原创

Links Between East and West 13 Flood Myths 东西方的连接13 - 大洪水神话

In prehistory and written history, cultures gradually appeared and developed in their unique ways all around the globe. Although these cultures were usually separated by thousands of kilometers of ocean or land, they shared some peculiar similarities worth studying. From the ancestors of the Europeans, the Chinese, the Native Americans, and many local tribes in Africa, imaginative and curious people created myths. They became an indispensable part of any culture, as they have served as containers of a people's shared beliefs and understandings about themselves and the natural environment. But there was one type of myth that was extant globally in prehistory and history: The flood myth. The flood myth can be roughly defined as any myth or story that narrates a plot in which a flood or other natural calamity related to a flood destroys an often-disobedient population. This article would introduce some of such myths in global, historical cultures and then attempt to explain the significance of the flood myths in two ways. 

(The four worlds in Aztec mythology)

The Mesoamerican culture of the Aztec that flourished in the 13th century C.E. had a famous flood myth. The Aztecs believed that before the present world, four worlds existed. They referred to the four worlds as the four "suns". With the occurrence of cataclysms, each of the four "suns" was destroyed. The fourth and last "sun", Nahui-Atl, "Four Water", ended with a gigantic flood that lasted for 52 years. The flood wiped out the old world entirely, and humans were awaiting their rebirth.

(The Incan ruins of Tiahuanacu)

The Inca Empire in the Andes Mountain Ranges also had flood myths of their own. One of them involved a flood that rose above the highest mountains. Only one man and woman survived in a box. The wind blew the box to a place called Tiahuanacu, after the flood was over, where the Creator told them to live. The Creator then molded figures at Tiahuanacu, which repopulated the world again. 

(Deucalion and the ark)

(Noah's Ark)

(A model in reality of Noah's Ark)

However, the most renowned flood myths probably originated from Europe. In Plato's  Timaeus, Timaeus told a story whereby in the bronze age, the humans angered Zeus. Zeus decided to create a flood to destroy all of humankind. However, the Greek Titan Prometheus was fond of humans and chose to help them by secretly telling this plan to his son Deucalion. Deucalion then built a giant ark to contain all the people, and they survived until the flood was over. A similar but later story is Noah's Ark. It more or less has the same plot. God was angry and despairing with the sins of men. God decided to preserve Noah as the last torch of humankind due to his piousness. So he instructed Noah to build a massive ark that would contain him and one male and female specimen from each animal species. They sailed on top of the flooded world for many days until they landed on the mountain of Ararat in modern-day Turkey. Then, Noah and the animals gradually repopulated the Earth. 

(A piece of illustration for The Epic of Gilgamesh)

Some of the older recorded flood myths further east in the Fertile Crescent could be found. The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia. Its origins date back to as early as 2100 B.C.E. This epic poem is crucial as it is the earliest surviving notable literature and contains a lot of information about the imagination and beliefs of the Babylonians. In the plot of the epic, a colossal flood engulfed the world. Utnapishtim was the only man to escape death, and he constructed a great boat in which he saved the lives of humans and animals. This compassionate action caused the god Enlil to deify him and his wife, making them immortal.

(Nü Wa mending the skies)

(Great Yu controlling the floods)

Further east, in prehistoric China, before the advent of writing, the ancestors of the Chinese created flood myths too. The topic of the flood was present in many stories, the most well-known being "Nü Wa mending the skies." The water god Gong Gong rebelled and fought with the fire god but was defeated. In the act of indignance, Gong Gong banged his head against the Buzhou Mountain, one of the pillars holding up the heavens, which caused part of the heavens to collapse. A great flood ensued. The Creator Nü Wa could not bear the destruction brought, so she picked up colorful stones to mend the sky up, saving countless souls. Another well-known myth is "Great Yu controlling the floods." Rumor had it that floods were everywhere in the age of emperors Yao and Shun. The father of Yu, Gun, was ordered to control the floods. Gun planned to fill up crucial waterways, and he failed spectacularly. Yu took over the task and ultimately successfully controlled the floods by opening up pathways that directed the water away, saving many lives. 


