods Anunnaki inflamed the whole Earth! The waves covered even the tops of mountains! Six days and seven nights, gales, heavy rain, thunder, lightning and hurricanes smashed the Earth as a jar ! The gods themselves were appalled: taking flight, they climbed into heaven of Anu , where such dogs, they remained huddled. The seventh day, the sea calmed down and stopped, and the ark landed on Mount Nishi. Atrahasis took a dove and dropped the dove went off, but she returned. Later, he took a swallow and let her go; the swallow went, but she returned. Finally, he took a raven and released him, the raven went off, but having found the waters receded, he pecked, croaked, snorted, and did not return. So Atrahasis scattered to the four winds, all specimens of the living beings who were still in the ark, and made a sacrifice : have lunch on the ridge of the mountain, he placed each side seven vases - ritual drinking and, down, poured into the incense burner, cymbo , cedar and myrtle. The gods, inhaling the aroma, crowded like flies about the sacrificer.
When found, after the cataclysm, that his plans were foiled, however Enlil regained his composure, for he had come to realize that the disappearance of men would be reduced to the situation that led to their creation. He granted immortality Atrahasis , but made sure that men become less disturbing the peace of the gods, by decreasing the lifespan of humans by introducing disease, infertility, etc..
The Greek and Roman
- Deluge of Deucalion : in Greek mythology , the flood caused by Zeus leaves two survivors, Deucalion and Pyrrha , who then repopulate the Earth.
- The Myth of Philemon and Baucis there also apparent: two just an old man and his wife were rescued from the waters by Jupiter. (Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book VIII, 616sq).
- The myth of Atlantis reported by Plato in two of his dialogues: the Timaeus and Critias tells the sudden swamping of an island under the sea
We may add that Plato recounts such a deluge in Book I of ACTS. Only the inhabitants within the mountains have survived.
The biblical
The Qur'anic story
The Koran speaks of the flood and Nuh (Noah) as follows:
"And it was revealed to Nuh:" None of thy people, there will believe except those who have already believed. Do not grieve for what they did. And build the ark under Our eyes and Our revelation. And do not speak to Me concerning unfair because they will be drowned '.
And he built the ark. And whenever the chiefs of his people passed by him, they mocked him. He said: 'If you're laughing at us, well, we laugh at you as you laugh (from us)'. And you will soon know who will come a chastisement which will disgrace him, and who shall come a lasting punishment! "
Then, when Our command came and the oven gushed forth (water), We said: 'Loads (the ark) a pair, and your family - except those against whom the order is already pronounced - and those who believe '. But those who believed with him were few. And he said: "Come up. Whether its sailing and its anchoring are in the name of Allah. Certainly my Lord is Forgiving, Merciful. " And it moved them amid waves like mountains.
And Nuh called his son, who remained in a remote place (not far from the arch): "O my son, embark with us and be not with the disbelievers." He replied: "I will betake myself to some mountain that will protect me from the water." And Nuh said: "There is today no protector against Allah's order. (All perished) except those on whom He has mercy." And the waves came between them and the son was among the drowned.
And it was said: "O earth, swallow your water, and O sky, cease (of rain)!" The water abated, the order was executed and the ark rested on Joud , and it was said: Away with the wicked people! "
- Qur'an, XI :36-44
This version of the flood is related to the Old Testament , but there are some notable differences. Firstly it does not say that the flood was global (only humans are affected), it could very well be local or global, but not to the point of covering the mountains Second Noah is a prophet in the Koran and in addition to his family, good people who believe in God, have followed him into the ark.
Other cultural evidence suggestive of Flood
The Avesta , the Zoroastrian sacred text
This sacred text of Iranian Zoroastrians is the transcript of oral history very ancient origin to medical. This text does not specifically describe a flood, but an episode of "bad winters were snow falling in large flakes," a "ferocious and deadly cold." He shares with the stories of the Flood's vision of a just man, the hero Avestan Yima , warned by the god Ahura Mazda of impending climate catastrophe, and saving from death a handful of men, and different plant and animal species, however, discussed in this story, not an ark , but a gigantic cavern built by Yima, under the guidance of Ahura Mazda. The tribe of the Medes was originally established in the north-western Iran today, the borders of Armenia and the Caucasus.
