What year was the Great Flood? The Great Flood did happen. Evidence - on modern maps

Imagine a planet the size of Mars, with a source of hydrogen inside. At some point, the crust splits along the mid-ocean ridges and internal pressure brings the subcrustal waters of the Flood to the surface. Calculations show full compliance with modern laws of physics and are consistent with the Biblical text. And they confirm God’s covenant about the impossibility of a new Flood.

"One should not multiply existing things unnecessarily" (Occam's razor)

Let's take a look at the events of the Flood from the point of view of the Theory of the “Initially Hydrid Earth” by V.N. Larin.

In antediluvian times, our planet was half the diameter with a source of hydrogen inside. At some point, the crust split along the mid-ocean ridges and internal pressure brought the subcrustal waters of the Flood to the surface, covering the Earth with at least a five-kilometer layer! The calculations show full compliance with the laws of physics, are consistent with the Biblical text and confirm God’s covenant about the impossibility of a new Flood!

Our consciousness is structured in such a way that when reading the first lines of the Bible, the brain tries to imagine the events of the past and find a logical explanation of the words of the Holy Scriptures before accepting them on faith.

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.” (Gen.1:1-2)

It follows from the lines of the Bible that there was water on Earth initially, which is not surprising; now space probes have discovered water on the Moon, Mars, the satellites of Saturn and Jupiter, on comets and asteroids, and this water differs only in its isotopic composition.

“And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate water from water. And God created the firmament, and separated the water that was under the firmament from the water that was above the firmament. And so it became.

And God said: Let the water that is under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear. And so it became.” (Gen.1:6-9)

It was difficult for scientists of antiquity to imagine the structure of our planet and, even more so, to assume that large masses of water (even in a bound state) could be located under the Earth’s crust.

Finally, modern science has come to understand Biblical events!

Let's imagine the structure of our planet in the form of an egg: in the center there is a solid hydride core (hydrogen dissolved in the metal), at the border there is degassing of H2 with the release of heat; a layer of liquid metal is formed, generating the Earth’s magnetic field; protein - magma: blast furnace with hydrogen purge; shell - the earth's crust, at the base of which hydrogen meets oxygen, selecting it from oxides and oxides, forming deep underground oceans of water.

The existence of subcrustal oceans has been confirmed by recent studies of rift zones, deep minerals ejected by volcanoes and seismic exploration.

Diamond with Ringwoodite inclusion

Spectral analysis, which was carried out by scientists led by geochemist Graham Pearson from the Canadian University of Alberta in Edmonton, showed that the mineral ringwoodite, containing about one and a half percent water, was “sealed” in the diamond crystal found in Brazil. And it was formed surrounded by water. Ringwoodite is the main component of the so-called transition zone of the Earth - the subsurface located at depths of several hundred kilometers. According to preliminary calculations by experts, this same one and a half percent “pouring out” into about ten Pacific oceans.

The famous American scientist Weisshen, having analyzed 80 thousand shear waves on hundreds of thousands of seismograms, suggested that water under the earth’s crust is present everywhere, and that its amount is 5 times greater than the entire external water reserve of the planet. Subterranean oceans that may be located in the subsurface are indicated in red. They were identified due to anomalies in the passage of seismic waves.

Seismologists from the University of Oregon, led by Anna Kelbert, having studied and analyzed measurement data accumulated by various groups of geophysicists over the past 30 years, compiled a three-dimensional map of the distribution of electrical conductivity in the upper layers of the Earth's mantle. The map confirms the presence of large quantities of water in it. But water is not free, but in a bound state, part of the crystal lattices of various minerals.

The fact that there is water under the World Ocean, and in huge quantities, is clearly evidenced by the numerous hydrothermal springs gushing along the mid-ocean ridges. They are called “black smokers” or natural heating plants.

Black smokers

The picture, frankly, is terrifying. “Primordial water,” heated to 400 degrees Celsius and oversaturated with minerals (mainly ferrous and manganese compounds), at the point where the underwater geyser emerges, forms cone-shaped nodules and growths, similar to factory pipes the height of a skyscraper. A hot black mist billows out of them like smoke. (At high pressure at great depths, boiling does not occur.) Rising to a height of up to 150 meters, it mixes with the cold bottom layers of the ocean and, heating them, cools itself.

Hydrogen, emerging from the bowels of the Earth through mid-ocean ridges, partially combines with oxygen (because of this, the level of the world's oceans is steadily rising). The remaining part, entering the atmosphere, at an altitude of 30 km combines with O3, forming beautiful pearlescent clouds and “holes” in the ozone layer.

If you look at satellite images, it is easy to see that ozone holes most often form over mid-ocean ridges, in polar zones and over hydrocarbon deposits. What are the works of our compatriot Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences V.L. Syvorotkin devoted to?

What did the Earth look like in antediluvian times?

Our planet was slightly larger than modern Mars. This is confirmed by the coincidence with 94% accuracy of continental plates in the mosaic pattern (Otto Hilgenberg globes).

There were no modern oceans, since any part of the ocean floor is at least five times younger than the continental plates.

The process of expansion of the Earth is clearly illustrated in the video. link.

By subtracting the area of ​​modern oceans from the total surface area of ​​the Earth, it is not difficult to imagine the area of ​​the antediluvian planet and calculate its radius (according to my calculations, Rdp ~ 3500 km, 55% of the modern one).

Our little planet was surrounded dense atmosphere with a continuous cloud layer, which is well preserved in the most beautiful Amber drops.

The antediluvian atmospheric pressure was 2.5 times higher than the modern one, so lizards with a wingspan of 10-12 meters easily soared in it.

Such a global greenhouse contributed to the rapid growth of all flora, which led to an increase in oxygen in the atmosphere (up to 40%). And the increased content of carbon dioxide (about 1%) not only created a greenhouse effect, but also contributed to plant gigantism, since the plant receives the bulk of its fiber (carbon) from the atmosphere during photosynthesis!

Greenhouse conditions smoothed out the planet's climate: there were no glaciers at the poles and no heat at the equator. There were tropics everywhere average temperature about 30-35 degrees. Most likely, there was no precipitation in the form of rain, much less snow, “For the Lord God did not send rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the earth, but steam rose from the earth and watered the whole face of the earth.”(Gen. 2:5)

There were no winds either, since there were no zones of pressure differences. And if this is so, then tree rings Shouldn't be in antediluvian wood! Just like now equatorial trees don’t have them!

“The deposition of various annual wood rings is typical for zones with well-defined seasons. In the humid tropics, where winter and summer are almost the same in terms of precipitation and temperatures, there are no noticeable annual rings.” (Wikipedia)

The absence of growth rings on the wood of Noah's Ark kept in Etchmiadzin in Armenia.

It is no wonder that such “Paradise” greenhouse conditions, and even with almost complete protection from the ultraviolet radiation of the Sun, led to the development of gigantism of flora and fauna, and more than 10 times (judging by the Bible) the life expectancy of all organisms! A significant role in this was played by the absence of the need to consume large quantities of salt, which we, all herbivores, are now forced to do to maintain intracellular osmotic pressure (due to a drop in atmospheric pressure by more than 2.5 times).

Length of the year in antediluvian times

Based on the law of conservation of angular momentum of our planet, knowing the radius of the antediluvian Earth, taking into account the slight change in mass, it turns out that the length of the day was approximately 7.2 hours. At this speed of rotation, the shape of the planet was most likely an ellipsoid, flattened at the poles. Then it is logical to assume that the gravity in the tropical zone was much lower than at the poles, which is where giant dinosaurs lived!

Flood Events

But at one moment Prosperity on Earth ended! The cataclysm was most likely caused by a cosmic event. Most likely, it was a shock front of cosmic particles (about 1 mm in diameter) formed after a supernova explosion at a distance of no more than 100 light years from Earth.

But, one way or another:

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of heaven were opened; and the rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights.” (Gen.7:11-12)

The attentive reader will immediately notice that there were two sources of the waters of the Flood! And in addition to 40 days of rain, water from the depths of the Earth gushed to the surface. The Earth's crust cracked along the mid-ocean ridges, like a broken egg shell. Many volcanoes awoke, spewing magma and steam. “The sources of the great abyss opened up” - subcortical waters and gases rushed to the surface.

“And the flood continued on the earth forty days [and forty nights], and the waters increased, and lifted up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth; But the waters increased and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters. And the waters on the earth increased exceedingly, so that they were all covered high mountains, which are under the whole sky; The water rose above them fifteen cubits, and [all the high] mountains were covered.” (Gen.7:17-20)

Let's try to imagine the volume of water required for these events: knowing the radius of the antediluvian planet is 3500 km, the surface area is ~ 154 million square meters. km, assuming the height of Ararat is about 5 km (now 5165 m, but it is still an active volcano, it could well have grown by 200 m), we obtain the volume of flood waters of the order of 770 million cubic meters. km, only 56% of the current volume of the World Ocean!

Volcano Ararat

As we remember, there were two sources of the waters of the Flood, and even after the cessation of 40 days of rain, the ocean level continued to rise, and we already understand why:

“The waters arose on the earth for a hundred and fifty days.” (Gen.7:24)

Consequences of the Global Flood

When the water began to subside:

“And God remembered Noah, and all the beasts, and all the cattle, [and all the birds, and all the creeping things] that were with him in the ark; and God brought a wind upon the earth, and the waters stood still.

And the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were closed, and the rain from heaven ceased.” (Gen.8:1-2)

Thanks to the sharp expansion of the rift zones of the mid-ocean ridges, modern oceans began to form, where the waters of the Flood gradually began to go (in a volume of about 770 million cubic km. 56% of the modern volume of the World Ocean), leaving layers of sand, clay and marine skeletons on the plateaus. inhabitants.

It is clear that the process of growth of the Earth's diameter proceeded unevenly along a logarithmic curve (y=logax, where a>1). First a sharp expansion Pacific Ocean, then the Indian Ocean and the Arctic Ocean were formed, and the Atlantic is the youngest growth zone. A more accurate record of this expansion will be constructed by studying and comparing the ocean floor zones on either side of the mid-ocean ridges. Based on these data, it will be possible to clarify the age of the Earth and changes in the length of the day and the length of the year.

After the Flood, the climate of the Earth changed dramatically: seasons became noticeable, climatic zones, areas of pressure differences, wind, precipitation in the form of rain, snow and hail. Gradually, with a drop in atmospheric pressure, the continuous cloud layer was replaced by Cumulus clouds, the blue sky and rainbow became visible - as a symbol of God’s covenant about the impossibility of a new Flood!

“And the Lord smelled a sweet aroma, and the Lord said in His heart: I will no longer curse the earth for man’s sake, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will no longer smite every living thing, as I have done: henceforth, all the days of the earth, sowing and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will not cease.” (Gen.8:21-22)

“I set My rainbow in the cloud, so that it may be a sign of the [eternal] covenant between Me and the earth.

And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that [My] rainbow will appear in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living soul of all flesh; and the waters will no longer be a flood to destroy all flesh.

And [My] rainbow will be in the cloud, and I will see it, and I will remember the everlasting covenant between God [and the earth] and between every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” (Gen.9:13-16)

Consequently, among the global threats to humanity there may be tsunamis and floods of very great force, no one excludes the threat of a meteorite or the eruption of a supervolcano, but due to the fact that the process of degassing hydrogen from the bowels of the earth is ongoing (Mother Earth is slowly letting off steam), a great Flood won't happen again! There is no physical possibility to cover the modern planet with a 5 kilometer layer of water!

