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The Deluge Not a Myth: Egyptian

Philologists at the same time declare that a similar inference may be drawn from the vast periods requisite for the divergence of different languages from the parent stock,* while the testimony of the monuments and sculptures of ancient Egypt assures us that race distinction of as marked a type as occurs at the present day existed at so early a datet as to preclude the possibility of the derivation of present nations from the descendants of Noah within the limited period usually allowed.

These difficulties vanish, if we consider the Biblical and Chaldean narratives as records of a local catastrophe, of vast extent perhaps, and resulting in general but not total destruction, whose sphere may have embraced the greater portion of Western Asia, and perhaps Europe; but which, while wrecking the great centres of northern civilization, did not extend southwards to Africa and Egypt. The Deluge legends indigenous in Mexico at the date of the Spanish conquest, combining the Biblical incidents of the despatch of birds from a vessel with the conception of four consecutive ages terminating in general destruction, and corresponding with the four ages or Yugas of India, supply in themselves the testimony of their probable origin from Asia. The cataclysm which caused what is called the Deluge may or may not have extended to America, probably not. In a future page * Bunsen estimates that 20,000 years were requisite for the formation of the Chinese language. This, however, is not conceded by other philologists. + Rawlinson quotes the African type on the Egyptian sculptures as being identical with that of the negro of the present day. ‡ "While the tradition of the Deluge holds so considerable a place in the legendary memories of all branches of the Aryan race, the monuments and original texts of Egypt, with their many cosmogenic speculations, have not afforded one, even distant, allusion to this cataclysm. When the Greeks told the Egyptian priests of the Deluge of Deucalion, their reply was that they had been preserved from it as well as from the conflagration produced by Phaeton; they even added that the Hellenes were childish in attaching so much importance to that event, as there had been several local catastrophes resembling it." -Lenormant, Contemporary Review, November 1879.

I shall enumerate a few of the resemblances between the inhabitants of the New World and of the Old indicative of their community of origin.

I refer the reader to M. Lenormant's valuable essay* for his critical notice on the dual composition of the account in Genesis, derived as it appears to be from two documents, one of which has been called the Elohistic and the other the Jehovistic account, and for his comparison of it with the Chaldean narrative exhumed by the late Mr. George Smith from the Royal Library of Nineveh, the original of which is probably of anterior date to Moses, and nearly contemporaneous with Abraham. I transcribe from M. Lenormant the text of the Chaldean narrative, because there are points in it which have not yet been commented on, and which, as it appears to me, assist in the solution of the Deluge story :- I will reveal to thee, O Izdhubar, the history of my preservationand tell to thee the decision of the gods. The town of Shurippak, a town which thou knowest, is situated on the Euphrates. It was ancient, and in it [men did not honour] the gods. [I alone, I was] their servant, to the great gods - [The gods took counsel on the appeal of] Anu-[a deluge was proposed by] Bel-[and approved by Nabon, Nergal and] Adar.