We can not exclude that this is a distant memory of the last glaciation ( Wrm glaciation ), which had ended about 8000 BC. BC to make way for the period interglacial present, the Holocene. One can also note that if (as the beginning) the end of glaciation corresponds to a phase transition (transition from a phase glacial stage to an interglacial ) with tension parameter is the albedo of the Earth - solar energy reflected from the surface of the Earth, referred to the incident solar energy, in particular setting the percentage of the surface of the Earth covered by ice - and it is therefore a phenomenon catastrophic in the sense of Rene Thom , may extend over a relatively short period of time as some models physical lately seem to show the end of the last glaciation has been for several centuries or even just a few decades, a period of rain rains, accompanied by massive flooding in many parts of the world.
Vedas , the sacred text of Hinduism
In the Hinduism , where the first man Manu is saved by the first avatar of Vishnu , Matsya. He also avoids the flood by building a boat. Manu later became the first legislator of Hinduism;
Cath Maigh Tuireadh , story of the "mythological cycle" of Ireland
The Popol Vuh , the sacred text of the Mayan civilization
Flood destroys the Maya as a punishment for their impiety the second of three successive races of men, men of wood, between the first man of clay, destroyed for its stupidity, and men whose corn down humanity today. It takes the form of a rain of fire followed by a darkening of the sky and a "dark rain" (whose nature is not specified). This rain was accompanied by a revolt of trees, rocks, animals and household objects, so that the wooden men can find refuge in their homes or on their roofs or in trees or in caves .
The death of Ymir ( Norse mythology )
In the creation myth, Odin , enraged by the brutality of Ymir and killed him and threw him into the Ginnungagap ("the chasm"). The deluge caused by his blood was so great that it killed all the giants, apart from the grand-son of Ymir ( Bergelmir son of Thrudgelmir ) and his wife. These repopulated the world.
The Flood Lithuanian
The Flood Lithuanian, impregnated with a late paganism, is known by four folk tales collected in the nineteenth century . This flood was sent by God Prakorimas or Praamzis, to exterminate the race of Giant who then inhabited the earth. Pity for the last couple of old giants who drown their Prakorimas throws a nut shell as a boat. The way the Giants then created mankind on the advice of Laima, goddess of fate sent by Prakorimas recalls the Greek myth of Deucalion and Pyrrha: giants are jumping from one hill to another to be born male and women. To respond to flood another cataclycmse coming to the end of time, a great plague that will wipe out humanity, leaving only a race of dwarf diminished if it will take nine to slaughter a rooster. The analysis of this myth by semiotician Algirdas_Julien_Greimas reveals an interesting point of philosphy archaic moralizing interpretation of the flood, saying the Giants were annatis for their crimes, would be Christian, while the more archaic version of the Flood explains More down to earth by demographic reasons, the Earth could no longer support the growth of the Giants complained to Prakorimas. This explains the intervention in the birth of humanity from the goddess Laima, which gives each man his share of worldly goods or Bedaux. According to Greimas, the moral of the myth is a moral diluvian Lithuanian moderation, regardless of the notions of Good and Evil. Flood A Chinese? The existence of a Chinese myth diluvian divides experts. Several mythic texts contained in compilations such as the Shiji of Sima Qian and the Shanhai Jing, talk of a flood of "High Water" (whose nature is not specified) that mount to the sky (Shanje Jing Shiji). There is no question of anantissment humans, they are only "in trouble" (Shiji) The universally popular idea of punishment is also absent. After the failure of the Gun hero, the great flood is contained by his son, the hero If Yu historian Ann Birell unequivocally calls the myth of the Deluge , Remi Mathieu, translator of these stories believes that China knows no such thing as diluvian myth, even if the history of this great flood similar to . The flood did take place? Genesis (7-6) dates the Flood of the year 600 of Noah's life, either, according to the Bible, 1656 years after Adam's creation and 2348 years before the birth of Christ (chronology of James Ussher ). Many Egyptian buildings were built around 2700 and 2500 BC. AD, well before the expected date of the flood. This is particularly true of the pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara and the three at Giza. However, these pyramids showed no damage could have caused their total immersion for twelve months. It's