BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

The Animals Went in Two by Two, According to Babylonian Ark Tablet

Old Babylonian flood tablet describes how to build a circular ark

The so-called Ark Tablet, recently translated by Irving Finkel, is an Old Babylonian (1900-1700 B.C.E.) account of the flood in which the god Enki instructs Atrahasis—the Babylonian Noah—on how to build an ark. The twist? This Babylonian ark would have been circular.

We all know the story of Noah’s Ark. Ever since George Smith’s 1872 translation of Babylonian texts similar to the Biblical Deluge (see “George Smith’s Other Find” below), we’ve also known about echoes of the Genesis narrative in pre-Biblical Mesopotamian texts. A recently translated Old Babylonian (c. 1900–1700 B.C.E.) tablet has literally reshaped our vision of the Babylonian vessel used to weather the storm and builds bridges across the floodwaters dividing the Biblical and Mesopotamian accounts of the flood.

The Babylonian Flood Tradition

Babylonian flood traditions have been familiar material for BAR readers since the early days of our magazine. Tikva Frymer-Kensky’s 1978 feature “What the Babylonian Flood Stories Can and Cannot Teach Us About the Genesis Flood” introduced the Sumerian Flood Story, the eleventh tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic and the Atrahasis Epic:

The Babylonian flood stories contain many details which also occur in the flood story in Genesis. Such details in the story as the building of an ark, the placing of animals in the ark, the landing of the ark on a mountain, and the sending forth of birds to see whether the waters had receded indicate quite clearly that the Genesis flood story is intimately related to the Babylonian flood stories and is indeed part of the same “flood” tradition. However, while there are great similarities between the Biblical and Babylonian flood stories, there are also very fundamental differences, and it is just as important that we focus on these fundamental differences as on the similarities.

The Babylonian accounts differ from each other. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the god Enki tasks Utnapishtim to save the world from the flood, and for his good deed, he is granted immortality (and subsequently, Gilgamesh’s envy). Later discoveries revealed that the account was an abridged and modified version of the Akkadian Atrahasis epic, a similar flood myth that was copied and adapted for centuries in the ancient Near East. Memories of an antediluvian (pre-flood) period were preserved throughout Mesopotamia: The Sumerian king list includes antediluvian kings, and reliefs of antediluvian sages known as apkallu figures (winged genies) lined the walls of Assyrian palaces and remain one of the most iconic forms of Mesopotamian art to this day.

FREE ebook: Exploring Genesis: The Bible’s Ancient Traditions in Context Mesopotamian creation myths, Joseph’s relationship with Egyptian temple practices and 3 tales of Ur, the birthplace of Abraham.

* Indicates a required field.

How to Build an Ark

The Ark Tablet describes a gufa or coracle–a round boat that would have been familiar to Mesopotamian audiences. Unlike the boat shown above, Atrahasis’s gufa would have had a base area over 35,000 square feet, with 20-foot-high walls. Picture from Atlantic Ship Model.

With such a well-documented Mesopotamian flood tradition, why is this newly translated cuneiform tablet making waves in our understanding of the Babylonian flood myth? The so-called “Ark Tablet”—a cell-phone sized piece of clay inscribed on both sides—is essentially an ark builder’s how-to guide, according to its translator, British Museum scholar Irving Finkel. Enki gives Atrahasis instructions on how to build an ark, but the resulting boat isn’t what you’d expect. According to Irving Finkel, this boat was round. In an article in The Telegraph, Finkel writes:

The most remarkable feature provided by the Ark Tablet is that the lifeboat built by Atra-hasıs— the Noah-like hero who receives his instructions from the god Enki—was definitely, unambiguously round. “Draw out the boat that you will make,” he is instructed, “on a circular plan.”

The text describes the construction of a coracle or gufa, a traditional basket-like boat that would have been familiar to Mesopotamian audiences. Of course, this is no average coracle—Atrahasis is to build a boat with a diameter of close to 230 feet across and 20-foot-high walls. The boat is made out of a massive quantity of palm-fiber rope, sealed with bitumen. This isn’t exactly the same ark that Noah built—or Utnapishtim, for that matter:

Epic of Gilgamesh Tablet XI, 54-65
On the fifth day I laid out her exterior. It was a field in area, its walls were each 10 times 12 cubits in height, the sides of its top were of equal length, 10 times It cubits each. I laid out its (interior) structure and drew a picture of it (?). I provided it with six decks, thus dividing it into seven (levels). The inside of it I divided into nine (compartments). I drove plugs (to keep out) water in its middle part. I saw to the punting poles and laid in what was necessary. Three times 3,600 (units) of raw bitumen I poured into the bitumen kiln, three times 3,600 (units of) pitch …into it…
Genesis 6:14-15
Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; and put the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks.

 

The Animals Went in Two by Two

This reconstruction accompanied the Telegraph article by Finkel. Photo: Stuart Patience @ Heart Agency.

At first glance, it would seem that the Ark Tablet, while extremely descriptive in its instructions—it features twenty lines just describing the waterproofing of the vessel—is describing an ark narrative that differs more from Noah’s than its other Babylonian counterparts. However, according to his Telegraph article, Finkel was shocked by the rare cuneiform signs sana in the passage describing the animals on the boat. Sana is listed in the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary as “Two each, two by two.” Compare this with the Biblical text:

And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind shall come in to you, to keep them alive.”

The cuneiform wedges were pressed into Babylonian Ark Tablet a full millennium before the Genesis narrative was written down, but the two bear a strong thematic resemblance in their treatment of the animals. However, this tablet describes how to build an ark, and the resulting vessel couldn’t be much more different from the Biblical boat. Would a round gufa-style boat weather the Deluge? Irving Finkel points out that a pointed ship may be easier to sail to a particular destination, but Atrahasis’s ark had nowhere to go—it merely needed to support its human and animal occupants for the duration of the flood. He told The Guardian:

In all the images ever made people assumed the ark was, in effect, an ocean-going boat, with a pointed stem and stern for riding the waves – so that is how they portrayed it. But the ark didn’t have to go anywhere, it just had to float, and the instructions are for a type of craft which they knew very well. It’s still sometimes used in Iran and Iraq today, a type of round coracle which they would have known exactly how to use to transport animals across a river or floods.

Click here to read his account in The Telegraph.

Learn more about Irving Finkel’s book The Ark Before Noah.


The harshness of the curse of Ham, his son Canaan and their descendants after the ark narrative has been a source of scholarly debate for millennia. A new reading of the Dead Sea Scroll 4Q180-4Q181 provides a fresh perspective on Canaan’s transgression.


George Smith’s Other Find: The Babylonian Flood Tablet

Originally published as the sidebar to “The Genesis of Genesis” by Victor Hurowitz in Bible Review‘s anniversary issue.

The Babylonian Flood Tablet translated by George Smith in the mid/late 19th century. The British Museum.

In 1866, George Smith, a British bank-note engraver, wrote a letter to the famed Assyriologist Sir Henry Rawlinson, asking if he might have a look at the fragments and casts of Assyrian inscriptions in the back rooms of the British Museum. Rawlinson agreed—thus initiating what would become an unusually fruitful friendship between an eager amateur and the man who had deciphered cuneiform.

Smith so impressed Rawlinson that the latter hired him in 1867 to help catalogue the museum’s cuneiform inscriptions, including those excavated by Austen Henry Layard at Kyunjik (ancient Nineveh) in the 1840s and 1850s.

In the accompanying article, Victor Hurowitz describes one of Smith’s most significant discoveries: the Babylonian poem Enūma Eliš. But Smith’s most famous “find” in the British Museum store rooms was undoubtedly the Epic of Gilgamesh, with its dramatic account of a Great Deluge that threatened to wipe out humankind.

In his popular book The Chaldean Account of Genesis, Smith described the discovery: “I soon found half of a curious tablet which had evidently contained originally six columns of text; two of these (the third and fourth) were still nearly perfect; two others (the second and fifth) were imperfect, about half remaining, while the remaining columns (the first and sixth) were entirely lost. On looking down the third column, my eye caught the statement that the ship rested on the mountains of Nizir, followed by the account of the sending forth of the dove, and its finding no resting-place and returning. I saw at once that I had here discovered a portion at least of the Chaldean [Babylonian] account of the Deluge.”

According to a later source, Smith then “jumped up and rushed about the room in a great state of excitement, and, to the astonishment of those present, began to undress himself.” The British Museum has dubbed Smith’s Tablet 11, shown, “the most famous cuneiform tablet from Mesopotamia.”

After he calmed down, Smith scoured the museum’s holdings for further fragments, and soon found that his Flood tablet was the 11th tablet in a 12-tablet epic poem. On December 3, 1872, he presented his findings to the newly founded British Society of Biblical Archaeology and speculated that more of these tablet fragments remained buried in the sands of Nineveh.

Soon after, Edwin Arnold, owner of London’s Daily Telegraph, proposed that his paper sponsor renewed excavations at Nineveh, with Smith at the helm. Smith, and the museum, agreed.

Smith later wrote, “Soon after I commenced excavating at Kouyunjik, on the site of the palace of Assurbanipal, I found a new fragment of the Chaldean account of the Deluge belonging to the first column of the tablet, relating the command to build and fill an ark, and nearly filling up the most considerable blank in the story.”

FREE ebook: Ten Top Biblical Archaeology Discoveries. Finds like the Pool of Siloam in Israel, where the Gospel of John says Jesus miraculously restored sight to a blind man.

* Indicates a required field.

The copies of the Gilgamesh Epic discovered by Layard and Smith came from the world-class library of the Assyrian king Assurbanipal (668–627 B.C.E.). The tales of Gilgamesh, the bold warrior-king of Uruk, are much older, however; many of them date back to the Sumerian period (third millennium B.C.E.). In the Old Babylonian Period (early second millennium B.C.E.), the various adventures of Gilgamesh were strung together in a cohesive narrative, which was rewritten many times. By the 12th century B.C.E., an 11-tablet version of the epic had emerged. In the eighth century B.C.E., a 12th tablet describing the death of Gilgamesh was added to the series.

The Flood story does not number among the original Sumerian tales of Gilgamesh. Rather, it was inserted into the narrative in about the 12th century, and thus appears only in the 11- and 12-tablet versions of the tale (called the Standard Babylonian versions).


In the free eBook Exploring Genesis: The Bible’s Ancient Traditions in Context, discover the cultural contexts for many of Israel’s latest traditions. Explore Mesopotamian creation myths, Joseph’s relationship with Egyptian temple practices and three different takes on the location of Ur of the Chaldeans, the birthplace of Abraham.


According to the tale, after the death of his beloved friend Enkidu, a disconsolate Gilgamesh searches for ways to live forever. His quest leads him, on Tablet 11, to the immortal Utnapishtim—often referred to as the Mesopotamian Noah, because he saved his family from a devastating worldwide Flood. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that he, too, was once a mere a mortal and a king, of Shuruppak-on-the-Euphrates. In his day, five of the gods plotted to send a Flood to destroy humankind. One of the gods, Ea, surreptitiously informed the king, whispering, “Quickly, quickly tear down your house and build a great ship, leave your possessions, save your life … Then gather and take aboard the ship examples of every living creature.” Utnapishtim finishes the ship and loads his family and animals just in time: “Ninurta opened the floodgates of heaven, the infernal gods blazed and set the whole land on fire. A deadly silence spread through the sky and what had been bright now turned to darkness. The land was shattered like a clay pot. All day, ceaselessly, the storm winds blew, the rain fell, then the flood burst forth, overwhelming the people like war … For six days and seven nights, the storm demolished the earth. On the seventh day, the downpour stopped. The ocean grew calm. The land could be seen, just water on all sides, as flat as a roof. There was no life at all.” The boat runs aground on Mount Nimush. Utnapishtim sends out a dove, which flies right back, having failed to find land; he sends a swallow with similar results. Finally, he sends a raven, which never returns. The waters have begun to recede.

The gods convene and offer Utnapishtim and his family immortality. Having heard this tale, Gilgamesh recognizes he has little chance of being offered the same, and he returns home to Uruk to die.—Molly Dewsnap Meinhardt

Passages from Gilgamesh come from Stephen Mitchell’s new translation Gilgamesh: A New English Version (New York: Free Press, 2004).