An analysis of possible planetary disasters is comprehensively presented by Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences V.P. Polevanov. in the report "What threatens humanity?"

Many scientists and atheists have repeatedly questioned the words of the Holy Scriptures, but it turns out that the events described there could well have happened and do not contradict any laws of physics! Humanity acquired this knowledge 30 centuries ago, and science is only coming to understand these processes today!

How much “water has flown under the bridge” since the antediluvian times?

According to “scientific” ideas, about 200-250 million years, these are the most ancient datings of rocks of the ocean floor. What if the dating of the Orthodox calendar is correct? And outside the window is 7526 years since the creation of the world and 5870 since the beginning of the Flood? Truly knowledge multiplies the boundaries of the unknown!

, released by the Sretensky Monastery in 2006.

The biblical teaching about the global flood (Gen. ch. 6-7), which, according to the Bible, ends the primitive (“antediluvian”) history human race, after which a new period begins, new era of humanity is most contested by rationalist scientific criticism. What is being disputed is mainly the volume of the flood, i.e. its universality. In addition, particulars are disputed, for example, the existence of Noah’s Ark, the possibility of placing all animals in it, etc. However, all geologists recognize the certainty of some huge geological catastrophe associated with flooding or icing. Doubts arise only about the universality of this catastrophe and its duration. Geology contrasts the flood with the hypothesis of the so-called “ice age”, considering this geological phenomenon to be more ancient, longer and more comprehensive.

Christian flood apologetics first seeks to find out what significance the biblical account of the Flood has for the Christian worldview, and then seeks scientific evidence to confirm its truth.

The issue of the flood is not a particularity, but one of the extremely important provisions of the Christian worldview. The Flood is a world event associated with the story of Noah and his sons, from whom biblical story produces all the tribes and peoples existing to this day.

Except historical significance, the global flood also has dogmatic and moral significance. The worldwide flood is associated with the dogmatic doctrine of the unity and continuity of the human race from Adam through Noah to our time. The cause of the flood has a deeply moral meaning: the flood was sent to humanity as punishment for sins, for general moral decay.

The truth of the global flood is attested to by the words of the Savior Himself, which is of decisive importance for a Christian. For the Christian consciousness can more easily assume that the whole world is mistaken than to think blasphemously that the God-man was mistaken (see Matt. 24:37).

The Apostolic Epistles also often speak of the global flood as a real former event(see 2 Pet. 2:5; Heb. 11:7). The Savior and His apostles, by the very nature of their preaching of the truth, could not cite “legendary” and “false” stories about the flood as proof of God’s justice.

U different nations there are over seventy different legends that resemble the description of the flood in the 6th chapter of the book of Genesis (the Babylonian legend is closest to the Bible). The universality of the legend about the flood suggests that it was based on some actual world event, imprinted in the memory of peoples and preserved for many centuries.

On the question of whether the biblical flood was global in the sense that it covered the entire surface of the globe (i.e., it was a geological phenomenon), or in the sense that all antediluvian humanity perished in its waves (i.e., that he was an anthropological phenomenon), there are different opinions in Western theology. Trying to reconcile the biblical legend with geological scientific hypotheses, some Western theologians admit that the flood may not have been widespread throughout the entire globe, but only captured those areas and countries that were inhabited by people.

Orthodox theology cannot agree with this, firstly, because it contradicts both the meaning and the letter of the biblical narrative, which clearly states that the flood covered all the highest mountains throughout the entire earth, and secondly, because from a scientific point of view, there are much more difficulties in explaining a local flood than in explaining a global flood.

Scientific geological hypotheses about the flood have changed several times. While no remains of people were found in the antediluvian layers of the earth, geologists appeared who decisively asserted that the flood took place on earth before the appearance of man. At present (after the discovery of traces of man in the antediluvian layers of the earth), the fact of the existence of man before the flood is undeniable. With this fact, many old geological hypotheses that “contradicted” the Bible collapsed. But new and recent geological hypotheses about the flood have presented new “contradictions”, which, however, are not shared by all learned geologists. The main points of disagreement between geological hypotheses and the biblical legend can be reduced to the following points.

First, geology looks at the flood as a natural cosmological phenomenon, and not as a special phenomenon of God's punishment to people. The inconsistency of various geological hypotheses and, in the end, the powerlessness of science to only “scientifically” explain the phenomenon of the flood only confirm in the minds of a Christian the undoubted miraculousness of this event.

Further, geology looks at the flood not as a sudden catastrophe, prepared according to the Bible for only forty days, but as a continuation of an entire geological epoch, enormous in time. The flood, according to geological hypotheses, was preceded by a gradual, extremely slow decrease in temperature on the earth, which finally reached an icy state, and the masses of water on the earth's surface turned into glaciers that covered vast areas of the earth. According to the Bible, the flood came suddenly and passed relatively quickly, while the “ice age,” according to geology, took a very long time to prepare for and lasted even longer (for many millennia).

According to the Bible, the flood was worldwide in both the geological and anthropological sense, i.e. the entire Earth was flooded with water higher than the highest mountains, and all antediluvian humanity, with the exception of the family of Noah, perished. The opinions of geologists on this issue differ, with a minority suggesting that once polar ice and snow covered the entire earth's surface (which suggests that the flooding that preceded the formation of ice was widespread), while the majority is inclined to recognize only local, albeit extensive icing. Further, geologists tend to push their flood back millions of years and do not think that all of humanity perished in it. These disagreements between theologians and geologists involuntarily lead to the thought: are they arguing about the same phenomenon? And shouldn’t we distinguish the biblical “flood” from the “ice age” of geologists?

Many modern geologists believe that the “ice age” is a hypothesis, and the flood is an unresolved problem. The reasons for the widespread decrease in temperature that led to the onset of the “ice age” have not yet been determined with sufficient accuracy by science. If the biblical flood cannot be strictly scientifically proven, then it cannot be scientifically refuted either. Therefore, there are no “scientific” obstacles to Christian trust in the Bible.

The universality of the biblical flood is often objected to on the grounds that the Bible itself does not provide sufficient reasons for such a flood. Forty days' rain, say objectors, is not sufficient to produce such an enormous flood. Regarding this objection, it should first of all be said that the main cause of the flood, according to the Bible, lies not in one or another natural causes, but in the almighty will of God. But natural causes, indicated in the Bible as causes subordinate to the highest Divine will, were sufficient for the global flood.

The main reason for the flood, according to the Bible, was that “all the sources of the great deep opened up” (Gen. 7:11), and rains were placed in the background (Gen. 8:2). What is meant by “the sources of the great deep”? This could also mean oceans gushing as a result of a global cataclysm associated with earthquakes and changes in the bottom of the oceans and seas; these could also be underground water sources, which, according to some geologists, are so huge that they could deliver an even more significant amount of water mass than was required for the global flood.

Consequently, all objections to the geological sufficiency of the causes of the flood indicated in the Bible are not founded.

It should also be noted that the Bible refers to the rainbow, which first appeared only after the flood. According to some scientific hypotheses (for example, the hypothesis of Professor Rome), the existence of a rainbow in the antediluvian atmosphere was physically impossible, and only with the fall of huge masses of water did it become possible for a phenomenon called a rainbow to appear in the altered atmosphere. This rainbow, emphasized in the biblical narrative as a sign of the promise that “there will be no more flood,” gives the entire biblical narrative a special significance and truthfulness.

Was there a Great Flood?

This article is intended rather for ordinary readers, not armed with any spiritual or mystical knowledge, ordinary people, who are in habitual doubts regarding the exaggerated density of various predictions in the media about the approaching end of the world. Not with the aim of intimidating or earning dividends on speculation, but as a solid analytical argument for the mind in favor of the fact that our planet Earth, plowing the expanses of seemingly lifeless outer space for millions of years, nevertheless “lives” according to the strict laws of cyclicity, which we have not yet discussed We will write on the pages of the site in the near future. Extreme interview with I.M. Danilov's "This is Coming" again made me think about the deceptive illusion of material values, the transience of life and the invaluable importance of the chance for the sake of which a person lives his short life.

So, were there catastrophes on a planetary scale in the distant past? Yes. We have written on this topic many times before, so it would be useful to remind you:

And now I suggest we remember where we first heard about the historical great flood? Well, of course, a vague reference from the Bible about how in time immemorial a global flood destroyed unrepentant sinners. It sounds like a terrible religious horror story; many today believe in little or nothing at all, this is understandable. However, let's not forget that it is the totality of sources independent of each other that makes an objective picture, for this reason I am writing this article today, wanting to provide them.

And I’ll start, perhaps, with the fact that in one of the previous interviews I.M. Danilov mentioned the treatise “Omnipotence” authored by Sheikh Said Bereke (7:20), you will not find it either on the Internet or in any library in the world, but nevertheless, in the context of our narrative, the first words of the treatise look extremely interesting:

After Atlantis was destroyed for all the evil done... (from video with I.M. Danilov -10:50)

Destroyed means sunk, I hope they won’t argue with that. On the other hand, they may say, who cares about the myth of Atlantis, whether it existed or not - what does that matter to us? And here they will be wrong, because the unfolding climate change outside our windows in last years they speak eloquently about the approach of something obviously bad, at such a moment it would not hurt to listen to what they are talking about wise people. At least listen to the saying that “forewarned is forearmed”...

Today I will again quote from Graham Hancock's book "Traces of the Gods". Not because he is in favor, but we must still give him his due, this man has done a tremendous amount of research work, collecting myths, legends and tales from all continents of the globe so that we can more clearly see what is hidden from view. picture and make your choices more consciously. Without wishing to intimidate, I repeat - a research project, at this stage of development, dealing with the collection of thematic argumentation.

The above passage is too long, but cutting it down seemed to be the same as robbing the general meaning.

Echoes of our dreams

In a number of myths that we have inherited from ancient times, we seem to have preserved a distorted but resonant memory of a terrifying global catastrophe. Where do these myths come from? Why, coming from unrelated cultures, are they even textually so similar? Why do they contain the same symbolism? And why do they often feature the same set of characters and plot points? If this is really a memory, then why are there no records of the planetary catastrophe with which they are associated?

Is it possible that myths themselves are historical records? Is it possible that these charming and immortal stories, composed by anonymous geniuses, served as a means of recording such information and sending it into the future from prehistoric times?

AND THE ARK FLOATED THROUGH THE BOTTOM OF WATERS

Once upon a time there lived in ancient Sumer a ruler who strove for eternal life. His name was Gilgamesh. We know about his exploits because the myths and legends of Mesopotamia, written in cuneiform on clay and then burnt tablets, have survived. Many thousands of these tablets, some of them dating back to the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. BC, were excavated from the sands of modern Iraq. They bear a unique picture of a lost culture and remind us that even in those hoary days of antiquity, human beings retained the memory of times even more distant, times from which they were separated by the great and terrible flood:

I will tell the world about the deeds of Gilgamesh. This was a man who knew all things. This was a king who knew the countries of the world. He was wise, he possessed secrets and knew secrets, he brought to us the story of the days before the flood. He passed long haul, tired and exhausted from work. When he returned, he rested and carved the whole story into stone.

The story that Gilgamesh brought from his wanderings was told to him by one Ut-napishtim, a king who reigned thousands of years earlier, who survived the Great Flood and was rewarded with immortality for preserving the seeds of humanity and all living things.