the same with the other historical remains found intact, like the caves of Lascaux , the Chauvet , of Altamira. However, the Sphinx of Giza -2500 dated, appears to have been eroded by the weather after the geologist Robert Schoch of Boston University. Myths of the flood Are the memory of a real event? Various researchers have tried to demonstrate geological or archaeological existence of the flood. Others argue that events can be considered to have marked the different civilizations (they are too old, too slow or too distant), and this myth would be a pure invention or exaggeration of a local event. The deluge is it a real event and located in time and space? If for some apparent universality of the story and the details sometimes almost identical (construction of a boat, number of survivors, pairs of animals to save, etc..) Tend to confirm a major disaster and global, they may be objected one hand that the strongest similarities are explained primarily by the transmission of Mesopotamian myth and monotheistic religions other than the presence of such a myth refers primarily to the sense of fragility that before the ancient societies natural disasters. As the dating of geological strata that were related and that the magnitude of the Earth's past was not clearly established, the sedimentary rocks and their fossils sailors were held by Western scientists as witnesses of the biblical flood that had covered up to the mountains. In the nineteenth century geologists still saw his tracks in some recent sediments ( Pleistocene ): coarse fluvial deposits present in the valleys or on their sides (for this reason called drift) and deposition of loess on the plateau (their homogeneity intrigued and was interpreted as a silt settling after a gigantic flood that deposited the drift). Until the early twentieth century, authors have linked the flood to a hypothetical breakdown of former continents or land bridges, instead of the Atlantic Ocean. The Ice Age of the Earth (which is cyclical) have formed two layers of ice over 16 km high, on Western Europe, and Canada. The gradual warming of the planet would have formed two large inland seas, large almost like the Mediterranean. The pressure exerted by these two huge blocks would have depressed the crust, while making it back on its edges. Just like when you press a balloon. Melting ice would gradually cede made dams that kept these two huge seas, and eventually cause a tidal wave of nearly 600 m high. Meanwhile, the pressure of the earth's crust suddenly releasing would cause massive earthquakes, while re-immersing the land that had emerged due to the terrain due to the pressure. This theory has led to the search for the remains of ancient civilizations under the sea, and the results declared for spectacular blocks Mycenaean (several tons) cut and dragged a hundred yards found 16 km offshore. And examples like this around the world (a common myth spoke of a hypothetical civilization before Sumer , and described it as being only Coast). Even if it involves some real process, this argument is highly questionable: the thickness of ice is about 3 km (as the ice creeps) and movements of "bounces" due to its implementation place and its cast are measurable by the dating of the beaches storied. Finally the tsunami, tidal features leave traces in marine sediments: Hancock assumptions have not been received by the academic scientific research. American geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman (1998) showed, from a research cruise in US-Russian Black Sea in 1993, data indicating a relatively abrupt transition in their cores to a level of freshwater to level of salt water that date back 7500 years, they think it there evidence of re-connecting the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea that occurred while the input of the seawater through the Bosporus. Their theory is based on a series of round trips in the evolution of sea level at the end of the ice ages: This hypothesis is now based on a number of other data that may seem confirmations: trace canyon under the sea level to the right of the Bosphorus, yet sensitive anomalies in the distribution of layers of water, marine deposits of fresh water under the sea level and covered with sediment turbidity , trace fossil dunes below the current level of the sea ... If one accepts the hypothesis of catastrophic release of water through the Bosphorus, one can also trace the source in a seismic event on the North Anatolian Fault in Marmara-Dardanelles area, the region most seismically active world after California. It is possible that the operation currently in progress, the results of the expedition ASSEMBLY (for Assessment of the Black Sea sedimentary system Since The Last Glacial Extreme) the eponymous European project conducted in 2004 in the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by