ADSactly Folklore: When Giants Roamed the Earth (Part 5)
Hello again, dear @adsactly readers! Our series dedicated to the mysterious beings numerous myths describe as Giants is drawing to an end. Time to recap what we have learned so far. In the previous installments we have explored various classical mythologies that clearly acknowledge the existence of a race of giants, in the very distant past. One thing all these legends have in common is the idea that the race of giants was destroyed by the gods in a great flood. While we may wonder, argue and disagree over what ancient texts are trying to tell us about the past, the planetary catastrophe described as the Great Flood is supported by science.
The subject of the Great Flood has been mentioned in our previous posts, yet, it must be said that all versions of that event can be traced to Sumerian mythology.
Sumerian god Marduk depicted as a giant
source
Sumer was the southernmost region of ancient Mesopotamia, that existed in the region of modern-day Iraq and Kuwait, and is considered by many scholars to be the cradle of civilization. The story of Noah and the Biblical Flood draws heavily on the older Sumerian texts that comprise the Epic of Gilgamesh, mythical king of the city or Uruk. Dating back at least 5000 years, the Epic of Gilgamesh is considered the oldest surviving tale on earth and it is recorded on thousands of clay tablets written in cuneiform language, a precursor to the Egyptian hieroglyphs. Sumerian gods themselves are often described as giants, and Gilgamesh is said to be son of a goddess.
As recorded in the epic, the flood had taken place long before the times of Gilgamesh, possibly thousands of years earlier. The hero of the Sumerian epic is told about it by the ancient survivor of the flood, Utnapishtìm, the figure upon Noah is based upon.
The Sumerian tale does not say explicitly what had angered the gods to the point of wanting to destroy the Earth. However, one of the gods, Ea, goes to warn one Utnapishtìm about the coming disaster and commands him to build a ship, giving very specific instructions. Utnapishtìm, his family and those of his workers, the animals of the fields and vast amount of grains are loaded on the ship, whose name is translated as ‘Preserver of Life’. After almost a week in the terrible storm, Utnapishtìm, like Noah, sends out birds to see if the waters have receded. When land is once again apparent, Utnapishtìm releases the saved animals, not before offering sacrifice to the gods. Utnapishtìm and his wife are then granted immortality by the gods and, indeed, Gilgamesh travels to meet them in his quest to find the secret to eternal life.
Utnapishtìm and the Great Flood
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So, this is the original story that tells of a terrible catastrophe that ended a civilization. The Sumerian themselves knew of a civilization that had preceded them in the territories of ancient Mesopotamia, which archaeologists have termed the Ubaid people.
"Various archaeologists suggest there was a historical deluge between 5,000 and 7,000 years ago that hit lands ranging from the Black Sea to what many call the cradle of civilization, the flood plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.''(source)
One of the most famous people looking for evidence of the great flood is Robert Ballard, the scientist who discovered the wreck of the Titanic.
Nearly two decades ago, professor Ballard undertook a pioneering mission of exploration in the Black Sea area, which, according to him, was once nothing but a fresh water lake.
"About 7,000 years ago, according to geological evidence, the rising Mediterranean sea pushed a channel through what is now the Bosphorus, and then seawater poured in at about 200 times the volume of Niagara Falls. The Black Sea would have widened at the rate of a mile a day, submerging the original shoreline under hundreds of feet of salty water.''[source]
That would be the Great Flood, such a traumatic event that it remained ingrained in the collective memory of human kind and was retold in legends. Besides the wrath of gods mentioned in various myths, there is of course the more scientific explanation of a tremendous flood caused most probably by the end of an ice age, melting glaciers and rising water levels. Other (controversial) theories speak of a moon-like object falling to Earth and causing giant tsunamis.
Most legends of the flood say that the survivors and their ship found themselves on a mountain when the deluge stopped, which, of course, would be consistent to the rising waters theory.
Evidence of human habitation found on the Black Sea floor by Ballard
source
As far as the Black Sea region is concerned,nearly 100,000 square miles were inundated and such a thing could have happened elsewhere.
What interests us most about the flood is the proofs ancient civilizations were buried under water. Robot scouts sent by Ballard’s mission in the fall of 2000 uncovered the existence of human settlements at the bottom of the sea. All evidence point to the fact that underwater ruins found by Ballard are thousands of years old.