This Bible History Daily article was originally published on January 29, 2014.


Read more about Noah’s ark in Bible History Daily:

The Ark of the Covenant in its Egyptian Context

How Did Noah Build the Ark?

Did This Winery Get Noah Drunk?

All-Access members, read more in the BAS Library:

A Futile Quest: The Search for Noah’s Ark

An Ancient Coin Depicts Noah’s Ark

Was Noah’s Ark a Sewn Boat?

The Curious Case of Noah’s…Box?

Not a BAS Library or All-Access Member yet? Join today.

62 Responses

  1. So complicated !! Concept about God is much more simplier nowadays then it was in ancient times !! Just because we have the contininuous strive to implement novelties in our lives, this fact sometimes leaves the bare truth untouched. We are God’s incarnates, since God created men in his image, but we belong to Satan and his disciples, since we have sinned and grew old. No remedy for this yet

  2. Ferdie says:

    I strongly recommend to read the full book from Dr Irving Finkel. I bought it near last Christmas and it was worth reading. Even with a skeptic view, Dr. Finkel do not try to answer the Flood existence, in fact he considers that a flood event really happened, if global or not this is another question.
    The core elements from Genesis are present on different Akkadian, Sumerian and Babylonian flood stories and this in my opinion is an external validation source for the Bible flood.

  3. judyl33 says:

    Pbs did a show.. in search of noahs ark.. in 2015 I think which proved that the ark was indeed the round style common for the time and still being used in much smaller sizes. It also showed the long shelter built in the center of the round boat of reeds. They slipped into a part of country restricted in order to see a very LARGE building structure made entirely of grasses twisted and woven tightly to produce supports for the rest of differently woven coverings. It was how they knew it was possible that a round basket style boat would have been possible. The structure they created based on the ancient tablet proved it was possible. It also explained based on the ancient instructions and other writings that the long structure was in the center of the round boat. They recreated this large structure that floated down the water. The huge problem was the sealant on the outside could not be reproduced since they were trying to make it from a different mud. They could not reproduce the boat in Iran using the materials of what would have been the original area. Instead they had to do it in another safer country. And since the finished boat had to be launched instead of waiting for a flood the method they had worked out came to a screeching halt as one side broke sending one side of the boat into the water before they were ready. They managed to salvage it however. And eventually did float this gigantic basket down the water. Pbs reran the film last year. But its available on DVD And for download on different places on the internet.
    So no one is stupid or a idiot for believing these ancient accounts of different so called myths with different names. How many hundreds of names are there for God based on different cultures over the centuries. Even the so called king James version of the bible has several names. So why does Noah have to be just one name. It’s possible that each sect could be referring to the same individual but using a different name.
    The bible most people are familiar with today is still just an interpretation of man. Man who is not always accurate. Who is capable of making an error when copying a word. Is that not why there are editors and proof readers for published books and newspapers. We all know that one misspelled word can create an entirely different meaning to a sentence. Even our languages in todays world are so different in how they are converted to English and vice versa. Spanish and French assign sex to words. Pencil is feminine pen is masculine. So the accepted king James version is one man’s interpretation. Before written words there have always been oral stories handed down generation to generation. Native Americans have had a deep spiritual connection with the land around them. And their many legends and stories their history was an oral one taught to children long before ever being written down. There’s Celtics and the original tribes of new Zealand that relied on oral histories and what we call myths now. The book of genesis can be seen in different cultures as having similar stories in different cultures. For a person to say it is stupid to believe that noahs ark was round based on one man’s interpretation of genesis is small minded in my opinion. Keeping in mind too that various interpretations of the bible and Jewish Torahs and Catholic teachings etc were also used as a way to keep control over large populations of people. The writings of Paul especially come to mind.
    Living in the state that has the embarrassing noahs ark theme park is what makes me sensitive to people that say well the king James version says it was this way so thats the only way it can be. Obviously their version of the ark is wrong. But what upsets so many is the way the people in charge of this theme park are both brainwashing and confusing our youth. They completely ignore science. They have men and dinosaurs living together. Telling the kids that come through that science is wrong. That geology is wrong. Their personal interpretations are the only thing to be believed even though the majority of what they are showing in the exhibits are proven as wrong. Even the ark is wrong as well. But mixing up things millions of years apart as existing in the same timeline and shoving these down the throats of young minds the way they do is totally unacceptable. It’s in the same vein as denying the holocaust ever happened and teaching that thought as gospel. Their entire reasoning for throwing out proven science is based entirely on God having created the world in 6 days. So therefore dinosaurs and man all lives together in the garden of Eden. But i seem to remember that in referring to the second coming of Jesus the messiah that there’s some sort of reference to therea no way of predicting the time that God’s time and man’s time is different. That a day could be a thousand years. Could be. Could be more or could be less. So then if Gods time is different in the end then how many thousands of years could a day had been during creation. You can’t say that God is infinity and then say God is finite in same breath. The entire story of Gods creating the planet in 6 days is one of those stories thats different and similar going from culture to culture. So telling the school children that misguided adults take to this ark amusement park by the busloads that science that geology is all a lie should not be allowed. It’s too confusing for the young. Jesus told stories as a way of teaching. As examples. They weren’t meant as literal facts. So why is it not possible to have different names in different cultures in different times all telling of the same event. and using the instructions given in that clay modern man was able to recreate a round basket of different levels that was capable of floating like the smaller versions and capable of housing a large amount of animals.

  4. Nev Anderson says:

    – The Flood required rainfall of 8,391,493,558,272,000 cubic yards per hour. The energy transferred to earth by it’s fall would heat the surface to 18,000°
    Even evaporation of that amount of water would create 6,000° of heat
    – To get the diversification of animal life we see today, 11 totally unrelated new species would have to Pop into existence every single day.
    – A seaworthy ship that size is impossible. The best shipwrights, with modern technology cannot manage it. Ken Ham needed thousands of tons of steel and heavy equipment to even construct an Ark shaped building!

  5. Silverwolf says:

    If you write it, they will buy it.

    The Finkel tablet specifies a two-story, disc-shaped vessel with a 220-foot diameter. This floating saucer was supposedly made of reeds tied with reams of ropes and covered with bitumen—perhaps a natural tar-like substance—for waterproofing. Such a floppy tub would hardly have been as seaworthy as the wooden, barge-like vessel depicted in the Bible.3

    Then in 2012, British historian Bill Cooper published a 1909 translation by Dr. Hermann Hilprecht of a Babylonian flood tablet that pre-dates Finkel’s fortuitous find.4 The two tablets differ substantially in details, with implications for both Finkel’s book and the Bible’s veracity.

    First, the story on Finkel’s cylindrical tablet resembles other unrealistic ancient Babylonian mythologized stories. They tell the story of Atrahasis, their name for Noah, but they portray unfeasible Arks. This one describes a perfectly round reed boat, but tablet 11 of the Epic of Gilgamesh describes the Ark as a perfect cube.5 The Gilgamesh story also comes from Babylon, and extant copies of it probably represent later, more fanciful retellings of originally historical events. Experiments show that neither a cube nor a disc could do the job of floating for a solid year while keeping its inhabitants alive, but the Genesis Ark’s design could.6

    In contrast to Finkel’s approximately 1850 B.C. tablet, the one that Cooper cited was “given the catalogue designation CBM 13532, [and] it dates from about 2200 B.C., or soon after the Flood itself.”7 It essentially presents no unrealistic or fanciful details, and in fact does not differ from the main elements of the Genesis account.

    The link is clear. The oldest tablet retains the highest quality of information because it appears it was written when the actual Flood survivors were still living and could have quickly squelched inaccurate versions of the Flood events.

    The notion that Bible authors borrowed from Babylonian myths—made explicit in Finkel’s book title The Ark Before Noah—fails for the same reason. Supposedly the Jews living as captives in Babylon revised their history to include the Babylonian flood account; but if that were so they would have been written off as fiction writers by their contemporaries, who could refute their historically revisionist peers. Plus, why would the Jewish exiles ever want to adopt the historical identity of their brutal pagan captors?

    Reality is the reverse. Noah’s Ark was the first Ark and the only real one. Babylonian and other cultures’ dim memories produced fanciful versions of the real events recorded in Scripture.

    News reports of the round-Ark tablet on display at the British Museum show that interest in Noah’s Ark remains strong, and this will undoubtedly help sell copies of Finkel’s book.8 And with the unreasonable disdain that secular scholarship has toward God’s Word, each copy sold will undoubtedly mislead its reader that the Genesis Flood account was borrowed from myth and is therefore a myth itself.

    The earlier date for the Hilprecht tablet combines with the unique feasibility of the Bible’s Ark description to firmly establish the Genesis rectangular Ark—not a round Ark—as the real one. Genesis offers the only Ark account that floats.

  6. Peter Dickson says:

    Recent article ?
    Finkel published a whole book about it in 2014.

  7. Jeannine Burkhart says:

    I strongly object to the boneheaded statement that the Babylonian flood story was written before the Biblical flood story because we have very old clay tablets that were recorded before the known Hebrew story. Obviously a papyrus account could have been recorded a thousand years before the clay account but not have survived. People who make such statements are amazingly stupid.

    JB

  8. Rohan Lal says:

    I wish if the scholars had a comparative study of Hindu (Indian) legends and The Holy Scriptures. Surely there will be some light. The great flood is a reality. We should admit it.

  9. Cynthia McLaglen says:

    The floods really did happen all around the world because the sea is now 300 foot higher than it was 16,000 years ago. During the time before this was the 22,000 to 18,000 Ice Age was the cause of the lower sea level. It became higher in stages, and the Persion Gulf becan to fill with sea water created from the enormous Ice Blocks above Canada and Scandia and Siberia. The sun became much hotter all of a sudden- reported in the Rig Veda and the Cuneiform tablets found in Ur and other Mesopotamian texts. We know today that if the sun is too hot and it is wet, that creates stormy weather, so there was a lot of rain, but also much ice melting, ice dams, which would melt at intervals creating tsunamis and floods from the sea as well.. Then at 13,00 to 9000 years ago another melt occurred after the Younger Dryas, and it was these melts at 8500 years ago which were probably the Floods that were sung about in the Rig Veda and written about in the ancient clay Tablets in Ur, and Mesopotamia and the Bible and Koran.

  10. Cynthia McLaglen says:

    What about the oldest story about Noah or his equivalent, of all: Manu in the Rig Veda? His story is almost the same as in the Sumerian story of Utnapishtim, with the Wise Sages who came from the sea advising the hero what to do? The floods are very big and rain comes from the storms and very hot weather caused by an over hot sun, which melts the ice lying on the Himalayas, and they come down like dragons in enormous shards creating floods never seen before. This was after the Younger Dryas or small Ice Age and its melting.

  11. Josh Mullinax says:

    I’ve been to the Grand Canyon ! If you can stand on top of all that and say a serious flood didn’t cut all that rock out…your just lie n to yourself….I mean there is fish stuck in the walls!!!! Religious or not…easy to see

  12. The Top Ten Biblical Archaeology Discoveries of 2014 | Restoring Liberty says:

    […] The Animals Went in Two by Two, According to Babylonian Ark Tablet An Old Babylonian flood tablet translated by British Museum scholar Irving Finkel describes how to build a circular ark. […]

  13. Lee says:

    I’m not sure why every “biblical scholar” seems to miss the verses in Genesis 7.2-3 that state SEVEN (7) of every clean animal was taken on the ark (for a later sacrifice). So the “two by two” is a general statement. The entire account must be read in context.

