Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Deucalion flood myth vs. Uta-napishti flood myth

The Deucalion legend by the Bibliotheca has many similarities and differences to the flood in The Epic of Gilgamesh. Similarities between the stories are that in both stories the gods wanted to destroy the people by a flood and in the Deucalion legend, Deucalion was told of the what to do to survive the upcoming flood and so was Uta-napishti. Also in the Deucalion legend, Deucalion survived in the flood with his wife and Uta-napishti also survived with his wife. When the flood stopped and the waters calmed, in both stories Deucalion and Uta-napishti were ontop of a mountain. Differences between the stories are that Deucalion was advised to build a chest while Uta-napishti was advised to build a boat and the flood lasted nine days and nine nights in the Deucalion legend, but the flood in The Epic of Gilgamesh lasted six days and six nights. Another difference is that Deucalion wasn't punished by the gods for surviving, but Uta-napishti was punished. I think the stories are similar because we descended from the same people so we have similar stories, but since we moved to different places we had different variations of the flood to fit the likings of the people.

Source:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Deucalion
Gaster, Theodor H. Myth, Legend, and Custom in the Old Testament, Harper & Row. New York , 1969

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