The three monotheistic faith of Judaism, Islam and Christianity share the same story of Noah and the Great Flood. Each views the story in slightly different lights.
In Judaism, Noah's story is about morality, divine judgement and God's covenant with humanity. Noah was a righteous man who walked in a world of corrupt humanity. The rainbow after the flood was God's covenant that he will never bring such calamitous judgement on humanity again.
Islam sees Nuh (Noah) as a warner, a prophet, and the consequence of rejecting divine guidance. The Quran mentions Noah has another son who rejects his father's call to board the Ark. He takes to climbing the highest mountain and drowns. The Quran is all about obedience to Allah and the consequence of disobedience.
Christianity sees the symbolism in the story. The Ark is seen as the Church and Salvation with the water representing baptism. Noah is seen as a model for Christian living in his unwavering faith and obedience to God. The flood represents God's judgement on Sin and the Ark His mercy and provision for those that follow HIm.
All three faiths believe the three sons of Noah were the progenitors of the human race. The lineage of Shem, Ham and Japheth are described in the Table of Nations in the Bible with Shem as the progenitor of the Semitic peoples.
In a previous blog on the
Sumerian flood myths I showed the close similarity of the Biblical Noah story to these myths. The Sumerian myths in cunneiform clay tablets are dated centuries before the Bible. The inconvenient question is could these myths have influenced the latter day writers of the Old Testament? If this is correct, it absolutely shatters the world view of Judaism, Islam and Christianity. No flood means no Shem, Ham or Japheth; means no human race today.
While there are similarities there are also vast differences. Sumerian myths are basically about embellishing ancient kings with legacies set against a backdrop of cosmic interferences. The Biblical account is about God's relationship with humanity and his judgement, salvation and redemption.
Both the Sumerian myths and the Quran lack the details and the depth found in the Biblical account in terms of literary richness, theological meanings and cultural context. In the psychology of plagiarism, the secondary works often simplify or omit minutiae, focusing on core ideas while omitting the original's complexity. This helps to conceal the source or to fit a new context. Though this is not universal, it has often been the case.
The Sumerians developed written form very early. Is it possible the Sumerians were influenced by oral traditions of other ancient peoples which found its way into the myths to embellish the legacies of their Kings?
My theory, not supported by evidence, is the Biblical stories influenced the Sumerians, not the other way round. But who were the people who could have these Biblical accounts earlier than the Sumerians, to influence them? The Sumerians were a much developed civilisation in the Mesopotamia region than the other people that they came into contact with. Influence logically flows from the higher civilisation to the lesser ones. However, historical evidence shows the ancient peoples in the Mesopotamia region were accommodative of the cultures of others. In all probability, some exciting and unique traditions of a lesser community could have found its way into mainstream Sumerian culture.
The discovery process of my theory requires understanding some important timelines, transmigration of ancient nomadic peoples, and the way people are classified.
First, some historical timelines of ancient Mesopotamia, the swathe of fertile land covering the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers known as the 'Cradle of Civilisation'. May be boring, but watch out for the types of people and the lingua franca. Be amazed at the historical integrity of the Bible.
Ubaid Period 6500-4100 BC
Normadic people settled into agricultural villages in southern Mesopotamia.
Uruk Period 4100-2900 BC
Population expands into city states. Writing invented on clay tablets called cuneiform. Wheels invented.
Sumerians 2900-2350 BC
Sumeria was a collection of city states in Southern Mesopotamia. Important cities were Ur and Eridu. They were famous for building ziggurats and coding laws. The people grouped in cities, there was no national consciousness. Sumeria was a term given by the Akkadians. They called the southern region of Mesopotamia Sumurus. Their lingua franca was Sumerian.
Akkadian Empire 2334-2154 BC
Sargon of Akkad, in Northern Mesopotamia, unified the region with central rule. It was not a conquest but sheer domination of culture. Akkadian and Sumerian languages co-existed. Eventually Sumerians assimilated into Akkadian culture. In the end, iternal strife weakened Akkadian central power.
Neo-Sumerian 2112-2004 BC
Sumerian culture revived, such as in Ur. It then declined due to invasions by Elamites and Amorites.
