The flood is not unique to one culture.
The Biblical story of Noah's Ark and the great flood is well known to many people however this story is not unique just to the ancient Hebrew people it is a story that is told in some way in ancient cultures all over the world. What is interesting is that these stories share many of the same elements within their individual narrations. Many of ancient Mesopotamian cultures share a remarkably similar deluge event in their own individual mythos of origins, from the Sumerians in the Eridu Genesis tablet, the Akkadians in the three tablets of Atrahasis,the Babylonians in the 11th tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh, and lastly the Hebrews in the Torah. This deluge event or “flood story” is always a story of mortal crime followed by divine punishment. Mankind has committed the crime of annoying the gods, the gods then decide to use a flood to wipe out mankind as the punishment for the offence.
What is a Myth?
Before I continue and compare the 3 main similarities of these four accounts, I best define what is myth and the genre and typologies of these stories within the context of myth. I must do this as by even saying that word in the while discussing religious texts ie. the Torah, can cause many offences, so please let me explain before you stop reading. Myth is not the term I like to use because it has so many negative connotations however, a better word doesn’t exist. To paraphrase Professor Eric Csapo in his book Theories of Mythology 'a myth is a true story to those who use it', so for these ancient cultures using these stories we must remember they were true stories to them.These stories also tell of a historical event “Flood” with the world appearing much as it does today which leads us to classifying this myths’ typology as a legend. Csapo defines legends as being truthful accounts of the past that quite often include supernatural enrichment.Here I must point out that there are multiple typologies under the banner or myth, we most commonly associate the term myth with fairytales however that is only one type of myth, just like legends, sagas and folklore are others. In all these types of myth we must remember that the people using them thought of them as true. A common element in all these types of myths, is that it is a story about something in the past, and that it relates to the present.
The Crime of being annoying
The first similarity between these myths is the reason for sending the deluge in the first place. In both Atrahasis and the Torah, the god figures find the state of the earth unacceptable, as mankind has multiplied greatly. In Atrahasis mankind has become so noisy that the gods could not sleep. I wonder what noisy means, as in most ancients cultures the gods only heard people when they were crying out to them. I cannot help but think maybe this is like the culture of today where so many people call out to their god or gods only to always be seeking something for themselves, unlike the purpose of mankind’s creation in these stories being that of serving the gods not the gods serving mankind. Likewise, The Torah recounts a similar problem of mankind having become so wicked and evil that the earth was filled with violence resulting in the Hebrew god Yahweh regretting creating them. In both accounts the gods have decided to wipeout mankind in judgment for the crime of causing them displeasure, regretting ever creating mankind to serve them, as they are obviously failing at the serving part.
Kings, Priests, and a big boat
The second similarity between these deluge myths is that one man, being both king and priest, finds favour with their god. Who forewarns them of the impending annihilation of mankind, along with providing the instruction to build a boat that will save them.
Starting with the Torah a devout man called Noah finds favour with the god Yahweh. He is instructed to build a large boat that can hold his family and many animals so they can survive the pending judgement. Noah is introduced to us with his genealogy from Adam, this is a common way in ancient cultures of showing kingship, commonly referred to as a king list. Even though he is not directly called a King the assumption can be made based on the similar concepts found in the literature of Mesopotamia.
Likewise, Atrahasis is also a devout man, as in he is in constant communication with the god Enki. It's important to note that in ancient cultures its usually only priests and kings that communicate with the gods, everyday commoners rarely have any communication with a god. Atrahasis is forewarned by Enki who provides him with the instructions to build a large boat, by dismantling his house for materials so that his family and many animals can be saved from the deluge.
The Epic of Gilgamesh follows this theme, with god Ea warning Uta-napishti of the impending flood and instructs him to demolish his house, for the materials to build a big boat, so that he can save his family and community along with many animals. Though the text doesn’t say that Uta-napishti is a devout man it can be implied as he is in regular communication with the god Ea who he has obviously pleased as Ea has chosen him as the one to warn. Kingship here is implied though the wealth and influence he has; this is due to the large amount of property and possessions described belonging to him.
The Eridu Genesis presents the king and priest Ziusudra, as the devout man who also finds favour with the god Enki. We do not get the instructions from Enki in this text to build a boat and to fill it with animals as this tablet is damaged and has missing portions. However, what we do see is Enki warning Ziusudra about the impending flood before the damaged section of text. Once the text picks up again, we seen that Ziusudra is in the middle of the big storm during the deluge in a big boat, after the flood subsides, he is butchering oxen and sheep which suggests that they must have also of been onboard.
The Smell of food
The third similarity is that after the flood waters have receded in all these accounts the survivor provides a sacrifice to the god that warned them. The gods are drawn to these sacrifices via the smell as it was found to be pleasant, in some accounts the smell draws the there because they are hungry as with mankind wiped out no one is offering them food. The purpose of presenting sacrifices of food to gods in the ancient world was to provide sustenance for the gods, remember earlier where i recounted the purpose of mankind was to serve the gods fulfilling their needs. In all accounts the gods delight in the sacrifices and are remorseful as to what had they had done. The gods make the realization that they need mankind to present sacrifices to them, to feed them, after this realization the devout man is then rewarded. In all accounts except for the Torah, they are rewarded with immortality. However, in the Torah immortality had already been removed from mankind, so the god Yahweh instead rewards mankind with the promise to not attempt to fully wipe them out via a flood again. likewise the element of the god Yahweh is also eating the sacrifice is not there as in later works Yahweh explains he doesn't consume the sacrifices as he doesn't need them to sustain him.
The function of the myth
These deluge myths appear to function in a similar way for these cultures. These myths function as a means for these ancient cultures to rationalize their own mortality, their mortality can be seen as dependent upon the appeasement of the gods. Mankind has limitations placed on them from the gods, being a reduction of their lifetime, and causing difficulty in childbirth. Therefore resulting in a means of population control to help prevent the same circumstances that led to the original crime.
There are many other similarities than those I've mentioned, like in the Torah and in Gilgamesh birds are sent out from the boat to find dry land, with even the type and number of the birds being similar. Also, how craftsmen, women and children were also saved so that society could be rebuilt. Even the length of time can be similar for the deluge event, though not consistently so. I have however only focused on what is common between all these accounts
For the basic premise of these Myths to be extremely similar there must have been at least a common cognitive environment that has led to these myths being used in a similar way. With the main elements of the story following the same theme and progression. It may even be described as a shared memory of the past between these cultures, these stories seem to all be recorded around the same point in time being 19th-14th century BCE how ever there is some variation here. Atrahasis and the Eridu Genesis are around the 17th century, Gilgamesh originates in the 19th century however tablet 11 which contains the flood appears to be a 12th-14th century addition. The Torah is the outlier here as it is a works based on oral tradition which makes it difficult to place the story being recorded anywhere from the 21st to 6th century BCE. Though considering the other stories are from cultures that are all located in the same geographical location and that just so happens to be the location that the Hebrew people were exiled to in the 6th century BCE it could explain some of those similarities. However it is interesting this story is echoed among most of the ancient cultures all over the world, from them Maasai in Africa, the Ojibwe of North America, the Aztec's and Mayans in Mesoamerica, to China, India, Japan, and Australia plus many more, it is a global story.
The issue here of who borrowed and adopted this myth is irrelevant, what is important to remember is that these myths were true to the people who used them and that the shared environment that developed these myths is a bond between all these ancient cultures and the past event in which they are remembering.