  14. Top 10 Biblical Archaeology Discoveries in 2014 | historyonly says:

    […] The Animals Went in Two by Two, According to Babylonian Ark Tablet An Old Babylonian flood tablet translated by British Museum scholar Irving Finkel describes how to build a circular ark. […]

  15. Top 10 Biblical Archaeology Discoveries in 2014 | NFTU says:

    […] The Animals Went in Two by Two, According to Babylonian Ark Tablet An Old Babylonian flood tablet translated by British Museum scholar Irving Finkel describes how to build a circular ark. […]

  16. Vridar » Archaelogical Finds 2014 — But Beware Christians Bearing Gifts says:

    […] in 2014 by Robin Ngo. This one has more interesting graphics for the Noah’s ark story here. And it does not have obnoxious ads telling you how to exploit the sufferings of others or how to […]

  17. Prentiss Cox says:

    At least three things bother me as a Christian Scientist.
    1) Between 10 and 50 million species of organisms exist. An ark the size of Noah’s could not hold the animals and the feeding and watering of the animals by 8 people would be next to impossible.
    2) No arrangements for plants was made and it is doubtful that that any would have survived months totally submerged in what was at best brackish water. Growth of new plants from seed that survived the flood would take years. How did people and animals survive with our trees and herb-like vegetation.
    3)No arrangements for fish and other aquatic animals was made. Salt water fish cannot live in fresh water or in most cases in brackish water. Fresh water fish cannot live in salt water or in most cases in brackish water. Brackish water fishes usually cannot live long in either fresh or salt water. Fish like salmon leave freshwater before kidneys completely develop and when the return they breed and die. Etc.
    Can it be that none of these flood stories refer to a worldwide flood or more likely still they are all myths?

  18. Top 10 Biblical Archaeology Discoveries in 2014 | Pastor Dave says:

    […] The Animals Went in Two by Two, According to Babylonian Ark Tablet An Old Babylonian flood tablet translated by British Museum scholar Irving Finkel describes how to build a circular ark. […]

  19. Joseph Ixchu says:

    So what I find interesting is that Archeologist continue to reference Babylonian as the source of these tablets. The city of UR was a Summerian city as they are the oldest known civilization which brought us the first known flood story, creation story and so on. If only they would be honest…until then the truth is hidden.

  20. Top 10 Biblical Archaeology Discoveries in 2014 | Bible Study With Randy says:

    […] in The Telegraph (see link above). Articles are also available at Mail Online, and at BAR’s Bible History Daily (if you’re are a […]

  21. Dr. J. Marshall Reber says:

    “The land could be seen, just water on all sides, as flat as a roof.”

    Isn’t “NOT” missing before “seen”?

  22. Top 10 Biblical Archaeology Discoveries in 2014 | Laodicean Report says:

    […] **The stories below are listed in no particular order and are free to read in Bible History Daily** The Animals Went in Two by Two, According to Babylonian Ark Tablet An Old Babylonian flood tablet translated by British Museum scholar Irving Finkel describes how to […]

  23. Terry Rozmus says:

    I studied geology, so I can’t help being interested in this topic since geology is uniquely equipped to comment on whether such an event took place in ancient times. Can we say there was a flood of global extent? Probably not. The evidence is just not there, unless you choose to listen to the claims of a tiny minority. However, when we look for evidence of large-magnitude flood events that may have provided the inspiration for these flood stories the picture changes dramatically.
    At the end of the last ice age sea levels were changing rapidly as ice melted. Some of the most dramatic changes resulted from areas where ice was acting as a dam holding back large bodies of water. As these dams melted, they burst releasing the stored water behind creating massive flood events downstream.
    One example of a place where this is known to have occurred is an area called the Badlands in South Dakota in the United States which shows massive erosion from an extreme flooding event. Another area where there is substantial evidence is the White Cliffs of Dover. The cliffs here are a curiosity because they occur right at the edge of gentle rolling hillside meadows on one side and relatively sheltered seas on the other. Here, as in the Badlands, the theory supported by research is that a large ice-age dam burst releasing a whole sea of stored water sufficient to destroy a large tract of land between England and France and create the famous white chalk cliffs.
    Neither of these events is in the right geographical location to have provided the inspiration for Noah’s flood or the Mesopotamian stories, though it may have provided material for local stories in these areas. The one event which I have found particularly interesting though for which there is substantial evidence is an outburst flood into the Black Sea through the Bosphorus Strait. At the time according to this theory, the Black Sea’s water level was much lower than the Mediterranean, but as world sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age the waters of the Mediterranean broke through at the present location of the Bosphorus and began rapidly filling the Black Sea.
    The reason why this location is of particular interest is because it is in the same region as Göbekli Tepe, which has received a lot of attention recently. This whole region is where agriculture in both Europe and the Near East appears to have begun. All modern domesticated wheat is genetically related to wild varieties found in this region in Turkey. If this is where agriculture and civilisation began, and the evidence is in favour of a massive flood occurring in the region as the last ice age came to a close, is it really a big stretch in imagination to consider that this event may have provided the source material for Noah’s flood?

  24. Sam says:

    Sorry: “Days” are understood as Epochs, not “Days” – as indeed – the notion of “day” is impossible before Day 4, when Luminaries are introduced.

  25. Sam says:

    Dearest Prof –

    I do think that you have been reading only very one-sided literature. Naturally you may not have been made aware of C.L. Wooley’s “Ur Excavations” in The British Museum, and “The Sumerians”(1954), where Wooley does indeed conclude, based on alluvial deposits, that “the disaster engulfed an area north-west of the Persian Gulf amounting to 400 miles long and 100 miles wide”. See the discussion in Werner Keller’s book “The Bible as History” (1980).

    I additionally do think that creationist do not have to assume that the Earth is only 6000 years old, and indeed, most creationists do understand Earth to be far far older – yet of course the notion of “a soul” – or “self-reflecting” or “moral codes” all only date back to 6000 years ago. The 6000 years is only counting from POST CREATION – which was a process prior to “Day 6” of Creation, where “Days” are understood (and have been recorded as having been understood this way, for 2000 years).

    I am sure that slight levels of open-mindedness to countless references from hundreds of different points on the globe, would possibly move you to attempt to foray further into the jungle of possibilities.

  26. Prof Rufus Bse. Bristol Uk says:

    What utter rubbish all this is , same as creationist trying to say that the speed of light has slowed down since creation. Anyone in the 21st Century who really believes in any religion is either not educated ignorant or just stupid. Come on everyone this is myths and not a shred of any evidence of any world wide flood . Science proofs everything, and before you creationists start to believe in 6000 years of the age of the earth, would would not have any coal on your fire and no petrol to run your car on.
    Get a life all of you.

  27. Joe Mama says:

    What the SHIT does BAR stand for? Initialism alienates.
    Decided not to follow basic journalism policies, like spelling out the initials the first time they’re used in the article, eh? You’re fired.

  28. The hunt for Noah’s FloodSignals News | Signals News says:

    […] c. 1100 B.C.E.) and a Atrahasis Epic (outdated Babylonian, c. 1700 B.C.E.).3 In these memories we examine of a essential masculine named Atrahasis (later famous as Utnapishtim) whom a God Enki sa…, put all animal category on it, and businessman himself and his family. The ark during some prove […]

  29. The Search for Noah’s Flood | newsantiques.com says:

    […] version, c. 1100 B.C.E.) and a Atrahasis Epic (Old Babylonian, c. 1700 B.C.E.).3 In these stories we learn of a correct male named Atrahasis (later famous as Utnapishtim) whom a God Enki saves from …, put all animal class on it, and save himself and his family. The ark eventually lands on a […]

  30. Joris Heise says:

    My conviction remains that these stories are important for us and our faith–but NOT for history, science, or “back then.” The (divinely inspired) writers wrote for eternity not for a textbook. They spoke of God, not of historical events as history. They inspire us, rather than provide facts.

  31. The Search for Noah’s Flood - Creation RevolutionCreation Revolution says:

    […] c. 1100 B.C.E.) and the Atrahasis Epic (Old Babylonian, c. 1700 B.C.E.).3 In these stories we learn of a wise man named Atrahasis (later known as Utnapishtim) whom the god Enki saves from a c…, put all animal species on it, and save himself and his family. The ark eventually lands on a […]

  32. Noah Review: Before Al Gore, there was Noah pushing aggressive environmentalism says:

    […] are build in the Sumerian and Jewish stories of the ark. And we also now have the so-called “Ark tablet” which tells how to build a third type of ark – an ark that is a very Mesopotamian […]

  33. Don says:

    My intuitions tell me it was oblong and rounded, not exactly round. Kind of barge shaped. With this compromise everyone could be satisfied and sleep easier. The cuneiform philologists and the holy book believers could just get along.

  34. Paul Ballotta says:

    A loon! It is the loon, which is smaller than a goose, that has the ability to swim underwater. It’s ancestor was Colymboides that thrived 37 to 20 million years ago. Fossils were found in Aquitaine which is southwestern France (and Provence is in southeastern France). The creature was not adapted to land and laid its eggs on the banks of the water. Interesting how we have this early version of the flood story with the term “sana” denoting two by two, not found in later Mesopotamian flood narratives and yet this appears in the Genesis account. Judging by the comments made above, the circular design described on the tablet may have had flaws but was improvised in the later accounts, as if someone with knowledge of a localised nautical design had hatched the inceptive plan that others would improve upon. The Hebrews and/or Hurrians recieved this tradition apparently from the earliest source.

  35. David says:

    Philip,
    Are you saying you don’t believe the Biblical account of a flood – or you believe the Gilgamesh view and not the Bible view – or you don’t believe any view of a flood. If the latter, then aren’t you saying that these ancient ‘coincidences’ mean NOTHING – or that the scholarship of them all is wrong? If so, why are there so many versions worldwide and so similar? So far, I have seen from the above ‘quotes’ from scientific studies that a lot of people believe there too many coincidences to be discounted. You, however, have different proof? So far you have just jumped in with a slur (insane) on the Bible’s version. Why? What facts can you contribute here? Please, impress us with your important – different -scholarly view.

  36. Dallas Kennedy says:

    The ark had a cover, no doubt, so it wouldn’t fill up with water.

    But that two by two, male and female, business — sounds very heteronormative to me 🙂

  37. Philip G says:

    You religious nuts are totally insane!

  38. Vincenzo says:

    Haven’t read all the comments, but someone is missing the detail that Genesis’ ark is the only ark that has been proven (via computer simulation as published in Journal of Creation (formerly TJ) 8(1):26–36 April 1994) to be able to stand a global flood as described in Genesis. All other so called arks wouldn’t stand a chance. Also, the many different flood accounts only prove they are all accounts of the same event and they have not necessarily been copied from each other. Only an inspired version of the account could get certain details just right, like the actual ark.