Old Babylonian Period 2000-1600 BC
Amorites took over the Southern region known as Babylon. Amorites were normadic herders from the Syro-Arabian deserts. They settled in Mesopotamia, Canaan and Syria. Amorites were considered uncultured and barbaric. They spoke a language related to Akkadian. Known for King Hammurabi famous for the Code of Hummarabi. Weakened by attacks from Hittities and Kassities.
Kassities Period 1595-1155 BC
Kassities came from the Zagros Mountains of Iran. They were not Indo-Europeans or Semites. Their origin is unknown. They maintain the cultural continuity of the region. Their language was Kassite but eventually adopted Akkadian.
Middle Assyrian Period 1365-1050 BC
The Assyrians got their name from the city of Ashur (in Northern Iraq). Their community settled in the Tigris area since 2,600. They were a militaristic people and built many cities, like Nineveh. They spoke a dialect of Akkadian, but eventually adopted Aramaic.
Neo-Assyrian Empire 911-609
A period of territorial conquest and expansion by the Assyrians. In 721BC King Sargon II conquered Isreal and dispersed the 9 Israelite Tribes all over Assyrian territories. In 701BC King Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem but was unable to conquer it. Biblical account tells of Hezekiah's prayers and of the intervention of God's angels which destroyed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. In 621 BC, King Sennacherib destroyed the city of Babylon which had rebelled. Assyrian rule declined due to internal strife and attacks by Babylonians and Medes.
Neo-Babylonians 626-539 BC Chaldeans defeated the Assyrians and set up their empire in Babylon in the South. The origins of the Chaldeans were unknown. They settled in the marshy region of the Persian Gulf in the region called Chaldea in the 10th century BC. They were Semitic speaking and everually assimilated the culture and language of Babylon. They came into prominence by the 7th century BC. Most famous king was Nebuchadnezzar II who conquered much territories. In 597 BC he conquered Jerusalem and deported King Jehoiachin and royal family members, officials and artisans to Babylon. Bible tells of 10,000 Judaens who were exiled. Zedekiah, uncle of Jehoiachin, was installed as puppet king. In time, Zedekiah rebelled and Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem a second time in 586BC. This time, Solomon's Temple was destroyed and Judaen nobles, priests and all skilled workers were exiled to Babylon. Judah became a province. All these events correctly narrated in the Bible.
Achaemenid Empire 539-331 BC
In 539 BC the Persians conquered the Babylonian empire of the Chaldeans. Most famous was King Cyrus who allowed the Jews to return to Judah and decreed the Temple be rebuilt. The Bible says so and evidenced in the famous archaeological find of Cylinder of Cyrus' Edit.
In 331 BC Alexander The Great defeated the Persians which brings an end to the era of our interest.
The Thesis
At this juncture, let's ponder the common thesis Sumerian myths influenced the Biblical narrative. There are two data points where this could have happened.
Firstly, the Jewish Exile in Babylon. The first 10,000 exiles came in 597 BC and the second bigger batch came in 586 BC. Could these Jews have been influenced by Sumerian myths? The answer is impossible. Here's why.
The Torah, also known as the Pentateuch, comprises of the first five books of the Old Testament. These are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Noah's flood story is of course in Genesis. There are two schools of thought of when the Torah was written.
According to Judaism and Christian traditions, the Torah was written by Mosses during the Exodus. That would put it at about 15th-13th century BC. Mosses could not possibly have been influenced by Sumerian narratives. He could have been influenced by ancient Engyptians, who however, do not have a universal flood story.
The second school of thought is called the
Documentary Hypothesis put up by scholars. This posits the Torah was written, compiled and edited by different contributors over centuries. There are four scources known by the acronym YEDP. Y=Yahwist, E=Elohist, D=Deuteronomist, P=Prisetly. The style, terminology used, and focus are distinctive for each source. E.g 'Y' calls God YHWH while 'E' uses Elohim. For 'Y' God is anthropomorphic while 'P' sees God as transcendent. The estimated timeframe these sources were completed are :
* 'Y' - written in Judah 10-9th century BC.
