Flood Index

The Geographical Diffusion of Flood Stories By Sir James George Frazer

The foregoing survey of diluvial traditions suffices to prove that this type of story, whether we call it legendary or mythical, has been widely diffused throughout the world.

The Origin of Stories of a Great Flood By Sir James George Frazer

What was the origin, of diluvial traditions? how did men come so commonly to believe that at some time or other the earth, or at all events the whole inhabited portion of it, had been submerged under the waters of a mighty flood in which almost the entire human race perished?

African Stories of a Great Flood By Sir James George Frazer

It is curious, that while legends of a universal flood are widely spread over many parts of the world, they are hardly to be found at all in Africa. Indeed, it may be doubted whether throughout that vast continent a single genuinely native tradition of a great flood has been recorded. Even traces of such traditions are rare. None have as yet been discovered in the literature of ancient Egypt

Ancient Greek Stories of a Great Flood By Sir James George Frazer

Legends of a destructive deluge, in which the greater part of mankind perished, meet us in the literature of ancient Greece.

Ancient Indian Stories of a Great Flood By Sir James George Frazer

No legend of a great flood is to be found in the Vedic hymns, the most ancient literary monuments of India, which appear to have been composed at various dates between 100 and 3000 B.C., while the Aryans were still settled in the Punjab and had not yet spread eastward into the valley of the Ganges.

Atlantis And The Deluge

The Destruction Described In Legends by Ignatius Donnelly

An event, which in a few hours destroyed, amid horrible convulsions, an entire country, with all its vast population-that Population the ancestors of the great races of both continents, and they themselves the custodians of the civilization of their age-could not fail to impress with terrible force the minds of men

The Deluge Of The Bible by Ignatius Donnelly

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

The Deluge Of The Chaldeans by Ignatius Donnelly

We have two versions of the Chaldean story--unequally developed, indeed, but exhibiting a remarkable agreement. The one most anciently known, and also the shorter, is that which Berosus took from the sacred books of Babylon, and introduced into the history that he wrote for the use of the Greeks.

The Deluge Legends Of Other Nations by Ignatius Donnelly

The author of the treatise "On the Syrian Goddess" acquaints us with the diluvian tradition of the Arameans, directly derived from that of Chaldea, as it was narrated in the celebrated Sanctuary of Hierapolis, or Bambyce.

The Deluge Legends Of America by Ignatius Donnelly

"It is a very remarkable fact," says Alfred Maury, "that we find in America traditions of the Deluge coming infinitely nearer to that of the Bible and the Chaldean religion than among any people of the Old World.

Some Consideration Of The Legends by Ignatius Donnelly

If, then, the mountains of Atlantis contained volcanoes, of which the peaks of the Azores are the surviving representatives, it is not improbable that the convulsion which drowned it in the sea was accompanied by great discharges of water.

Australian Myths Of Origins And The Deluge By Roland B. Dixon

MYTHS of the origin of the world are largely lacking in Australia as in Melanesia. With few exceptions the existence of the earth and sky seems to have been assumed, and apart from certain special mountains, rocks, rivers, and other natural features, no account is given of their origin.

Babylonian Deluge Stories and the New Sumerian Version By Leonard W. King

The Babylonian account of the Deluge, which was discovered by George Smith in 1872 on tablets from the Royal Library at Nineveh, is, as you know, embedded in a long epic of twelve Books recounting the adventures of the Old Babylonian hero Gilgamesh.

Babylonian Story of a Great Flood By Sir James George Frazer

Of all the legends of a Great Flood recorded in literature, by far the oldest is the Babylonian or rather the Sumerian; for we now know that, ancient as was the Babylonian version of the story, it was derived by the Babylonians from their still more ancient predecessors, the Sumerians, from whom the Semitic inhabitants of Babylonia appear to have derived the principal elements of their civilization.

Babylonian Deluge As Told By Assyrian Tablets From Nineveh

IN 1845-47 A. H. Layard carried out a series of excavations among the ruins of the ancient city of Nineveh, "that great city, wherein are more than sixteen thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left; and also much cattle".

Bukidnon Flood Story by Mabel Cole

A long time ago there was a very big crab which crawled into the sea. And when he went in he crowded the water out so that it ran all over the earth and covered all the land.

Central America and Mexico Stories of a Great Flood By Sir James George Frazer

"The Mexicans," says the Italian historian Clavigero, "with all other civilized nations, had a clear tradition, though somewhat corrupted by fable, of the creation of the world, of the universal deluge, of the confusion of tongues, and of the dispersion of the people; and had actually all these events represented in their pictures.

Chaldean Account of the Deluge by George Smith

I have recently been examining the division comprising the Mythological and Mythical tablets, and from this section I obtained a number of tablets, giving a curious series of legends and including a copy of the story of the Flood.

Chinese Story of a Great Flood By E.T.C. Werner

Before the Chinese Empire was founded a noble and wonderful queen fought with the chief of the tribes who inhabited the country round about Ô-mei Shan. In a fierce battle the chief and his followers met defeat; raging with anger at being beaten by a woman, he rushed up the mountain-side.

