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Hebrew Flood Myth

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Though there have been many millennium that have passed allowing for myth to grow, be lost, destroyed, and recreated there is still not one clear definition of myth. Yes, there have been multiple definitions brought forward by philosophers like Euhemerus and scholars like Walter Burkert, but none of these definitions were ever given the honor of being the concrete definition of myth. The same situation goes for the definition of what a hero is. Many credible intellectuals have offered definitions of what a hero is, but only one prevailed—and even that is up for debate. This is all due to the varying theories on why myth is around created by reputable individuals which may crossover one another, clash, or even be expounded upon as the years …show more content…

From the Hebrew flood myth, to the flood in the Eridu-Genesis, to the flood in Atrahasis, to the Chinese flood myth; all of these myths come from different places but all share one common theme—a flood that destroys mankind with a sole survivor or survivors. In the Hebrew flood myth God choses to destroy all of mankind. He comes to Noah and tells him to “make thee an ark of gopher wood” where he and all those in his house will stay as the flood passes because they are “seen [as] righteous before [God] in [their] generation”. Though some details may vary the same concept is present in Eridu-Genesis where Enlil is angered and choses to destroy mankind, but Enki comes to Ziusudra telling him to build an ark of wood. Atrahasis follows the same guidelines, but Atrahasis is left to live at sea after the flood ends for worshipping Enki, but once the gods realize they have no one to feed them they allow mankind to restart. The Chinese flood myth like the ones before have a divinity, in this case a fish tells the man to build a wooden house to save him from the flood. All those who build wooden houses survived the flood and were able to restart mankind. These stories all tell of a catastrophe that ended mankind, but it is too much to handle to think that there were others before us that had advanced and then been wiped out, so thus myth was created to help us cope with that

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