Ifremer on the Marion Dufresne clarify the issue. The hypothesis of catastrophic spill has not been unanimous: so there are recent geological studies reject the notion of a catastrophic filling of the Black Sea through the Mediterranean water . The scientific community is currently divided on the issue. Three very different reconstructions of the geological history of the Black Sea are currently available: the catastrophic hypothesis, a hypothesis gradualist and a hypothesis for which the sea level has fluctuated frequently . Civilizations on the banks of the Black Sea (to -6000) were the proto Celtic , early agrarian civilization: it could therefore be a population prehistoric relatively dense. If he has indeed taken place, such an event has been extremely traumatic, more than able to burn for a very long collective memory of these peoples. To the west, near Greek , the memory of the disaster was brought by the Dorian invasion from the north of Greece, which is located around 1100 BC. AD Given flow feasible for Bosphorus , and the gently sloping plains Ukrainian and Romanian, the effect of flooding has been spectacular shoreline retreated on average at about the speed a man walking - which is too fast for an escape on foot because the water rose faster along the valleys, and eventually trap the local fugitives on the heights. For some, the "hope of salvation" has been confined to a boat, or take refuge in the mountains. The text of the Metamorphoses of Ovid describes such a situation, so perhaps a little anachronistic and sometimes excessive, but very striking: "Overwhelmed, the river rushed through the open plains, with crops, they take the trees , herds, men, houses the altars domestic and sacred objects. If a house is still standing and was able to withstand such a disaster without collapse, made disappears swallowed up by the waters and their assault falter laps into the abyss ... /.../ the huge overflow of water had covered the hills , the waves were beating the hitherto unknown peak of the mountain. "According to Apollodorus , "all men were annihilated, with the exception of a few who had taken refuge on the tops of nearby mountains." Is this in memory of the cataclysm that the Greeks first named the Black Sea "axin" that is to say "unfriendly sea, before it became later Euxine (or Pontus) that is to say "the sea friendly"? The Eastern texts are much less evocative than the Western texts, they describe sources that gush from the earth or the sky: In the event of spillage of water from the Mediterranean through the Bosphorus, and provided that it has taken place in an era recent enough that people who have suffered this disaster could have had the direct or indirect contact with or the editor (s) Babylonian (s) of the Poem Supersage and editors of the Bible, the origin of the rising waters of the Black Sea could not be understood by the inhabitants of the shores of the East Black Sea , located about 600 km from the Bosphorus. "Sources of the great deep" that raise the sea level, according to the Bible, could then be meaningful. The allusion to the biblical Mount Ararat and would the collective memory of a hunted population rugged coast of the Caucasus by the rising waters and taken refuge in the mountains (Mount Ararat, 300 km south-east shores of the Black Sea , is the culmination of the region, visible from afar). In the Epic of Atrahasis or Poem Supersage, we read: "The gods themselves were appalled: taking flight, they climbed into heaven of Anu , where such dogs, they remained huddled. The Avesta of mythology Zoroastrian Iranian describes a gigantic cavern that Yima have built on the advice of Mazda , installing even a light artificially, the inhabiting of the strongest men and women, and a male and a female of every animal, bird and plant - all undergoing "bad winters were snow falling in large flakes," a "ferocious and deadly cold." Hence, these refugees could be moved in Mesopotamia (if people behind this myth is Akkadian , unless they are original Sumerian , whose population is generally accepted that they were rather the eastern Iraq ), therefore placing their home on the side of Armenia. Thus, the few mentions place names identified in the ancient texts are the flood line north of Mount Parnassus , Mount Ararat. And some ancient texts can effectively carry the memory of a flood initiated by an earthquake. 
Conceptions ancient geological
Scenarios frivolous or questionable
The hypothesis of local Black Sea
Confrontation of the assumption of the Black Sea to Western texts
Confrontation of the hypothesis of the Black Sea Eastern texts
Confrontation of the hypothesis of an earthquake and ancient texts
Quotes Deluge
Evocations artistic and scientific
Art
Cinema
Literature
Scientists
References
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