* 'E' - written in Northern Kingdom of Israel. 9-8th century BC
* 'D' - written during the reforms in King Josiah's reign. 7th century BC.
* 'P' - sritten after the Babylonian exile in 6th century BC.
All these were put together into a single document around 5th century BC possibly under Ezra's leadership. Because they were compiled from different sources, there are inherently many repetitions and contradictions over minor details.
From the timeline, only 'P' could possibly have been influenced by Sumerian myths. However, 'P' focused on religious matters and codification of laws. The Babylonian Talmud was written in Babylon. Furthermore, during the Babylonian exile, the Israelites settled along the rivers in their own community and kept their own culture and religion.
Thus both the Mosaic authorship or Documentary Hypothesis could not have been influenced by Sumerian myths.
The second datapoint has to do with Abraham. The Bible says Abram (his name at the time) was from 'Ur Of The Chaldean', ie Ur, the city of the Chaldeans. Critics point out this is an error of anachronism in the Bible. The Chaldeans came into prominence in the 7th century BC in the Neo-Babylonian period. That was many centuries after Abraham's time. However, Chaldeans settled in the region much earlier. It is possible some were present in Ur during the time of Abraham and their unique presence caused the city to be called Ur of the Chaldeans.
Abraham was born in Ur. He eventually relocated together with his father Terah to the city Haran where his cousin Lot resided. After the death of Terah, God called Abraham to leave for Canaan. Scholars estimate Abraham left Haran sometime 2000 BC.
The common theory is Abraham and his entourage, which included Lot and his family, uprooted from Mesopotamia and carried with them memories of the Sumerian flood. The cuneiform tablets were from 1700-1000 BC. Scientists have discovered several massive localised floods in the regions carbon-dated to have occured between 3900-2900 BC. Flood myths came from memories of these experiences. Could there possibly have the same flood myths dated earlier than those discovered so far? If not, then the timeline suggests Abraham's departure preceded the Sumerian myths.
According to Prof James Ussher (1851-1656) working solely based on the genaogical timeline in the bible, Noah's flood occured in 2348 BC. Accordingly Abraham was born about 2166 BC. At least here, the Bible seems to get a credible timeline. The Blical flood preceded Abraham as well as the Sumerian myths.
Haran, where Lot resided, was a city enclave of, let's call them Israelites (which is a latter name). History has shown that this people, wherever located, tends to keep to themselves and maintain their own culture and practices. Thus if they had their own flood story, they would have held on to it.
The Antithesis
My proposition is the flood story could have come from Abraham's predecessors which the Sumerians borrowed and modified to fit their context. To examine this, some understanding of languages, how people are called, and trans-migration is essential.
In the study of a group of people, common classification can be on the basis of gene, race or ethnicity.
Genetic group is one where the people are traced to a common ancestry by their biological make-up.
Race is grouping people according to some physical characteristic such as skin colour. This is a superficial basis and is a social construct.
Ethnicity is grouping by a shared common cultural background, which is often geographic origin where people has a common language culture and ancestry.
Most of the time a group of people are known by ethnicity. The name given depends on who made the call.
Ethnonym is the name a group of people call themselves.
Exonym is what outsiders call a group of people. For example we call the people of Germany Germans, they call themselves Deutsch, Chinese as the people of China who call themselves Huaren, or Eskimos as we say, but they call themselves Inuit
Now let's look at some of the more important groups of ancient people who traversed the region and development of languages. The idea is to see the possibility of flood stories coming from both inside and outside of Mesopotamia that could have influenced the Sumerian myths.
ElamitesThe Elamites came into prominence in 2700 BC. They settled in Elam, a region in South-Western Iran. It's strategic location made them a bridge for the civilasations on the Iranian Plateau and the Indus Valley. They had lots of contacts with Mesopotamia in trade, diplmacy and conflicts. They never subdued Babylonia but had much interaction with the people. By 539 BC they were weakened and finally absorbed into the Persian Acheamennid Empire. Though their timeline makes it possible for them to influence the Sunerian myths, they have no records of flood stories. Elamite is a linguistic isolate. They have their own pantheon of gods.