  39. Kurt says:

    The Flood—Fact or Myth?
    Taking us back to some 4,500 years ago, to about 2,500 B.C.E., the Bible tells us that rebel spirit sons of God materialized in human form and “went taking wives for themselves.” This unnatural interbreeding produced the violent Nephilim, “the mighty ones who were of old, the men of fame.” Their lawless conduct affected the pre-Flood world to the point that Jehovah said: “‘I am going to wipe men whom I have created off the surface of the ground . . . because I do regret that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of Jehovah.” The account then continues with the specific and practical steps Noah had to take to save himself, as well as his family and a variety of animal kinds, from the Flood.—Genesis 6:1-8, 13–8:22; 1 Peter 3:19, 20; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6.
    The record of pre-Flood events related in Genesis is branded as myth by modern critics. Yet, the history of Noah was accepted and believed by faithful men, such as Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jesus Christ, and the apostles Peter and Paul. It is also supported by the fact that it is reflected in so many mythologies worldwide, including the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh as well as the myths of China and of the Aztecs, Incas, and Maya. With the Bible record in mind, let us now consider the Assyro-Babylonian mythology and its references to a flood.—Isaiah 54:9; Ezekiel 14:20; Matthew 24:37; Hebrews 11:7.
    The Flood and the God-Man Gilgamesh
    Going back in history possibly some 4,000 years, we encounter the famous Akkadian myth called the Epic of Gilgamesh. Our knowledge of this is based mainly on a cuneiform text that came from the library of Ashurbanipal, who reigned 668-627 B.C.E., in ancient Nineveh.
    It is the story of the exploits of Gilgamesh, described as being two-thirds god and one-third man, or a demigod. One version of the epic states: “In Uruk he built walls, a great rampart, and the temple of blessed Eanna for the god of the firmament Anu, and for Ishtar the goddess of love . . . , our lady of love and war.” (See box, page 45, for a listing of Assyro-Babylonian gods and goddesses.) However, Gilgamesh was not exactly a pleasant creature to have around. The inhabitants of Uruk complained to the gods: “His lust leaves no virgin to her lover, neither the warrior’s daughter nor the wife of the noble.”
    What action did the gods take in response to the people’s protest? The goddess Aruru created Enkidu to be the human rival of Gilgamesh. However, instead of being enemies, they became close friends. In the course of the epic, Enkidu died. Shattered, Gilgamesh cried: “When I die, shall I not be like Enkidu? Woe has entered my belly. Fearing death, I roam over the steppe.” He wanted the secret of immortality and set out to find Utnapishtim, the deluge survivor who had been given immortality with the gods.
    Gilgamesh eventually finds Utnapishtim, who tells him the story of the flood. As found in Epic tablet XI, known as the Flood Tablet, Utnapishtim recounts instructions given to him concerning the flood: “Tear down (this) house, build a ship! Give up possessions, seek thou life. . . . Aboard the ship take thou the seed of all living things.” Does this not sound somewhat similar to the Bible’s reference to Noah and the Flood? But Utnapishtim cannot bestow immortality upon Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh, disappointed, returns home to Uruk. The account concludes with his death. The overall message of the epic is the sadness and frustration of death and the hereafter. Those ancient people did not find the God of truth and hope. However, the epic’s link to the Bible’s simple account of the pre-Flood era is quite evident. Now let us turn to the Flood account as it appears in other legends.
    Flood Legend in Other Cultures
    Even earlier than the account in the Epic of Gilgamesh is the Sumerian myth that presents “Ziusudra, the counterpart of the biblical Noah, who is described as a pious, a god-fearing king, constantly on the lookout for divine revelations in dreams or incantations.” (Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament) According to the same source, this myth “offers the closest and most striking parallel to biblical material as yet uncovered in Sumerian literature.” The Babylonian and Assyrian civilizations, which came later, were influenced by the Sumerian.
    The book China—A History in Art tells us that one of the ancient rulers of China was Yü, “the conqueror of the Great Flood. Yü channeled flood waters into rivers and seas to resettle his people.” Mythology expert Joseph Campbell wrote about the Chinese “Period of the Great Ten,” saying: “To this important age, which terminates in a Deluge, ten emperors were assigned in the early Chou-time mythology. Hence, it appears that what we are viewing here may be a local transformation of the series of the old Sumerian king list.” Campbell then cited other items from Chinese legends that appeared to “reinforce the argument for a Mesopotamian source.” That takes us back to the same basic source of many myths. However, the story of the Flood also appears in the Americas, for example, in Mexico during the period of the Aztecs in the 15th and 16th centuries C.E.
    Aztec mythology spoke of four previous ages, during the first of which the earth was inhabited by giants. (That is another reminder of the Nephilim, the giants referred to in the Bible at Genesis 6:4.) It included a primeval flood legend in which “the waters above merge with those below, obliterating the horizons and making of everything a timeless cosmic ocean.” The god controlling rain and water was Tlaloc. However, his rain was not obtained cheaply but was given “in exchange for the blood of sacrificed victims whose flowing tears would simulate and so stimulate the flow of rain.” (Mythology—An Illustrated Encyclopedia) Another legend states that the fourth era was ruled by Chalchiuhtlicue, the water-goddess, whose universe perished by a flood. Men were saved by becoming fish!
    Similarly, the Incas had their Flood legends. British writer Harold Osborne states: “Perhaps the most ubiquitous features in South American myth are the stories of a deluge . . . Myths of a deluge are very widespread among both the highland peoples and the tribes of the tropical lowlands. The deluge is commonly connected with the creation and with an epiphany [manifestation] of the creator-god. . . . It is sometimes regarded as a divine punishment wiping out existing humankind in preparation for the emergence of a new race.”
    Likewise, the Maya in Mexico and Central America had their Flood legend that involved a universal deluge, or haiyococab, which means “water over the earth.” Catholic bishop Las Casas wrote that the Guatemalan Indians “called it Butic, which is the word which means flood of many waters and means the final judgment, and so they believe that another Butic is about to come, which is another flood and judgment, not of water, but of fire.” Many more flood legends exist around the world, but the few already quoted serve to confirm the kernel of the legend, the historical event related in the book of Genesis.

  40. Jim Wright says:

    A round, uncovered ‘boat’? The alleged deluge would have filled and sank the ark rather quickly, wouldn’t it?

    1. John Aiken says:

      OK, So maybe it was covered.

  41. Paul Ballotta says:

    It wasn’t my intention to mislead, but I think was off about the number 300 symbolizing cosmic fertility, when it’s more like cosmic germanation and such was Noah’s ark; an experiment in the implementation of the seeds of life with the blessing of divinity. The number 600 would symbolize cosmic fertility, the blessing being transmitted through divinely inspired tradition. I do know that the Hebrew letter mem has a numerical value of 40 (like that of the god Ea) and the final letter mem is 600. Such is the case in the word for Egypt; Mizraim, as in “you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22:20). This would refer to the tribes of Joseph, of whom it it written that he was the elect (nazir) of his brothers (Genesis 49:26, Dueteronomy 33:16). You’ll recall the tradition of the Nazirites abstaining from wine and letting their hair grow long like Enkidu in his natural state before being given wine by the prostitute and having his hair shaved.
    “Gilgamesh is also the story of the double. If Gilgamesh is two-thirds god and only one-third human, his double, Enkidu, seems to reverse the ratio. If Gilgamesh is outwardly the same at the beginnig and the end of the work, the story of Enkidu everywhere emphasizes change … It is the story of Everyman. It is also the story of the emergence of mankind from the wild, a parable of culture, the best worked out Mesopotamian speculation about lullu-amelu, the First Man” (Gilgamesh, p.15).
    Joseph married the daughter of the priest of On (Genesis 41:45), this being Heliopolis, where there was an ancient tradition where the company of the gods originated there, emerging out of the Great Egg, the offspring of the earth god Geb or Seb:
    “Seb was the god of the earth, and the Heliopolitans declared that he represented the very ground upon which their city stood, meaning that Heliopolis was the birthplace of the company of the gods, and in fact that the work of creation began there” (“The Gods of the Egyptians vol. 2” by E.A. Wallis Budge, p.97).
    I remember reading about a prehistoric goose (Geb is sometimes represented as a goose) that lived 30 million years ago in southern France that could swim underwater. It was in Provence, France in the late 12th century that the Kabbalah began to take it egg-like form:
    “In this generation in France and especially in its southern part we hear with increasing frequency of scholars called by the epithet ha-perush, the ascetic, or ha-nazir, the Nazirite … There it is said that ‘one should appoint scholars whose vocation it is to occupy themselves incessantly with the Torah, so that the community might fulfill the duty of the study of the Torah, and in order that the reign of heaven sustain no loss'” (“Origins of the Kabbalah” by Gershom Scholem, p,229).

  42. Paul Ballotta says:

    In his booklet, “Hurrian Hebrews; Ea as Yahweh,” Forrest Reinhold points out the similarities between the epic of Gilgamesh flood narrative and the account given in the book of Genesis (p.72, 73), and the fact that the god of wisdom, Ea, who warned Utnapishtim of the impending disaster, had the sacred number of 40 (40 days and nights of the flood, Gen. 7:4,12, 17). The mountains of Ararat where the ark rested was the kingdom of Urartu, whose inhabitants spoke Hurrian. It is likely the Hebrews recieved these Mesopotamian traditions from the Hurrians.
    As for the dimesions of the ark being 300 cubits long, it is worth noting that in the Ethiopic book of Enoch (1 Enoch 7:2) the height of the pre-diluvian giants were also 300 cubits. In his “Cipher Genesis,” Carlos Suarez states that the number 300 symbolizes cosmic fertility, and we find a hint of this in the book of Baruch 3:24-26:
    ” O Israel, how vast is the house of God, how broad the scope of his dominion. Vast and endless, high and immeasurable! In it were born the giants, renowned at the first, stalwarts, skilled in war.”
    The Dead Sea Scrolls contain fragments of a lost Book of Giants (http://www.gnosis.org/library/dss/dss_book_of_giants.htm) and a giant named Gilgamesh is mentioned. The king of Uruk fits the description of the Nephilm who were “heroes of old, the men of renown” (Genesis 6:4). It seems this fictional account of giants is really an invectivtive againts the abusive power of temporal rulers. Gilgamesh was said to be 2/3 god and 1/3 human, and this also places him with the sons of God who conspired to enter the daughters of humanity, as it is related in an older version of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh, like “Caligula,” expands his rule to include being the first to copulate with the bride before the groom:
    “He has [intruded] into the meeting place that is set aside for the people…for brideship. He has heaped [defilement] on the city, imposing on the unlucky city strange customs” (“Gilgamesh”, by John Gardiner and John Maier, p.96).
    A literary “giant” by the name of Frank Herbert co-wrote a sci-fi book with Bill Ransom entitled, “The Jesus Incident.” Years ago I read this while listening to “Tales From Topographical Oceans” and “Close to the Edge” by Yes. It is set far in the future with a type of Noah’s ark bringing humanity to colonize a planet inhabited by predators which made it uninhabitable for humans. The space vessel which brought the cargo had an artififical intelligence and thought that it was God. The ship’s Chaplain/Psychiatrist, who was awakened out of suspended animation and sent on a mission to save the colony, is wondering if the ship really is God. His name was Raja Thomas and this invokes the image of the disciple of Jesus, otherwise known as” Doubting Thomas” (John 21:24-29). Ironically, though equipped with advanced technology, the humans bring to this new world their own shortcomings, particularly at the management level, which succumbs to an attitude of bigotry and sexism.
    An older version of Gilgamesh portrays the king as a maniac hacking his way through the cedar forest with an axe and felling trees until he reaches the abode of the sky gods, like the enviromental destruction depicted in the film “Avatar.” Raja Thomas learns that the oceanic kelp that holds the ecosystem together is sentient, and its destruction will affect the whole planet. The kelp forms a telepathic bond with the ship’s computer, which enables Raja Thomas to be transported in a vision to a place where people had gathered who wore ragged clothing and had a strong body odor to witness the crucifixion of Jesus.
    In the 11th tablet of the epic of Gilgamesh, composed by the Babylonian shaman/exorcist priest Sin-Leeqi-Unnini, Gigamesh is instructed by Utnapishtim (whose name contains the word “napishtu” meaning “life-breath”) to obtain a hard to find plant that grows under water, (the domain of the god Ea) and when he obtains it, Gilgamesh declares:
    “This is the plant of Openings, by which a man can get life within. I will carry it to Uruk of the Sheepfold; I will give it to the elders to eat; they will divide the plant among them. Its name is The-Old-Man-Will-Be-Made-Young, I too will eat it, and I will return to what I was in my youth” (Gilgamesh, p.249).
    “The-Old-Man-Will-Be-Made-Young” reminds me of an episode of “The Simpsons” entitled “Dohin’ In the Wind” which features two old men under the influence of peyote uncontrollably laughing. .

  43. Babylonian Tale Of Round Ark Draws Ire From Some Christian Circles | inagape says:

    […] their Babylonian exile in the 6th century B.C. and served as the basis for the Genesis story. Biblical Archaeology Review’s Noah Wiener said the cuneiform tablet was created “a full millennium before the Genesis narrative was […]

  44. The Babylonian Ark says:

    […] 1, 2014 by Walker Leave a Comment The Biblical Archaeology Review has a write-up on a newly-translated Old Babylonian (1900-1700 B.C.E.) tablet. The tablet’s […]

  45. Ken Clay says:

    The comet that hit the ice sheet on Canada about11500bc explains the flood

    1. John Aiken says:

      Interesting. Your comment, Ken, is compatible with the Biblical account. The Bible does not say that the 40 days of rain caused the flood. It says that the water “came from the depths” (paraphrase).

  46. Robin says:

    Interesting article. Interesting subject.

  47. Yoseph says:

    And if it was the other way, if the sumerians took the flood story of residents nearby to Noah, since biblical times are calculated fom Abraham about 2000 years BC, and not from Noah…That have been found sumerian stories from 3000 years BC not mean they are the oldest, but simply the oldest found.

