Flood myth

== Historicity ==

== Historicity ==

Floods in the wake of the [[Last Glacial Period]] ({{circa}} 115,000 – {{circa}} 11,700 years ago) are speculated to have inspired myths that survive to this day.{{cite web |date=2012-08-29 |title=Biblical-Type Floods Are Real, and They're Absolutely Enormous |url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/biblical-type-floods-are-real-and-theyre-absolutely-enormous |access-date=2023-03-20 |publisher=DiscoverMagazine.com}} Plato's allegory of [[Atlantis]] is set over 9,000 years before his time, leading some scholars to suggest that a [[Stone Age]] society which lived close to the [[Mediterranean Sea]] could have been wiped out by the rising [[sea level]], an event which could have served as the basis for the story.{{Cite episode |title=Legends of Atlantis |series=[[Drain the Oceans]] |network=[[National Geographic (American TV channel)|National Geographic]] |date=2018 |season=1 |number=5 |minutes=42–45}}

Archaeologist Bruce Masse stated that some of the narratives of a great flood discovered in many cultures around the world may be linked to an oceanic asteroid impact that occurred between Africa and [[Antarctica]], around the time of a [[solar eclipse]], that caused a [[tsunami]].{{cite news |last1=Alan Boyle |title=Adding up the risks of cosmic impact |url=http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3077868/ |agency=MSNBC |date=Feb 24, 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060203130446/http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3077868/ |archive-date=2006-02-03 }} Among the 175 myths he analyzed were a Hindu myth speaking of an alignment of the five planets at the time, and a [[Flood Mythology of China|Chinese myth]] linking the flood to the end of the reign of the chthonic goddess [[Nüwa]]. Fourteen flood myths refer to a full [[solar eclipse]].{{cite news |last1=Sandra Blakeslee |title=Did an Asteroid Impact Cause an Ancient Tsunami? |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/14/science/14WAVE.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|agency=The New York Times |date=Nov 14, 2006}} According to Masse, these indications point to the date May 10, 2807 BCE.{{cite journal |last1=Scott Carney |title=Did a Comet Cause the Great Flood? |journal=Discover |date=Nov 15, 2007 |url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/did-a-comet-cause-the-great-flood|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230209050517/https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/did-a-comet-cause-the-great-flood |archive-date=2023-02-09 }} His hypothesis suggests that a [[meteor]] or [[comet]] crashed into the [[Indian Ocean]] around 3000–2800 BCE, and created the {{convert|18|mi|km|adj=on}} undersea [[Burckle Crater]] and [[Fenambosy Chevron]], and generated a giant tsunami that flooded coastal lands.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/14/science/14WAVE.html|title=Ancient Crash, Epic Wave|date=14 November 2006|work=The New York Times}}

===Mesopotamia===

===Mesopotamia===

[[File:Post-Glacial Sea Level.png|thumb|Earth's [[sea level]] rose dramatically in the millennia after the [[Last Glacial Maximum]].]]

[[File:Post-Glacial Sea Level.png|thumb|Earth's [[sea level]] rose dramatically in the millennia after the [[Last Glacial Maximum]].]]

The geography of the Mesopotamian area changed considerably with the filling of the [[Persian Gulf]] after sea waters rose following the last glacial period. Global sea levels were about {{convert|120|m|abbr=on}} lower around 18,000 [[Before Present|BP]] and rose until 8,000 BP when they reached current levels, which are now an average {{convert|40|m|abbr=on}} above the floor of the Gulf, which was a huge ({{convert|800 x 200|km|mi|abbr=on|disp=comma}}) low-lying and fertile region in Mesopotamia, in which human habitation is thought to have been strong around the [[Gulf Oasis]] for 100,000 years. A sudden increase in settlements above the present-day water level is recorded at around 7,500 [[Before Present|BP]].{{citation |title= Lost Civilization Under Persian Gulf?|url= https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101208151609.htm |work= Science Daily |date=December 8, 2010 }}{{citation |title= New Light on Human Prehistory in the Arabo-Persian Gulf Oasis |first=Jeffrey I. |last=Rose |journal=Current Anthropology |volume= 51 |issue=6 |doi=10.1086/657397 |date=December 2010 |pages=849–883 |s2cid=144935980 |url= https://zenodo.org/record/896327 }}