According to Fred Hiebert, an archaeologist at the University of Pennsylvania and member of the Ballard mission:
"The flood is an event that is geologically known, and for us to find a structure in 150 metres of water means that these people were definitely living there before it flooded, so it is pre-Greek. It is a different world and it deserves a great deal of attention and years of study to help us truly identify who these people were."
There was a flood in an area close to the place where the classical myths were born and, if that part of the story is true, it stands to reason that the mention of a race of giants could also be true.
There are then many modern theories according to which the human race was created by aliens, possibly giant beings. Personally, it is one of my favorite theories, but, unfortunately, no matter how compelling the idea might be, we have no proofs to verify it.
Ancient texts speak of another race that existed before us, whose people lived for hundreds of years and were of a giant stature. While it might very well be true, it is quite possible the descriptions that have survived suffer from the human tendency of embellishing the past. If we look at our very own history, barely two-thousand year old for the most part, we tend to think of our ancestors as being great people, whose deeds are unsurpassed by our own exploits. This could easily explain while the people that lived before the flood are preserved in myths as larger than life.
Possible representation of Gilgamesh as a giant, holding a lion in his arms, preserved at the Louvre Museum
source
As things stand, we have little hope of finding the truth about Giants or other pre-flood civilizations, unless of course we are so incredibly lucky as to discover new evidence from the past, another trove of documents like the Dead Sea Scrolls, maybe. If we’re looking to understand our past there’s one place we might want to look, according to Robert Ballard. The bottom of our seas and oceans. Our generation was raised with the belief that space is the final frontier, but Ballard decries the fact that, at present, we have better maps of Mars than those of our own ocean floor here on Earth. Water covers 70 per cent of the globe and yet, by some estimates, only 10 per cent of the ocean floor has been explored to a significant degree. Ballard’s findings in the Black Sea area are in no way unique, there have been various reports of underwater human structures found in different parts of the world. The clues to our past and to understand the civilizations before ours might very well be at the bottom of the ocean.
Post authored by @ladyrebecca.
References: 1, 2, 3.
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Your post contains information of great interest and very well presented, @ladyrebecca.
When you started the series, one of the figures that came to me was precisely Gilgamesh (I assumed you would tackle it at some point). Although the subject is not the Poem by Gilgamesh, I would note that I read it many years ago in a translation by the great universal writer Jorge Luis Borges. In the prologue this one declares: "It would be said that everything is already in this Babylonian book. Its pages inspire the horror of what is very old and force us to feel the incalculable weight of Time".
On the deluge (which you treat very well in that kind of archaeological walk you offer us), I would add that its condition is so archetypal (collective unconscious) that we also find it in the myths of the Nahuatl and Mayan civilization (in Mesoamerica). For example, in the Nahua myths it is narrated that the first Sun or age (their vision of creation is cyclic, and it occurred in consecutive periods that they called suns; there were five), that "was called Sun of Water. / In him it happened / that everything was taken away by the water / People became fish".
Thanks again for your post and for such an attractive series, @ladyrebecca. Greetings.
Of course, the Epic of Gilgamesh is a fascinating story... it's a miracle it has been preserved for thousands of years.
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I read this post and I am remembering the amount of treasures hidden in the depths of the sea, such as the great cities of Leon and Pavlopetri, and even the underwater museum that is impressive with its 400 statues that I imagine as if they were giants submerged in the sea. Once I read that the deluge came precisely to kill the giants, since they were not in the plans of the Gods. The gods wanted to create normal human beings, but the giants appeared, product of the union of the normal people with the gods. Funny thing is that it is believed, for example, that the giants had no spirit and consequently could not resurrect. Although there is no greater proof of all this, it is interesting to know these histories that enrich the imaginary and the culture of the peoples. Very good, @ladyrebecca.
An underwater museum? Wow... you should write about it...
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This is the most logical conclusion one can get to when we consider the fact that there are stories of floods in most cultures.
There are in Venezuela many picture books, adapted from oral tradition, desccribing the beliefs of ancient native venezuelans. Some of them depict the emergence of light (Dueño de la luz), creation of animals and plants and the famous flood (The Great Canoe a Kariña legend, adapted by Maria Elena Maggi).
I also like the idea of alien civilizations behind our race, unfortunately,there is little evidence of that and after so many efforts to contact or reach other worlds with similar life possibilities nothing has been gained.
Our generation and our children's may die without ever knowing for certain what the truth is.
I'm still optimistic about those aliens.
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Now, that would be an interesting exploration...all the worlds that might be hidden in the depths of our very planet :)