Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
should realize that death and property loss from these
latter perils can be just as severe as, if not worse than,
those generated by geological and climatic hazards. A
final section examines the social impact of hazards.
the library of Ashurbanipal I (668-626 BC) of Assyria, at
Nippur in the lower Euphrates Valley, also recount the
Babylonian legend. The Deluge also appears worldwide
in verbal and written myths. The Spanish conquista-
dores were startled by flood legends in Mexico that bore
a remarkable similarity to the biblical account. Because
these staunchly Catholic invaders saw the legends as
blasphemous, they ordered the destruction of all written
native references to the Deluge. The similarities were
most remarkable with the Zapotecs of Mexico. The hero
of their legend was Tezpi, who built a raft and loaded it
with his family and animals. When the god Tezxatlipoca
ordered the floodwaters to subside, Tezpi released firstly
a vulture and then other fowl, which failed to return.
When a hummingbird brought back a leafy twig,
Tezpi abandoned his raft on Mt Colhuacan. A Hawaiian
legend even has a rainbow appearing, which signals
a request for forgiveness by their god Kane for his
destructiveness. Almost all legends ascribe the flood to
the wrath of a god. The Australian Aborigines have a
story about a frog named Tiddalik drinking all the water
in the world. To get the water back, all the animals try
unsuccessfully to get the frog to laugh. Finally, a cavort-
ing eel manages the task. However, the frog disgorges
more water than expected and the whole Earth is
flooded. In some myths, floods are attributed to animals
urinating after being picked up. Many myths are
concerned with human taboo violations, women's
menstruation, or human carelessness. Almost all stories
have a forewarning of the disaster, the survival of a
chosen few, and a sudden onset of rain. However, the
Bible has water issuing from the ground, as do Chinese,
Egyptian, and Malaysian accounts. The latter aspect
may refer to earthquakes breaking reservoirs or
impounded lakes. Many Pacific island and Chilean
legends recount a swelling of the ocean, in obvious ref-
erence to tsunami . Despite the similarities of legends
globally amongst unconnected cultures, there is no geo-
logical evidence for contemporaneous flooding of the
entire world, or over continents. It would appear that
most of the flood myths recount localized deluges, and
are an attempt by human beings to rationalize the flood
hazard.
Almost as ubiquitous as the legends about flood are
ones describing volcanism or the disappearance of
continents. North American natives refer to sunken land
to the east; the Aztecs of Mexico believed they were
descended from a people called Az, from the lost land
of Aztlán. The Mayas of Central America referred to a
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The world of myths and legends
(Holmes, 1965; Day, 1984; Myles, 1985; Milne, 1986;
Bryant , 2001)
Myths are traditional stories focusing on the deeds of
gods or heroes, often to explain some natural phenom-
enon, while legends refer to some historical event
handed down - usually by word of mouth in traditional
societies. Both incorporate natural hazard events. Pre-
historic peoples viewed many natural disasters with
shock and as a threat to existence. Hazards had to be
explained and were often set within a world of animistic
gods. Such myths remain a feature of belief systems for
many peoples across the world - from Aborigines in
Australia and Melanesians in the South Pacific, to the
indigenous inhabitants of the Americas and the Arctic
Circle. With the development of written language,
many of these oral myths and legends were incor-
porated into the writings of the great religions of the
world. Nowhere is this more evident than with stories
about the great flood. Along with stories of Creation,
the Deluge is an almost ubiquitous theme. The biblical
account has remarkable similarities to the Babylonian
Epic of Gilgamesh. In this epic, Utnapishtim, who
actually existed as the tenth king of Babylon, replaces
Noah, who was the tenth descendant of Adam. The
biblical account parallels the epic, which tells of the
building of an ark, the loading of it with different animal
species, and the landing of the ark upon a remote
mountaintop. Babylonian civilization was founded in
what was called Mesopotamia, situated in the basin of
the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, which historically have
been subject to cataclysmic flooding. Clay deposits in
excess of 2 m have been found at Ur, suggesting a
torrential rain event in the headwaters of the valley that
caused rivers to carry enormous suspension loads at
high concentrations.
Such an event was not unique. The epic and biblical
accounts are undoubtedly contemporaneous and, in
fact, a similar major flood appears in the written
accounts of all civilized societies throughout Middle
Eastern countries. For example, broken tablets found in
 
 
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