It might be stunning that the different groups of the Eskimo people in the Arctic circle had flood myths in their oral and partially written history. In the Central Eskimo culture, ocean levels increased suddenly and did not stop rising until the water covered the tops of the highest mountains. The ice drifted on the rising water, and when the flooding finally receded, the ice was left on top of the mountain, forming large ice caps. Many people drowned, and a few people survived in boats and survived by consuming fish. In the Netsilik Eskimo culture, a flood annihilated all animals and humans except for two shamans, who lived on a boat. The two shamans mated, and their offspring included the new world's first women.

 (The goddess of light, Mithra)

In the Indian, Persian region and Malay Peninsulas, to the south, various imaginative flood myths formed throughout history. In Hindu mythology, important ancient texts such as the Satapatha Brahmana and the Puranas contain stories of a great flood, or "manvatara-sandhya." In some of the mythical tales, the god Vishnu warned the first men of a coming flood and advised the men to build an immense ship to survive, just like what would happen in the story of Noah's Ark. In Zoroastrianism, the evil god Angra Mainyu attempted to destroy the world with drought and to prevent Angra Mainyu from succeeding the goddess of light, Mithra, ended the drought by shooting an arrow into a rock, causing a powerful spring to form. The water from the spring ultimately turned into a flood, and only one man survived in an ark with his cattle.

 

To the further south, the African continent witnessed the flourishing of several of history's most culturally diverse regions and empires. In ancient Egyptian mythology, the Sun God Ra sent his daughter Sekhmet to wipe out part of humankind with a flood because the people were showing disrespect and profanity. However, Ra eventually intervened by getting Sekhmet drunk and causing her to pass out. This flood myth led to the creation of a wine-drinking festival during the annual Nile floods in ancient Egypt as a tribute to the deity's compassion. The more drunk a person was, the more religiously pious they were in this festival. This festival became a central bridge that helped the Egyptians communicate with their religious deities.

            

The mysterious prevalence of flood myths in cultures dotted around Earth has been a perplexing, intriguing, and important topic. First and foremost, by trying to explain this prevalence, the history of the planet itself, along with the history of humans, can be discovered and more thoroughly examined. By learning about the physical sciences of the planet years back through flood myths, we can provide new perspectives into the study of history and ancient cultures. What is more, the frequency and content of the flood myths are strong hints about the cultural beliefs of our ancestors. There are reasons in the mindsets and thoughts about our relationship with nature, explaining why flood myths were everywhere and why they lost their place in modern cultures. If we determine the reasons, we will trace out the flow of history and the development of ideas through time. 


The prevalence of flood myths can be roughly verified by geographical, geological, and climatic patterns and events in the past several millennia. In North America, towards the end of the last Ice Age, natural cycles of climate change and warming could have pushed sea levels up significantly, leading to massive floods. The natives might suffer the damage brought by the flooding and consequently attempted to create mythical explanations, and the stories were passed down from generation to generation. Similarly, the origins of the Deucalion Greek flood myth could be dated to the Thera Volcano eruption that destroyed the Minoan Civilization around 1600 B.C.E. The tsunamis and other calamities that ensued. In Mesopotamia, almost all the cultures developed alongside the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The immense flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates could have devastated the entire known world. Some excavations in the 1930s, for example, revealed thick flood layers that could have been the result of severe overflows of the two rivers. This flooding could have served as the inspiration for the flood myths. There was also a meteor crash into the Indian Ocean that resulted in a terrific tsunami around 3000-2800 B.C.E. All the residents around the Indian subcontinent would be seriously affected. Such geological, geographical, and climatic changes could expound why flood myths were a global phenomenon, as international humans would feel these changes on a worldwide scale. The study of flood myths led to studying Earth's past and new supplement physical science resources in finding out the reasons behind human history. 

