- Also called:
- deluge myth
flood myth
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What is a flood myth?
A flood myth is a widespread narrative in various cultures where a flood destroys a disobedient population, after which a new world is created.
Examples include:
* Biblical The story of Noah, who is instructed by God to build an ark to save his family and animals from a divinely ordained flood.
* Mesopotamian Myths like the Epic of Gilgamesh, where Utnapishtim builds a boat to preserve life during a catastrophic flood, later becoming deified.
* Greek The legend of Deucalion, who, warned by his father Prometheus, builds an ark with his wife to survive a flood sent by Zeus.
* Indian The tale of Manu, who is warned by a fish and builds a boat to survive a flood, later repopulating the earth with a woman born from the waters.
* Aztec The belief in previous worlds destroyed by catastrophes, including a flood lasting 52 years that wiped out humanity, save for a man and woman who survived in a cypress.3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Which cultures have stories about great floods?
Across cultures, flood myths describe a great flood that destroys a disobedient population, after which a new world is created.
Many cultures have their own versions of a flood myth:
* Mesopotamia The Epic of Gilgamesh describes Utnapishtim and his wife as survivors of a mythological flood. In another myth, Atrahasis is warned by a god to build a ship to save himself from the flood.
* Biblical The biblical account of the Deluge tells the story of Noah, who is instructed by God to build an ark to save his family and the animals from the impending flood.
* Greek In Greek legend, Deucalion and his wife ride out the flood in an ark and land on Mount Parnassus.
* Indian Indian flood mythology tells of Manu, who builds a boat after being warned of a flood and is safely steered to a mountaintop.
* Aztec The Aztec believed that the fourth world, Nahui-Atl, ended in a gigantic flood that lasted 52 years. Only one man and one woman survived.3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What is the basic plot of a typical flood myth?
Across cultures, flood myths share a basic plot: a deity, or deities, become displeased with humans, who are typically disobedient. They then send a great flood to destroy almost all life. However, one person is warned beforehand about the impending disaster. Acting on this warning, the individual builds a vessel, like an ark, and gathers their family and specimens of animals to save them from the flood. After the flood, the vessel lands on high ground. The survivors offer a sacrifice, and the deity promises never to send another flood. Thus, the flood is an act of cleansing, after which a new world is created.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How do flood myths explain the cause of the flood?
Across cultures, flood myths often explain floods as divine responses to humanity's wickedness or disobedience.
- Biblical tradition In the Old Testament, God sends the Deluge because of the moral corruption of human history, choosing Noah to perpetuate the human race after the flood.
- Mesopotamian versions The Eridu Genesis says the gods destroy humankind with a flood for unknown reasons. Similarly, in Greek legends, Zeus sends a flood to destroy humanity.
- Indian flood mythology A great flood destroys the whole of humanity, and Manu becomes the sole survivor.
- Aztec tradition The fourth world, Nahui-Atl, ended in a gigantic flood that lasted 52 years because of catastrophes.
These myths often serve as a form of expiation, after which a new world is created.
4 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Who are some important characters in flood myths?
Flood myths often feature key characters who play pivotal roles in the survival and repopulation of the world.
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Noah: From the biblical Old Testament, he is forewarned about the impending Deluge and is instructed by God to build an ark to save his family and specimens of all animals.
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Utnapishtim: In the Babylonian Gilgamesh epic, he survives a mythological flood by building a great boat and is later deified by the god Enlil.
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Ziusudra: Featured in the Sumerian Eridu Genesis, he is warned by the god Enki about the flood and builds a boat to survive, later receiving immortality as a reward.
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Manu: In Indian mythology, he is the first man who builds a boat after being warned of a flood by a fish and repopulates the earth with a woman born from the waters.
4 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
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How are flood myths from different cultures similar and different?
Flood myths are common across cultures, particularly in Eurasia and the Americas, and typically involve a great flood that destroys a disobedient population, followed by the creation of a new world.
Similarities:
* Many cultures feature a protagonist who is warned of the coming disaster and is instructed to build a vessel to save themselves, their family, and animals.
* The flood is often seen as a form of purification or expiation.Differences:
* In Mesopotamian myths, the flood was the result of disagreements among the gods, whereas, in the biblical story, it resulted from the moral corruption of humanity.
* After surviving, Utnapishtim in the Gilgamesh epic and his wife are deified, while Noah is commanded to renew history.
