The great Flood: the story by Hyginus

An eagle in a modern reconstruction of Noah's Ark

The Great Flood: mythological story about a great destruction that once befell the earth. There are several variants; the Biblical version is the most famous. The possibility that there is a historical event behind the story (a local flood in southern Babylonia in the twenty-eighth century BCE) can not be excluded.

Bible Sumer Babylonia Greece Archaeology

Full text Eridu Genesis Atrahasis Ovid

Reconstruction Gilgameš Hyginus

Quran Berossus Apollodorus

One of the Greco-Roman versions is the summary by Gaius Julius Hyginus, a first-century CE author from Roman Spain who collected ancient myths in a book called Fabulae, "stories". Although brief and poorly written, it is interesting because (a) it contains no reference to a boat and (b) it refers to an uncommon site where they survived. Fabula 153 was translated by Mary Grant.

When the cataclysm which we call the Flood or Deluge occurred, all the human race perished except Deucalion and Pyrrha, who fled to Mount Etna, which is said to be the highest mountain in Sicily. When they could not live on account of loneliness, they begged Jupiter either to give men, or to afflict them with a similar disaster. Then Jupiter bade them cast stones behind them; those Deucalion threw he ordered to become men, and those Pyrrha threw, to be women. Because of this they are called laos, "people", for stone in Greek is called las.

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	Eridu Genesis	Atrahasis	Gilgameš	Bible	Berossus	Greece	Quran
Date	3d millennium BCE	c.1640 BCE	c.1100 BCE	c.1000-500 BCE	278 BCE	c.700 BCE?	c.600 CE
Revolt	?	lesser gods	?	giants?	monsters?	giants	-
Hero	Ziusudra	Atrahasis	Ut-napištim	Noah	Xisuthrus	Deucalion	Nuh
Country	Šuruppuk	Šuruppak	Šuruppak	-	Sippar	Thessaly	-
Destroyer	Enlil	Enlil	Enlil	YHWH	Enlil	Zeus	Allah
Warning	Vision	Dream	Indirect order	Direct order	Dream	?	Direct order
Reason	Noise?	Noise	?	Sin, giants	?	Sin, giants	Sin
Cause	Stormflood	Rain	Stormflood	Rain, fountains	-	Rain, waves	"from the valley"
Savior	Enki	Enki	Enki	YHWH	Enki	Prometheus	Allah
Period	7 days	7 days	7 days	150/40 days	"quickly"	9 days	?
Birds	?	?	raven, dove, swallow	doves/raven	"several"	none	-
Destination	?	-	Nimuš	Ararat	Gordyene	Parnassus	Al-Gudi
Fate	Eternal life	Eternal life	Eternal life	Three sons	Eternal life	Three grandsons	-

Online 2007
Revision: 26 Sept. 2007