[My Boer NAZI pal who spent much of his life studying Middle Eastern myths told me about what scientists found about these myths. Here are some links to some. The story of Noah and the Ark can be found in a somewhat similar form in much more ancient writings that are at least 1,000 years older than Christianity.

My own research and thinking has led me to believing that the Great flood myths might be the result of some event that actually took place. There is an interesting possible candidate for this in the way the Black Sea was created a long time ago. People used to live on what is now the bottom of the Black Sea.

For the record people used to live on what is now the bottom of the North Sea as well. Jan]

Here are some links:-

Sumerian creation myth – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_creation_myth

The Eridu Genesis is written on a Sumerian cuneiform tablet of which about two thirds are now lost. The missing parts can be reconstructed from texts like the Sumerian King List and Berossus:

• the creation of men (now lost);
• their miserable condition;
• creation of kingship;
• the first cities;
• the kings who ruled before the Great Flood (lost)
• the supreme god Enlil’s decision to destroy sinful humankind (lost);
• Ziusudra learns of the approaching calamity;
• building of the Ark (lost);
• the Great Flood;
• Ziusudra’s sacrifice;
• an offer of eternal life to Ziusudra.

The story of the Creation and Flood has been extremely influential. Among the texts that were inspired by it are the Epic of Atrahasis, Tablet XI of the Babylonian Epic of Gilgameš, Berossus, the Biblical account of the Deluge, and several Greek and Roman sources, like Ovid.

The translation of the Eridu Genesis offered here is adapted from a translation by Thorkild Jacobson. It starts after a long lacuna, in which the creation of man must have been described.

You can read the rest here: http://www.livius.org/sources/content/oriental-varia/eridu-genesis/?

The Great Flood: Sumerian version – You can read it here: http://www.livius.org/articles/misc/great-flood/flood2/

The Great Flood: Eridu Genesis – Tou can read it here: http://www.livius.org/articles/misc/great-flood/flood2-t/