 

Almost all, if not all, the flood myths introduced above were created and recorded more than 1000 years ago. Some could even take us back more than 4000 years. Our ancestors from such relatively archaic periods did not share any similarities with modern-day people regarding the belief about the relationship with the natural world. In today's world, we have an increasing tendency to view ourselves as actual deities, able to replace the laws of nature with artificial ones. We are developing technologies that give us more capability to dominate nature and make us believe that we are the overlords of this planet. However, if we go back to when our forebears created flood myths, people around the globe did not share this mindset. In fact, in prehistory and most of history, Homo sapiens revered nature and even feared natural forces like those mentioned in the last paragraph. As a result, they demonstrated and expressed this reverence or fear via myths that involved fearsome natural floods and disasters.

 

Overall, flood myths have been present in almost every major and minor culture, prehistoric and historical. The similarities they share are pretty appalling as if their authors managed to communicate effectively across time and vast amounts of space. But the true implications of such flood myths might be more profound and vital. They were the evidence of a time when human beings were considering themselves as a part of nature, a time when human beings respected and looked up to the incredible and daunting powers of nature. This pristine form of mindset was preserved vividly in the riveting fates and storylines of Noah, of Deucalion, of Utnapishtim, and of all the mythical figures and heroes that barely survived in the extraordinary powers of the natural world. Unfortunately, we are forgetting this mindset in a triumphant sense. This forgotten mindset could potentially be warnings to moderners and humans in the future if we want to flourish on a powerful yet unbelievably fragile planet.


PICTURES CITED

https://www.pinterest.es/pin/510947520222108402/

https://www.heritage-print.com/ruins-inca-monuments-environs-tiahuanacu-14903340.htm

https://www.lifepersona.com/deucalion-and-pirra-the-deluge-in-greek-mythology-like-noah

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah%27s_Ark

https://arkencounter.com/

https://www.tekportal.net/utnapishtim/

https://cj.sina.com.cn/articles/view/7413322831/1b9de544f001017gy4

http://item-paimai.taobao.com/pmp_item/40636433206.htm?s=pmp_detail

https://www.quora.com/How-is-the-deluge-in-Hinduism-similar-to-the-flood-in-the-Noahs-Ark-myth

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithra

 

无论是在史前还是人类开始有文字记载后的历史中，全球各地的文化均逐渐出现并以自己独特的方式发展。尽管这些文化通常被数千公里的海洋或陆地隔开，但它们确实有一些神奇的相似之处值得研究。从欧洲人、中国人、美洲原住民和非洲许多当地部族的祖先开始，均有神话被创造出来。这些神话成为当地文化不可或缺的一部分，更成为承载部族共同信仰和对自身及自然环境的理解的容器。最为神奇的是，在不同的文化中，有一种相同类型的神话成为全球性的存在，即洪水神话。洪水神话可以被粗略地定义为任何叙述洪水或与洪水有关的自然灾难的故事。本文将介绍全球历史文化中的此类神话，并试图从两个方面解释洪水神话的内涵和意义。

（阿兹特克文化中的四个先前世界）

兴盛于公元13 世纪的中美洲阿兹特克文化有一个著名的洪水神话。阿兹特克人认为，在现今世界之前存在着四个世界。他们把这四个世界称为 " 四个太阳" 。随着大灾难的发生，这四个 " 太阳 " 中的每一个都被摧毁。第四个也是最后一个 " 太阳" ，Nahui-Atl ，即" 四水" 在一场持续52 年的巨大洪水中结束。旧世界彻底被毁灭，新人类等待重建。

（印加Tiacuanacu的遗址）

安第斯山脉的印加帝国也有他们自己的洪水神话。大洪水淹没了最高的山脉，只有一男一女在一个箱子里幸存下来。洪水退去后，这个箱子被风吹到了一个叫Tiacuanacu 的地方，造物主让他们在那里生活。然后造物在Tiacuanacu 创造了另外一些人，世界又重新开启了。

