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| Behind
the Myth of Atlantis |
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| Chapter
7: The Flood |
 First of all, do we consider Atlantis as a fiction? Certainly not, according to this old proverb: "any legend contains in the base, a part of the truth ".
To understand the "mystery" of Atlantis, it is necessary to evoke the flood. It really existed and it is not as tried as some try to persuade, "a trick to frighten" that someone inserted in the Bible more or less insidiously. Let us say simply that there is a "Noah" in all the traditions of the world, Babylon, in the Andes Cordillera, in Oceania, in Mexico, in the Caucasus and even in Egypt.
MIDDLE EAST
The best recognised biblical history of the flood, represents
the conjunction of two independent versions. The Hebrew
version was more than likely taken from the myth of the
Babylonians. But the subject of the Flood is even more ancient
because there is already evidence from the Sumerians. The
Flood is related in the 11th tablet of Gilgamesh's epic.
Summary:
The gods decide to annihilate the human race, but the god Ea warns Utnapishtim ( Noah ) and advises him to build a boat to save his family and certain number of animals. The Flood is provoked by a torrential rain which lasts seven days. On the eighth day, Utnapishtim releases a dove and, a slightly after releases a swallow, both birds return. Finally, he releases a raven which does not come back. Then Utnapishtim desembarks on the mountain Nishir and offers a sacrifice to the gods. The Gods are astonised to discover that the human race was not annihilated. They decide nevertheless that, henceforth, Utnapishtim will not be mortal and transport him, with his wife, to a fabulous and inaccessible country, " in the mouths of rivers ". It is in this place that, much later, Gilgamesh, in the search for immortality, visits him and learns the history of the Flood.
EGYPT
 The Wounds of Egypt are contemporary of Moses, so they date toward the end of 13th century BC. We believe today that they are connected to a very important turn of cosmic origin: The impact on Earth of the comet / asteroid Sekhmet. The ten Wounds of Egypt, correspond well to the normal consequences to the impact of a comet.
The Book of ancient Egyptian deaths is one of the oldest written documents that the people of the past left us. It already existed (at least for the most important chapters) at around 2700 years BC. Under Men-kau-ra's administration, Pharaoh of the 4th dynasty. But it could go back up even further and date to the 4th millennium before our era. One of the leitmotivs of the Book of Deaths is the succession of the cosmic disaster which prevailed since the creation of man kind, the frequency of the collapse of worlds. All we can say is that these old cosmic disasters were a reality, even though it is not easy to know to what exactly they correspond to and especially what the consequences of them were. The ancient Egyptian texts insist particularly on " the Night of the collapse of worlds " which seems to have been a disaster of a significant scale, at least at the level of North Africa.
INDIA
A similar myth is known in India. Absent in Veda, the evidence of a myth concerning the Flood is given for the first time in Satapatha Brahmana, rite drafted probably in the 7th century BC.
Summary: A fish warns Manu of the imminence of the Flood and advises him to build a boat. When disaster occurs, the fish pulls the boat northward and stops it near a mountain. It is there that Manu waits for the drainage of waters. Following a sacrifice, he gets a girl, and of their union the human race begins.
In the version passed on with Mahabharata, Manu is an Ascetic and he takes with him "seven wise men ". In Bhagavata Purana, the king - ascetic Satyavrata is warned of the arrival of the Flood by Hari (Vishnu) who took the shape of a fish.
 IRAN
In Iran, the end of the world is the result of a flood resulting from the melting of snow, which accumulated during a terrible winter. Ahura Mazdâ advises Yima, the first man, who is also the first king, to withdraw in a fortress. Yima collects the best among the people and various sorts of animals and plants.
GREECE
The Flood ends the golden age, which didn't know either old age or death. In Greece, it is Prometheus who warns her son, Deucalion, that Zeus had decided on the destruction of the people of the Bronze Age. Deucalion escapes with his wife in an Arc (Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, I, VII , 2).
AUSTRALIA
Versions collected in Australia speak about a huge frog which had absorbed all the waters. Suffering from the thirst, the animals decided to make the frog laugh. Seeing the eel twisting itself, the frog laugh out loud and waters passed out of its mouth, provoking the Flood.
AMERICA
For the tribes of South America, the Flood is provoked generally
by one of the mythical twins who, striking the earth with
its heel, unearths the subterranean waters. In Central America
and in North America, the versions of the Flood are rather
numerous: disaster is produced either by floods or by rains.
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Author: L.B
Date: March 2005 |
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