It was a long time ago, said Ut-napishtim, when the gods lived on Earth: Anu, the lord of the Sky, Enlil, the one who implements divine decisions, Ishtar... and Ea, the lord of the waters, the natural friend and patron of Man.

In those days the world prospered, people multiplied, the world roared like a wild bull, and the Great God was awakened by the noise. Enlil heard the noise and said to the assembled gods: “The noise made by humanity is unbearable, because of this noise it is impossible to sleep.” And the gods decided to exterminate humanity.

However, Ea took pity on Ut-napishtim. He addressed him through the reed wall of the royal house, warned him of the impending disaster and advised him to build a boat in which he and his family could escape:

Destroy your house and build a boat, give up your business and save your life, despise the riches of the world and save your soul... Destroy your house, I tell you, and build a boat, the dimensions of which, length and width, will be in harmony. Take the seeds of all living creatures into the boat.

Ut-napishtim built the boat as ordered, and just in time. “I immersed everything I had in it,” he said, “the seeds of all living creatures.”

I put all my relatives and friends, cattle and wild animals, and all sorts of artisans into the boat... I met the deadline. With the first rays of dawn, a black cloud came from behind the horizon. From within it, where the lord of storms Adad was, thunder was heard... Everything was overcome by despair when the god of storms turned the daylight into darkness, when he broke the earth like a cup... On the very first day the storm blew fiercely and brought a flood... No one could see his neighbor It was impossible to understand where the people were, where the sky was. Even the gods were afraid of the flood and left. They ascended to the sky to Anu and fell to the ground at the edge. They cowered like dogs, and Ishtar cried and cried: “Did I really give life to my human children only in order to saturate the sea with their bodies, as if they were fish?”

For six days and nights the wind blew, rain, storm and flood dominated the world, storm and flood raged together like fighting crowds. When the morning of the seventh day arrived, the bad weather subsided, the sea calmed down, and the flood stopped. I looked at the face of the world - silence everywhere. The surface of the sea became as smooth as a roof. All humanity turned to clay... I opened the hatch and the light fell on my face. Then I bowed low, sat down and sobbed, and tears flowed down my face, for on all sides I was surrounded by water, and nothing but water... At a distance of fourteen leagues there used to be a mountain, where the boat ran aground; on Mount Nisir the boat was stuck tightly, so tightly that it could not move... On the morning of the seventh day I released the dove. She flew away, but not finding a place to land, she returned. Then I released the swallow, it flew away, but, not finding a place to sit, returned. I released the raven, he saw that the water had receded, fed, cawed and did not return.

Ut-napishtim realized that it was now possible to land:

I made a libation on the top of the mountain... I piled wood and reeds, cedar and myrtle... As soon as the gods smelled the sweet aroma, they flocked like flies to the sacrifice...

This text is far from the only one that has come down to us from the ancient land of Sumer. On other tablets - some 5000 years old, others less than 3000 - the figure of Noah-Ut-napishtim is alternately called Ziusudra, Xisuthros or Atrahasis. But he is always easily recognizable: this is the same patriarch, who is warned by the same merciful god. Each time he emerges from the universal flood in an ark that is torn by a hurricane, and again his descendants populate the world.

It is obvious that the Mesopotamian flood myth has many similarities with the famous biblical story of Noah and the flood. Scientists are engaged in an endless debate about the nature of this similarity. But what is really significant is that with all the variety of options for tradition, the main thing is always passed on to posterity, namely: there was a global catastrophe that almost completely destroyed humanity.

CENTRAL AMERICA

A similar message was preserved in the Valley of Mexico, on the other side of the Earth, very far from the mountains of Ararat and Nisir. There, in conditions of cultural and geographical isolation from Judeo-Christian influence, many centuries before the arrival of the Spaniards, stories of the Great Flood were already told. As the reader will remember from Part III, they believed that this flood swept away everything from the face of the Earth at the end of the Fourth Sun: “Destruction came in the form of torrential rain and floods. The mountains disappeared and people turned into fish..."

According to Aztec mythology, only two human beings survived: the man Costostli and his wife Xochiquetzal, who were warned about the cataclysm by God. They escaped in a large boat, which they were encouraged to build, and then moored to the top of a high mountain. There they went ashore and had a large number of children, who were mute until a dove on the top of a tree gave them speech. Moreover, the children began to speak languages ​​so different that they did not understand each other.

The related Central American tradition of the Mechoakanesek tribe is even closer to the story told in the Book of Genesis and Mesopotamian sources. According to this legend, the god Tezcatilpoca decided to destroy all of humanity with a flood, leaving only a certain Thespi alive, who boarded a spacious ship with his wife, children and a large number of animals and birds, as well as a supply of cereals and seeds, the preservation of which was essential for future survival of the human race. The ship landed on an exposed mountain peak after Tezcatilpoca ordered the waters to recede. Wanting to find out whether it was already possible to land on the shore, Tespi released the vulture, which, feeding on the corpses with which the earth was completely strewn, did not think of returning. The man also sent other birds, but only the hummingbird returned, which brought a twig with leaves in its beak. Realizing that the revival of the Earth had begun, Tespi and his wife left the ark, multiplied and populated the Earth with their descendants.

The memory of the terrible flood, which occurred due to divine displeasure, was preserved in the Popol Vuh. According to this ancient text, the Great God decided to create humanity shortly after the Beginning of Time. First, as an experiment, he made “wooden figurines that looked like people and talked like people.” But they fell out of favor because they “did not remember their Creator.”

And then the Heart of Heaven caused a flood. A great flood fell on the heads of the wooden creatures... Thick resin poured from the sky... the face of the earth darkened, and black rain fell day and night... The wooden figurines were destroyed, destroyed, broken and killed.

However, not everyone died. Like the Aztecs and Mechoa-Canesecas, the Mayans of Yucatan and Guatemala believed that, like Noah and his wife, "the Great Father and Great Mother"survived the flood to repopulate the Earth, becoming the ancestors of all subsequent generations.

SOUTH AMERICA

Moving south, we meet the Chibcha people of Central Colombia. According to their myths, they lived at first as savages, without laws, agriculture or religion. But one day an old man of a different race appeared among them. He had a thick long beard, and his name was Bochika. He taught the chibcha to build huts and live together.

Following him, his wife appeared, a beauty named Chia, she was evil, and she took pleasure in interfering with her husband’s altruistic actions. Since she was unable to defeat him in a fair fight, she used witchcraft to cause a huge flood in which most of the people died. Bochica became terribly angry and sent Chia into exile in the sky, where she turned into the Moon, whose task was to shine at night. He also forced the flood to recede and made it possible for the few surviving people who managed to hide there to descend from the mountains. Subsequently, he gave them laws, taught them to cultivate the land and established the cult of the Sun with periodic holidays, sacrifices and pilgrimages. He then transferred his power to two leaders and spent the rest of his days on Earth in quiet ascetic contemplation. When he ascended to heaven, he became a god.

Further south, in Ecuador, the Canary Indian tribe has an ancient story about a flood from which two brothers escaped by climbing a high mountain. As the water rose, the mountain also grew, so the brothers managed to survive the disaster.

The Tupinamba Indians of Brazil also worshiped civilizing heroes or creators. The first of them was Monan, which means “ancient, old,” about whom they said that he was the creator of humanity, but then destroyed the world with flood and fire...

Peru, as we saw in Part II, was especially rich in flood legends. A typical story tells of an Indian who was warned about a flood by a lama. The man and the lama ran away together to the high mountain Vilka-Koto:

When they reached the top of the mountain, they saw that all kinds of birds and animals were already fleeing there. The sea began to rise and covered all the plains and mountains, with the exception of the peak of Vilca Coto; but even there the waves washed over, so that the animals had to huddle together on the “patch”... After five days, the water began to subside, and the sea returned to its shores. But all the people, except one, had already drowned, and it was from him that all the peoples of the Earth came.

In pre-Columbian Chile, the Araucanians preserved a legend that once there was a flood from which only a few Indians escaped. They fled to a high mountain called Tegteg, which means "thundering" or "glittering", which had three peaks and was capable of floating in water.

In the extreme south of the continent, a legend from the Yamana people of Tierra del Fuego tells:

The flood was caused by the Moon woman. It was a time of great upsurge... The moon was full of hatred towards human beings... At that time, everyone drowned, except for those few who managed to escape to the five mountain peaks that were not covered by the water.

Another tribe from Tierra del Fuego, the Pehuenche, associate the flood with a long period of darkness:

The Sun and Moon fell from the sky and the world remained without light until finally two huge condors carried the Sun and Moon back into the sky.

NORTH AMERICA

Among the Inuit of Alaska there was a legend about a terrible flood, accompanied by an earthquake, which swept so quickly across the face of the Earth that only a few managed to escape in their canoes or hide on the tops of the highest mountains, petrified with horror.

The Louisens of lower California have a legend about a flood that drowned the mountains and destroyed most of humanity. Only a few escaped by escaping to the highest peaks, which did not disappear, like everything around them, under water. They remained there until the end of the flood. Further north, similar myths were recorded among the Hurons. An Algonquin mountain legend tells how the Great Hare Michabo restored the world after the flood with the help of a raven, an otter and a muskrat.

In Lind's History of the Dakota Indians, the most authoritative work of the 19th century, which preserved many native legends, the Iroquois myth is set out about how “the sea and waters once swept over the land, destroying all human life.” The Chickasaw Indians claimed that the world was destroyed by the waters, “but one family and a couple of animals of each species were saved.” The Sioux also spoke of a time when there was no dry land left and all the people disappeared.

WATER, WATER, WATER ALL AROUND

How widely do the circles from the Great Flood diverge in mythological memory?

Extremely wide. In total, more than five hundred such legends are known in the world. Having examined 86 of them (20 Asian, 3 European, 7 African, 46 American and 10 from Australia and Oceania), Dr. Richard Andre came to the conclusion that 62 are completely independent of the Mesopotamian and Jewish variants.

For example, Jesuit scholars, who were among the first Europeans to visit China, had the opportunity to study in the imperial library a voluminous work, consisting of 4,320 volumes, which was said to come from ancient times and contain “all knowledge.” This great book included a number of legends that spoke of the consequences of how “people rebelled against the gods and the system of the universe fell into disorder”: “The planets changed their path. The sky has moved to the north. The sun, moon and stars began to move in a new way. The earth fell apart, water gushed from its depths and flooded the earth.”

IN tropical forests The Chewong people of Malaysia believe that from time to time their world, which they call Earth-Seven, is turned upside down, so that everything sinks and collapses. However, with the assistance of the creator god Tohan, new mountains, valleys and plains appear on the plane that was previously on the lower side of Earth-Seven. New trees grow, new people are born.

Flood myths from Laos and northern Thailand say that many centuries ago the ten beings lived in the upper kingdom, and the rulers of the lower world were three great men: Pu Len Xiong, Hun Kan and Hun Ket. One day, the Tens declared that before eating anything, people should share their food with them as a sign of respect. The people refused, and the thens, enraged, caused a flood that devastated the Earth. Three great men built a raft with a house, where they put a number of women and children. In this way they and their descendants managed to survive the flood.

A similar legend about a global flood, from which two brothers escaped on a raft, exists among the Karen in Burma. A similar flood is integral part Vietnamese mythology. There the brother and sister escaped in a large wooden chest, along with pairs of animals of all breeds.