Canaanites:There is no single distinct Canaanite people but rather a collection of several city states such as Tyre and Sidon. Canaan is the region comprised of today's Israel, Palestine, parts of Jordan and Syria. They spoke a North-West Semitic language, precursors of Hebrew, Aramaic and Phonecian. They came to prominence between 3,300-2,000 BC during which time they interacted with Egypt snd Mesopotamia. They had no centralised power and so fell in 1550 BC as Egyptian vessel state. From then on they were further weaken by attacks from sea-faring people on the coastal stretch who were known as Philistines. Canaanites on the Northern coastal stretch became known as Phonecians. In the first half of the 1st century BC Israelites overlapped the region. Eventually the Canaanites were lost to history. They have no flood story of their own.
Assyrians:These were part of the milieu of people living in ancient Mesopotamia. They were prominent in the Northern region and got their name from their main city Ashur. They took over the whole Mesopotamia region from the Akkadians from 2,500-609 BC. They spoke in Old Assyrian, a Semitic dialect of Akkadian. By the 1st century BC Aramaic became a regional language and Assyrians adopted it. Assyrians had no flood stories of their own. They made copies of many Sumerian works including Atrahasis and Epic of Gilgamesh and preserved them in their famous library in Nineveh. The Assyrians were driven out by the Persians in 6th century BC but they have survived in distinct groups to these day. These are the Syriac Christians living in Iraq, Syria and Turkey.
Amorites:Sumerians called them Amuru. The Amorites emerged in the west of Euphrates (Syria) at about 2,500 BC. They were a nomadic people which spreaded out and lived amongst the Sumerian cities. They spoke a North-Western Semitic language related to Canaanites. Around 2,000 BC they took over Babylon. The Amorites assimilated Sumerian culture and there is no record of them having their own flood stories. When Kassites took over Babylon in 1600 BC, Amorites moved west into Canaan where they merged with the other Semitic peoples and was lost to history.
Hittites:
They emerged about 1,600 BC in Anatolia (Turkey). Their language is Hittite which is an Indo-European group. They spreaded Southwards into Northern Syria, Northern parts of Canaan. They traded and had military campaigns into Egypt and Mesopotamia. They sacked Babylon in 1595 BC but did not occupy it. By 8th century BC they had weakened and was absorbed into the Assyrian Empire. They could not have influenced the Sumerians which preceeded them.
Kassites:
They came from the Zagros Mountains of Iran. Kassaites were neither Indo-Europeans nor Semitic people. Their language is an isolate and their origin is unknown. Kassites took over Babylonia from 1595-1155 BC. Eventually they were absorbed into Sumerian culture, except for religion. They came with their own pantheon of gods with Marduk as the chief god. Kassites could not have influenced the Sumerian myths as they came too late and the flood stories had the Enlil pantheon of gods.
Chaldeans:
They appeared in the 8th century BC. Too late to have any influence on the Sumerian myths.
The Persians:The Acheamenid Empire in Mesopotamia used Old Persian, an Indo-European language. They also use the local Elamite and Akkadian as well as Greek. The Persians timeline in Mesopotamia 539-331 BC is way too late to have influenced the Sumerian myths.
For one reason or another, none of the goups of ancient people that traversed the Mesopotamia region could have influenced the Sumerian myths.
Perhaps the Bible has the answer all this while but overlooked by all.
"Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous."
Deuteronomy 26.5
The context of Deuteronomy 26.5 is Mosses instructing the Israelites on the rituals of "first fruits" to give thanks to God once they entered and settled in the Promised Land. The 'father' he refers to is Jacob, also known as Israel. So Jacob and his descendants were called Israelites and they were Arameans.
Arameans:
The Bible mentions Arameans several times. Who were the Arameans? It has to be taken in context for there are two meanings:
(1) In geographical context, Arameans refer to the people in the land of Aram, a region covering Southern Syria and parts of Lebanon. Sumerian records mention Arameans as a distinct group of people. They had small kingships centred around various cities such as Aram-Damascus, Aram-Zobah, Aram-Haran (which was in Northern Mesopotamia - where God called on Abraham to go into Canaan).
