English 220: Mythology: Flood Stories

Water is a favorite weapon of angry gods. Nearly all the world's religions and mythologies have a story in which the gods send a great flood to punish people for their offenses.

In the ruins of the library at Nineveh (Iraq), ancient Babylonian tablets written in cuneiform text are unearthed. Parts of the Noah story are also found in the more ancient "Epic of Gilgamesh," as well as the Sumerian Epic (1800 B.C.) and Epic of Atrahasis, which is much older.