Flood

Mesopotamian tradition

• Flood appears in Mesopotamian tradition.

  Utnapishtim’s flood is told inside Gilgamesh. It is a Mesopotamian survival story with a boat and a later hush.

  from Epic of Gilgamesh, c. 1200 BCE (this recension)

  appears in · sourced · documented

• Flood is associated with Rebirth.

  Enuma Elish is a cosmogony of order from conflict, not a flood-survival tale. Keep Gilgamesh’s flood and creation-combat as related Mesopotamian files, not one plot.

  from Enuma Elish, standard version often dated to the late 2nd millennium BCE

  associated with · interpretive · culturally specific

• Water is associated with Flood.

  The Gilgamesh flood is water as world-covering disaster, survived by Utnapishtim. It is not baptism and not Daoist softness.

  from Epic of Gilgamesh, c. 1200 BCE (this recension)

  associated with · sourced · documented

Hellenic religion

• Flood appears in Hellenic religion.

  Ovid tells Deucalion and Pyrrha’s flood. The tale is a Mediterranean literary flood, related in type to older Near Eastern floods, not proof they are one event.

  from Ovid · Metamorphoses, 8 CE

  appears in · sourced · culturally specific

• Flood is associated with Rebirth.

  A world washed and begun again is a rebirth plot. Applying it equally to Gilgamesh and to Ovid would flatten two tellings; this edge stays cautious.

  associated with · interpretive · speculative

Egyptian religion

• Nile is associated with Flood.

  The Nile’s inundation is a yearly rise, not Utnapishtim’s world-covering flood. Keep the two waters distinct even when English uses one word.

  associated with · interpretive · culturally specific