The Flood Stories - Perfect DNA matches

All ancient civilizations have a creation story and a flood story. By far the most popular of the flood stories is in the biblical floods and the Noah story written about 600 BCE. However, the first ever flood story came from Babylon.

Babylonian Flood Story.

The oldest of all flood stories come from Babylon in the Epic of Gilgamesh, written around 1500 BCE. In the Babylonian story, the people of Babylon multiplied in great numbers. They became noisy, drunken and unruly. The Gods who lived in Shuruppak, Anu, Enlil, and Ea became very much annoyed. They decided to destroy the human population. However, Ea who was overseeing the earth, pleaded with Enlil and Anu to save the righteous men of Babylon. There was only one righteous man in Babylon at that time. His name was Uta-Napishtim. So, in his sleep, Ea appeared to Uta-Napishtim and said that there is a great flood in the making and that he must prepare a large boat, collect the samples of all animals and seeds of all plants and get ready for the flood.

At the appointed time the great flood came. Lightning struck and the flood gates of the heavens broke loose. Huge deluges ensued and the earth was flooded and on even tide, the boat that Uta-Napistim had created floated. After about 12 days of wandering in the great waters, the boat settled on top of Mt. Nisir.

Uta-Napishtim then opened a small window and sent out a dove. The dove returned suggesting there was no land to perch upon. Three days later he sent out another dove, and the second one also returned. Three days later he sent out a third dove, which did not return. When he realized there was land, he opened the door, took out all the animals and plants, and made a great libation and sacrifice.

At that time smelling the burned meat of the offerings, the great Gods Ea, Enlil and Anu appeared there. Ishtar also came at that time. Ishtar is the most beautiful and sensuous Goddess of all. She was very upset about all those people dying and floating over the waters like dead fish. She got up and made a great declaration. She said “Never again will we send a flood like this. Never again will we punish people like this.” Then she broke the rainbow-colored lapis lazuli necklace and threw it into the sky, and that rainbow is seen even today up in the skies.

Biblical Flood Story.

Much later in time came the biblical flood story came which was an exact DNA match of what happened in Babylon. Noah was the only righteous person in the world. The remaining people were all defiled, interested in anal sex, oral sex, animal sex and other abhorrent behaviors.

Yahweh appeared to Noah and informed him about the great flood that would ensue. He advised Noah about making the boat, collecting all the animals and plants and all such things like that in Babylon story. The flood came, the boat floated and settled on a mountaintop and then Noah also opened a small window, sent out a raven that returned. He sent out another one and that also returned. He sent out a third raven which did not return. Then he came out, took out all the animals and plants and mankind was re-established. Yahweh then promised Noah that there won't be a flood like that anymore and as a sign of promise He made a rain bow and kept it in the sky for everybody to see.

Egyptian Floods.

In ancient Egypt, floods were a period of celebrations. Nile is the life blood of Egypt. It brings water to drink, bath and to live and dark mud to add fertility to land. The flood is announced by very calm weather, no wind or rain. There is bird migration, thousands of white ibises' birds will fill the sky, and they will perch on the little plants like papyrus by the Nile costal ranges as if the whole land is painted white. Like magic as the water further rises the ibises from the South will fly off to the north. In celebration of the rise of water, people in jubilation will get on to their little skiffs or kayaks and ride the new ocean of water created by the flood. In ancient times this flood used to create flood disasters for the costal dwellers washing off their abode, properties and possessions.

By about 2300 BCE, during the Old Kingdom the brilliant ancient Egyptian decided to tame the flood for irrigation and transport. The eastern coast of the Nile is a rise where the kings built their citadels. The western cost is flat land extending up to 13 miles to the hilly rises. During the floods these vast expanses will be filled with water as if it is a large lake. During the dry season, they dug massive canals about sixty feet in width and forty feet in depth with very strong walls capable of holding flood waters extending all the way up to the hilly rises. They also fashioned wooden lids to close and open the mouth of the canal effectively.

