Flood Myths Across Cultures
The comparative study of deluge narratives spanning Mesopotamia, the Bible, Greek, Hindu and Mesoamerican traditions.
Flood myths appear independently across many cultures, suggesting either shared memory of real events or a universal mythic archetype.
The Epic of Gilgamesh (tablet XI), the Genesis flood, Deucalion, Manu and the Maya Popol Vuh all contain flood narratives.
Scholars see flood myths as reflecting both real experiences of catastrophic floods (e.g. Mesopotamian river floods) and a powerful mythic archetype.
A shared motif does not prove a single global flood or a shared origin. Local flood events can generate similar narratives.
The degree to which these myths reflect shared events versus independent development is an open question.
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