In China, the legend about ancient floods goes like this: During the period of Yao and Shun, Wang Yang was everywhere in the world. Floods have brought great disasters to people's lives. So he ordered Yu's father to use a gun to control water. The improper method of water control by artillery blocked and blocked blindly, resulting in more severe flood control, which was severely punished by Shun and made him lose his mind. So he used Yu, the son of Gun, to control water. Yu summed up the experience and lessons of his father's failure in water control, changed the passive blocking method and adopted the dredging method, that is to say, where there is flood, dig a ditch to drain it. It uses much less force than a gun, but it has achieved very good results. It is said that during the flood control period of 13, Dayu passed by his door many times and didn't go home to have a look. Dayu succeeded in harnessing water, promoted the development of production and became the leader of the tribe himself.
In the west, the legend of the great flood is recorded in the Bible. Genesis in the Bible says, "This happened in February of 17. On this day, the source of the huge abyss was completely washed away, the skylight was wide open, and heavy rain poured on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. " It turns out that when God created everything and man, he was very angry because man did not act according to God's will and caused many sins. In order to punish the world, he is going to send a flood from the sky to drown all mankind. However, there is a good man Noah in the world, and God told him the news of the flood. Good people built an ark called Noah's Ark. He and his family drifted in the flood for 40 days with the ark and stayed on the mountain. In order to find out whether the flood has receded, Noah released pigeons three times in a row. By the third time, the pigeon brought an emerald olive branch from a distance, and Noah knew that the flood had indeed passed.
It is said that the great good man escaped this worldwide catastrophe by this ark. Today's human beings are handed down by this good man.
There was a similar legend in ancient Babylon. In the Sumerian clay tablets unearthed in 3500 BC, people found the following records about floods: "In the morning, it rained harder and harder. I saw it with my own eyes. At night, heavy raindrops became dense. I looked up and stared at the sky. The horror was indescribable ... On the first day, the south wind was blowing at a terrible speed. People thought that the war had begun and rushed to the mountains, regardless of anyone, desperately fleeing. "
In India, the legend of the great flood is recorded in the Code of Manu. It is said that an ascetic monk named Manu bathed in the Ganges River and accidentally saved a small fish chased by a big fish. He took the little fish home, raised it in a pool, and sent it back to the Ganges. Fish told him that this summer's flood would destroy all living things and prepare Manu. When the flood flooded, the small fish towed Manu's big boat to a safe place. Since then, the descendants of Manu have thrived and become the ancestors of Indians.
There are similar legends among ethnic minorities in southwest China and more than 30 Indian tribes in the United States/KLOC-0.
Isn't the legend of the great flood among the above-mentioned ethnic groups a pure folk story without any factual basis? Is there any connection between them? Is it a coincidence that so many legends handed down from generation to generation have mentioned the great flood?
Can people explore a reasonable core through the legendary "coat"? I think some issues can be discussed.
Now let's make a brief analysis and see what are the similarities and differences between eastern and western legends.
These differences may reflect the cultural differences between the East and the West. In China in the East, the attitude towards nature has always been positive, believing that natural disasters can be prevented through human efforts. So there is the story of Dayu's water control mentioned above. In the west, fatalism is more serious, believing that natural disasters are imposed on mankind by God, and there is no other way but to escape death with Noah's Ark.
Similarity means more to us. First, the floods occurred at roughly the same time, all in the early stage of human civilization, about seven or eight thousand years ago; Second, flood is a watershed in human development. After the flood, mankind began a new development.
Let's take a look at the places where these two legends happened. The legend of China Dayu's water control took place in the Yellow River Basin in China, while the western legend took place in the two river basins in West Asia. Whether it is the Yellow River or the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the two river basins, there is the possibility of floods. The question is, how did the flood at that time cause such a great disaster that thousands of years later, people still have legends about floods?
We mentioned in the article "How the Ancient Ice Age was Formed" that the world is currently in the interglacial period after the last ice age of the Quaternary Ice Age. This interglacial period began 654.38 million years ago. From interglacial period to interglacial period, the climate has a transitional stage from cold to warm. During this period, it is completely understandable that a catastrophic flood occurred. As the temperature rises, glaciers in the alpine plateau begin to melt in large quantities, and the melted water enters rivers, which is bound to form floods. Its flood scale is also very huge. Unfortunately, people at that time had not invented writing, so they could not record the scene at that time. They can only be passed down from generation to generation through oral language, and finally formed the above-mentioned folklore about the flood.
From 8,000 to 3,000 years ago, the world's climate became warmer, and there was more precipitation in many parts of the world than today. Scientists call this period a climate suitable period. This period of mild climate and abundant rainfall is also a period of rapid human development. In the Yellow River valley of China, humans learned to farm and raise livestock. There are two cultural series represented by painted pottery culture and black pottery culture. This period is one of the most prosperous ancient times of the Chinese nation. In the two river basins, the once prosperous Babylonian civilization attracted worldwide attention.
During the Quaternary period, glacial periods and interglacial periods appeared alternately, which made human beings move from forest to plain, experienced the training of changeable environment, and improved their ability and wisdom. Especially after the flood, the history of human development showed an obvious turning point and began to make great strides.
The above views are just one view, which may not be accepted by most scholars. However, here, we ask this question, and there is another meaning, that is, we must not dismiss some ancient folklore as absurd words and ignore them. Perhaps through these legends, we will find some truth about the mysteries of nature!