  48. wayne says:

    a round ark? sure, whatever… first wave comes along and spins that ark and everyone else in it and you’ll then see why God didn’t instruct Noah to build it round. Be for real people. Satan is always trying to distract from the truth

  49. Kurt says:

    A Whole World Destroyed!

    Look at the world around you, with its cities, its culture, its scientific achievements, its population of billions. It is easy to be impressed by its apparent permanence, is it not? Do you think that some day this world could completely disappear? That may be difficult to envision. However, did you know that according to a very good source, a world existed before this one and it was completely destroyed?

    WE ARE not talking of a world of primitive tribes. The world that perished was civilized, with cities, artistic achievements, scientific knowledge. Yet, the Bible record tells us that suddenly, on the 17th day of the 2nd month, 352 years before the patriarch Abraham was born, a deluge began that swept away a whole world.*
    Is that record correct? Did such a thing really happen? Was there really an ancient world before the present one that flourished and was then destroyed? If so, why did it end? What went wrong? And is there any lesson that we can draw from its demise?
    Was an Ancient World Really Destroyed?
    Such an awesome catastrophe, if it really happened, would never have been completely forgotten. Hence, in many nations there are reminders of that destruction. Consider, for example, the precise date recorded in the Scriptures. The second month of the ancient calendar ran from what we now call mid-October to mid-November. So the 17th day corresponds approximately to the first of November. It may not be a coincidence, then, that in many lands, festivals for the dead are celebrated at that time of year.
    Other evidences of the Deluge linger in mankind’s traditions. Practically all ancient peoples have a legend that their ancestors survived a global flood. African Pygmies, European Celts, South American Incas—all have similar legends, as do peoples of Alaska, Australia, China, India, Lithuania, Mexico, Micronesia, New Zealand, and parts of North America, to mention only a few.
    Of course, over time the legends have been embellished, but they all include several details indicating a common source narrative: God was angered by mankind’s wickedness. He brought a great flood. Mankind as a whole was destroyed. A few righteous ones, however, were preserved. These built a vessel in which humans and animals were saved. In time, birds were sent out to search for dry land. Finally, the vessel came to rest on a mountain. Upon disembarking, the survivors offered a sacrifice.
    What does this prove? The similarities cannot possibly be coincidental. The combined evidence of these legends corroborates the Bible’s ancient testimony that all humans descend from the survivors of a flood that destroyed a world of mankind. Hence, we do not need to rely on legends or myths to know what happened. We have the carefully preserved record in the Hebrew Scriptures of the Bible.—Genesis, chapters 6-8.
    The Bible contains an inspired record of history extending back to the dawn of life. Evidence proves that it is more than mere history, however. Its unfailing prophecy and deep wisdom demonstrate that it is what it claims to be—God’s communication to mankind. Unlike myths, the Bible includes names and dates as well as genealogical and geographical details in its historical accounts. It gives us a picture of what life was like before the Flood and reveals why a whole world came to a sudden end.
    What went wrong with that antediluvian society? The following article considers that question. It is an important question for those who may wonder just how secure the future of our present civilization is.

    Genesis 7:11; 11:10-25, 32; 12:4.

    Flood Legends Worldwide
    Country Correspondencies 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
    Greece 7 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    Rome 6 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    Lithuania 6 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    Assyria 9 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    Tanzania 7 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    India – Hindu 6 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    New Zealand – Maori 5 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    Micronesia 7 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    Washington U.S.A. – Yakima 7 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    Mississippi U.S.A. – Choctaw 7 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    Mexico – Michoacan 5 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    South America – Quechua 4 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    Bolivia – Chiriguano 5 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    Guyana – Arawak 6 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    1: God angered by wickedness
    2: Destruction by a flood
    3: Ordered by God
    4: Divine warning given
    5: Few of mankind survive
    6: Saved in a vessel
    7: Animals saved
    8: Bird or other creature sent out
    9: Finally comes to rest on a mountain
    10: Sacrifice offered
    http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2002160
    Flood Legends
    Samples from six continents and the islands of the sea; hundreds of such legends are known
    Australia – Kurnai
    Destruction by Water
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Babylon – Berossus’ account
    Destruction by Water
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Babylon – Gilgamesh epic
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Bolivia – Chiriguano
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Borneo – Sea Dayak
    Destruction by Water
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Burma – Singpho
    Destruction by Water
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Canada – Cree
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Canada – Montagnais
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    China – Lolo
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Cuba – original natives
    Destruction by Water
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    East Africa – Masai
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Egypt – Book of the Dead
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Fiji – Walavu-levu tradition
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    French Polynesia – Raïatéa
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Greece – Lucian’s account
    Destruction by Water
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Guyana – Macushi
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Iceland – Eddas
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    India – Andaman Islands
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    India – Bhil
    Destruction by Water
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    India – Kamar
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Iran – Zend-Avesta
    Destruction by Water
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Italy – Ovid’s poetry
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Malay Peninsula – Jakun
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Mexico – Codex Chimalpopoca
    Destruction by Water
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Mexico – Huichol
    Destruction by Water
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    New Zealand – Maori
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Peru – Indians of Huarochirí
    Destruction by Water
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Russia – Vogul
    Destruction by Water
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    U.S.A. (Alaska) – Kolusches
    Destruction by Water
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    U.S.A. (Alaska) – Tlingit
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    U.S.A. (Arizona) – Papago
    Destruction by Water
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    U.S.A. (Hawaii) – legend of Nu-u
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Vanuatu – Melanesians
    Destruction by Water
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Vietnam – Bahnar
    Destruction by Water
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Wales – Dwyfan/Dwyfach legend
    Destruction by Water
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200000758?q=flood legends&p=par
    http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/s/r1/lp-e?q=flood legends

  50. El Koussa says:

    This is another evidence among hundreds that the Hebrew biblical tradition is based on Mesopotamian historical accounts. That being said, we conclude even more than before that the Semitic Hebrew people were not but Babylonians basically from the city of Ur. Hence, Jews were Iraqis.

  51. David says:

    God is merciful. While the Bible recounts a flood story believed by many to be true, those believers – myself included – have tended to also believe that Noah’s was the only ark. Could it be that a merciful God provided direction and inspiration to others throughout the world so that they too might be saved?

  52. David Morse says:

    As I recall, there is nothing in the Biblical account about Noah’s ark being pointed. Rather, it’s a rectangular box whose purpose is also to float on the flood waters.

Write a Reply or Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


62 Responses

  1. So complicated !! Concept about God is much more simplier nowadays then it was in ancient times !! Just because we have the contininuous strive to implement novelties in our lives, this fact sometimes leaves the bare truth untouched. We are God’s incarnates, since God created men in his image, but we belong to Satan and his disciples, since we have sinned and grew old. No remedy for this yet

  2. Ferdie says:

    I strongly recommend to read the full book from Dr Irving Finkel. I bought it near last Christmas and it was worth reading. Even with a skeptic view, Dr. Finkel do not try to answer the Flood existence, in fact he considers that a flood event really happened, if global or not this is another question.
    The core elements from Genesis are present on different Akkadian, Sumerian and Babylonian flood stories and this in my opinion is an external validation source for the Bible flood.

  3. judyl33 says:

    Pbs did a show.. in search of noahs ark.. in 2015 I think which proved that the ark was indeed the round style common for the time and still being used in much smaller sizes. It also showed the long shelter built in the center of the round boat of reeds. They slipped into a part of country restricted in order to see a very LARGE building structure made entirely of grasses twisted and woven tightly to produce supports for the rest of differently woven coverings. It was how they knew it was possible that a round basket style boat would have been possible. The structure they created based on the ancient tablet proved it was possible. It also explained based on the ancient instructions and other writings that the long structure was in the center of the round boat. They recreated this large structure that floated down the water. The huge problem was the sealant on the outside could not be reproduced since they were trying to make it from a different mud. They could not reproduce the boat in Iran using the materials of what would have been the original area. Instead they had to do it in another safer country. And since the finished boat had to be launched instead of waiting for a flood the method they had worked out came to a screeching halt as one side broke sending one side of the boat into the water before they were ready. They managed to salvage it however. And eventually did float this gigantic basket down the water. Pbs reran the film last year. But its available on DVD And for download on different places on the internet.
    So no one is stupid or a idiot for believing these ancient accounts of different so called myths with different names. How many hundreds of names are there for God based on different cultures over the centuries. Even the so called king James version of the bible has several names. So why does Noah have to be just one name. It’s possible that each sect could be referring to the same individual but using a different name.
    The bible most people are familiar with today is still just an interpretation of man. Man who is not always accurate. Who is capable of making an error when copying a word. Is that not why there are editors and proof readers for published books and newspapers. We all know that one misspelled word can create an entirely different meaning to a sentence. Even our languages in todays world are so different in how they are converted to English and vice versa. Spanish and French assign sex to words. Pencil is feminine pen is masculine. So the accepted king James version is one man’s interpretation. Before written words there have always been oral stories handed down generation to generation. Native Americans have had a deep spiritual connection with the land around them. And their many legends and stories their history was an oral one taught to children long before ever being written down. There’s Celtics and the original tribes of new Zealand that relied on oral histories and what we call myths now. The book of genesis can be seen in different cultures as having similar stories in different cultures. For a person to say it is stupid to believe that noahs ark was round based on one man’s interpretation of genesis is small minded in my opinion. Keeping in mind too that various interpretations of the bible and Jewish Torahs and Catholic teachings etc were also used as a way to keep control over large populations of people. The writings of Paul especially come to mind.
    Living in the state that has the embarrassing noahs ark theme park is what makes me sensitive to people that say well the king James version says it was this way so thats the only way it can be. Obviously their version of the ark is wrong. But what upsets so many is the way the people in charge of this theme park are both brainwashing and confusing our youth. They completely ignore science. They have men and dinosaurs living together. Telling the kids that come through that science is wrong. That geology is wrong. Their personal interpretations are the only thing to be believed even though the majority of what they are showing in the exhibits are proven as wrong. Even the ark is wrong as well. But mixing up things millions of years apart as existing in the same timeline and shoving these down the throats of young minds the way they do is totally unacceptable. It’s in the same vein as denying the holocaust ever happened and teaching that thought as gospel. Their entire reasoning for throwing out proven science is based entirely on God having created the world in 6 days. So therefore dinosaurs and man all lives together in the garden of Eden. But i seem to remember that in referring to the second coming of Jesus the messiah that there’s some sort of reference to therea no way of predicting the time that God’s time and man’s time is different. That a day could be a thousand years. Could be. Could be more or could be less. So then if Gods time is different in the end then how many thousands of years could a day had been during creation. You can’t say that God is infinity and then say God is finite in same breath. The entire story of Gods creating the planet in 6 days is one of those stories thats different and similar going from culture to culture. So telling the school children that misguided adults take to this ark amusement park by the busloads that science that geology is all a lie should not be allowed. It’s too confusing for the young. Jesus told stories as a way of teaching. As examples. They weren’t meant as literal facts. So why is it not possible to have different names in different cultures in different times all telling of the same event. and using the instructions given in that clay modern man was able to recreate a round basket of different levels that was capable of floating like the smaller versions and capable of housing a large amount of animals.

  4. Nev Anderson says:

    – The Flood required rainfall of 8,391,493,558,272,000 cubic yards per hour. The energy transferred to earth by it’s fall would heat the surface to 18,000°
    Even evaporation of that amount of water would create 6,000° of heat
    – To get the diversification of animal life we see today, 11 totally unrelated new species would have to Pop into existence every single day.
    – A seaworthy ship that size is impossible. The best shipwrights, with modern technology cannot manage it. Ken Ham needed thousands of tons of steel and heavy equipment to even construct an Ark shaped building!

  5. Silverwolf says:

    If you write it, they will buy it.

    The Finkel tablet specifies a two-story, disc-shaped vessel with a 220-foot diameter. This floating saucer was supposedly made of reeds tied with reams of ropes and covered with bitumen—perhaps a natural tar-like substance—for waterproofing. Such a floppy tub would hardly have been as seaworthy as the wooden, barge-like vessel depicted in the Bible.3

    Then in 2012, British historian Bill Cooper published a 1909 translation by Dr. Hermann Hilprecht of a Babylonian flood tablet that pre-dates Finkel’s fortuitous find.4 The two tablets differ substantially in details, with implications for both Finkel’s book and the Bible’s veracity.