During the time of the inundations, they will keep the mouth of the canal open, and the flood waters will gush into the canals and overflow to the fertile fields. Initially it would be clear water which will gradually turn brown and then become red-the Nile will turn red. When the flood is receding, they will close the mouth of the canals such that the water is well contained in the canals and the cultivation fields at a higher level. So, when the water in the Nile is low, they will have water contained in the canals and fields. The difference in the height of the water level from the Nile to the canals could be up to thirty or even thirty-five feet. The ingenious Egyptians also fashioned a nilometers to measure the height of the water level in the canals. The higher the water rises, the higher the taxes for the landowner.

As the water is drying up in the fields, there will be dark slit deposited across the fields. Then cultivation starts with the ploughing and seeding. As we see today, there is no step as fertilization. In ancient Egyptian cultivation the dark slit will take care of that aspect.

The Indian Flood Story.

In India also there is a great flood story which is documented in the old Puranas written much later in the third or fourth century A.D. Here the righteous man is called Manu, who is also the progenitor of mankind. One day he was taking a bath in the River Ganga. At the time a small fish approached him and prayed to Manu, “I am tired of swimming around. I'm chased by all the bigger fishes. They want to eat me so please help me.” So, Manu took the small fish in the cup of his hands and put it in a small cup of water. The fish grew out of the cup and then he transferred the fish into a jar. The fish grew out of the jar then he transferred the fish into a pond. The fish grew out of the pond as well. Then Manu transferred the fish into the great ocean. At that time the fish turned around and told Manu, “Look Manu. There is a great flood in the making. You better make a boat (Just like what happened in Babylon and Israel) and collect samples of all living things and seeds of all plants.” Just as it was predicted, a huge flood ensued and the he boat floated. Then came a huge fish, as big as a cruise ship with a large horn growing on its forehead. Well, Manu threw the ropes and tied it onto the horn of the fish. The fish pulled the boat to the top of the Himalayan Mountain. After some time, when Manu was convinced that the flood had receded, he came out. He situated the animals and plants and mankind was re-established.

Chinese Flood Story.

Disastrous deluges that devastate human belongings, life and civilization itself and the Herculean efforts of valiant men to mitigate the effects of the flood is the cardinal narrative and preoccupation of the Chinese thinking, poetry, literature, paintings, history and mythology for the last four thousand and five hundred years.

Tradition is that such a calamitous deluge that lasted for two generations happened around 2300 BCE and 2200 BCE. But archaeological studies would place the date around 1920 BCE. This calamity that happened in the nine provinces area occurred about one hundred years before emperor Xia the first Dynastic emperor in Chinese history.

In those days, the mystical demi-god figure Yao was the reigning King in the provinces in the basin of the yellow river. Flood continued days on end like rapidly rising boiling water that filled the whole land and rose to the mountain tops displacing human inhabitants and beasts. People sought safety on mountain cliffs and tree nests. Famin, pestilence and death ruled the land decimating human and animal life. Yao sought help from Gun who was from a nearby land. Gun was unable to ward off the flood even though he made a lot of dikes and dams and dug many canals. Nothing abated the devastations of the flood. Then Yao sought help from Shun one of his distant relatives. He even gave two of his daughters to Shun. Shun too failed. But much progress was made in reinforcing the dams and dikes and the canals were dug deeper and started drainages which made a difference.

The flood and devastations continued until the twenty first century until the mighty dams were built in the three gorges and the flood was contained for good by modern China man.

One cardinal difference between the Chinese flood story and the hither to described ones is that the Chinese flood was not thought to be God's punishment for man's sins; instead, it was deemed natural disasters.

One phenomenal outcome of those floods was- I think - that the flood taught the Chinese people to survive in the harshest of situations- surviving with the meager sustinences. With the flood all the animals and plants washed off, they learned how to eat all those plants that were not poisonous and eat the animals that were even poisonous.; that is reflected in the Chinese cuisine even today.