The Flood Myth in Religion

In the myths of creation, the gods of each culture often destroy their first race of humans by flood. And as always, it is after this destruction that the gods decide to bring the human race back. This concept of rebirth after destruction is frequently addressed in myths of every culture, such as Genesis, Deucalion and Pyrrha, and The Creation Cycle. Although the situations are oftentimes the same, the treatment is not. The reactions of the characters within the story differ from culture to culture and allow various ideals, values, and beliefs of said culture to be inferred from them.

Genesis is the first book of the Old Testament dealing with the creation of the universe and ending in the history of ancestral peoples. It is the sacred text of the Hebrew and Israelite people, which was later incorporated into the Christian Bible. Noah was chosen by God to save himself, his family and all the animals from the flood that God would use to destroy the world. He did this by creating a large ark to house everything until the waters subsided. Once the waters had finally receded enough to create dry land, Noah and his family set out to people the world with their descendants.

The story of Deucalion and Pyrrha (Ovid, pages 10 - 14) is Greek in origin and is contained, along with other myths of the Greek and Roman period, in Ovid's Metamorphoses. The first chapter deals with both the flood and the survivors. Deucalion and Pyrrha are the only survivors of a divine flood, which had been endured on a raft. When their survival is discovered, they are charged with continuing the human race by solving a riddle.

The Creation Cycle (Rosenberg, 615-621) is a myth of the Toltec people, later adopted by the Aztecs, and corrupted by Spanish invaders. This myth is written in several parts, the first explaining the existence of five worlds and the destruction of four of them. A flood destroyed the fourth world and all the people perished. In the third part, Quetzalcoatl, the chief god, creates the humans of the fifth world.

In the beginning, or rather after creation, the human race manages to upset the gods and cause their own destruction. In almost every case, it is the lack of values and compassion in humans that causes the gods great distress: "In that hard age of baser vein, all evil straight broke out, and honour fled and truth and loyalty, replaced by fraud, deceit and treachery and violence and wicked greed for gain" (Ovid, 3). It is then and only then that the gods are forced to take action: "I have determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with violence through them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth" (Genesis 6:13). As a result, almost everyone is wiped out because of their greed, disrespect to the gods, and evil toward each other.

However, not everyone perishes in the flood. "Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God" (Genesis 6:9). Therefore, God provided for him before the flood so that he would survive to populate the world. This was not the case for Deucalion and Pyrrha. They survived the flood without the help of their gods and gave thanks that they were alive. It is after they are discovered that the gods choose to provide for them. After all, "no man was better, no one loved goodness more than he, no woman more devout than she" (Ovid, 10). Likewise, "the Supreme Being tried to save one human couple from the deluge" (Rosenberg, 602) in The Cycle. Like Genesis, the humans were warned about the flood and provided for. Unlike other myths, they proved greedy and perished directly by the gods' hands.

Nevertheless, the gods always follow destruction with rebirth. God destroyed the world "for I am sorry that I have made them" (Genesis 6:7). Later, He is repentant for the destruction and promises "that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth" (Genesis 9:11). The gods only cared about who would worship them afterwards: "And ask what would the future world be like bereft of mortals? Who would cense their shrines?" (Ovid, 8). Quetzalcoatl is indifferent to the destruction, having already created and destroyed four different races: "The gods want another race of human beings to live upon the earth, and I intend to create them from my father's bones" (Rosenberg, 605). Rebirth came about because one god was sorry for the destruction, another god worried about his fall in worship, and still another needed his world to be populated.

As a result, a new generation of humans was created. Noah, his wife, his sons and his sons' wives were told to go out and "be fruitful and multiply upon the earth" (Genesis 8:17). Deucalion and Pyrrha were given instructions on how to form the next race of people by way of throwing stones over their shoulders. And Quetzalcoatl created the newest race of humans by using his father's bones and his own blood.

After close analysis, one can infer values, ideals, and beliefs from certain aspects of the treatment of each myth. After the flood in Genesis and Deucalion, the gods promise never to destroy the world; this is evident through the appearance of the rainbow. This promise may indicate a close relationship between mortals and divinities, also, implying a reflective image: Man was created in God's image; the gods have human characteristics. In The Cycle, no people survived and no promise was made, perhaps, indicating a relationship in which the mortal remains in awe of its creator and the creator remains distant.

Also, both Deucalion and The Cycle refer to using the bones of their ancestors to create the new race. In Deucalion, the bones of the great mother are actually the stones within the earth. By using these words, this Greco-Roman myth recognizes the reproductive connection of the earth and the female. In Cycle, Quetzalcoatl goes to the Lord of the Dead Land to ask for the bones of his father. Although the requests are similar in thought, their emphasis and meaning lie elsewhere: the first myth emphasizes life from life; the second myth emphasizes life from death. It is in this manner that these myths differ in treatment while sharing similar situations.