（德卡里翁的方舟）

（诺亚方舟艺术作品）

（现实中诺亚方舟1:1模型）

然而，最著名流传最广的洪水神话起源于欧洲。在柏拉图的对话录《提缪斯》中，提缪斯讲述了一个故事，在青铜时代，人类激怒了宙斯，宙斯决定制造一场洪水来毁灭所有的人类。然而，希腊泰坦巨人普罗米修斯很喜欢人类，他选择帮助人类。他把这个计划秘密地告诉了他的儿子德卡利翁，德卡利翁随后建造了一个巨大的方舟来容纳所有的人，他们一直活到了洪水结束。一个类似但出现更晚的故事是《圣经-创世纪》中的“诺亚方舟”，它或多或少具有相同的情节。根据记载，上帝对人的罪孽感到绝望，于是决定清洗人类，他指示虔诚的诺亚建造一只巨大的方舟，里面有诺亚一家和每一种动物的雌雄各一对。他们在被洪水淹没的世界顶部航行了许多天，直到他们在现代土耳其的Ararat山上登陆，新的人类世界得以重启。

（吉尔伽美什史诗插画）

一些更古老的洪水神话记录可以在更东边的新月沃土中找到。《吉尔伽美什史诗》是一部来自古代美索不达米亚文明的史诗，其起源最早可追溯到公元前2100年。这部史诗非常重要，因为它是现存最早的文学作品，包含了很多关于巴比伦人的想象力和信仰的信息。在这部史诗的情节中，一场巨大的洪水吞噬了世界。Utnapishtim是唯一逃脱死亡的人，他建造了一艘大船，在船上拯救了人类和动物的生命。Utnapishtim的善行得到了神的奖赏，他和他的妻子最终被神化变得不朽。

（女娲补天艺术作品） 

（大禹治水艺术作品）

我们再往东行进，在文字出现之前的史前中国，中国人的祖先也创造了洪水神话。洪水的主题出现在许多故事中，女娲补天是其中最著名的上古神话。水神共工造反，与火神交战，战败的共工气的用头撞击不周山，不周山是支撑天体的柱子，柱子断裂，天塌地陷，随之而来的是大规模的洪水。造物者女娲不忍生灵受灾，最终通过采摘五彩石修补天空，万灵方得以安居。另一个著名的神话是大禹治水，传说在尧、舜时代，天下洪水泛滥，禹之父奉帝命治水，他采取“堵”和“填”的方式平息水患，但惨遭失败。禹接手了这项工作，并设法通过引导水的流向有效地控制了洪水，拯救了无数生灵。

 

更令人吃惊的是，北极圈内不同群体的爱斯基摩人在其口头和部分书面历史中居然也有洪水神话。在中部爱斯基摩文化中，海洋水位突然上升，直到最高的山顶被淹没。冰块在上升的水面上漂移，当洪水最终退去时，冰块被留在山顶上，形成大冰帽。许多人被淹死了，少数人在船上幸存下来，靠吃鱼活命。在内兹里克爱斯基摩文化中，一场洪水消灭了所有动物和人类，只有两个住在船上的巫师除外。这两个巫师交配，形成了新世界的人类。

（光神Milthra）

在南方的印度、波斯和马来半岛，在历史上形成了更具丰富想象力的洪水神话。在印度神话中，重要的古代文献，如《Satapatha Brahmana 》和《Puranas 》都包含了大洪水的故事，即 "manvatara-sandhya" 。在神话故事中，毗湿奴神警告人类，大洪水即将到来，并建议人们建造一艘巨大的船来生存，就像诺亚方舟的故事中会发生的那样。在波斯的吐火罗教中，邪恶的Angra Mainyu 神试图用干旱来毁灭世界，为了防止Angra Mainyu 成功，光神Mithra 用箭射向一块岩石来结束干旱，导致一个强大的泉水形成。但泉水最终变成了滔天的洪水，只有一个人和他的牛群一起在方舟上幸存下来。

 

非洲大陆富饶的尼罗河孕育了辉煌的古埃及文明。在古埃及神话中，太阳神Ra 派他的女儿Sekhmet 用一场洪水消灭了人类，因为人类对神表现出不敬和亵渎。然而，拉最终进行了干预，用酒将Sekhmet 灌醉，使她昏倒，人类得以被拯救。为了表达对神的感激，古埃及在每年尼罗河洪水期间创造了醉酒节，在节日里，人们喝的越醉越能表达对神的虔诚，醉酒节成为人类与神灵沟通的渠道。