    First, the story on Finkel’s cylindrical tablet resembles other unrealistic ancient Babylonian mythologized stories. They tell the story of Atrahasis, their name for Noah, but they portray unfeasible Arks. This one describes a perfectly round reed boat, but tablet 11 of the Epic of Gilgamesh describes the Ark as a perfect cube.5 The Gilgamesh story also comes from Babylon, and extant copies of it probably represent later, more fanciful retellings of originally historical events. Experiments show that neither a cube nor a disc could do the job of floating for a solid year while keeping its inhabitants alive, but the Genesis Ark’s design could.6

    In contrast to Finkel’s approximately 1850 B.C. tablet, the one that Cooper cited was “given the catalogue designation CBM 13532, [and] it dates from about 2200 B.C., or soon after the Flood itself.”7 It essentially presents no unrealistic or fanciful details, and in fact does not differ from the main elements of the Genesis account.

    The link is clear. The oldest tablet retains the highest quality of information because it appears it was written when the actual Flood survivors were still living and could have quickly squelched inaccurate versions of the Flood events.

    The notion that Bible authors borrowed from Babylonian myths—made explicit in Finkel’s book title The Ark Before Noah—fails for the same reason. Supposedly the Jews living as captives in Babylon revised their history to include the Babylonian flood account; but if that were so they would have been written off as fiction writers by their contemporaries, who could refute their historically revisionist peers. Plus, why would the Jewish exiles ever want to adopt the historical identity of their brutal pagan captors?

    Reality is the reverse. Noah’s Ark was the first Ark and the only real one. Babylonian and other cultures’ dim memories produced fanciful versions of the real events recorded in Scripture.

    News reports of the round-Ark tablet on display at the British Museum show that interest in Noah’s Ark remains strong, and this will undoubtedly help sell copies of Finkel’s book.8 And with the unreasonable disdain that secular scholarship has toward God’s Word, each copy sold will undoubtedly mislead its reader that the Genesis Flood account was borrowed from myth and is therefore a myth itself.

    The earlier date for the Hilprecht tablet combines with the unique feasibility of the Bible’s Ark description to firmly establish the Genesis rectangular Ark—not a round Ark—as the real one. Genesis offers the only Ark account that floats.

  6. Peter Dickson says:

    Recent article ?
    Finkel published a whole book about it in 2014.

  7. Jeannine Burkhart says:

    I strongly object to the boneheaded statement that the Babylonian flood story was written before the Biblical flood story because we have very old clay tablets that were recorded before the known Hebrew story. Obviously a papyrus account could have been recorded a thousand years before the clay account but not have survived. People who make such statements are amazingly stupid.

    JB

  8. Rohan Lal says:

    I wish if the scholars had a comparative study of Hindu (Indian) legends and The Holy Scriptures. Surely there will be some light. The great flood is a reality. We should admit it.

  9. Cynthia McLaglen says:

    The floods really did happen all around the world because the sea is now 300 foot higher than it was 16,000 years ago. During the time before this was the 22,000 to 18,000 Ice Age was the cause of the lower sea level. It became higher in stages, and the Persion Gulf becan to fill with sea water created from the enormous Ice Blocks above Canada and Scandia and Siberia. The sun became much hotter all of a sudden- reported in the Rig Veda and the Cuneiform tablets found in Ur and other Mesopotamian texts. We know today that if the sun is too hot and it is wet, that creates stormy weather, so there was a lot of rain, but also much ice melting, ice dams, which would melt at intervals creating tsunamis and floods from the sea as well.. Then at 13,00 to 9000 years ago another melt occurred after the Younger Dryas, and it was these melts at 8500 years ago which were probably the Floods that were sung about in the Rig Veda and written about in the ancient clay Tablets in Ur, and Mesopotamia and the Bible and Koran.

  10. Cynthia McLaglen says:

    What about the oldest story about Noah or his equivalent, of all: Manu in the Rig Veda? His story is almost the same as in the Sumerian story of Utnapishtim, with the Wise Sages who came from the sea advising the hero what to do? The floods are very big and rain comes from the storms and very hot weather caused by an over hot sun, which melts the ice lying on the Himalayas, and they come down like dragons in enormous shards creating floods never seen before. This was after the Younger Dryas or small Ice Age and its melting.

  11. Josh Mullinax says:

    I’ve been to the Grand Canyon ! If you can stand on top of all that and say a serious flood didn’t cut all that rock out…your just lie n to yourself….I mean there is fish stuck in the walls!!!! Religious or not…easy to see

  12. The Top Ten Biblical Archaeology Discoveries of 2014 | Restoring Liberty says:

    […] The Animals Went in Two by Two, According to Babylonian Ark Tablet An Old Babylonian flood tablet translated by British Museum scholar Irving Finkel describes how to build a circular ark. […]

  13. Lee says:

    I’m not sure why every “biblical scholar” seems to miss the verses in Genesis 7.2-3 that state SEVEN (7) of every clean animal was taken on the ark (for a later sacrifice). So the “two by two” is a general statement. The entire account must be read in context.

  14. Top 10 Biblical Archaeology Discoveries in 2014 | historyonly says:

    […] The Animals Went in Two by Two, According to Babylonian Ark Tablet An Old Babylonian flood tablet translated by British Museum scholar Irving Finkel describes how to build a circular ark. […]

  15. Top 10 Biblical Archaeology Discoveries in 2014 | NFTU says:

    […] The Animals Went in Two by Two, According to Babylonian Ark Tablet An Old Babylonian flood tablet translated by British Museum scholar Irving Finkel describes how to build a circular ark. […]

  16. Vridar » Archaelogical Finds 2014 — But Beware Christians Bearing Gifts says:

    […] in 2014 by Robin Ngo. This one has more interesting graphics for the Noah’s ark story here. And it does not have obnoxious ads telling you how to exploit the sufferings of others or how to […]

  17. Prentiss Cox says:

    At least three things bother me as a Christian Scientist.
    1) Between 10 and 50 million species of organisms exist. An ark the size of Noah’s could not hold the animals and the feeding and watering of the animals by 8 people would be next to impossible.
    2) No arrangements for plants was made and it is doubtful that that any would have survived months totally submerged in what was at best brackish water. Growth of new plants from seed that survived the flood would take years. How did people and animals survive with our trees and herb-like vegetation.
    3)No arrangements for fish and other aquatic animals was made. Salt water fish cannot live in fresh water or in most cases in brackish water. Fresh water fish cannot live in salt water or in most cases in brackish water. Brackish water fishes usually cannot live long in either fresh or salt water. Fish like salmon leave freshwater before kidneys completely develop and when the return they breed and die. Etc.
    Can it be that none of these flood stories refer to a worldwide flood or more likely still they are all myths?

  18. Top 10 Biblical Archaeology Discoveries in 2014 | Pastor Dave says:

    […] The Animals Went in Two by Two, According to Babylonian Ark Tablet An Old Babylonian flood tablet translated by British Museum scholar Irving Finkel describes how to build a circular ark. […]

  19. Joseph Ixchu says:

    So what I find interesting is that Archeologist continue to reference Babylonian as the source of these tablets. The city of UR was a Summerian city as they are the oldest known civilization which brought us the first known flood story, creation story and so on. If only they would be honest…until then the truth is hidden.

  20. Top 10 Biblical Archaeology Discoveries in 2014 | Bible Study With Randy says:

    […] in The Telegraph (see link above). Articles are also available at Mail Online, and at BAR’s Bible History Daily (if you’re are a […]

  21. Dr. J. Marshall Reber says:

    “The land could be seen, just water on all sides, as flat as a roof.”

    Isn’t “NOT” missing before “seen”?

  22. Top 10 Biblical Archaeology Discoveries in 2014 | Laodicean Report says:

    […] **The stories below are listed in no particular order and are free to read in Bible History Daily** The Animals Went in Two by Two, According to Babylonian Ark Tablet An Old Babylonian flood tablet translated by British Museum scholar Irving Finkel describes how to […]

  23. Terry Rozmus says:

    I studied geology, so I can’t help being interested in this topic since geology is uniquely equipped to comment on whether such an event took place in ancient times. Can we say there was a flood of global extent? Probably not. The evidence is just not there, unless you choose to listen to the claims of a tiny minority. However, when we look for evidence of large-magnitude flood events that may have provided the inspiration for these flood stories the picture changes dramatically.
    At the end of the last ice age sea levels were changing rapidly as ice melted. Some of the most dramatic changes resulted from areas where ice was acting as a dam holding back large bodies of water. As these dams melted, they burst releasing the stored water behind creating massive flood events downstream.
    One example of a place where this is known to have occurred is an area called the Badlands in South Dakota in the United States which shows massive erosion from an extreme flooding event. Another area where there is substantial evidence is the White Cliffs of Dover. The cliffs here are a curiosity because they occur right at the edge of gentle rolling hillside meadows on one side and relatively sheltered seas on the other. Here, as in the Badlands, the theory supported by research is that a large ice-age dam burst releasing a whole sea of stored water sufficient to destroy a large tract of land between England and France and create the famous white chalk cliffs.
    Neither of these events is in the right geographical location to have provided the inspiration for Noah’s flood or the Mesopotamian stories, though it may have provided material for local stories in these areas. The one event which I have found particularly interesting though for which there is substantial evidence is an outburst flood into the Black Sea through the Bosphorus Strait. At the time according to this theory, the Black Sea’s water level was much lower than the Mediterranean, but as world sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age the waters of the Mediterranean broke through at the present location of the Bosphorus and began rapidly filling the Black Sea.
    The reason why this location is of particular interest is because it is in the same region as Göbekli Tepe, which has received a lot of attention recently. This whole region is where agriculture in both Europe and the Near East appears to have begun. All modern domesticated wheat is genetically related to wild varieties found in this region in Turkey. If this is where agriculture and civilisation began, and the evidence is in favour of a massive flood occurring in the region as the last ice age came to a close, is it really a big stretch in imagination to consider that this event may have provided the source material for Noah’s flood?

  24. Sam says:

    Sorry: “Days” are understood as Epochs, not “Days” – as indeed – the notion of “day” is impossible before Day 4, when Luminaries are introduced.

  25. Sam says:

    Dearest Prof –

    I do think that you have been reading only very one-sided literature. Naturally you may not have been made aware of C.L. Wooley’s “Ur Excavations” in The British Museum, and “The Sumerians”(1954), where Wooley does indeed conclude, based on alluvial deposits, that “the disaster engulfed an area north-west of the Persian Gulf amounting to 400 miles long and 100 miles wide”. See the discussion in Werner Keller’s book “The Bible as History” (1980).

    I additionally do think that creationist do not have to assume that the Earth is only 6000 years old, and indeed, most creationists do understand Earth to be far far older – yet of course the notion of “a soul” – or “self-reflecting” or “moral codes” all only date back to 6000 years ago. The 6000 years is only counting from POST CREATION – which was a process prior to “Day 6” of Creation, where “Days” are understood (and have been recorded as having been understood this way, for 2000 years).

    I am sure that slight levels of open-mindedness to countless references from hundreds of different points on the globe, would possibly move you to attempt to foray further into the jungle of possibilities.

  26. Prof Rufus Bse. Bristol Uk says:

    What utter rubbish all this is , same as creationist trying to say that the speed of light has slowed down since creation. Anyone in the 21st Century who really believes in any religion is either not educated ignorant or just stupid. Come on everyone this is myths and not a shred of any evidence of any world wide flood . Science proofs everything, and before you creationists start to believe in 6000 years of the age of the earth, would would not have any coal on your fire and no petrol to run your car on.
    Get a life all of you.

  27. Joe Mama says:

    What the SHIT does BAR stand for? Initialism alienates.
    Decided not to follow basic journalism policies, like spelling out the initials the first time they’re used in the article, eh? You’re fired.

