What I do find interesting is how diametrically opposed the rabid fundamentalists and the rabid scientists are when referring to anything that has a connection to the Bible. There never seems to be a middle ground and as a result I think we are doing ourselves a grave disservice. Of course a lot of the problem occurs because of the nature of the Bible. The Old Testament is a collection of books which include mythology, history, poetry and prophecy. The older books were handed down orally before ever they were written down and every one was written at least 2000 years ago and some up to 5000 years ago. 2000 years ago the world was a much, much smaller place than it is now and it was definitely a very small place when the story of Noah and his ark burst into our collective memories. When Noah was alive who really knew what was happening three hundred miles away? We, on the other hand, look at the world as a pretty blue and white ball, with no place more than two days air travel away from any other place. If something affects the world we think of the entire planet. The ancients thought of an area probably as far as a man could walk in a week, if that.
The Middle East abounds with flood stories and Noah wasn’t the only one building an ark and crashing on mountains. The Epic of Gilgamesh tells of another contender for saviour of the world. I suspect there is a germ of truth to the story; that someone did build a big boat and did save some animals during some sort of catastrophe. However Noah, Gilgamesh or whoever didn’t go trawling around the world looking for elephants, giraffes, kangaroos and polar bears. Why should he? He didn’t know Africa, Australia, the Americas or the Poles existed. No – he would have taken aboard his goats, sheep, cattle, dogs, cats and all the other domestic animals that made up his little world. And if everything was flooded for hundreds of miles around then obviously their entire world was flooded. It all makes sense if we look at the story from an ancient not a modern perspective.
Imagine if in five thousand years mankind tells of a modern day Noah who in 3012 used gene banks to save all the animals in the world for posterity and our space age descendants pooh poohed the story. Would the fact that he didn’t save animals from such exotic worlds as Rygel XVI or Aquarius IX make the whole story a myth just because modern Noah was completely unaware that such worlds existed let alone be populated with animals?
Considering the proliferation of Ark stories in the Middle East one wonders what major catastrophe might have lead to their creation. Well it appears there was a massive catastrophe which did occur in the right part of the world during the time when people inhabited the region and it could have remained in the consciousness of their descendants. What is now the Black Sea was once a fertile plain, where early man had settled, raising his animals and planting his crops. It was divided from the Mediterranean Sea by a narrow strip of land which apparently collapsed about 5000 B.C. The sea flooded onto the plain inundating it and creating the Black Sea. It is fact that the remains of early settlements have been found under waters of the Black Sea and there are those who believe this event could be the origin of the flood story. Whether it was or not is open to debate but it sounds logical.
Of course the story that the flood was sent by God or the gods to punish mankind for its wickedness is probably due more to interpretation than actual fact. Remember - everything written in the Bible was written with hindsight - unless it was prophecy. If something bad happened then God had to be furious with us, if something good happened then God was on our side. If the Israelites won the battle it was because their cause was just. If they didn't - then God was punishing them. Its similar to lectures given by modern day preachers interpreting the events of modern days.
Of course we will never know if Noah, Gilgamesh or the others really existed unless the ark really is found and is verified by scientific examination, but I think the story itself is plausible providing we acknowledge that our world is not the world of the Ancients.
Happy sailing everyone.