And the god [Ea,] the immutable lord, -repeated this command in a dream. I listened to the decree of fate that he announced, and he said to me:-"Man of Shurippak, son of Ubaratutu-thou, build a vessel and finish it [quickly]. -By a [deluge] I will destroy substance and life. Cause thou to go up into the vessel the substance of all that has life. The vessel thou shalt build-600 cubits shall be the measure of its length-and 60 cubits the amount of its breadth and of its height.- [Launch it] thus on the ocean and cover it with a roof."-I understood, and I said to Ea, my lord:-" :-" [The vessel] that thou commandest me to build thus,- [when] I shall do it-young and old [shall laugh at me]."-[Ea opened his mouth and] spoke.-He said to me, his servant: -" [If they laugh at thee] thou shalt say to them: [Shall be punished] he who has insulted me, [for the protection of the gods] is over me.like to caverns I will exercise my judgment * François Lenormant, "The Deluge; its Traditions in Ancient Histories," Contemporary Review, vol. xxxvi. p. 465. .... on that which is on high and that which is below Close the vessel At a given moment that I shall cause thee to know, -enter into it, and draw the door of the ship towards thee. Within it, thy grains, thy furniture, thy provisions, -thy riches, thy men-servants, and thy maid-servants, and thy young people-the cattle of the field and the wild beasts of the plain that I will assemble -and that I will send thee, shall be kept behind thy door."-Khasisatra opened his mouth and spoke; - he said to Ea, his lord :-"No one has made [such a] ship. - On the prow I will fix . . . . -I shall see -the vessel thou commandest me to build .. .. ... and the vessel [thus]-which in ....* On the fifth day [the two sides of the bark] were raised. In its covering fourteen in all were its rafters-fourteen in all did it count above. I placed its roof and I covered it. I embarked in it on the sixth day; I divided its floors on the seventh; -I divided the interior compartments on the eighth. I stopped up the chinks through which the water entered in; -I visited the chinks and added what was wanting. -I poured on the exterior three times 3,600 measures of asphalte,and three times 3,600 measures of asphalte within. -Three times 3,600 men, porters, brought on their heads the chests of provisions. I kept 3,600 chests for the nourishment of my family, and the mariners divided amongst themselves twice 3,600 chests. - For [provisioning] I had oxen slain;-I instituted [rations] for each day. -In [anticipation of the need of] drinks, of barrels and of wine- [I collected in quantity] like to the waters of a river, [of provisions] in quantity like to the dust of the earth. - [To arrange them in the chests I set my hand to.of the sun the vessel was completed.strong and -I had carried above and below the furniture of the ship.-[This lading filled the two-thirds.] ...

All that I possessed I gathered together; all I possessed of silver I gathered together; all that I possessed of gold I gathered all that I possessed of the substance of life of every kind I gathered together. -I made all ascend into the vessel; my servants male and female, -the cattle of the fields, the wild beasts of the plains, and the sons of the people, I made them all ascend.

Shamash (the sun) made the moment determined, and he announced it in these terms:-" In the evening I will cause it to rain abundantly from heaven; enter into the vessel and close the door."- The fixed moment had arrived, which he announced in these terms: "In the evening I will cause it to rain abundantly from heaven." - When the evening of that day arrived, I was afraid, -I entered into the vessel and shut my door. In shutting the vessel, to Buzurshadirabi, the pilot, I confided this dwelling with all that it contained. * Here several verses are wanting.

Mu-sheri-ina-namari*-rose from the foundations of heaven in a black cloud;-Rammant thundered in the midst of the cloud-and Nabon and Sharru marched before; - they marched, devastating the mountain and the plain; - Nergal the powerful, dragged chastisements after him;-Adarş advanced, overthrowing before him; -the archangels of the abyss brought destruction, in their terrors they agitated the earth. The inundation of Ramman swelled up to the sky,-and [the earth] became without lustre, was changed into a desert. They broke.... of the surface of the [earth like .... ;-[they destroyed] the living beings of the surface of the earth. - The terrible [Deluge] on men swelled up to [heaven]. - The brother no longer saw his brother; men no longer knew each other. In heaven-the gods became afraid of the waterspout, and sought a refuge; they mounted up to the heaven of Anu. || -The gods were stretched out motionless, pressing one against another like dogs. Ishtar wailed like a child, -the great goddess pronounced her discourse:--" Here is humanity returned into mud, and this is the misfortune that I have announced in the presence of the gods. So I announced the misfortune in the presence of the gods,--for the evil I announced the terrible [chastisement] of men who are mine. I am the mother who gave birth to men, and-like to the race of fishes, there they are filling the sea;-and the gods by reason of that-which the archangels of the abyss are doing, weep with me."- The gods on their seats were seated in tears, and they held their lips closed, [revolving] future things.