A number of Australian Aboriginal tribes, especially those traditionally found along the northern tropical coast, believe that they originated from a great flood that swept away the pre-existing landscape along with its inhabitants. According to the origin myths of other tribes, the responsibility for the flood lies with the cosmic serpent Yurlungur, whose symbol is a rainbow.

There are Japanese legends according to which the islands of Oceania appeared after the waves of the great flood receded. In Oceania itself, a Native Hawaiian myth tells how the world was destroyed by a flood and then recreated by the god Tangaloa. Samoans believe in a flood that once wiped out all of humanity. Only two people survived it, sailing out to sea on a boat, which then landed in the Samoan archipelago.

GREECE, INDIA AND EGYPT

On the other side of the Earth, Greek mythology is also replete with memories of the flood. However, here, as in Central America, flooding is seen not as an isolated phenomenon, but as an integral element of the periodic destruction and rebirth of the world. The Aztecs and Mayans used the concept of successive "Suns", or eras (of which ours is the fifth and last). Likewise, oral traditions Ancient Greece, collected and recorded by Hesiod in the 8th century BC. e., they say that before present-day humanity there were four races on Earth. Each of them was more developed than the next. And each at the appointed hour was “absorbed” by a geological cataclysm.

The first and most ancient race of mankind lived, according to this legend, in the “Golden Age”. These people “lived like gods, free from worries, without sorrows and sorrows... Forever young, they enjoyed life at feasts... Death came to them like a dream.” With the passage of time and at the command of Zeus, this entire “golden race” “fell into the depths of the earth.” It was followed by the “silver race”, which was replaced by the “bronze” one, then the race of “heroes” came, and only then our “iron” race appeared - the fifth and final stage of creation.

Of particular interest to us is the fate of the “bronze” race. Having, according to the descriptions of myths, “the strength of giants, powerful hands,” these formidable people were destroyed by Zeus, the king of the gods, as punishment for the sin of Prometheus, the rebellious titan who gave fire to humanity. The vengeful deity took advantage of a general flood to cleanse the Earth.

In the most popular version of the myth, Prometheus impregnated an earthly woman. She bore him a son named Deucalion, who ruled the kingdom of Phthia in Thessaly and took Pyrrha, the red-haired daughter of Epimetrius and Pandora, as his wife. When Zeus made his fateful decision to destroy the bronze race, Deucalion, warned by Prometheus, knocked together a wooden box, put “everything necessary” there and climbed in there himself along with Pyrrha. The king of the gods caused heavy rains to fall from the sky, flooding most of the earth. All of humanity perished in this flood, with the exception of a few people who fled to the highest mountains. “At this time, the mountains of Thessaly split into pieces, and the entire country up to the Isthmus and Peloponnese disappeared under the water surface.”

Deucalion and Pyrrha sailed across this sea in their box for nine days and nights and eventually landed at Mount Parnassus. There, when the rains stopped, they landed and made a sacrifice to the gods. In response, Zeus sent Hermes to Deucalion with permission to ask for whatever he wanted. He wished for people. Zeus told him to collect stones and throw them over his shoulder. The stones that Deucalion threw turned into men, and those that Pyrrha threw turned into women.

The ancient Greeks treated Deucalion as the Jews treated Noah, that is, as the progenitor of the nation and the founder of numerous cities and temples.

A similar figure was revered in Vedic India more than 3,000 years ago. One day, the legend says:

“A certain sage named Manu was taking a bath and found a small fish in his palm, which asked for its life. Taking pity on her, he put the fish into the jug. However, the next day she grew so big that he had to take her to the lake. Soon the lake also turned out to be too small. “Throw me into the sea,” said the fish, who was in fact the incarnation of the god Vishnu, “it will be more convenient for me.” Vishnu then warned Manu about the coming flood. He sent him a large ship and ordered him to load a pair of all living creatures and the seeds of all plants into it, and then sit there himself.”

Before Manu had time to carry out these orders, the ocean rose and flooded everything. Nothing was visible except the god Vishnu in his fish form, only now it was a huge one-horned creature with golden scales. Manu drove his ark to the horn of the fish, and Vishnu towed it across the boiling sea until it stopped at the peak of the “Mountain of the North” sticking out of the water.

“The fish said, ‘I saved you. Tie the ship to a tree so that the water does not carry it away while you are on the mountain. As the water recedes, you can go down." And Manu descended with the waters. The flood washed away all the creatures, and Manu was left alone.”

With him, as well as with the animals and plants that he saved from death, a new era began. A year later, a woman emerged from the water, declaring herself the “daughter of Manu.” They married and produced children, becoming the progenitors of existing humanity.

Now about the last one (in order, but not least). Ancient Egyptian legends also mention a great flood. For example, a funerary text discovered in the tomb of Pharaoh Seti I speaks of the destruction of sinful humanity by a flood. The specific causes of this catastrophe are stated in Chapter 175 of the Book of the Dead, which attributes the following speech to the moon god Thoth:

“They fought, they were mired in strife, they caused evil, they stirred up enmity, they committed murder, they created grief and oppression... [That is why] I am going to wash away everything that I have done. The earth must be washed in the abyss of water by the fury of the flood and become clean again, as in primeval times.”

FOLLOWING THE MYSTERY

These words of Thoth seem to close our circle, which began with the Sumerian and biblical floods. “The earth was filled with... evil deeds,” says the Book of Genesis.

“And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt: for all flesh had perverted its way on the earth. And God said to Noah: “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with evil deeds from them. And behold, I will destroy them from the earth."

Like the flood of Deucalion, Manu, and the one that destroyed the Aztecs' "Fourth Sun", the biblical flood brought an end to the era of mankind. It was followed by a new era, ours, populated by the descendants of Noah. However, from the very beginning it was clear that in due course this era would come to a catastrophic end. As the old song sang: “The rainbow was a sign to Noah: enough of the floods, but fear the fire.”

The biblical source for this prophecy of the destruction of the world can be found in 2 Peter chapter 3:

“Know this first of all, that in the last days there will appear arrogant scoffers, walking according to their own lusts, saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers began to die, from the beginning of creation, everything remains the same.” Those who think this way do not know that in the beginning, by the word of God, the heavens and earth, contained by the same Word, are reserved for fire for the day of judgment and destruction of wicked men... But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, and then the heavens will come with a noise, and the elements will burn , will be destroyed, the earth and all the works on it will be burned.”

The Bible, therefore, predicts two eras of our world, with the current one being the second and last. However, other cultures have a different number of cycles of creation and destruction. In China, for example, past eras are called kis, and it is believed that ten of them have passed since the beginning of time before Confucius. At the end of each kisa, “in general, a convulsion of nature, the sea overflows its banks, mountains jump out of the ground, rivers change their course, human beings and everyone else perish, and ancient traces are erased...”

The sacred books of Buddhists speak of Seven Suns, each of which is destroyed in turn by water, fire or wind. At the end of the Seventh Sun, the current world cycle, "the earth is expected to burst into flames." The legends of the Sarawak and Sabah natives of Oceania remind us that the sky was once "low" and tell us that "six Suns perished... now the world is illuminated by the Seventh Sun." Likewise, the prophetic Sibylline books speak of “nine Suns, which are five ages,” and predict the coming of two more ages, the Eighth and Ninth Suns.

On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, the Hopi Indians of Arizona ( distant relatives Aztecs) counted three preceding Suns, each of which ended with a burnt offering, followed by a gradual rebirth of humanity. By the way, according to Aztec cosmology, our Sun was preceded by four. But such minor differences regarding the exact number of destructions and creations appearing in one or another mythology should not distract us from the amazing convergence of ancient traditions that is quite obvious here. All over the world, these legends perpetuate a series of disasters. In many cases, the nature of a particular cataclysm is obscured by poetic language, a heap of metaphors and symbols. Often different kinds natural disasters (two or more) are depicted as if they happened simultaneously (most often floods and earthquakes, but sometimes fires combined with terrifying darkness).

All this contributes to a confusing picture. But Hopi myths are distinguished by their extreme simplicity and specificity of description. Here's what they say:

“The first world was destroyed for human misdeeds by an all-consuming fire that came from above and below. The second world ended when the globe turned off its axis and everything was covered with ice. The third world ended with a global flood. The current world is the fourth. Its fate will depend on whether its inhabitants behave in accordance with the plans of the Creator."

Here we are on the trail of a mystery. And although we have no hope of ever comprehending the plans of the Creator, we must be able to understand the mystery of the myths about the global catastrophe.

MASKS OF THE APOCALYPSE

Like the Hopi Indians of North America, the Avestan Aryans of pre-Islamic Iran believed that our era was preceded by three ages of creation. During the first era, people were pure and sinless, tall and long-lived, but by its end the devil declared war on the holy god Ahuramazda, which resulted in a violent cataclysm. During the second era, the devil had no success. In the third era, good and evil balanced each other. In the fourth era (the current one), evil triumphed at the beginning and has continued to triumph ever since.

According to prophecies, the end of the fourth era is expected soon, but in this case we are interested in the end of the first. It is not directly related to the flood, but is similar in so many ways to the legends about the Flood that the connection is clearly visible.

The Avestan sacred books take us back to the times of heaven on Earth, when the distant ancestors of the ancient Persians lived in fabulous and happy Aryan Wedge, the first creation of Ahuramazda, which flourished in the first era and was the mythical birthplace and home of the Aryan race.

In those days, Ariana Wedja had a mild and fertile climate, with summer lasting seven months and winter five. And this garden of pleasures, fruitful and rich in animals, where rivers flowed through the meadows, turned as a result of the attack of the devil Angro Mainyu into a lifeless desert, where there is winter for ten months and summer for only two:

“The first of the two happy lands and countries that I, Ahuramazda, created was Aryana Veja... But after this, Angro Mainyu, the bearer of death, created in contrast to it a mighty snake and snow. Now there are ten months of winter and only two months of summer, the water is freezing there, the ground is freezing, the trees are freezing... Everything around is covered in deep snow, and this is the most terrible of misfortunes..."

The reader will agree that we are talking about a sudden and drastic change in climate in Aryan Wedja. The sacred books of the Avesta leave no doubt about this. Previously, it described the meeting of the heavenly gods, which Ahuramazda organized, and said how “the just Yima, the illustrious shepherd from Aryan Wedge,” appeared at it, accompanied by all his wonderful mortals.

It is at this moment that strange parallels with the biblical legends about the flood begin, because Ahuramazda uses this meeting to warn Iima about what is about to happen as a result of the machinations of evil spirits:

“And Ahuramazda turned to Yima and said to him: “O fair Yima... A fatal winter is about to fall on the material world, bringing with it a furious destructive frost. A destructive winter, when a huge amount of snow falls... And all three types of animals will die: those that live in wild forests, those that live on the tops of the mountains, and those that live in the depths of the valleys under the protection of barns.

Therefore, build yourself a barn the size of a pasture. And bring there representatives of every kind of beast, great and small, and cattle, and people, and dogs, and birds, and blazing fire.

Make sure there is water flowing there. Along the shore of the pond, plant birds among evergreen foliage on trees. Plant there samples of all the plants, the most beautiful and fragrant, and the most juicy fruits. And all these objects and creatures will survive while they are in the var. But don’t even think about placing here creatures that are ugly, powerless, insane, immoral, deceitful, evil, jealous, as well as people with uneven teeth and lepers.”