The geography of the Mesopotamian area changed considerably with the filling of the [[Persian Gulf]] after sea waters rose following the last glacial period. Global sea levels were about {{convert|120|m|abbr=on}} lower around 18,000 [[Before Present|BP]] and rose until 8,000 BP when they reached current levels, which are now an average {{convert|40|m|abbr=on}} above the floor of the Gulf, which was a huge ({{convert|800 x 200|km|mi|abbr=on|disp=comma}}) low-lying and fertile region in Mesopotamia, in which human habitation is thought to have been strong around the [[Gulf Oasis]] for 100,000 years. A sudden increase in settlements above the present-day water level is recorded at around 7,500 [[Before Present|BP]].{{citation |title= Lost Civilization Under Persian Gulf?|url= https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101208151609.htm |work= Science Daily |date=December 8, 2010 }}{{citation |title= New Light on Human Prehistory in the Arabo-Persian Gulf Oasis |first=Jeffrey I. |last=Rose |journal=Current Anthropology |volume= 51 |issue=6 |doi=10.1086/657397 |date=December 2010 |pages=849–883 |s2cid=144935980 |url= https://zenodo.org/record/896327 }} Floods in the wake of the [[Last Glacial Period]] ({{circa}} 115,000 – {{circa}} 11,700 years ago) are speculated to have inspired myths that survive to this day.{{cite web |date=2012-08-29 |title=Biblical-Type Floods Are Real, and They're Absolutely Enormous |url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/biblical-type-floods-are-real-and-theyre-absolutely-enormous |access-date=2023-03-20 |publisher=DiscoverMagazine.com}} Plato's allegory of [[Atlantis]] is set over 9,000 years before his time, leading some scholars to suggest that a [[Stone Age]] society which lived close to the [[Mediterranean Sea]] could have been wiped out by the rising [[sea level]], an event which could have served as the basis for the story.{{Cite episode |title=Legends of Atlantis |series=[[Drain the Oceans]] |network=[[National Geographic (American TV channel)|National Geographic]] |date=2018 |season=1 |number=5 |minutes=42–45}}

===Mediterranean Basin===

===Mediterranean Basin===

A similar hypothesis was popularized by Minnesota congressman and [[pseudoarchaeology]] writer [[Ignatius L. Donnelly]] in his book ''[[Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel]]'' (1883), which followed his better-known book ''[[Atlantis: The Antediluvian World]]'' (1882). In ''Ragnarok'', Donnelly argued that an enormous comet struck the Earth around 6,000 BCE to 9,000 BCE,{{efn|In ''[[Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel]]'' (1883) [[Ignatius L. Donnelly|Donnelly]] suggested that the [[Genesis flood narrative|flood of Noah]] "probably occurred somewhere from eight to eleven thousand years ago" (6,117 [[BCE]] to 9,117 BCE);{{Cite book |last=Donnelly |first=Ignatius Loyola |url=https://archive.org/details/ragnarokageoffir00donn/page/404/mode/2up |title=Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel |year=1883 |page=404 |publisher=New York, D. Appleton and Company |quote=The Deluge of Noah probably occurred somewhere from eight to eleven thousand years ago. Hence, about twenty thousand years probably intervened between the Drift and the Deluge. These were the 'myriads of years' referred to by Plato, during which mankind dwelt on the great plain of Atlantis. |author-link=Ignatius L. Donnelly |name-list-style=vanc}} in his previous book ''[[Atlantis: The Antediluvian World]]'' (1882) Donnelly followed [[Plato]]'s timeline and gave a date of 9,600 BCE (11,550 [[Before Present|BP]]) for the destruction of [[Atlantis]].{{Cite book |last=Donnelly |first=Ignatius Loyola |url=https://archive.org/details/atlantisantedil00donn/page/29/mode/2up |title=Atlantis: The Antediluvian World |year=1882 |page=29 |quote=Plato states that the Egyptians told Solon that the destruction of Atlantis occurred 9000 years before that date, to wit, about 9600 years before the Christian era. |author-link=Ignatius L. Donnelly |name-list-style=vanc}}}} destroying an advanced civilization on the "lost continent" of [[Atlantis]]. Donnelly, following others before him, attributed the Biblical Flood to this event, which he hypothesized had also resulted in catastrophic fires and [[Climate change (general concept)|climate change]]. Shortly after the publication of ''Ragnarok'', one commenter noted, "Whiston ascertained that the deluge of Noah came from a comet's tail; but Donnelly has outdone Whiston, for he has shown that our planet has suffered not only from a cometary flood, but from cometary fire, and a cometary rain of stones."{{Cite journal |last=Winchell |first=Alexander |author-link=Alexander Winchell |name-list-style=vanc |date=1887 |title=Ignatius Donnelly's Comet |url=https://archive.org/details/theforum04newy/page/105/mode/2up?view=theater |journal=The Forum |volume=IV |page=115}}

