Quote:
Originally Posted by sworkhard
Is it not possible that the memory of a great flood lingered in the collective memory of the people of the ANE for 3000 years and the details (regarding the type and shape of the boat, the animals being put on the ark, Noah, the cause, etc) were added closer to when writing became more well developed such that this is both a record of this major flood, and a record of later developments?
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Think about it like this:
Ours is a society that has access to instant and almost in exhaustive information, and possessing an unprecedented depth of knowledge about the events of our past as far back as even 2500–3000 years, thanks to our obsession with literature. How many times do you find yourself reflecting on things that happened 3000 years ago? 1500 years ago? Even 200 years ago? And this is with our almost limitless stores of information about the past.
Now imagine a world where there are no records of any kind. No system of education. No knowledge about the greater world beyond the limits of your own senses, your overwhelming geographical barriers, and conversations that you have with your family. In this world, there is little time to think much or reflect much on anything beyond what you will eat, how you will keep warm, and how you will ensure that your children stay alive long enough to look after themselves.
Do you honestly think that anything that happened 3000 years ago would hold even the slightest bit of meaning in this world whatsoever? In a world in which people would commonly not even have known their own family lineage beyond the third generation, do you think that they will continue to preserve a collective memory around an event from over a hundred generations past?
No. Like I said. It is much, MUCH more likely that the flood myths developed out of events that were far more closely contemporary to the time that they were written.