  28. The hunt for Noah’s FloodSignals News | Signals News says:

    […] c. 1100 B.C.E.) and a Atrahasis Epic (outdated Babylonian, c. 1700 B.C.E.).3 In these memories we examine of a essential masculine named Atrahasis (later famous as Utnapishtim) whom a God Enki sa…, put all animal category on it, and businessman himself and his family. The ark during some prove […]

  29. The Search for Noah’s Flood | newsantiques.com says:

    […] version, c. 1100 B.C.E.) and a Atrahasis Epic (Old Babylonian, c. 1700 B.C.E.).3 In these stories we learn of a correct male named Atrahasis (later famous as Utnapishtim) whom a God Enki saves from …, put all animal class on it, and save himself and his family. The ark eventually lands on a […]

  30. Joris Heise says:

    My conviction remains that these stories are important for us and our faith–but NOT for history, science, or “back then.” The (divinely inspired) writers wrote for eternity not for a textbook. They spoke of God, not of historical events as history. They inspire us, rather than provide facts.

  31. The Search for Noah’s Flood - Creation RevolutionCreation Revolution says:

    […] c. 1100 B.C.E.) and the Atrahasis Epic (Old Babylonian, c. 1700 B.C.E.).3 In these stories we learn of a wise man named Atrahasis (later known as Utnapishtim) whom the god Enki saves from a c…, put all animal species on it, and save himself and his family. The ark eventually lands on a […]

  32. Noah Review: Before Al Gore, there was Noah pushing aggressive environmentalism says:

    […] are build in the Sumerian and Jewish stories of the ark. And we also now have the so-called “Ark tablet” which tells how to build a third type of ark – an ark that is a very Mesopotamian […]

  33. Don says:

    My intuitions tell me it was oblong and rounded, not exactly round. Kind of barge shaped. With this compromise everyone could be satisfied and sleep easier. The cuneiform philologists and the holy book believers could just get along.

  34. Paul Ballotta says:

    A loon! It is the loon, which is smaller than a goose, that has the ability to swim underwater. It’s ancestor was Colymboides that thrived 37 to 20 million years ago. Fossils were found in Aquitaine which is southwestern France (and Provence is in southeastern France). The creature was not adapted to land and laid its eggs on the banks of the water. Interesting how we have this early version of the flood story with the term “sana” denoting two by two, not found in later Mesopotamian flood narratives and yet this appears in the Genesis account. Judging by the comments made above, the circular design described on the tablet may have had flaws but was improvised in the later accounts, as if someone with knowledge of a localised nautical design had hatched the inceptive plan that others would improve upon. The Hebrews and/or Hurrians recieved this tradition apparently from the earliest source.

  35. David says:

    Philip,
    Are you saying you don’t believe the Biblical account of a flood – or you believe the Gilgamesh view and not the Bible view – or you don’t believe any view of a flood. If the latter, then aren’t you saying that these ancient ‘coincidences’ mean NOTHING – or that the scholarship of them all is wrong? If so, why are there so many versions worldwide and so similar? So far, I have seen from the above ‘quotes’ from scientific studies that a lot of people believe there too many coincidences to be discounted. You, however, have different proof? So far you have just jumped in with a slur (insane) on the Bible’s version. Why? What facts can you contribute here? Please, impress us with your important – different -scholarly view.

  36. Dallas Kennedy says:

    The ark had a cover, no doubt, so it wouldn’t fill up with water.

    But that two by two, male and female, business — sounds very heteronormative to me 🙂

  37. Philip G says:

    You religious nuts are totally insane!

  38. Vincenzo says:

    Haven’t read all the comments, but someone is missing the detail that Genesis’ ark is the only ark that has been proven (via computer simulation as published in Journal of Creation (formerly TJ) 8(1):26–36 April 1994) to be able to stand a global flood as described in Genesis. All other so called arks wouldn’t stand a chance. Also, the many different flood accounts only prove they are all accounts of the same event and they have not necessarily been copied from each other. Only an inspired version of the account could get certain details just right, like the actual ark.

  39. Kurt says:

    The Flood—Fact or Myth?
    Taking us back to some 4,500 years ago, to about 2,500 B.C.E., the Bible tells us that rebel spirit sons of God materialized in human form and “went taking wives for themselves.” This unnatural interbreeding produced the violent Nephilim, “the mighty ones who were of old, the men of fame.” Their lawless conduct affected the pre-Flood world to the point that Jehovah said: “‘I am going to wipe men whom I have created off the surface of the ground . . . because I do regret that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of Jehovah.” The account then continues with the specific and practical steps Noah had to take to save himself, as well as his family and a variety of animal kinds, from the Flood.—Genesis 6:1-8, 13–8:22; 1 Peter 3:19, 20; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6.
    The record of pre-Flood events related in Genesis is branded as myth by modern critics. Yet, the history of Noah was accepted and believed by faithful men, such as Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jesus Christ, and the apostles Peter and Paul. It is also supported by the fact that it is reflected in so many mythologies worldwide, including the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh as well as the myths of China and of the Aztecs, Incas, and Maya. With the Bible record in mind, let us now consider the Assyro-Babylonian mythology and its references to a flood.—Isaiah 54:9; Ezekiel 14:20; Matthew 24:37; Hebrews 11:7.
    The Flood and the God-Man Gilgamesh
    Going back in history possibly some 4,000 years, we encounter the famous Akkadian myth called the Epic of Gilgamesh. Our knowledge of this is based mainly on a cuneiform text that came from the library of Ashurbanipal, who reigned 668-627 B.C.E., in ancient Nineveh.
    It is the story of the exploits of Gilgamesh, described as being two-thirds god and one-third man, or a demigod. One version of the epic states: “In Uruk he built walls, a great rampart, and the temple of blessed Eanna for the god of the firmament Anu, and for Ishtar the goddess of love . . . , our lady of love and war.” (See box, page 45, for a listing of Assyro-Babylonian gods and goddesses.) However, Gilgamesh was not exactly a pleasant creature to have around. The inhabitants of Uruk complained to the gods: “His lust leaves no virgin to her lover, neither the warrior’s daughter nor the wife of the noble.”
    What action did the gods take in response to the people’s protest? The goddess Aruru created Enkidu to be the human rival of Gilgamesh. However, instead of being enemies, they became close friends. In the course of the epic, Enkidu died. Shattered, Gilgamesh cried: “When I die, shall I not be like Enkidu? Woe has entered my belly. Fearing death, I roam over the steppe.” He wanted the secret of immortality and set out to find Utnapishtim, the deluge survivor who had been given immortality with the gods.
    Gilgamesh eventually finds Utnapishtim, who tells him the story of the flood. As found in Epic tablet XI, known as the Flood Tablet, Utnapishtim recounts instructions given to him concerning the flood: “Tear down (this) house, build a ship! Give up possessions, seek thou life. . . . Aboard the ship take thou the seed of all living things.” Does this not sound somewhat similar to the Bible’s reference to Noah and the Flood? But Utnapishtim cannot bestow immortality upon Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh, disappointed, returns home to Uruk. The account concludes with his death. The overall message of the epic is the sadness and frustration of death and the hereafter. Those ancient people did not find the God of truth and hope. However, the epic’s link to the Bible’s simple account of the pre-Flood era is quite evident. Now let us turn to the Flood account as it appears in other legends.
    Flood Legend in Other Cultures
    Even earlier than the account in the Epic of Gilgamesh is the Sumerian myth that presents “Ziusudra, the counterpart of the biblical Noah, who is described as a pious, a god-fearing king, constantly on the lookout for divine revelations in dreams or incantations.” (Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament) According to the same source, this myth “offers the closest and most striking parallel to biblical material as yet uncovered in Sumerian literature.” The Babylonian and Assyrian civilizations, which came later, were influenced by the Sumerian.
    The book China—A History in Art tells us that one of the ancient rulers of China was Yü, “the conqueror of the Great Flood. Yü channeled flood waters into rivers and seas to resettle his people.” Mythology expert Joseph Campbell wrote about the Chinese “Period of the Great Ten,” saying: “To this important age, which terminates in a Deluge, ten emperors were assigned in the early Chou-time mythology. Hence, it appears that what we are viewing here may be a local transformation of the series of the old Sumerian king list.” Campbell then cited other items from Chinese legends that appeared to “reinforce the argument for a Mesopotamian source.” That takes us back to the same basic source of many myths. However, the story of the Flood also appears in the Americas, for example, in Mexico during the period of the Aztecs in the 15th and 16th centuries C.E.
    Aztec mythology spoke of four previous ages, during the first of which the earth was inhabited by giants. (That is another reminder of the Nephilim, the giants referred to in the Bible at Genesis 6:4.) It included a primeval flood legend in which “the waters above merge with those below, obliterating the horizons and making of everything a timeless cosmic ocean.” The god controlling rain and water was Tlaloc. However, his rain was not obtained cheaply but was given “in exchange for the blood of sacrificed victims whose flowing tears would simulate and so stimulate the flow of rain.” (Mythology—An Illustrated Encyclopedia) Another legend states that the fourth era was ruled by Chalchiuhtlicue, the water-goddess, whose universe perished by a flood. Men were saved by becoming fish!
    Similarly, the Incas had their Flood legends. British writer Harold Osborne states: “Perhaps the most ubiquitous features in South American myth are the stories of a deluge . . . Myths of a deluge are very widespread among both the highland peoples and the tribes of the tropical lowlands. The deluge is commonly connected with the creation and with an epiphany [manifestation] of the creator-god. . . . It is sometimes regarded as a divine punishment wiping out existing humankind in preparation for the emergence of a new race.”
    Likewise, the Maya in Mexico and Central America had their Flood legend that involved a universal deluge, or haiyococab, which means “water over the earth.” Catholic bishop Las Casas wrote that the Guatemalan Indians “called it Butic, which is the word which means flood of many waters and means the final judgment, and so they believe that another Butic is about to come, which is another flood and judgment, not of water, but of fire.” Many more flood legends exist around the world, but the few already quoted serve to confirm the kernel of the legend, the historical event related in the book of Genesis.

  40. Jim Wright says:

    A round, uncovered ‘boat’? The alleged deluge would have filled and sank the ark rather quickly, wouldn’t it?

    1. John Aiken says:

      OK, So maybe it was covered.

  41. Paul Ballotta says:

    It wasn’t my intention to mislead, but I think was off about the number 300 symbolizing cosmic fertility, when it’s more like cosmic germanation and such was Noah’s ark; an experiment in the implementation of the seeds of life with the blessing of divinity. The number 600 would symbolize cosmic fertility, the blessing being transmitted through divinely inspired tradition. I do know that the Hebrew letter mem has a numerical value of 40 (like that of the god Ea) and the final letter mem is 600. Such is the case in the word for Egypt; Mizraim, as in “you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22:20). This would refer to the tribes of Joseph, of whom it it written that he was the elect (nazir) of his brothers (Genesis 49:26, Dueteronomy 33:16). You’ll recall the tradition of the Nazirites abstaining from wine and letting their hair grow long like Enkidu in his natural state before being given wine by the prostitute and having his hair shaved.
    “Gilgamesh is also the story of the double. If Gilgamesh is two-thirds god and only one-third human, his double, Enkidu, seems to reverse the ratio. If Gilgamesh is outwardly the same at the beginnig and the end of the work, the story of Enkidu everywhere emphasizes change … It is the story of Everyman. It is also the story of the emergence of mankind from the wild, a parable of culture, the best worked out Mesopotamian speculation about lullu-amelu, the First Man” (Gilgamesh, p.15).
    Joseph married the daughter of the priest of On (Genesis 41:45), this being Heliopolis, where there was an ancient tradition where the company of the gods originated there, emerging out of the Great Egg, the offspring of the earth god Geb or Seb:
    “Seb was the god of the earth, and the Heliopolitans declared that he represented the very ground upon which their city stood, meaning that Heliopolis was the birthplace of the company of the gods, and in fact that the work of creation began there” (“The Gods of the Egyptians vol. 2” by E.A. Wallis Budge, p.97).
    I remember reading about a prehistoric goose (Geb is sometimes represented as a goose) that lived 30 million years ago in southern France that could swim underwater. It was in Provence, France in the late 12th century that the Kabbalah began to take it egg-like form:
    “In this generation in France and especially in its southern part we hear with increasing frequency of scholars called by the epithet ha-perush, the ascetic, or ha-nazir, the Nazirite … There it is said that ‘one should appoint scholars whose vocation it is to occupy themselves incessantly with the Torah, so that the community might fulfill the duty of the study of the Torah, and in order that the reign of heaven sustain no loss'” (“Origins of the Kabbalah” by Gershom Scholem, p,229).