Coos Flood Myth by Leo J. Frachtenberg

When one day the flood-tide came, there was no ebb-tide. Everything was full of water. Not long afterwards the water reached its full mark. The earth was entirely filled with people. There were too many people, and they looked at the water as it reached its full mark.

Deluge Legend, the Island of the Blessed, and Hades By Donald A. Mackenzie

Hear me, O Gilgamesh, and I will make revelation regarding the hidden doings of the high gods. As thou knowest, the city of Shurippak is situated upon the bank of the Euphrates.

European Stories of a Great Flood

Apart from the ancient Greek stories of a great flood, it is remarkable that very few popular traditions of a universal or widespread deluge have been recorded in Europe.

General Account of Noah's Flood from The Sacred Theory of the Earth

A general account of Noah's Flood; A computation what quantity of Water would be necessary for the making of it; that the common Opinion and Explication of that Flood is not intelligible.

Greek Flood Myth From The Theogony of Apollodorus

And when Zeus would destroy the men of the Bronze Age, Deucalion by the advice of Prometheus constructed a chest, and having stored it with provisions he embarked in it with Pyrrha. But Zeus by pouring heavy rain from heaven flooded the greater part of Greece, so that all men were destroyed, except a few who fled to the high mountains in the neighbourhood.

Greco-Roman Flood Myth From The Giants' War

From Metamorphoses by Ovid. Book The First:
Nor were the Gods themselves more safe above;
Against beleaguer'd Heav'n the giants move.
Hills pil'd on hills, on mountains mountains lie,
To make their mad approaches to the skie.

Hawaiian Era Of Overturning by Martha Beckwith

He is called "a great kahuna" and in his time came the flood known as Kai-a-ka-hina-li‘i, which may be translated as "Sea caused by Kahinali‘i" or as "Sea that made the chiefs (ali‘i) fall down (hina)." Nu‘u himself is called Ka-hinali‘i from this catastrophe, and after the flood he is known as Ku-kapuna, his wife as Ku-kekoa, and their three sons have names of winds that bring rain.

Igorot Flood Story by Mabel Cole

Once upon a time, when the world was flat and there were no mountains, there lived two brothers, sons of Lumawig, the Great Spirit. The brothers were fond of hunting, and since no mountains had formed there was no good place to catch wild pig and deer, and the older brother said: “Let us cause water to flow over all the world and cover it, and then mountains will rise up.”

Indian Archipelago Great Flood Stories By Sir James George Frazer

The Battas or Bataks of Sumatra say that in the beginning of time the earth rested on the head, or rather on the three horns, of Naga Padoha, a monster who is described as a serpent with the horns of a cow, but who appears to have been also provided with hands and feet.

Islamic Flood Myth

'Seek ye the forgiveness of your Lord, and turn to Him in repentance; that He may grant you enjoyment, good (and true), for a term appointed, and bestow His abounding grace on all who abound in merit! But if ye turn away, then I fear for you the penalty of a great day

Lithuanian Story of a Great Flood By Sir James George Frazer

One day it chanced that the supreme god Pramzimas was looking out of a window of his heavenly house, and surveying the world from this coign of vantage he could see nothing but war and injustice among mankind. The sight so vexed his righteous soul that he sent two giants, Wandu and Wejas, down to the sinful earth to destroy it.

Genesis Flood Myth. King James version

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

Noah's Flood. God Kills Eveything: Child's Version

Behold how kind and merciful
Our heavenly Father was,
To bear so long with sinful men,
Who had transgressed His laws.

Noah And The Great Flood Myth by Louis Ginzberg

Methuselah took a wife for his son Lamech, and she bore him a man child. The body of the babe was white as snow and red as a blooming rose, and the hair of his head and his long locks were white as wool, and his eyes like the rays of the sun.

Persian Stories of a Great Flood By Sir James George Frazer

Some scholars have held that in ancient Persian literature they can detect the elements of diluvial traditions. Thus in the Bundahis, a Pahlavi work on cosmogony, mythology, and legendary history, we read of a conflict which the angel Tistar, an embodiment of the bright star Sirius, waged with the Evil Spirit apparently in the early ages of the world.

Polynesia and Micronesia Stories of a Great Flood By Sir James George Frazer

Legends of a great flood in which a multitude of people perished are told by the natives of those groups of islands which under the general names of Polynesia and Micronesia are scattered widely over the Pacific.

Scandinavian Story of a Great Flood From The Younger Eddas Of Snorre Sturleson

"To relate this," replied Har, "is no trivial matter. They dragged the body of Ymir into the middle of Ginnungagap, and of it formed the earth. From Ymir's blood they made the seas and waters; from his flesh the land; from his bones the mountains; and his teeth and jaws, together with some bits of broken bones, served them to make the stones and pebbles."

South American Stories of a Great Flood By Sir James George Frazer

At the time of their discovery the Indians of Brazil, in the neighbourhood of what was afterwards Rio de Janeiro, had a legend of a universal deluge in which only two brothers with their wives were saved.

Transylvanian Story of a Great Flood By Sir James George Frazer

There was a time, they say, when men lived for ever, and knew neither trouble nor cold, neither sickness nor sorrow The earth brought forth the finest fruits: flesh grew on many trees, and milk and wine flowed in many rivers Men and animals lived happily with each other, and they had no fear of death.