#Flood

Deluge myths: divine destruction and renewal of humankind.

A brightly painted ancient-Egyptian tomb-wall facsimile. At left the goddess Hathor, in a red sheath dress and broad collar, wears the cow-horns-and-sun-disk crown and clasps the king's hand; at centre Ramesses III, in a patterned kilt, beaded corselet and blue headdress, raises one hand toward her; at right the young prince Amenherkhepeshef, in a white pleated robe, holds up a tall feather fan. Columns of hieroglyphs and cartouches fill the field between them, a papyrus-and-lotus frieze runs across the top and a black-and-ochre dado band across the foot, all on a pale plaster ground with the wall's damage-losses recorded.

The Flood of Red Beer That Stopped the Slaughter

Ra loosed his own Eye on rebellious mankind, then could not call her off. So he brewed seven thousand jars of blood-red beer and flooded the fields, and let the killer drink herself gentle.

6 minThe Book of the Heavenly Cow

Line engraving of the three nude sons of Bor — Odin, Vili and Ve — straining upward to raise the vaulted mass of the slain giant Ymir's body into the sky-dome above them, standing on rocky ground over waves with mist and flame swirling at either side.

Norse

Creation from Ginnungagap

Before earth or heaven there was a yawning gap, and on either side of it fire and ice: how the first giant quickened between them, and how the world was built from his murdered body.

7 minPoetic Edda