Week 3 Essay: Come on in, the Water is Fine

Destruction by water is an interesting concept. Water generally implies a cleansing. However, I guess that makes sense here, as the idea is that God is cleansing or purifying the world through a flood - but this does lead to a destruction (more so an annihilation) of everyone and everything - except for Noah, his family, and lucky animal couples. So, while reading Ovid's Metamorpheses last week, there was a flood in that story as well, so I thought I would look at this story of Noah and compare it to not only the other flood story of Greek myth, but other stories from various mythologies.

To start with the flood, in Greek myth, Zeus and Poseidon basically work together to drown the world, as Zeus' anger was kindled against the world. However, the difference between Zeus and God here, is that Zeus wants to destroy everyone and everything, while God saves two of every creature for repopulation. It is interesting to note that both show an anger towards humans at this point, but there is a hope for the future with the Jewish God.

Plato had a theory that involved a flood. There was supposedly a city - an island in some tales - called Atlantis. A great flood came and engulfed the city and the idea is that it is still in existence, either under the ocean, or somewhere out in the middle of it.

In fact, in most stories and myths, a flood plays a roll in the destruction of some world. In the Jewish and Christian texts, there is a sense of purification involved, but in the majority of the myths and folktales there is only destruction and anger. This makes for an interesting look at the different gods that people believe in and study.

That's a Lot of Water

Noah's Story