Apart from the scale of this refuge, there is only one significant difference between the ark instilled in Yima from above and the ark that Noah was inspired to build: the Ark is a means of surviving a terrible and destructive flood that can destroy all life by plunging the world into water. Var is a means of surviving a terrible and destructive winter that can destroy all life by covering the earth with a layer of ice and snow.

The Bundahish, another Zoroastrian holy book (believed to contain ancient material from a lost portion of the Avesta), provides further information about the glaciation that hid Aryan Vejo. When Angro Mainyu sent down a raging, destructive frost, it also "attacked the sky and threw it into disorder." The Bundahish relates that this attack allowed the wicked to take possession of “one-third of the sky and cover it with darkness,” while the creeping ice compressed everything around.

INCREDIBLE COLD, FIRE, EARTHQUAKES AND DISRUPTION OF THE SKIES

The Avestan Aryans of Iran, about whom it is known that they migrated to Western Asia from some distant homeland, are not the only owners of ancient legends in which the echo of the great catastrophe is heard. True, the flood most often appears in other legends, but the familiar motives of divine warning and salvation of the remnants of humanity in various parts of the world are often associated with sudden glaciation.

For example, in South America, the Toba Indians from the Gran Chaco region, located at the junction of the modern borders of Paraguay, Argentina and Chile, still repeat the myth of the coming of the “Great Cold”. In this case, the warning comes from a semi-divine heroic figure named Asin:

“Asin told the man to gather as much wood as possible and cover the hut with a thick layer of reeds, because the Great Cold was coming. Having prepared the hut, Asin and the man locked themselves in it and began to wait. When the Great Cold came, trembling people came and began to ask them for a firebrand. Asin was firm and shared coals only with his friends. People began to freeze, they screamed all evening. By midnight they all died, young and old, men and women... The ice and slush lasted for a very long time, all the lights went out. The frost was thick as leather.”

As in the Avestan legends, here the great cold was also accompanied by great darkness. In the words of the Toba elder, these misfortunes were brought down “because when the earth is full of people, it has to change. We have to reduce the population to save the world... When the long darkness came, the sun disappeared and people began to starve. When the food was completely gone, they began to eat their children. And in the end they died..."

The Mayan book Popol Vuh associates the flood with " heavy hail, black rain, fog and indescribable cold." It also says that at this time it was “cloudy and gloomy throughout the world ... the faces of the Sun and Moon were hidden.” Other Mayan sources say that these strange and terrible phenomena befell humanity “in the time of the ancestors. The earth darkened... At first the sun shone brightly. Then it became dark in broad daylight... Sunlight returned only twenty-six years after the flood.”

The reader may recall that in many flood and catastrophe myths there is mention not only of great darkness, but also of other visible changes in the sky. The inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, for example, said that the Sun and Moon “fell from the sky,” and the Chinese said that “the planets changed their path. The sun, moon and stars began to move in a new way.” The Incas believed that “in ancient times the Andes split apart when the sky was at war with the earth.” The Tarahumara of northern Mexico have legends about the destruction of the world as a result of the change in the path of the Sun. An African myth from the lower reaches of the Congo says that “long ago, the Sun met the Moon and threw mud at it, causing its brightness to decrease. When this meeting took place, there was a great flood...” The Cato Indians of California simply say that “the sky fell.” And in ancient Greco-Roman myths it is said that the Deucalion flood was immediately preceded by terrible events in heaven. They are symbolically described in the story of how Phaeton, the son of the Sun, tried to drive his father's chariot:

“The fire horses quickly felt that the reins were held by an inexperienced hand. Now backing away, now rushing to the side, they left their usual path. Then the whole earth saw with amazement how the magnificent Sun, instead of following its eternal and majestic path, suddenly tumbled and flew headlong down like a meteor.”

This is not the place to examine what could have caused the frightening changes in the skies that appear in cataclysmic legends around the world. For now it is enough for us to note that in these legends we're talking about about the same “disorder in the heavens” that accompanied the fatal winter and icing described in the Persian “Avesta”. There are other connecting points as well. Fire, for example, often follows or precedes a flood. In the story of Phaeton’s solar adventures, “the grass withered, the crops burned out, the forests were filled with fire and smoke. Then the exposed earth began to crack and crumble, and the blackened rocks burst from the heat.”

Volcanic events and earthquakes are also often mentioned in connection with flooding, especially in the Americas. The Chilean Araucanians directly say that “the flood was caused by volcanic eruptions, which were accompanied by strong earthquakes.” The Mam Mayans of Santiago Chimaltenango, in the western highlands of Guatemala, preserve the memory of a “stream of burning tar,” which they say was one of the instruments of world destruction. And in the Gran Chaco (Argentina), the Mataco Indians talk about “a black cloud that came from the south during a flood and covered the entire sky. Lightning flashed and thunder roared. But the drops that fell from the sky looked not like rain, but like fire..."

THE MONSTER CHASED THE SUN

There is one ancient culture that retains more vivid memories in its myths than others. She belongs to the so-called Teutonic tribes of Germany and Scandinavia, and is remembered mainly from the songs of the Norwegian skalds and sagas. The stories that these songs retell go back much further than scientists realize. In them familiar images are intertwined with strange symbolic devices, and allegorical language tells of a cataclysm of terrible power:

“In a distant forest in the east, an elderly giantess gave birth to a whole litter of wolf cubs, whose father was Fenrir. One of these monsters chased the Sun to take possession of it. The chase was in vain for a long time, but with each season the wolf gained strength and finally managed to catch up with the Sun. Its bright rays went out one by one. It turned a blood red hue, and then completely disappeared. Following this, a terrible winter came to the world. They came from all sides snow storms. War began all over the world. Brother killed brother, children stopped respecting blood ties. The time came when people became no better than wolves and longed to destroy each other. A little more, and the world would have fallen into the abyss of universal destruction.

Meanwhile, the wolf Fenrir, whom the gods had carefully chained long before, broke his chains and ran away. He began to shake himself off, and the world began to tremble. The Yggdrasil ash tree, which served as the axis of the earth, turned its roots upside down. The mountains began to crumble and crack from top to bottom, and the dwarfs desperately but unsuccessfully tried to find the familiar, but now disappeared, entrances to their underground dwellings.

Abandoned by the gods, people left their homes, and the human race disappeared from the face of the earth. And the earth itself began to lose its appearance. The stars began to float from the sky and disappear into the yawning void. They were like swallows, tired from a long flight, who fall and drown in the waves. The giant Surt set the earth on fire. The universe has turned into a huge furnace. Flames burst from cracks in the rocks, steam hissed everywhere. All living creatures, all vegetation were destroyed. Only bare earth remained, but it, like the sky, was all covered with cracks and crevices.

And then all the rivers and all the seas rose and overflowed their banks. From all sides the waves collided with each other. They rose and boiled, hiding the sinking earth beneath them... However, not all people died in this great catastrophe. The ancestors of the future humanity survived, hiding in the trunk of the Yggdrasil ash tree, whose wood survived the flames of an all-consuming fire. They survived in this shelter, eating only morning dew.

And so it happened that from the ruins of the old world a new one was born. Gradually the earth rose from the water. The mountains rose again, and the veil of water fell from them in murmuring streams.”

That new world, which the Teutonic myth proclaims, is our world. There is no need to repeat that, like the Fifth Sun of the Aztecs and Mayans, it was created a long time ago and is not at all new. Could it be a mere coincidence that one of the many Central American flood myths, telling of the fourth era, the fourth Atla (Atl - water), places the Noah couple not in an ark, but in a huge tree, like Yggdrasil? “The Fourth Atl ended in floods. The mountains disappeared... Two survived because one of the gods ordered them to hollow out a cavity in the trunk of a very large tree and crawl there when the heavens fell. This couple hid and survived. Their offspring repopulated the world."

Isn't it strange that the same symbolism is used in ancient traditions of regions of the world so distant from each other? How can this be explained? Is this some kind of pervasive wave of subconscious cross-cultural telepathy or the result of the fact that the universal elements of these wonderful myths were constructed many centuries ago by intelligent and purposeful people? Which of these incredible assumptions is more likely to be true? Or are there other possible answers to the mystery of these myths?

We will return to these issues in due course. In the meantime, what can we conclude about all these apocalyptic visions of fire and ice, floods, eruptions and earthquakes that the myths contain? In all of them there are some recognizable, familiar realities. Maybe it's because they talk about our past, which we can only guess about, but can neither remember it clearly nor completely forget? ...

THE FACE OF THE EARTH DARKENED AND THERE WAS BLACK RAIN

Terrible misfortunes befell all living beings during the last Ice Age. We can imagine what this meant for humanity based on known facts about the consequences they had for others large species. Often such evidence is stunning. Here's what Charles Darwin wrote after visiting South America:

“I don’t think anyone has puzzled over species extinction more than I have. When I found a horse tooth in La Plata, along with the remains of a mastodon, megatherium, toxodon and other extinct monsters that coexisted in a relatively recent geological period, I was dumbfounded. It is known that the horses brought by the Spaniards to South America partially went wild and, having multiplied, quickly filled the entire country.

What, one wonders, could have relatively recently destroyed that old horse, which apparently lived in favorable conditions?”

Of course, the answer is the Ice Age. It was he who destroyed ancient horses in both Americas, as well as a number of other, previously quite prosperous mammals. Moreover, extinctions were not limited to the New World. On the contrary, in different parts light (for various reasons and at different times) during the long glacial period there were several clearly pronounced episodes of extinction. In all regions, the vast majority of extinct species disappeared during the seven thousand years between 15,000 and 8,000 BC. e.

At this stage of our research, there is no need to accurately establish the specific nature of the climatic, seismic and geological events associated with the advance and retreat of the ice cover, which caused the mass death of animals. It can be reasonably assumed that tidal waves, earthquakes, and hurricanes, as well as the advance and melting of glaciers, could have played a role. But what is most important, regardless of the specific factors at play, is that the mass extinction of animals did occur as a result of the turmoil of the last Ice Age.

This turmoil, Darwin stated, was supposed to shake “the foundations of Our World.” Indeed, in the New World, for example, over seventy species of large mammals became extinct between 15,000 and 8,000 BC. e., including all North American representatives of 7 families and the whole genus of proboscis. These losses, which essentially meant the violent death of over 40 million animals, were not evenly distributed throughout the period; on the contrary, the bulk of them occurred in the two thousand years between 11,000 and 9,000 BC. e. To get a sense of the dynamics, we note that during the previous 300 thousand years, only about 20 species disappeared.

The same pattern of mass extinction was observed in Europe and Asia. Even distant Australia was no exception, losing in a relatively short period of time, according to some estimates, nineteen species of large vertebrates, and not just mammals.

ALASKA AND SIBERIA: SUDDEN FROST

The northern regions of Alaska and Siberia appear to have suffered the most from the deadly cataclysms 13,000-11,000 years ago. It was as if death had swung its scythe along the Arctic Circle - the remains were discovered there a myriad of large animals, including a large number of carcasses with intact soft tissues and an incredible number of perfectly preserved mammoth tusks. Moreover, in both regions, mammoth carcasses were thawed to feed sled dogs, and mammoth steaks even appeared on restaurant menus. As one authority commented, "Hundreds of thousands of animals apparently froze immediately after death and remained frozen, otherwise the meat and ivory would have spoiled... For such a catastrophe to occur, some extremely powerful factors must have been involved."