  42. Paul Ballotta says:

    In his booklet, “Hurrian Hebrews; Ea as Yahweh,” Forrest Reinhold points out the similarities between the epic of Gilgamesh flood narrative and the account given in the book of Genesis (p.72, 73), and the fact that the god of wisdom, Ea, who warned Utnapishtim of the impending disaster, had the sacred number of 40 (40 days and nights of the flood, Gen. 7:4,12, 17). The mountains of Ararat where the ark rested was the kingdom of Urartu, whose inhabitants spoke Hurrian. It is likely the Hebrews recieved these Mesopotamian traditions from the Hurrians.
    As for the dimesions of the ark being 300 cubits long, it is worth noting that in the Ethiopic book of Enoch (1 Enoch 7:2) the height of the pre-diluvian giants were also 300 cubits. In his “Cipher Genesis,” Carlos Suarez states that the number 300 symbolizes cosmic fertility, and we find a hint of this in the book of Baruch 3:24-26:
    ” O Israel, how vast is the house of God, how broad the scope of his dominion. Vast and endless, high and immeasurable! In it were born the giants, renowned at the first, stalwarts, skilled in war.”
    The Dead Sea Scrolls contain fragments of a lost Book of Giants (http://www.gnosis.org/library/dss/dss_book_of_giants.htm) and a giant named Gilgamesh is mentioned. The king of Uruk fits the description of the Nephilm who were “heroes of old, the men of renown” (Genesis 6:4). It seems this fictional account of giants is really an invectivtive againts the abusive power of temporal rulers. Gilgamesh was said to be 2/3 god and 1/3 human, and this also places him with the sons of God who conspired to enter the daughters of humanity, as it is related in an older version of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh, like “Caligula,” expands his rule to include being the first to copulate with the bride before the groom:
    “He has [intruded] into the meeting place that is set aside for the people…for brideship. He has heaped [defilement] on the city, imposing on the unlucky city strange customs” (“Gilgamesh”, by John Gardiner and John Maier, p.96).
    A literary “giant” by the name of Frank Herbert co-wrote a sci-fi book with Bill Ransom entitled, “The Jesus Incident.” Years ago I read this while listening to “Tales From Topographical Oceans” and “Close to the Edge” by Yes. It is set far in the future with a type of Noah’s ark bringing humanity to colonize a planet inhabited by predators which made it uninhabitable for humans. The space vessel which brought the cargo had an artififical intelligence and thought that it was God. The ship’s Chaplain/Psychiatrist, who was awakened out of suspended animation and sent on a mission to save the colony, is wondering if the ship really is God. His name was Raja Thomas and this invokes the image of the disciple of Jesus, otherwise known as” Doubting Thomas” (John 21:24-29). Ironically, though equipped with advanced technology, the humans bring to this new world their own shortcomings, particularly at the management level, which succumbs to an attitude of bigotry and sexism.
    An older version of Gilgamesh portrays the king as a maniac hacking his way through the cedar forest with an axe and felling trees until he reaches the abode of the sky gods, like the enviromental destruction depicted in the film “Avatar.” Raja Thomas learns that the oceanic kelp that holds the ecosystem together is sentient, and its destruction will affect the whole planet. The kelp forms a telepathic bond with the ship’s computer, which enables Raja Thomas to be transported in a vision to a place where people had gathered who wore ragged clothing and had a strong body odor to witness the crucifixion of Jesus.
    In the 11th tablet of the epic of Gilgamesh, composed by the Babylonian shaman/exorcist priest Sin-Leeqi-Unnini, Gigamesh is instructed by Utnapishtim (whose name contains the word “napishtu” meaning “life-breath”) to obtain a hard to find plant that grows under water, (the domain of the god Ea) and when he obtains it, Gilgamesh declares:
    “This is the plant of Openings, by which a man can get life within. I will carry it to Uruk of the Sheepfold; I will give it to the elders to eat; they will divide the plant among them. Its name is The-Old-Man-Will-Be-Made-Young, I too will eat it, and I will return to what I was in my youth” (Gilgamesh, p.249).
    “The-Old-Man-Will-Be-Made-Young” reminds me of an episode of “The Simpsons” entitled “Dohin’ In the Wind” which features two old men under the influence of peyote uncontrollably laughing. .

  43. Babylonian Tale Of Round Ark Draws Ire From Some Christian Circles | inagape says:

    […] their Babylonian exile in the 6th century B.C. and served as the basis for the Genesis story. Biblical Archaeology Review’s Noah Wiener said the cuneiform tablet was created “a full millennium before the Genesis narrative was […]

  44. The Babylonian Ark says:

    […] 1, 2014 by Walker Leave a Comment The Biblical Archaeology Review has a write-up on a newly-translated Old Babylonian (1900-1700 B.C.E.) tablet. The tablet’s […]

  45. Ken Clay says:

    The comet that hit the ice sheet on Canada about11500bc explains the flood

    1. John Aiken says:

      Interesting. Your comment, Ken, is compatible with the Biblical account. The Bible does not say that the 40 days of rain caused the flood. It says that the water “came from the depths” (paraphrase).

  46. Robin says:

    Interesting article. Interesting subject.

  47. Yoseph says:

    And if it was the other way, if the sumerians took the flood story of residents nearby to Noah, since biblical times are calculated fom Abraham about 2000 years BC, and not from Noah…That have been found sumerian stories from 3000 years BC not mean they are the oldest, but simply the oldest found.

  48. wayne says:

    a round ark? sure, whatever… first wave comes along and spins that ark and everyone else in it and you’ll then see why God didn’t instruct Noah to build it round. Be for real people. Satan is always trying to distract from the truth

  49. Kurt says:

    A Whole World Destroyed!

    Look at the world around you, with its cities, its culture, its scientific achievements, its population of billions. It is easy to be impressed by its apparent permanence, is it not? Do you think that some day this world could completely disappear? That may be difficult to envision. However, did you know that according to a very good source, a world existed before this one and it was completely destroyed?

    WE ARE not talking of a world of primitive tribes. The world that perished was civilized, with cities, artistic achievements, scientific knowledge. Yet, the Bible record tells us that suddenly, on the 17th day of the 2nd month, 352 years before the patriarch Abraham was born, a deluge began that swept away a whole world.*
    Is that record correct? Did such a thing really happen? Was there really an ancient world before the present one that flourished and was then destroyed? If so, why did it end? What went wrong? And is there any lesson that we can draw from its demise?
    Was an Ancient World Really Destroyed?
    Such an awesome catastrophe, if it really happened, would never have been completely forgotten. Hence, in many nations there are reminders of that destruction. Consider, for example, the precise date recorded in the Scriptures. The second month of the ancient calendar ran from what we now call mid-October to mid-November. So the 17th day corresponds approximately to the first of November. It may not be a coincidence, then, that in many lands, festivals for the dead are celebrated at that time of year.
    Other evidences of the Deluge linger in mankind’s traditions. Practically all ancient peoples have a legend that their ancestors survived a global flood. African Pygmies, European Celts, South American Incas—all have similar legends, as do peoples of Alaska, Australia, China, India, Lithuania, Mexico, Micronesia, New Zealand, and parts of North America, to mention only a few.
    Of course, over time the legends have been embellished, but they all include several details indicating a common source narrative: God was angered by mankind’s wickedness. He brought a great flood. Mankind as a whole was destroyed. A few righteous ones, however, were preserved. These built a vessel in which humans and animals were saved. In time, birds were sent out to search for dry land. Finally, the vessel came to rest on a mountain. Upon disembarking, the survivors offered a sacrifice.
    What does this prove? The similarities cannot possibly be coincidental. The combined evidence of these legends corroborates the Bible’s ancient testimony that all humans descend from the survivors of a flood that destroyed a world of mankind. Hence, we do not need to rely on legends or myths to know what happened. We have the carefully preserved record in the Hebrew Scriptures of the Bible.—Genesis, chapters 6-8.
    The Bible contains an inspired record of history extending back to the dawn of life. Evidence proves that it is more than mere history, however. Its unfailing prophecy and deep wisdom demonstrate that it is what it claims to be—God’s communication to mankind. Unlike myths, the Bible includes names and dates as well as genealogical and geographical details in its historical accounts. It gives us a picture of what life was like before the Flood and reveals why a whole world came to a sudden end.
    What went wrong with that antediluvian society? The following article considers that question. It is an important question for those who may wonder just how secure the future of our present civilization is.

    Genesis 7:11; 11:10-25, 32; 12:4.

    Flood Legends Worldwide
    Country Correspondencies 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
    Greece 7 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    Rome 6 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    Lithuania 6 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    Assyria 9 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    Tanzania 7 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    India – Hindu 6 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    New Zealand – Maori 5 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    Micronesia 7 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    Washington U.S.A. – Yakima 7 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    Mississippi U.S.A. – Choctaw 7 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    Mexico – Michoacan 5 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    South America – Quechua 4 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    Bolivia – Chiriguano 5 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    Guyana – Arawak 6 ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
    1: God angered by wickedness
    2: Destruction by a flood
    3: Ordered by God
    4: Divine warning given
    5: Few of mankind survive
    6: Saved in a vessel
    7: Animals saved
    8: Bird or other creature sent out
    9: Finally comes to rest on a mountain
    10: Sacrifice offered
    http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2002160
    Flood Legends
    Samples from six continents and the islands of the sea; hundreds of such legends are known
    Australia – Kurnai
    Destruction by Water
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Babylon – Berossus’ account
    Destruction by Water
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Babylon – Gilgamesh epic
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Bolivia – Chiriguano
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Borneo – Sea Dayak
    Destruction by Water
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Burma – Singpho
    Destruction by Water
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Canada – Cree
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Canada – Montagnais
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    China – Lolo
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Cuba – original natives
    Destruction by Water
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    East Africa – Masai
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Egypt – Book of the Dead
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Fiji – Walavu-levu tradition
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    French Polynesia – Raïatéa
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Greece – Lucian’s account
    Destruction by Water
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Guyana – Macushi
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Iceland – Eddas
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    India – Andaman Islands
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    India – Bhil
    Destruction by Water
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    India – Kamar
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Iran – Zend-Avesta
    Destruction by Water
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Italy – Ovid’s poetry
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Malay Peninsula – Jakun
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Mexico – Codex Chimalpopoca
    Destruction by Water
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Mexico – Huichol
    Destruction by Water
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    New Zealand – Maori
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Peru – Indians of Huarochirí
    Destruction by Water
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Russia – Vogul
    Destruction by Water
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    U.S.A. (Alaska) – Kolusches
    Destruction by Water
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    U.S.A. (Alaska) – Tlingit
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    U.S.A. (Arizona) – Papago
    Destruction by Water
    Warning Given
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    U.S.A. (Hawaii) – legend of Nu-u
    Destruction by Water
    Divine Cause
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Vanuatu – Melanesians
    Destruction by Water
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Vietnam – Bahnar
    Destruction by Water
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    Wales – Dwyfan/Dwyfach legend
    Destruction by Water
    Humans Spared
    Animals Spared
    Preserved in a Vessel
    http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200000758?q=flood legends&p=par
    http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/s/r1/lp-e?q=flood legends

  50. El Koussa says:

    This is another evidence among hundreds that the Hebrew biblical tradition is based on Mesopotamian historical accounts. That being said, we conclude even more than before that the Semitic Hebrew people were not but Babylonians basically from the city of Ur. Hence, Jews were Iraqis.

  51. David says:

    God is merciful. While the Bible recounts a flood story believed by many to be true, those believers – myself included – have tended to also believe that Noah’s was the only ark. Could it be that a merciful God provided direction and inspiration to others throughout the world so that they too might be saved?

  52. David Morse says:

    As I recall, there is nothing in the Biblical account about Noah’s ark being pointed. Rather, it’s a rectangular box whose purpose is also to float on the flood waters.

Write a Reply or Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Send this to a friend