General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Cosmos & Neil Degrasse Tyson state that Great Flood occurred in Sumeria & retold as Noah's Ark [View all]dawg
(10,626 posts)that an ordinary river flood, even a big one. People who live near rivers understand flooding. Why tell a story about one that happened hundreds of years ago when a pretty bad one had probably taken place within the storyteller's lifetime?
There are common elements in the various flood myths, from the Levant all the way to places East of India. The stories are linked, which should not be the case if they were all different stories about different rivers flooding.
River floods do not create a situation where there is no land visible for miles and miles and birds cannot find a place to land (a common element of the story).
We know for a fact that the Black Sea flooded in rapid fashion when sea-level breached the small strip of land that was holding back the Mediterranean.
We know for a fact that a similar thing happened to the huge river valley that became the Persian Gulf.
I just think it's a little soon to just assume that the localized Sumerian version of the story is the origin of the thing just because they were the first people with the technology to write it down.