Flood myth
A traditional story in which a great flood destroys or renews the world, often leaving a small group of survivors to preserve humanity.
Epic of Gilgamesh: An ancient Mesopotamian epic in which Utnapishtim recounts surviving a divinely sent flood. Its flood episode is one of the oldest surviving written versions of the story.
Myth: A traditional narrative that expresses a community's understanding of the world, its origins, or its values. Flood myths belong to a broad form of storytelling, not a single religious tradition.
Atrahasis Epic: An Akkadian epic describing humanity's creation, divine conflict, and a flood survived by Atrahasis. Its flood account is an early literary source for later Mesopotamian versions.
Ritual: A structured sequence of actions performed according to cultural or religious conventions. Some flood narratives connect survival and renewal to acts of worship or ritual obligation.
Genesis flood narrative: The biblical account of Noah, an ark, and a flood that destroys life on Earth. It became one of the best-known flood narratives in Abrahamic traditions.
Flood: An overflow of water that submerges land normally above water. The flood is the catastrophe that drives the narrative and reshapes its world.
Sumerian King List: An ancient Sumerian text listing rulers and dynasties, divided by a great flood. Its flood marks a boundary between legendary antediluvian kingship and later history.
Apocalypse: A revelation or narrative of world-altering destruction, often followed by transformation or renewal. The flood is a recurring image of total destruction that can make a new order possible.
Deucalion: A figure in Greek mythology who survives a flood sent by Zeus and repopulates the world with Pyrrha. The Greek story makes survival lead directly to the renewal of humanity.
Deluge: A great or overwhelming flood, especially one imagined as covering extensive land. The scale of the deluge makes ordinary survival impossible and gives the story its force.