Dr. Dale Guthrie from the US Institute of Arctic Biology shares an interesting observation about the diversity of animals that lived in Alaska before the 11th millennium BC. e.:

“Having learned about this exotic mixture of saber-toothed cats, camels, horses, rhinoceroses, donkeys, deer with giant antlers, lions, ferrets and saigas, one cannot help but be amazed at the world in which they lived. This great diversity of species, so different from today, raises the obvious question: were their habitats also so different?”

The permafrost in which the remains of these animals are buried in Alaska resembles fine, dark gray sand. Frozen into this mass, in the words of Professor Hibben from the University of New Mexico:

“... lie twisted parts of animals and trees, interspersed with layers of ice and layers of peat and moss... Bison, horses, wolves, bears, lions... Whole herds of animals, apparently, died together, struck down by some common evil force… Such accumulations of animal and human bodies do not form under normal conditions...”

At different levels it was possible to find stone tools frozen at a considerable depth next to the remains of the Ice Age fauna. This confirms that humans were contemporaries of extinct animals in Alaska. In Alaska's permafrost you can also find:

“...evidence of atmospheric disturbances of incomparable power. Mammoths and bison were torn to pieces and twisted as if some cosmic hands of the gods were at work in fury. In one place we discovered the front leg and shoulder of a mammoth. The blackened bones still held remnants of soft tissue adjacent to the spine along with tendons and ligaments, and the chitinous shell of the tusks was not damaged. There were no traces of dismemberment of the carcasses with a knife or other weapon (as would be the case if hunters were involved in the dismemberment). The animals were simply torn apart and scattered across the area like products made from woven straw, although some of them weighed several tons. Mixed in with the accumulations of bones are trees, also torn, twisted and tangled. All this is covered with fine-grained quicksand, subsequently frozen tightly.”

Approximately the same picture can be observed in Siberia, where catastrophic climate change and geological processes happened almost at the same time. Here, the extraction of ivory from the cemeteries of frozen mammoths has occurred since Roman times. At the beginning of the 20th century, up to 20 thousand pairs of tusks were mined here per decade.

And again it turns out that some mystical factor is involved in this mass death. After all, it is generally accepted that mammoths, with their thick hair and thick skin, are well adapted to cold weather, and therefore we are not surprised to find their remains in Siberia. It is more difficult to explain the fact that human beings, as well as many other animals that cannot be considered frost-resistant, met their death along with them:

“On the plains of northern Siberia lived a huge number of rhinoceroses, antelopes, horses, bison and other herbivorous creatures, which were hunted by various predators, including the saber-toothed tiger... Like mammoths, these animals roamed across Siberia right up to its northern outskirts, to the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and even further north, on the Lokhov and Novosibirsk islands, already very close to the North Pole.”

Scientists confirm that of the thirty-four species of animals that lived in Siberia before the disasters of the 11th millennium BC. BC, including the mammoth Ossipus, the giant deer, the cave hyena and the cave lion, no less than twenty-eight were adapted only to moderate climatic conditions. Therefore, one of the most amazing things about animal extinction is that, contrary to the current geographical and climatic conditions of our time, the further we move north, the more remains of mammoths and other animals we encounter. Thus, according to the descriptions of the researchers who discovered the New Siberian Islands, which lie beyond the Arctic Circle, they consist almost entirely of bones and tusks of mammoths. The only logical conclusion, as French zoologist Georges Cuvier pointed out, is that “permafrost did not previously exist where the animals froze, because at such temperatures they would not have survived. The country where they lived froze at the same moment when these creatures lost their lives.”

There are many other arguments in favor of the fact that in the 11th millennium BC. e. A sharp cold snap occurred in Siberia. While exploring the New Siberian Islands, polar explorer Baron Eduard von Toll discovered the remains of “a saber-toothed tiger and a 27-meter-tall fruit tree. The tree was well preserved in permafrost, with roots and seeds. The branches still bore green leaves and fruits... At present the only woody vegetation on the islands is an inch-high willow.”

Likewise, evidence of the catastrophic change that occurred at the very beginning of the cold snap in Siberia is the food that the dead animals ate:

“Mammoths died suddenly, during a sharp cold snap, and in large numbers. Death came so quickly that the swallowed vegetation remained undigested... In their oral cavities and in the stomachs were found herbs, bluebells, buttercups, sedges and wild legumes, which remained quite recognizable."

There is no need to emphasize that such flora does not grow everywhere in Siberia today. Her presence there in the 11th millennium BC. e. forces us to agree that the region then had a pleasant and productive climate - temperate or even warm. Why the end of the Ice Age in other parts of the world should have been the beginning of a fateful winter in the former paradise, we will discuss in Part VIII. However, it is certain that at some point, 12-13 thousand years ago, a destructive cold came to Siberia with terrifying speed and has not loosened its grip since then. In an eerie echo of the Avesta legends, the land that previously enjoyed seven months of summer was transformed overnight into an area covered in ice and snow, experiencing brutal winter for ten months of the year.

A THOUSAND KRAKATAU AT ONCE

Many cataclysmic myths tell of times of bitter cold, darkened skies, and black rain of burning tar. This must have continued for centuries along the arc of death through Siberia, the Yukon and Alaska. Here, “in the depths of the permafrost, sometimes interspersed with piles of bones and tusks, lie layers of volcanic ash. There is no doubt that simultaneously with the pestilence, volcanic eruptions of terrifying force occurred.”

There is compelling evidence of an unusually large volcanic eruption during the retreat of the Wisconsin Ice Shell. Far south of Alaska's frozen quicksand, thousands of prehistoric animals and plants drowned overnight in the famous La Brea bitumen lakes near Los Angeles. Among the creatures recovered from the surface are bison, horses, camels, sloths, mammoths, mastodons and at least seven hundred saber-toothed tigers. A dismembered human skeleton was also found, completely submerged in bitumen, mixed with the bones of an extinct species of vulture. In general, the remains found at La Brea (“broken, crushed, deformed and mixed into a homogeneous mass”) clearly indicate a sudden and terrible volcanic cataclysm.

Similar finds of typical birds and mammals from the last Ice Age were made in two other asphalt deposits in California (Carpinteria and McKittrick). In the San Pedro Valley, mastodon skeletons were discovered in a standing position, buried in a layer of volcanic ash and sand. Fossils from glacial Lake Floristan in Colorado and John Day Basin in Oregon have also been found in volcanic ash.

Although the powerful eruptions that produced such mass graves were most intense at the end of the Wisconsin Glaciation, they were repeated repeatedly throughout the Ice Age, not only in North America, but also in Central and South America, in the North Atlantic, on the Asian continent and in Japan .

It is clear that these widespread volcanic events meant a lot to the people living in those strange and terrible times. Those who remember the cauliflower-shaped clouds of dust, smoke and ash thrown into the upper atmosphere by the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens may believe that a large number of such explosions (occurring sequentially over a long period at different points globe) could not only cause local devastation, but also cause serious global climate change.

Mount St. Helens spat out an estimated cubic kilometer of rock, which is quite a bit compared to typical volcanic eruptions Ice Age. In this sense, more representative is the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia, whose eruption in 1883 was so powerful that it killed over 36 thousand people, and the roar of the eruption was heard at a distance of 5 thousand kilometers. From its epicenter in the Sunda Strait, a thirty-meter tsunami swept through the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean, washing ships ashore kilometers from the coastline and causing floods in east coast Africa and the west coast of America. 18 cubic kilometers of rocks and huge amounts of ash and dust were thrown into the upper atmosphere. The skies over the entire planet darkened noticeably for more than two years, and sunsets turned purple. During this period, average temperatures on Earth dropped markedly because volcanic dust particles reflected the sun's rays back into space.

The intense volcanic events of the Ice Age are equivalent to not one, but many Krakatoas. The first result of this should have been an increase in glaciation, as sunlight weakened by dust clouds, and already low temperatures dropped even lower. In addition, volcanoes release enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, a “greenhouse gas,” into the atmosphere, so it is possible that global warming could occur as dust settled during relatively quiet periods. A number of authoritative experts believe that the cyclical expansion and contraction of the ice sheet is associated precisely with this combined effect, when volcanoes and climate “play hide and seek.”

UNIVERSAL FLOOD

The source of water from which these ice caps were formed were seas and oceans, the level of which at that time was about 120 meters lower than today.

It was at this moment that the climate pendulum swung intensively in the opposite direction. The melting began so suddenly and over such a wide area that it was called "something of a miracle." In Europe, geologists call this period the Bolling phase of a warm climate, and in North America - the Brady gap. In both regions:

“The ice cap, which had been growing for 40 thousand years, disappeared within just two thousand years. Obviously, this could not be the result of slow-acting climatic factors that are usually used to explain ice ages... The rate of melting suggests the influence of some unusual factor on the climate. Evidence suggests that this factor first manifested itself about 16,500 years ago, destroying most (perhaps three-quarters) of the glaciers within two thousand years, and that the bulk of these dramatic events occurred within a thousand years or less.”

The first inevitable consequence was a sharp rise in sea levels, perhaps by 100 meters. Islands and isthmuses disappeared, and significant sections of the low-lying coastline were submerged. From time to time, large tidal waves rolled onto the shores higher than usual. They rolled away, but left unmistakable traces of their presence.

In the United States, traces of Ice Age seas are present in the Gulf of Mexico east of the Mississippi, in some places at elevations above 60 meters. The skeletons of two whales have been discovered in marshes covering glacial sediments in Michigan. In Georgia, marine sediments occur at elevations of up to 50 meters, and in northern Florida - over 72 meters. In Texas, well south of the Wisconsin glaciation, fossils of Ice Age mammals are found in marine sediments. Another marine deposit, where walruses, seals and at least five species of whales are found, is located along the coast of the northeastern states and the Arctic coast of Canada. In many areas along the Pacific coast of North America, Ice Age marine deposits extend more than 300 kilometers inland. The bones of a whale were found north of Lake Ontario, about 130 meters above modern sea level, the skeleton of another whale was found in Vermont, at a level of over 150 meters, and another near Montreal, in Quebec, at a level of about 180 meters.

Flood myths persistently describe scenes of people and animals fleeing the rising tide and finding safety on mountain tops. Fossil findings confirm that similar things did happen as the ice sheet melted, but that the mountains were not always high enough to save the escapees. For example, cracks in the rocks on the tops of isolated hills in central France are filled with the remains of the bones of mammoths, hairy rhinoceroses and other animals. The top of Mont Genet in Burgundy is strewn with fragments of the skeletons of a mammoth, reindeer, horse and other animals. “Much further south is the Rock of Gibraltar, where, along with animal bones, a human molar and flints processed by Paleolithic man were discovered.”

The remains of a hippopotamus in the company of a mammoth, rhinoceros, horse, bear, bison, wolf and lion were found in England, near Plymouth on the English Channel. In the hills around Palermo, Sicily, "an incredible amount of hippopotamus bones - a shaped hecatomb" - was discovered. Based on this and other evidence, Joseph Perstwig, once a geology lecturer at Oxford University, concluded that Central America, England and the Mediterranean islands of Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily were, on several occasions, completely submerged as the ice rapidly melted:

“Naturally, the animals retreated, as the water advanced, to the hills until they found themselves surrounded by water... They accumulated there in huge numbers, crowded into more accessible caves until they were overwhelmed by the water... Streams of water washed away rocks and hillsides, stones collapsed and bones were broken and crushed... Some communities of the first people must also have suffered in similar catastrophes.”