* The biblical God sets a rainbow in the sky as a guarantee to never flood the earth again.3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
flood myth, any of numerous mythologies in which a flood destroys a typically disobedient original population. Myths of a great flood (the Deluge) are widespread over Eurasia and America. The flood, with a few exceptions, is an expiation by the water, after which a new type of world is created.
Biblical flood myth
The biblical account of the Deluge (Genesis 6:11–9:19) features Noah as the hero of the Flood story. In his account, Noah is represented as the patriarch who, because of his blameless piety, was chosen by God to perpetuate the human race after his wicked contemporaries had perished in the Flood. A righteous man, Noah “found favour in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6:8). Thus, when God beheld the corruption of the earth and determined to destroy it, he gave Noah divine warning of the impending disaster and made a covenant with him, promising to save him and his family. Noah was instructed to build an ark, and in accordance with God’s instructions he took into the ark male and female specimens of all the world’s species of animals, from which the stocks might be replenished. Consequently, according to this narrative, the entire surviving human race descended from Noah’s three sons and their wives.
The religious meaning of the Flood is conveyed after Noah’s heroic survival, having safely landed on Mount Ararat. He then built an altar on which he offered burnt sacrifices to God, who then bound himself to a pact never again to curse the earth on humanity’s account. God then set a rainbow in the sky as a visible guarantee of his promise in this covenant. God also renewed his commands given at Creation but with two changes: humankind could now kill animals and eat meat, and murder would be punished by humans. Despite the tangible similarities of the Mesopotamian mythologies and the biblical Flood, the biblical story has a unique Hebraic perspective. In the Babylonian stories the destruction of the flood was the result of a disagreement among the gods, while in Genesis it resulted from the moral corruption of human history. The primitive polytheism of the Mesopotamian versions is transformed in the biblical story into an affirmation of the omnipotence and benevolence of the one righteous God.
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Mesopotamian flood myths
According to Eridu Genesis, an ancient Sumerian religious epic, deities fashioned humankind from clay to cultivate the ground, care for flocks, and perpetuate the worship of the gods. Cities were soon built, but, for some reason, the gods determined to destroy humankind with a flood. Enki (Akkadian: Ea), who did not agree with the decree, revealed it to Ziusudra, a man well known for his humility and obedience. Ziusudra did as Enki commanded him and built a huge boat, in which he successfully rode out the flood. Afterward, he prostrated himself before the gods An (Anu) and Enlil, and, as a reward for living a godly life, Ziusudra was given immortality.
In the related Babylonian Gilgamesh epic, Utnapishtim and his wife are the survivors of the mythological flood, having preserved human and animal life in the great boat he built. The couple were then deified by the god Enlil as a reward for heeding the divine instruction to build an ark.
Another Mesopotamian myth is the story of Atrahasis, a wise man who was saved from the flood after being warned by one of the gods to build a ship to save himself. This story is preserved in fragmentary Old Babylonian and Assyrian versions.
These Babylonian mythologies have close affinities with the biblical story of the Flood and are the source of such features as the building and provisioning of the ark, its flotation, and the dispatch of the raven and dove, as well as the part played by the human protagonist in the biblical account.
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Other flood myths
In Greek legend, Deucalion, the son of Prometheus (the creator of humankind) is the equivalent of Noah. When Zeus, the king of the gods, resolved to destroy all humanity by a flood, Deucalion constructed an ark in which, according to one version, he and his wife rode out the flood and landed on Mount Parnassus.
According to Indian flood mythology, the man Manu was the sole survivor of the great flood, combining the characteristics of the Hebrew Bible figures of Noah and Adam, the first man. The Shatapatha Brahmana recounts how Manu was warned by a fish, to whom he had done a kindness, that a flood would destroy the whole of humanity. He therefore built a boat, as the fish advised. When the flood came, he tied this boat to the fish’s horn and was safely steered to a resting place on a mountaintop. When the flood receded, Manu, the sole human survivor, performed a sacrifice, pouring oblations of butter and sour milk into the waters. After a year, there was born from the waters a woman who announced herself as “the daughter of Manu.” These two then became the ancestors of a new human race to replenish the earth. In the Mahabharata (“Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty”), the fish is identified with the god Brahma, while in the Puranas (“Ancient Lore”) it is Matsya, the fish incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
The Aztec believed that four worlds had existed before the present universe. Those worlds, or “suns,” had been destroyed by catastrophes, and humankind had been entirely wiped out at the end of each sun. The fourth sun, Nahui-Atl, “Four-Water,” ended in a gigantic flood that lasted 52 years. Only one man and one woman survived, sheltered in a huge cypress, but they were later turned to dogs.