Viti

What, if any, conclusions can we draw about the number and similarities of these flood stories Here ? The Hovindites are claiming it means there was a world wide flood, and that it could have been Noah's (but of course the flood geology seems to have become more important than the Bible for some reason)...I simply don't know how to rebut.

God Fearing Atheist

That ancient civilizations were centered on, or near, bodies of water that periodically flooded, and were thus incorporated into their mythology?

-GFA

Viti

That was my first thought, but read the link...most have the same theme; angry deity floods the Earth but a few are saved and they began the race of people. Many also mention 2 of each animal, and Herschel Island Eskimo's even mentions Noah by name

Doubting Didymus

Similarities between all myths are extraordinarily common.

What do we make of the similarities between Odin and Christs crucifixion?

Viti

I guess I just wasn't prepared for the sheer number of flood myths. My hypothesis is that Noah's flood is simply one of many based on an older myth...I was just hoping for something more concrete than that.

Thanks guys...as always you are the best

WinAce

Many of those are dependent on the Biblical account. Australia, for example, has no native flood legend, but the one introduced by Christian missionaries has been coopted and spun into into Aboriginal beliefs.

Worldtraveller

I agree with Winace's assertion that many accounts of floods were incorporated into aboriginal myth's after the various xian missionaries started spreading the word....

I think it would have been a very useful, and telling bit of information if each of those myth's listed there had a approx date of when the myth/religion originated. For instance, we know that the Judaic myth's of the old testament (OT) borrowed heavily and were significantly influenced by greek and roman myths preceding them.
From the Greek era:
Does that sound a little familiar?

We know that the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians all pre-dated the old testament stories. But how much of that would have been available to the authors is another interesting question.

Basically, all early civilizations lived on or near large bodies of water, so a common theme of floods wouldn't be that unusual. And think about the limited perspective the ancient people's had. To a civilization that had nothing more advanced for transportation than horses without stirrups, a regional flood would seem like a worldwide flood! Heck, I know some people in Alabama, who would swear they just lived through another one.

Flooding is a very common occurence in nature, along both fresh and saltwater habitats, so the prevalence of flood stories does not surprise me at all. Nor does it lend any additional credence to the OT version.

As an aside, one of the very noticable trends was for the flood to wipe out all but a couple of people and they started over. This tells me that people can't invent a god that could get it right the first time

Cheers,
Lane

Arikay

one thing to note is how many of the flood myths that have only a small group surviving, happen to have their group surviving. Its odd how only a single small group survives, but no one can agree on exactly who that is. We should be able to figure it out, since it would leave a second epicenter or civilization.

as others mentioned, borrowing was very common, so many flood legends could have been borrowed from other places. Old flood legends might have been shifted to fit the borrowed information.

Roland98

Ask him about this one:

If he's a biblethumper, the mere mention of the word "penis" should throw him completely off track.

Roland98

Or just ask him why in Alaska alone there are about a dozen contradictory stories.


Or how "skin canoe with a few people" =450 foot ark with at least 16000 animals.


Seriously, there are enough contradictions in there that, even if some have the same base (concept of worldwide flood), it's pretty apparent that many were stolen from the Bible (or other similar stories) and modified to fit the native culture.