It is likely that similar disasters occurred in China around the same time. In caves near Beijing, along with the remains of human skeletons, the bones of mammoths and buffalos were found. Some experts believe that the eerie mixture of mammoth carcasses with broken and jumbled trees in Siberia “owes to its origin in a huge tidal wave that uprooted trees and drowned them along with the animals in the mud. In the polar regions, all this was frozen solid and has been preserved to this day in permafrost.”

Fossils from the Ice Age have also been discovered throughout South America, “in which the skeletons of incompatible animal species (predators and herbivores) are jumbled together with human bones. No less important is the combination (over fairly extended areas) of fossil land and sea animals, randomly mixed, but buried in the same geological horizon.”

North America was also hit hard by floods. As the Great Wisconsin Ice Sheet melted, large but temporary lakes emerged that filled very quickly, drowning everything in their path, before drying up within a few hundred years. For example, Lake Agassiz, the largest glacial lake in the New World, once had a surface of 280 thousand square kilometers, occupying a large part of what is now Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan in Canada and North Dakota and Minnesota in the United States. It lasted less than a thousand years, with melting and flooding followed by a quiet period.

(from the editor of the article) Well, I’ll end this historical collection with amazing words, the meaning of which, thank God, is already clear to many today:

As we have already seen, these New World myths are not isolated in this respect from the Old World myths. Throughout the globe, the terms “great flood,” “great cold,” and “time of great upheaval” appear with remarkable unanimity. And it’s not just that experience gained in similar conditions is reflected everywhere; this would be quite understandable, since the Ice Age and its consequences were global in nature. Much more curious is how familiar motifs sound again and again: one good man and his family, a warning coming from God, saving the seeds of all living things, a life-saving ship, a shelter from the cold, a tree trunk in which the ancestors of the future of humanity, birds and others hid. creatures that are released after a flood to find land... and so on.

Isn't it also strange that so many myths describe figures like Quetzalcoatl or Viracocha, who arrived during the dark times after the flood to teach architecture, astronomy, science and law to the scattered and now small tribes of surviving people?

Who were these civilizing heroes? A figment of primitive imagination? Gods? People? If by people, then could they somehow manipulate myths, turning them into a means of transmitting knowledge over time?

Such ideas may seem fantastic. However, amazingly accurate astronomical data, as ancient and universal as that of the Great Flood, appears again and again in a number of myths.

Where did their scientific content come from?

Prepared by: Dato Gomarteli (Ukraine-Georgia)

Everyone knows the biblical story of the Flood and Noah's Ark. However, this story is not the only one - many peoples inhabiting different parts of the globe have legends about the flood (sometimes in written form).

According to Japanese version, the first ruler of Japan who lived before the flood, settled on the islands immediately after the waters began to recede.

Of the 130 Indian tribes of North, Central and South America, there is not a single one whose myths do not reflect this theme. One of the ancient Mexican texts, the Codex Chimalpopoca, talks about it this way. “The sky came close to the earth, and in one day everything perished. Even the mountains disappeared under water. ...They say that the rocks that we see now covered the entire earth, and the tenzontli boiled and seethed with great noise, and mountains of red color rose up...”

In the manuscripts of ancient Mexico there is preserved a legend about a global flood that destroyed a race of giants that was displeasing to God on Earth. All the people turned into fish, with the exception of one couple hiding in the branches of a tree.

Among the Indians of California, the hero of many myths, Coit, like Noah, escaped from a flood accompanied by a fiery rain.

Memories of a terrible flood that flooded the highest mountain peaks are also preserved in the myths of the Canadian Indians.

It is interesting that in all the legends about the flood among the inhabitants of the New World, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are mentioned.

In the story of the Indians from the Yagan tribe inhabiting the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, some kind of cosmic phenomenon appeared as the cause of the flood, perhaps it was the fall of a large meteorite into the sea: “...many centuries ago the Moon fell into the sea. The sea waves rose like water in a bucket when you throw a large stone into it. This caused a flood, from which only the lucky inhabitants of this island, which broke away from the seabed and floated on the sea, escaped. Even the mountains on the mainland were flooded with water... When, finally, the Moon emerged from the depths of the sea, and the water began to decrease, the island returned to its original place.”

It is easy to see that legends about the flood have been preserved in the memory of the peoples of all continents of the globe. Only in the interior regions of Asia and Africa, far from the seas and large rivers, are tales of the flood relatively rare.

The question involuntarily arises: if legends about the flood are so ubiquitous, then does this not indicate a global phenomenon that captured all continents, i.e., was the flood truly universal?

Changes in the position of the boundaries of land and sea constantly occur in the history of the Earth. The repeated change of marine conditions to continental ones is a ubiquitous phenomenon and characteristic of the geological history of our planet.

Such transgressions (advances) and regressions (retreats) of the sea are caused by geological reasons. During the eras of mountain building, when the contrast of the relief increases, sea regressions occur: during this period, the waters of the World Ocean are concentrated in deep-sea depressions. The seas are getting deeper and the mountains are getting higher. On the contrary, in eras of relative tectonic calm, when the topography of the sea and land bottoms gradually levels out, the waters of the World Ocean cover the low plains of the continents with a muddy film - another transgression of the sea occurs.

In the geological history of the Earth, the largest transgressions took place at the end of the Cambrian - the beginning of the Ordovician, in the Carboniferous, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

However, changes of this kind in the outlines of land and sea, which occur unusually slowly, cannot be classified as catastrophic phenomena.

It is much easier to explain disasters using fluctuations in the level of the World Ocean caused by changes in the amount of water in it. Until relatively recently (from a geological point of view, of course), approximately 10 - 20 thousand years ago, ice covered a significant part of Northern Europe and America. Then the ice melted. As a result, the World Ocean received such an additional amount of water that its level rose by 100 m.

As if an explanation for the global flood had been found. The melting of glaciers is not so different from the biblical and other legends, and the widespread rise in sea levels means the complete flooding of all coastal countries.

But no matter how tempting it is to explain the legends of the flood by the melting of continental ice or, more precisely, by eustatic fluctuations in ocean levels caused by this melting, such a hypothesis must be abandoned. The fact is that the natural melting of glaciers is an extremely slow process, lasting many centuries, and, of course, it, like any other geological or meteorological phenomenon, cannot serve as an impetus for a simultaneous catastrophically fast and significant the magnitude of the sea level rise.

Numerous legends about the flood are undoubtedly associated with certain local phenomena that caused a sudden rise in water levels.

There are three or four most likely causes of floods. Of course, one of the most frequent is a tsunami. The effect is similar to that of waves from a large meteorite falling into the sea (although this happens much less frequently).

Underwater earthquakes and meteorites can only cause a short-term wave invasion. Meanwhile, from many legends it is known that the flood lasted several days, or even weeks. Obviously, the reason for the prolonged rise of water was another phenomenon - strong winds that drove sea water into the mouths of large rivers and, as it were, blocked them with a natural dam. The most severe floods occur this way. An example of a relatively weak flood of this type is the rise in water level in the Neva, described by A. S. Pushkin in the poem “The Bronze Horseman”.

Floods could also be caused by accidental breakthroughs of water from closed reservoirs and pools as a result of earthquakes, karst processes, etc. Powerful mountain falls and landslides can dam even the largest river and cause severe flooding.

Finally, typhoons. P. A. Molan believes that, except for a typhoon, not a single geophysical phenomenon is capable of generating a flood simultaneously with the help of rain and giant waves similar to tsunami waves. Undoubtedly, the floods mentioned in legends in most cases fall into this category. But let's return to the biblical version of the flood as the most famous. Only at the end of the last century was it established that the direct source of the biblical legend is the Assyrian myth of Gilgamesh, written down in cuneiform on clay tablets in the 21st century. BC The Great Flood occurred in ancient times, and the Assyrian Utnapishta escaped from it in an ark with various animals, who tells Gilgamesh about this event in the following way: “... loaded it (the ark) with everything that I had. I loaded it with everything that I had in silver, I loaded it with everything that I had in gold, I loaded it with everything that I had of living creatures, I brought on board the ship my whole family and clan, steppe cattle and animals, I raised all the craftsmen...

In the morning it started to rain, and at night I saw the rain of grain with my own eyes. And he looked at the face of the weather - it was scary to look at the weather...

The first day the south wind raged, quickly swooping in, filling the mountains, overtaking people as if with war. They don't see each other...

When the seventh day arrived, the storm and the flood stopped the war... The sea calmed down, the hurricane subsided - then it stopped...

The island arose in twelve fields. The ship stopped at Mount Niqir. Mount Nitsir held the ship and does not allow it to sway...”

It is not difficult to find very significant differences in the descriptions of the flood in the Bible and in the myth of Gilgamesh. If the Bible does not say anything about the wind that accompanied the flood, then the Assyrian source contains the most direct references to the wind. On the contrary, the Bible indicates that the wind helped stop the flood (“...and God brought a wind on the earth, and the waters stopped”).

The duration of the flood also looks completely different. If according to the Bible the flood lasted almost a year, then according to Assyrian sources it lasted only seven days.

At the same time, the description of the construction of the ark, as well as the method by which Utnapishta and Noah determined the level of the fall of the water, are surprisingly consistent. The first one released from the ark first a dove, which returned without finding a place to rest, then a swallow; Noah released a raven and twice a dove for the same purpose. “And the dove returned to him in the evening; and behold, a plucked olive leaf was in his mouth: and Noah knew that the water had abated from the earth.”

Babylonian historian and priest Berossus, who lived approximately 330-260. BC e., in the “History of Chaldea” also states that, according to legend, a severe flood occurred in his country.

The amazing similarity of the Assyrian legend with the biblical one, reaching the complete identity of individual expressions, indicates that biblical version- only a retelling of the Chaldean (Assyrian) legend. All famous Assyrologists have now come to this conclusion.

The Chaldean story reduces the flood to very small and quite plausible proportions - it rains only for seven days, the water does not cover the tops of the mountains. The stopping of the ship on the Nitsir Mountains at the time when the flood reached its maximum gives us an idea of ​​​​the height of the water rise. The height of the Nitsir mountains is about 400 m.

The famous Austrian geologist E. Suess was the first to use information about the flood recorded in cuneiform and discovered during excavations in Nineveh. He came to the following conclusions: by flood we must mean the devastating flood that occurred in the lower reaches of the Euphrates, which captured the Mesopotamian lowland; its main reason was the attack of a tsunami wave on the mainland, generated by an earthquake in the Persian Gulf region or south of it; it is very likely that the period strongest earthquake accompanied by a cyclone coming from the south.

Subsequent researchers only slightly clarified Suess's version. They found that strong earthquakes are not typical for the Persian Gulf and the tsunami wave, no matter how high it was, could not flood the entire Mesopotamian lowland. Most likely, the flood described in the Chaldean legend was a huge flood as a result of heavy rains and strong winds blowing against the flow of the rivers.

In the Bay of Bengal located to the east, major floods caused by a cyclone occurred in 1737 and 1876. The first of them raised the water by 16 m, the second by 13 m. The death toll in each case was more than 100 thousand people. Apparently, similar phenomena have occurred for a long time at the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates, with the only difference being that 4000-5000 years ago the floods covered much further into the mainland than now. At that time, the Persian Gulf came close to the Nitsir Mountains, and therefore a ship, driven, according to legend, up the river, could reach the mountains in a short time.