A similar hypothesis was popularized by Minnesota congressman and [[pseudoarchaeology]] writer [[Ignatius L. Donnelly]] in his book ''[[Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel]]'' (1883), which followed his better-known book ''[[Atlantis: The Antediluvian World]]'' (1882). In ''Ragnarok'', Donnelly argued that an enormous comet struck the Earth around 6,000 BCE to 9,000 BCE,{{efn|In ''[[Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel]]'' (1883) [[Ignatius L. Donnelly|Donnelly]] suggested that the [[Genesis flood narrative|flood of Noah]] "probably occurred somewhere from eight to eleven thousand years ago" (6,117 [[BCE]] to 9,117 BCE);{{Cite book |last=Donnelly |first=Ignatius Loyola |url=https://archive.org/details/ragnarokageoffir00donn/page/404/mode/2up |title=Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel |year=1883 |page=404 |publisher=New York, D. Appleton and Company |quote=The Deluge of Noah probably occurred somewhere from eight to eleven thousand years ago. Hence, about twenty thousand years probably intervened between the Drift and the Deluge. These were the 'myriads of years' referred to by Plato, during which mankind dwelt on the great plain of Atlantis. |author-link=Ignatius L. Donnelly |name-list-style=vanc}} in his previous book ''[[Atlantis: The Antediluvian World]]'' (1882) Donnelly followed [[Plato]]'s timeline and gave a date of 9,600 BCE (11,550 [[Before Present|BP]]) for the destruction of [[Atlantis]].{{Cite book |last=Donnelly |first=Ignatius Loyola |url=https://archive.org/details/atlantisantedil00donn/page/29/mode/2up |title=Atlantis: The Antediluvian World |year=1882 |page=29 |quote=Plato states that the Egyptians told Solon that the destruction of Atlantis occurred 9000 years before that date, to wit, about 9600 years before the Christian era. |author-link=Ignatius L. Donnelly |name-list-style=vanc}}}} destroying an advanced civilization on the "lost continent" of [[Atlantis]]. Donnelly, following others before him, attributed the Biblical Flood to this event, which he hypothesized had also resulted in catastrophic fires and [[Climate change (general concept)|climate change]]. Shortly after the publication of ''Ragnarok'', one commenter noted, "Whiston ascertained that the deluge of Noah came from a comet's tail; but Donnelly has outdone Whiston, for he has shown that our planet has suffered not only from a cometary flood, but from cometary fire, and a cometary rain of stones."{{Cite journal |last=Winchell |first=Alexander |author-link=Alexander Winchell |name-list-style=vanc |date=1887 |title=Ignatius Donnelly's Comet |url=https://archive.org/details/theforum04newy/page/105/mode/2up?view=theater |journal=The Forum |volume=IV |page=115}}

=== Asteroid impact ===

Archaeologist Bruce Masse stated that some of the narratives of a great flood discovered in many cultures around the world may be linked to an oceanic asteroid impact that occurred between Africa and [[Antarctica]], around the time of a [[solar eclipse]], that caused a [[tsunami]].{{cite news |last1=Alan Boyle |title=Adding up the risks of cosmic impact |url=http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3077868/ |agency=MSNBC |date=Feb 24, 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060203130446/http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3077868/ |archive-date=2006-02-03 }} Among the 175 myths he analyzed were a Hindu myth speaking of an alignment of the five planets at the time, and a [[Flood Mythology of China|Chinese myth]] linking the flood to the end of the reign of the chthonic goddess [[Nüwa]]. Fourteen flood myths refer to a full [[solar eclipse]].{{cite news |last1=Sandra Blakeslee |title=Did an Asteroid Impact Cause an Ancient Tsunami? |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/14/science/14WAVE.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|agency=The New York Times |date=Nov 14, 2006}} According to Masse, these indications point to the date May 10, 2807 BCE.{{cite journal |last1=Scott Carney |title=Did a Comet Cause the Great Flood? |journal=Discover |date=Nov 15, 2007 |url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/did-a-comet-cause-the-great-flood|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230209050517/https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/did-a-comet-cause-the-great-flood |archive-date=2023-02-09 }} His hypothesis suggests that a [[meteor]] or [[comet]] crashed into the [[Indian Ocean]] around 3000–2800 BCE, and created the {{convert|18|mi|km|adj=on}} undersea [[Burckle Crater]] and [[Fenambosy Chevron]], and generated a giant tsunami that flooded coastal lands.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/14/science/14WAVE.html|title=Ancient Crash, Epic Wave|date=14 November 2006|work=The New York Times}}

==Art==

==Art==