Noah's Ark and the Ziusudra Epic: Sumerian Origins of the Flood Myth

by Robert M. Best

Some of the author's Noah's flood was a local river flood about 2900 B.C.; the ark was a commercial river barge; Noah was a king of the Sumerian city Shuruppak; the river flood lasted only six days; the ark grounded twice but not on a mountain; after grounding, Noah met other survivors of the flood; the site of Noah's altar has been found and excavated; Noah lived to be 83 not 950.

304 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1999

Reviews

[Danny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was outstanding, it basically combines all the realistic and/or archaeologically consistent parts of all the different Mesopotamian flood myths (Ziusudra Epic, Atrahasis Epic, Epic Of Gilgamesh, Noah's Flood, Berossus version (Babylonian, but in Greek), The Moses Of Khoren (Armenian version), in addition to comparing the Sumerian Kings Lists to the Flood genealogies in the Bible and explains later Biblical mistranslations. The only thing it didn't touch on was the Burkle Crater in the Indian Ocean that dates to the exact same time (2900-2800 B.C.E.), because we didn't know about it yet in 1997 when the book was written. It was an outstanding read.