Six days and as many nights passed; the wind, the waterspout, and the diluvian rain were in all their strength. At the approach of the seventh day the diluvian rain grew weaker, the terrible waterspoutwhich had assailed after the fashion of an earthquake-grew calm, the sea inclined to dry up, and the wind and the waterspout came to an end. I looked at the sea, attentively observing-and the whole of humanity had returned to mud; like unto sea-weeds the corpses floated. I opened the window, and the light smote on my face. I was seized with sadness; I sat down and I wept; and my tears came over my face. I looked at the regions bounding the sea; towards the twelve points of the horizon; not any continent. - The vessel was borne above the land of Nizir, -the mountain of Nizir arrested the vessel, and did not permit it to pass over. - A day and a second day the mountain of Nizir arrested the vessel, and did not permit it to pass over; -the third and * "The water of the twilight at break of day," one of the personifications of rain. † The god of thunder. ‡ The god of war and death. § The Chaldæo-Assyrian Hercules. || The superior heaven of the fixed stars. fourth day the mountain of Nizir arrested the vessel, and did not permit it to pass over; -the fifth and sixth day the mountain of Nizir arrested the vessel, and did not permit it to pass over. --At the approach of the seventh day, I sent out and loosed a dove. The dove went, turned, and -found no place to light on, and it came back. I sent out and loosed a swallow; the swallow went, turned, and found no place to light on, and it came back. I sent out and loosed a raven; the raven went, and saw the corpses on the waters; it ate, rested, turned, and came not back. I then sent out (what was in the vessel) towards the four winds, and I offered a sacrifice. I raised the pile of my burnt-offering on the peak of the mountain; seven by seven I disposed the measured vases, *-and beneath I spread rushes, cedar, and juniper wood. The gods were seized with the desire of it, -the gods were seized with a benevolent desire of it ;-and the gods assembled like flies above the master of the sacrifice. From afar, in approaching, the great goddess raised the great zones that Anu has made for their glory (the gods').† These gods, luminous crystal before me, I will never leave them; in that day I prayed that I might never leave them. "Let the gods come to my sacrificial pile!but never may Bel come to my sacrificial pile! for he did not master himself, and he has made the waterspout for the Deluge, and he has numbered my men for the pit."

From far, in drawing near, Bel-saw the vessel, and Bel stopped ;he was filled with anger against the gods and the celestial archangels :- "No one shall come out alive! No man shall be preserved from the abyss!"-Adar opened his mouth and said; he said to the warrior Bel:-"What other than Ea should have formed this resolution?-for Ea possesses knowledge and [he foresees] all." - Ea opened his mouth and spake; he said to the warrior Bel :-" O thou, herald of the gods, warrior, as thou didst not master thyself, thou hast made the waterspout of the deluge. - Let the sinner carry the weight of his sins, the blasphemer the weight of his blasphemy. - Please thyself with this good pleasure, and it shall never be infringed; faith in it never [shall be violated].-Instead of thy making a new deluge, let hyænas appear and reduce the number of men; instead of thy making a new deluge, let there be famine, and let the earth be [devastated] ; -- instead of thy making a new deluge, let Dibbara‡ appear, and let men be [mown down].-1 have not revealed the decision of the great gods;-it is Khasisatra who interpreted a dream and comprehended what the gods had decided."

Then, when his resolve was arrested, Bel entered into the vessel.-He * Vases of the measure called in Hebrew Seäh. This relates to a detail of the ritualistic prescriptions for sacrifice. † These metaphorical expressions appear to designate the rainbow. ‡ The god of epidemics. took my hand and made me rise. - He made my wife rise, and made her place herself at my side. - He turned around us and stopped short; he approached our group. -" Until now Khasisatra has made part of perishable humanity; -but lo, now, Khasisatra and his wife are going to be carried away to live like the gods, and Khasisatra will reside afar at the mouth of the rivers." - They carried me away and established me in a remote place at the mouth of the streams.

This narrative agrees with the Biblical one in ascribing the inundation to a deluge of rain; but adds further details which connect it with intense atmospheric disturbance, similar to that which would be produced by a series of cyclones, or typhoons, of unusual severity and duration.

The intense gloom, the deluge of rain, terrific violence of wind, and the havoc both on sea and land, which accompany the normal cyclones occurring annually on the eastern coast of China, and elsewhere, and lasting but a few hours in any one locality, can hardly be credited, except by those who have experienced them. They are, however, sufficient to render explicable the general devastation and loss of life which would result from the duration of typhoons, or analogous tempests, of abnormal intensity, for even the limited period of six days and nights allotted in the text above, and much more so for that of one hundred and fifty days assigned to it in the Biblical account.

As illustrating this I may refer to a few calamities of recent date, which, though of trivial importance in comparison with the stupendous event under our consideration, bring home to us the terribly devastating power latent in the elements. In Bengal, a cyclone on October 31, 1876, laid under water three thousand and ninety-three square miles, and destroyed two hundred and fifteen thousand lives.