Almost every culture on Earth includes an ancient flood story. Details vary, but the basic plot is the same: Inundate with a great quantity of something kills all but a lucky few spared.
• The story most familiar to many people is the biblical account of Noah and his ark. Genesis tells how “God saw that the wickedness of man was great” and decided to destroy all of creation. Only Noah, “who found grace in the eyes of the Lord,” his family, and the animals aboard the ark survived to repopulate the planet.
• Older than Genesis is the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh, a king who embarked on a journey to find the secret of immortality. Along the way, he met Utnapishtim, survivor of a great flood sent by the gods. Warned by Enki, the water god, Utnapishtim built a boat and saved his family and friends, along with artisans, animals, and precious metals.
• Ancient Greeks and Romans grew up with the story of Deucalion and Pyhrra, who saved their children and a collection of animals by boarding a vessel shaped like a giant box.
• Irish legends talk about Queen Cesair and her court, who sailed for seven years to avoid drowning when the oceans overwhelmed Ireland.
| European traditions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Culture or people | Details | Name of Noah | Name of mountain | Number of survivors | Animals involved |
| Greece | Deucalion and Pyrrha were warned by Prometheus about the flood and told to build a chest; they survived when the chest landed on a high mountain. | Deucalion | Mt. Parnassus | - | Yes |
| Asian traditions | |||||
| Culture or people | Details | Name of Noah | Name of mountain | Number of survivors | Animals involved |
| Babylonia | Epic of Gilgamesh; The god Ea warned Utnapishtim of the imminent destruction of the earth; the ark built was cube-shaped, and held his family, friends, and all animals | Utnapishtim | Mt. Nisir | 8 | Yes; a raven and dove were used to search for dry land as well |
| Assyria | King Ashurbanipal, who lived in the seventh century B.C., recorded, "I have read intricate tablets inscribed with obscure Sumerian or Akkadian...inscriptions on stone from before the Flood." | Utnapishtim; possibly used the same Gilgamesh tales of Babylonia | Mt. Nisir | 8 | Yes |
| Chaldean | Xisuthrus was warned of a coming flood by the god Chronos, who ordered him to build a boat in which to carry family, friends, and two of every kind of animal. | Xisuthrus | - | 8 | Yes; birds were used to find land. |
| China | Hihking; The Chinese classic record details one family survived a great flood by gathering their sons and sons' wives together in a large boat, whereupon they repopulated the earth afterwards. | Fuhi | - | 8 | Yes |
| Sumeria | Eridu Genesis: the god Enki warns Ziudsura to build a large boat due to the coming destruction of the earth. After a flood lasting seven days, Ziudsura sacrifices to the gods. | Ziudsura | translation lost | - | translation lost |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Australian traditions | |||||
| Culture or people | Details | Name of Noah | Name of mountain | Number of survivors | Animals involved |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Oceanic Islanders traditions | |||||
| Culture or people | Details | Name of Noah | Name of mountain | Number of survivors | Animals involved |
| Hawaiian | A man built a boat to escape a great flood. He landed his vessel on top of Mauna Kea on the Big Island. The man accidently attributed the cause of his safety to the moon god, and made sacrifices to the wrong god. Kane, the actual creator god descended to the man from a rainbow telling him of his error. | Nu'u | Mauna Kea | Unknown | Unknown |
| African traditions | |||||
| Culture or people | Details | Name of Noah | Name of mountain | Number of survivors | Animals involved |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| North American traditions | |||||
| Culture or people | Details | Name of Noah | Name of mountain | Number of survivors | Animals involved |
| Chippewa | A war between Nanabozho and the Great Serpent who lived at the bottom of Lake Superior; the serpent, being wounded in the fight, vowed to destroy the tribe by a flood. The tribe quickly built rafts, gathered their animals, and escaped to the highest mountains, which were quickly covered over except the one on which stood Nanabozho | Nanabozho | unknown | unknown | Yes |
| Choctaw | The Great Spirit destroyed a corrupt and wicked human race and all life on earth, except a prophet who went in vain to warn the people to repent or die. The prophet survived by building a raft of sassafras logs. | known only as the prophet. | unknown | unknown | Yes; the bird which led him to land he named "Puchi Yushuba" (lost pigeon) |
| South American traditions | |||||
| Culture or people | Details | Name of Noah | Name of mountain | Number of survivors | Animals involved |
| Tamanakis (Carib tribe, Orinoco River basin) | A man and woman escaped to the highest peak after being warned of a flood. Afterward, the tossed coconuts behind them, which became the next race of man. | - | Mt Tapanacu | - | - |