Among the catastrophic floods that affected European civilization, one can note the breakthrough of Atlantic waters into the Mediterranean Sea, which sharply raised its level, and the Dardanian flood. The latter is associated with the breakthrough of waters into the Black Sea. During the last glaciation, the level of the Black Sea was more than a hundred meters lower than it is today. The vast expanses of its modern shelf were dry land, especially in the northwestern part. The waters of the paleo-Danube flowed along this shelf, connecting the waters of the Danube, Dniester, and Bug, and they flowed into the salty waters that filled the deep-sea Black Sea depression. From the same depression, the flow of water went to the Sea of ​​Marmara (then still a lake) through a powerful sea river - the present-day Bosporus (an analogue to it may be the Kara-Bogaz-Gol Strait). And in place of another strait, the Kerch Strait, the fresh waters of the paleo-Don flowed, uniting the Don, Kuban and other smaller rivers of the Black Sea region into a single river system. The Paleo-Don flowed into the Black Sea off the southeastern coast of Crimea.

Studies of sedimentary rocks of the Black and Marmara Seas have shown that sedimentation did not occur to a depth of one hundred meters earlier than the 2nd - 6th millennium BC, since at that time these areas were dry land. The breakthrough of the Dardanelles isthmus, caused by a monstrous earthquake, led to the formation of the Sea of ​​Marmara, which was previously a lake. The consequences of the disaster were enormous. The water level in the Black Sea rose by more than 100 meters in a short period of time. Huge areas of the Black Sea coast were flooded. The coastline on the low-lying eastern shore of the sea moved back almost 200 km, and in place of a large lowland along which the paleo-Don and paleo-Kuban rivers flowed (and flowed into one channel), the Sea of ​​Azov was formed.

Thus, there are many possible disasters associated with floods, and scientists are inclined to believe that in many parts of the Earth at one time there was a Great Flood.

Based on materials from http://katastrofa.h12.ru

Did the Great Flood really happen? This question has haunted the minds of all mankind for many centuries. Is it really true that the entire population was destroyed by the will of God from the face of the Earth in an instant in such a barbaric way? But what about the love and mercy that all world religions attribute to the Creator?

Scientists around the world are still trying to find reliable facts and the scientific explanation for global flooding. The theme of the Flood appears in literary works, and in paintings famous artists The biblical apocalypse reflects the full power of the natural elements. In the famous painting by Aivazovsky, the deadly cataclysm is depicted so vividly and realistically that it seems that the great painter personally witnessed it. Everyone knows the famous fresco by Michelangelo depicting representatives of the human race a step before their death.

Aivazovsky's painting "The Flood"

"The Flood" by Michelangelo Buonarroti

The theme of the Flood was brought to life on screen by American film director Darren Aronofsky in the film Noah. He presented to the audience his vision of a famous biblical story. The film caused a lot of controversy and conflicting reviews, but did not leave anyone indifferent. The director was accused of discrepancies between the script and the generally accepted outline of the development of events in the biblical account, of protractedness and heaviness of perception. However, the author initially did not claim originality. The fact remains: the film was watched by almost 4 million viewers, and the box office grossed more than 1 billion rubles.

What does the Bible say?

Every person knows at least by hearsay about the history of the Great Flood. Let's spend short excursion into history.

God could no longer tolerate the unbelief, debauchery and lawlessness that people had committed on earth, and decided to punish sinners. The Great Flood was intended to end the existence of people by death in the depths of the sea. Only Noah and his loved ones at that time deserved the mercy of the Creator by leading a pious life.

According to God's instructions, Noah had to build an ark that could withstand a long voyage. The vessel had to meet certain dimensions and it had to be equipped with the necessary equipment. The construction period for the ark was also agreed upon - 120 years. It is worth noting that life expectancy at that time was calculated in centuries, and at the time of completion of the work, Noah’s age was 600 years.

Further, Noah was ordered to enter the ark along with his entire family. In addition, in the holds of the ship they placed a pair of unclean animals from each species (those that were not eaten for religious or other prejudices, and were not used for sacrifices), and seven pairs of clean animals existing on earth. The doors of the ark closed, and the hour of reckoning for sins came for all mankind.

It was as if the heavens opened up, and water poured onto the earth in an endless powerful stream, leaving no chance of survival. The disaster raged for 40 days. Even mountain ranges were hidden under the water column. Only the passengers of the ark remained alive on the surface of the endless ocean. After 150 days, the water subsided and the ship landed at Mount Ararat. After 40 days, Noah released a raven in search of dry land, but numerous attempts were unsuccessful. Only the dove managed to find the ground, after which people and animals found ground under their feet.

Noah performed the ritual of sacrifice, and God made a promise that the flood would not happen again, and the human race would continue to exist. Thus began a new round in the history of mankind. According to God's plan, it was with the righteous person in the person of Noah and his descendants that the foundation of a new healthy society was laid.

For the common man, this story is full of contradictions and raises a lot of questions: from the purely practical “how could such a colossus be built with the help of one family” to the moral and ethical “was this mass murder really so deserved.”

There are many questions... Let's try to find the answers.

Mention of the Flood in world mythology

In an attempt to find the truth, let's turn to myths from other sources. After all, if we take it as an axiom that the death of people was massive, then not only Christians, but also other nationalities suffered.

Most of us perceive myths as fairy tales, but then who is the author? And the event itself is quite realistic: in the modern world, we are increasingly seeing deadly tornadoes, floods and earthquakes in all corners of the world. Human casualties from natural disasters number in the hundreds, and sometimes they occur in places where they should not exist at all.

Sumerian mythology

Archaeologists working on the excavations of ancient Nippur discovered a manuscript that says that in the presence of all the gods, on the initiative of Lord Enlil (one of the three dominant gods), a decision was made to arrange a great flood. The role of Noah was played by a character named Ziusudra. The storm raged for a whole week, and after that Ziusudra left the ark, made a sacrifice to the gods and gained immortality.

“Based on the same list (approx. Nippur royal list), we can conclude that the global flood occurred 12 thousand years BC. e."

(Wikipedia)

There are other versions of the occurrence of the great flood, but they all have one significant difference with the biblical interpretation. Sumerian sources consider the cause of the disaster to be the whim of the gods. A kind of whim to emphasize your power and might. In the Bible, the emphasis is on the cause-and-effect relationship of living in sin and unwillingness to change it.

“The Bible's account of the Flood contains hidden power that can influence the consciousness of all mankind. There is no doubt that when recording the story of the Flood, this was precisely the goal: to teach people moral behavior. No other description of the Flood that we find in sources outside the Bible is in this regard completely similar to the story given in it.”

- A. Jeremias (Wikipedia)

Despite the various prerequisites for a global flood, there are mentions of it in the ancient Sumerian manuscripts.

Greek mythology

According to ancient Greek historians, there were three floods. One of them, the Deucalion Flood, partially echoes the biblical story. The same saving ark for the righteous Deucalion (also the son of Prometheus) and the pier at Mount Parnassus.

However, according to the plot, some people managed to escape the flood at the top of Parnassus and continue their existence.

Hindu mythology

Here we are faced with perhaps the most fabulous interpretation of the flood. According to legend, the ancestor Vaivasvata caught a fish into which the god Vishnu incarnated. The fish promised Vaivaswat salvation from the upcoming flood in exchange for a promise to help her grow. Then everything follows the biblical scenario: at the direction of a fish that has grown to enormous sizes, the righteous man builds a ship, stocks up with plant seeds and sets off on a journey led by the savior fish. A stop at the mountain and a sacrifice to the gods is the end of the story.

In ancient manuscripts and other peoples there are references to a great flood that revolutionized human consciousness. Isn't it true that such coincidences cannot be accidental?

The Flood from the point of view of scientists

Such is human nature that we certainly need strong evidence that something actually exists. And in the case of a global flood that hit the earth thousands of years ago, there can be no talk of any direct witnesses.

It remains to turn to the opinion of skeptics and take into account numerous studies of the nature of such a large-scale flood. Needless to say, there are very different opinions and hypotheses on this issue: from the most ridiculous fantasies to scientifically based theories.

How many Icari had to crash before a person learned that he would never rise into the sky? However, it happened! So it is with the flood. The question of where on earth such an amount of water could come from today has a scientific explanation, because it is possible.

There are many hypotheses. This is the fall of a giant meteorite, and a large-scale volcanic eruption, resulting in a tsunami of unprecedented force. Versions have been put forward about a super-powerful methane explosion in the depths of one of the oceans. Be that as it may, the Flood is a historical fact that is beyond doubt. There is too much evidence based on archaeological research. Scientists can only agree on the physical nature of this cataclysm.

Torrential rains that last for months have happened more than once in history. However, nothing terrible happened, humanity did not die, and the world’s oceans did not overflow their shores. This means that the truth must be sought elsewhere. Modern scientific groups, which include climatologists, meteorologists and geophysicists, are working together to find an answer to this question. And very successfully!

We will not bore our readers with scientific formulations that are complicated for an ignorant person. In simple terms, one of the popular theories of the origin of the Flood looks like this: due to critical heating of the earth's interior under the influence of an external factor, the earth's crust split. This crack was not local; in a matter of hours, with the help of internal pressure, the split crossed the entire globe. The contents of the underground depths, most of which were groundwater, instantly burst into freedom.

Scientists even managed to calculate the power of the emission, which is more than 10,000 (!) times higher than the worst large-scale volcanic eruption that befell humanity. Twenty kilometers - this is exactly the height the column of water and stones rose to. The subsequent irreversible processes provoked heavy rainfall. Scientists focus specifically on groundwater, because... There are many facts confirming the existence of underground water reservoirs, several times larger in volume than the world's oceans.

At the same time, researchers of natural anomalies admit that it is not always possible to find a scientific explanation for the mechanism of occurrence of the disaster. The Earth is a living organism with enormous energy, and only God knows in what direction this force can be directed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to offer the reader the point of view of some clergy on the Flood.

Noah builds the ark. Not secretly, not under the cover of night, but in broad daylight, on a hill and as much as 120 years! People had enough time to repent and change their lives - God gave them this chance. But even when the endless line of animals and birds headed towards the ark, they perceived everything as a fascinating performance, not realizing that even the animals at that time were more pious than people. Intelligent beings did not make a single attempt to save their lives and souls.

Not much has changed since then... We still only need spectacles - performances when the soul does not need to work, and thoughts are shrouded in cotton candy. If each of us is asked a question about the degree of our own morality, will we be able to sincerely answer at least to ourselves that we are capable of becoming the saviors of a new humanity in the role of Noah?

IN school years Wonderful teachers in the 70s and 80s of the last century cultivated the ability to develop their point of view with a simple question: “And if everyone jumps into the well, will you jump too?” The most popular answer was: “Of course! Why should I stay alone?” The whole class laughed happily. We were ready to fall into the abyss just to be together there. Then someone added the phrase: “But you will never have to do homework again!”, and a massive leap into the abyss became completely justified.

Sin is a temptation that is contagious. Once you give in to it, it is almost impossible to stop. It's like an infection, like a weapon of mass destruction. It has become fashionable to be immoral. Nature knows no other antidote to the feeling of impunity than to show humanity its power - is this not the reason for the increasing frequency of natural disasters of destructive force? Perhaps this is a prelude to a new Flood?

Of course, we will not comb all of humanity with the same brush. There are a lot of good, decent and honest people among us. But nature (or God?) so far only locally gives us an understanding of what it is capable of...

Keyword "Bye".