The Flood

Utnapishtim said to Gilgamesh:

"Hardly that a glimmer of morning dawned, A black cloud rose from the foundation of heaven. Inside him Adad thundered, Shullat and Khanish pulled in front of him. They traveled as heralds over hill and country. Eragal tore out the ship's stake, Ninurta went, poured out the pool of water,... All light was turned into darkness;.... Six days and seven nights the wind went on, the deluge, The hurricane flatted the land. So when the seventh day came, Suddenly the hurricane struck down the deluge, ... The sea became calm and still."

Excerpts from the 11th table of the Epic of Gilgamesh -

Legends of epic floods
by Blue Fairy 74 - Midjourneycollage

No other natural catastrophe has been so burned into the collective memory of mankind as the deluge. This myth exists in many cultures. But why is it like that? To answer this question, we must travel to the origin of human civilization on Earth nearly 6,000 years ago.

The secret of mythical floods

Long before humans set foot on Earth, they lived on Elaqitan. They didn't know Earth and certainly never planned to be stranded here. However, some of them wanted to live without magic, so they devised a plan that led to the deepest point in the largest ocean of Elaqitan.
For themselves, they invented huge undersea ships that would not crash and could hold as many creatures, plants, materials, goods and more without endangering them themselves. When Elaqitan's day of reckoning came, the magicless retreated to their survival pods, leaving the Elaqitans to their fate.
After 150 days under the sea and at sea, sea levels dropped and some ships stranded on the shores of Naharin. As people explored the land around them, they realized they were alone far and wide. They cheered, their plan had succeeded. Little did they know that their path had led them to earth. But many knew what they had done and who they had lost - a secret that had to be protected from now on.

The real Origin by Blue Fairy 74 via Midjourney

The spread of a legend

In order to keep the secret of their origin, the people stranded in Naharin devised the myth of Ziusudra, who, as the last divine king, is said to have saved mankind from the cruelty of the gods and the flood they sent. His legend was first written down in the Atraḫasis epic around 1800 BC, but it had existed for more than 1,000 years. Through the spread of mankind on the continents, it was carried all over the world, where it still exists today in a modified form in many cultures on earth.
Through the Atrahasis epic, the legend entered the Sumerian Entena myth, Hittite tales and the Gilgamesh epic, slowly fading into oblivion. The Old Testament adopted the story with almost no changes.
The seed planted in Naharin was also able to grow and thrive in the collective memory of the people in the legends of the Greeks or cultures of Siberia, in the creation stories of the Icelanders, Indians and many native peoples in the new worlds.

The Birth of a Legend by Blue Fairy 74 via Midjourney