Sep 19, 2007
The Flood from Heaven
The legend of the flood is one
of the best known and most appealing genres of myth. During
the past few centuries, missionaries and anthropologists
have collected hundreds of versions from all parts of the
world. Even Africa and Australia, long thought to lack
proper parallels to the deluge of Noah, have now been shown
to have their share.
Not all flood myths need to be related nor do
they have to refer to the same event. What can be demonstrated,
however, is that the earliest attested versions, originating in the
ancient Near-East, derive from a common source and form a true
literary tradition. These include the famous Greek myth of Deucalion,
the Jewish account of Noah, and the Mesopotamian myths of
Ut-Napishtim, Ziusudra, and Atrahasis. The Old-Babylonian clay
tablet shown above, which is held in the British Museum in London,
tells the story of Atrahasis, dated to 1635 BCE in the conventional
chronology.
When dealing with flood myths, one must tread
with great care and not leap to conclusions. There is a good
possibility that at least some variations commemorate local floods
of the kind that sometimes occur when earthquakes or tsunamis
strike. Nevertheless, the myths that speak of a universal inundation
tend to relate to the cosmic axis in the
centre of the world, a
feature rarely if ever explored in the existing literature.
This connection takes essentially two forms. A
large class of myths portray the axis – in its familiar symbolic
forms as a
world mountain, a
cosmic tree, and so on – as the hero's
place of refuge. An unambiguous example is the Greek Deucalion,
whose ship safely lands on
Mount Parnassus. It is no coincidence
that Parnassus was also the celebrated 'navel of the earth'.
According to another group of myths the waters of the flood poured
forth when the axis was uprooted or displaced. This motif is
particularly common in South-America. The Makiritare of Venezuela,
for instance, recall the giant tree Marahuaka, that grew upside down
with its roots in the sky. When it was cut down, the flood ensued.
Such clues indicate that a large segment of flood
myths may belong to the complex mythology of the
axis mundi.
As argued on these pages, the referent of these 'axis myths' was a
stupendous high-energy plasma discharge tube with a semi-permanent
character, whose existence was terminated amid catastrophic
circumstances. If this model is right and the outburst of the flood
had something to do with the disruption of this plasma column, one
might contemplate the possibility that the water of the flood was
not actually water, but a symbolic expression of
glowing plasma.
Far-fetched as this may sound at first, this
assumption would actually clarify various issues. Commentators have
often noted that, in many myths, the flood comes down from the sky.
Unless we are to resurrect the antiquated idea of 'watery comets'
discharging their wet burden, such assertions do not make much
sense. Apart from that, a significant number of flood myths insist
that the water was no ordinary water, but a different substance –
hot and fiery. Jewish legend had it that the rain was hot, scalding
the skin of the sinners. The Makah of Washington, the Quileute, the
Chimakum, the Salinan of California and the Ipurina of Brazilian
Amazonia agreed that the earth was overwhelmed by a hot flood coming
down from the sky. This intriguing lead does not seem to have been
followed by any specialists in the field, but the image of an
outburst of 'fire-water' certainly reminds one of a return to chaos,
in which water and fire were commingled into a single substance.
The recurrent links of the flood with the world
axis and an outflow of 'fire-water' spur a renewed examination of
this fascinating body of folklore,
Contributed by Rens van der Sluijs
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