These Arameans were Semitic nomadic tribes from the Syrian desert and Upper Mesopotamia who eventually settled in the cities. They appeared around 2500 BC. After 12th century BC when the Hittites and Egyptians weakened, the Arameans came into prominence. From the 900-600 BC, Assyrian expansionism wiped out the Arameans who were dispersed and lost to history.
The Arameans great contribution was their language. They spoke a North-Western Semitic language called Aramaic which influenced the development of other Semitic languages such as Phonecian and Hebrew. After the Assyrian conquest, use of Aramaic became widespread in the Near East. The Assyrians, and later, the Persian Archeanemid Empire, adopted it as the lingua franca replacing Akkadian. Aramaic was the spoken language of Jesus. Aramaic declined with the arrival of Islamic caliphates around 700 AD. Today Aramaic is still spoken in certain clusters amongst Assyrian, Chaldean and Syriac Christians.
(2) In the genealogical sense, Aram refers to one of the five sons of Shem. The Bilbe also refers to the descendants of Aram as Arameans.
The Bible does not explicitly mention it, but it supports the theory Aram and his descendants settled in the land which was named after him. Thus Aramean is both a geographical and genealogical term.
Are Israelites Arameans:
First of all, who were the Israelites? They are the descendants of Jacob whose name was changed to Israel by God. Jacob's lineage is traced back to Isaac, then Abraham, and all the way back to Arphaxad, anothr son of Shem. Thus Israelites are not from the line of Aram from the fathers' side. When Abraham sought a wife for his son Isaac, he went to Aram- Naharain, an Aramean city. Rebehka, Issac's wife, came from the line of Aram. Abraham himself was born in Ur but later on moved North to Aram-Haran, an Aramean city. In later times, Jacob fled to Aram-Haran to escape his brother Essau's wrath. There he married Leah and Rachel, the daughters of Laban whose lineage can be traced back to Aram. All these establish the case that Israelites, descendants of Jacob who came out of the Exodus, were Arameans both from the point of view of residents of Aram cities, and lineage to Aram from the mother's side.
According to Prof James Ussher (1851-1656) working solely based on the genaogical timeline in the bible, Noah's flood occured in 2348 BC. Accordingly Abraham was born about 2166 BC. At least here, the Bible seems to get a credible timeline. The flood preceded Abraham as it should be.
Arameans and Sumerian flood myths
The Arameans were already present in the northern Mesopotamia area by 2500 BC as historically recorded by the Sumerians. Since Aramaic had no writtem form till after 1000 BC, Arameans kept their Noah's floof story by oral traditions. None of the Sumerian flood myth clay tablets discovered have been earlier than 1700 BC.
The fact Arameans were in the neighbourhood before the Sumerian myths appeared, opens up a high possibility for my anthesis that Abrahamic oral traditions of Noah's flood story influenced the Sumerian flood myths.
Imago Mundi
This is the Babylonian map known as the oldest map of the world. It is on clay tablet estimated to be no earlier than 9th century BC. It was acquired by the British Musuem since 1882.
All that is the Babylonian world is within the inner circle. It is surrounded by a "bitter river". Outside the circle are supposed to be eight triangular spikes representing faraway lands. Descriptions of the spikes are on the reverse side of the tablet, but fragmented. Curators could not match the descriptions to the triangles until 1995 when a third piece of the triangle fragment was found.
The description for Triangle #4 says
"To the fourth to which you must travel seven leagues ... are a thick pasiktu vesssel ... 20 fingers ..."
Pasiktu is a trigger word. It is a kind of religious boat in Sumerian times. The Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh and Utrhasis mention the construction of the ribs of the ark are as thick as the pasiktu.
Immediately at the foot of Triangle #4 and within the circle, is inscribed the word "Urartu". Translated in Hebrew, it reads Ararat. That of course, is where the Bible says Noah's Ark came to rest, on Mount Ararat. It points to the fact the Ark is in a place far away from Sumeria. Could this possibly be Sumerians saying the story came from outside their world? However one takes it, I shall leave it at that.
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