 

通过研究历史我们发现，洪水神话在遍布全球的各个古代文化中神秘盛行，这确实是一个令人困惑却又耐人寻味现象。首先，通过尝试解释这种普遍性，可以发现地球本身的历史以及人类的历史。通过洪水神话了解地球多年前的物理科学，我们可以为历史和古代文化的研究提供新的视角。更重要的是，洪水神话的频率和内容是对我们祖先的文化信仰的强烈暗示。我认为，特别是在我们与自然的关系的心态和信念方面，有一些原因可以解释为什么洪水神话到处都是，以及为什么它们在现代文化中失去了地位。如果我们确定了这些原因，那么我们就能追溯出历史的流变和思想在时间中的发展。

 

洪水神话的盛行可以通过过去几千年地球的地理、地质和气候模式的变化得到大致验证。在北美洲，在上个冰河时代即将结束时，气候变暖的自然周期可能将海平面大幅推高，导致大规模洪水。土著人可能遭受了洪水带来的损失，因此试图创造出神话般的解释，而这些故事也被一代代传了下来。同样，对于德卡利翁的希腊洪水神话，其起源可以追溯到公元前1600 年左右破坏米诺斯文明的塞拉火山爆发，以及随后发生的海啸和其他灾难。在美索不达米亚，几乎所有的文化都是在底格里斯河和幼发拉底河边发展起来的。底格里斯河和幼发拉底河的巨大洪水可能摧毁了当时整个已知世界。例如，20 世纪30 年代的一些发掘发现了厚厚的洪水层，这可能是这两条河流严重泛滥的结果。这种洪水可能成为洪水神话的灵感来源。在公元前3000-2800 年左右，还有一颗流星坠入印度洋，导致了可怕的海啸，印度次大陆周围的所有居民都受到严重影响。这种地质、地理和气候的变化可以解释为什么洪水神话是一种全球现象，因为这些变化将在全球范围内被感受到。对洪水神话的研究导致了科学家们对地球过去的研究，并为寻找人类历史背后的原因提供了新的物理科学依据。

 

几乎所有（如果不是全部）上面介绍的洪水神话都是在1000 多年前甚至更早被创造和记录下来的，有些甚至可以把我们带回到4000 多年前。在这种相对古老的时期，我们的祖先在处理与自然界的关系方面与现代人有着截然不同的观念。在今天的世界上，我们越来越倾向于将自己视为真正的神灵，能够用人工法则取代自然法则。我们正在开发技术，使我们有更多的能力来支配自然，科技使我们相信我们是这个星球的霸主。然而，如果我们回到洪水神话产生的时代，全球的人们并没有这种心态。事实上，在所有史前时期和大部分历史时期，人类都非常敬畏自然，甚至惧怕自然力量。因此，他们通过创造可怕的自然洪水和灾害的神话来展示和表达这种崇敬或恐惧。

 

总的来说，在人类的历史中，洪水神话几乎出现在每一个文化和文明中，它们的相似之处相当惊人，仿佛它们的创作者成功地跨越时间和巨大的空间进行了交流。但是这种洪水神话的真正含义可能更加深刻和重要。它们是一个时代的证据，当时人类认为自己是大自然的一部分，这是人类尊重并仰视大自然令人敬畏的力量的时代。这种原始形式的心态被生动地保存在诺亚、迪卡里翁、Utnapishtim等以及所有在自然界的可怕力量中勉强生存的神话人物和英雄的命运和故事情节中。现代的人类正在以一种胜利的感觉忘记这种心态，但我认为，这种被我们抛弃的心态有可能对现代人和未来地球上的人类起到潜在的警醒作用，如果我们想在这个强大却异常脆弱的星球上继续繁荣发展。
正文到此结束
所属分类：Links Between East and West
热门推荐
相关文章
该篇文章的评论功能已被站长关闭
说给你听

本文目录