Noahs Ark(Warner Bros.) (1928)

DOLORES COSTELLO in ‘NOAH’S ARK" with GEORGE O’BRIEN—The Spectacle of the Ages FLOOD LEGENDS OF THE WORLD, Etc. (Continued from Page Fourteen) III. Flood Legends | BABYLON HAD HER OWN TRADITIONS OF “NOAH’S AR ‘“Noah’s Ark,” which tremendously portrays the Biblical story of the Flood, arouses interest in traditions of world floods among ‘r peoples. — The Babylonian tradition exists in two main forms, nor can we affirm that the shorter form, due to Berosus, is superseded by the larger one in the Gilgamesh epic, for it communicates four important points: (1) Xisuthrus, the hero of the deluge, was also the tenth “Babylonian king, analogous to Noah, as described by the Priestly Writer, as the tenth patriarch as well as the survivor from the deluge. (2) The destination of Xisuthrus is said to be “to the gods,” a statement which virtually records his divine character. In accordance with this, the final reward of the hero is declared to be “living with the gods.” This suggests that “Noah” (7) may originally have been represented as a supernatural man, a demigod. True, Genesis ix. 20, 21, is not consistent with this, but it is hardly in its original form. substituted by a scribe’s error for Enoch (The Genealogy in Gen. v. Enoch may possibly have been misplaced and Noah inserted in error) who, like Xisuthrus, “Walked with God (learning the heavenly wisdom) and disappeared, “for God had taken him” (Gen. v. 22, 24). (8) The birds, when sent out by Xisuthrus the second time, return with mud on their feet. This detail reminds us of points in some archaic North American myths which probably supply the key to its meaning. (4) In the time of Berosus the mountain on which the Ark grounded was considered to be in Armenia. We pass on to the relation of J and P (see article II) to the Babylonian story. The polytheistic coloring of the latter contrasts strongly with the far simpler religious views of J and P. Note the capricious character of the god Bel who sends the deluge, while at the end of the story the catastrophe is represented as a judgment upon human sins. It is the latter view that is adopted by J and P. We cannot, however, infer from this that the narratives which doubtless underlie J and P were directly taken from some such story as that in the Gilgamesh epic. . The theory of an indirect and unconscious borrowing on the part of the Israelitish compilers will satisfy all the conditions of the case. In the general scheme the three accounts very nearly agree, for J must originally have contained directions as to the building of the vessel, and a notice that the Ark grounded on a certain mountain. P’s omission of the sacrifice at the close seems to be arbitrarv. His t’ »ry of religious history forbade ference to an altar so early, __vut ‘his document must have contained it. J expressly mentions it (Gen. viii. 20,21), though not in such an original way as the cuneiform text. Other interesting legends in tomorrow’s issue. : i, do now sef my bow F _in the cloud, and it shall E be for a& token of i... covenant between me an “tie earths a IV. Flood Legends “NOAH’S ARK” STORY TOLD IN EPIC | OF GILGAMESH Of absorbing interest in connec~tion with the coming of the spectacular screen version of “Noah’s Ark” are ancient stories from other sources than the Bible recounting the ship or chest. As to the directions for building the ship—see the Gilgamesh epic— or chest—see J and P—the Babylonian story and P have a strong. general resemblance. Whether the , Hebrew reference to a chest is, or, is not, more archaic than the Babylonian reference to a ship, is a question which admits of different answers. | As to the material cause of the deluge. According to P, the water came both from above and from below; J only speaks of continuous rain. The Gilgamesh epic, however, mentions besides thunder, lightning and rain, a hurricane which drove the sea upon the land. We can hardly regard this as more original than P’s representation. As to the extent of the flood. From the opening of the story in the epic we should naturally infer that only a single Babylonian city was affected. The sequel, however, implies that the flood extended all over Babylonia and the region of the Nisir. More than this can hardly be claimed. Similarly, the earlier story which underlies J and P need only have referred to the region of the mythframers, that is, either Canaan§ Northern Arabia. As to the duration of the fig traditions differ. 365 days, this is a solar ye which is parallel to the 365 ye of the life of Enoch (who, as we have seen, may have been the original hero of the flood). It is probable that P’s ultimate authority, far back in the centuries, represented the deluge as a celestial occurrence. The origin of J’s story is not quite so clear, owing to the lacunae in the narrative. If the text may be followed. this narrative made the flood last forty days and forty nights, after which the flood gradually subsides and then the patriarch leaves the Ark. The epic shortens the time of the flood to seven days, after which the ship remains another seven days, more strictly six full days, on the mountains of the land of Niser. (P locates it in the mountains of Ararat. J does not record the location.) As te the dispatch of the birds, J begins, and the epic closes, with the raven. Clearly the epic is more original. Besides, one of the two missions of the dove is superfluous. Dove, swallow, raven, as in the epic, must be more primitive than raven, dove, dove. | See tomorrow’s issue. | V. Flood Legends NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN MYTHS OF WY “NOAH’S ARK”’ The coming of Warner Bros.’ colossal screen portrayal of “Noah’s Ark” reawakens’ interest in stories of the inundation by water prevalent in widely separated regions of the world. That the Hebrew deluge story in both its forms has been more or less indirectly. influenced by the Babylonian, is obvious. We cannot, indeed, reconstruct the form either of the Canaanitish or Northern Arabian story, which was recast partly at least under the in P reckons it Bt GORGEOUS SOUVENIR BO ir =. * for your use. colors, profusely illustrated, with well-written stories of play and players, has been published OK 5 as Seed +f °: Ark’ Souvenir bodledi A beautiful keepsake which will be treasured by your patrons. Can cents. be sold for twenty-five In lots of not less than one hundred. Prices on application. Order direct from AL GREENSTONE 1547 Broadway New York Le a ST ESSSESSENISNESSOTGINESNNNGINNISUNNI. fluence of a recast Babylonian myth, nor can we conjecture where the sanctuary was, the priests of which, yielding to a popular impulse, adopted and modified the fascinating story. But the fact of the ultimate Babylonian origin of the Israelitish narrative cannot seriously be questioned. The Canaanites or the Northern Arabians handed on at least a portion of their myths to the Israelites and the creation and deluge stories are among those. That the Israelitish priests gradually recast them is an easy and fairly satisfactory conjecture. What is the history and significance of the deluge myth? The question carries us into far-off times. We have one version of the Babylonian myth which goes back to about 2100 B. C., while its text was apparently derived from a still older tablet. But even this is not primitive. Behind it there must have been a much shorter and simpler myth. The recast, represented by the existing versions of the myth, must have been produced partly by the insertion, partly by the omission, or modification, of mythic details, and by the application to the story thus produced, of a particular mythic theory representing the celestial world. The shorter myth referred to, may—if we take hints from the very primitive myths of North America—have run somewhat thus, omitting minor details: “The earth —a small enough earth, doubtless —and its inhabitants, proved so imperfect that the beneficent superhuman Being who had created it, or perhaps another such Being, determined to remake it. He, therefore, summoned the serpent or dragon, who controlled the cosmic ocean, and had been subjugated at creation, to overwhelm the earth, after which the Creator made it better—so say the myths of the Pawnees and the Quiches of Guatemala—and the survivors and his family became the ancestors of a new human race. , however, is only one possible representation. See tomorrow’s issue. | special object (see below): 4 VI. Flood Legends SERPENT APPEARS N MANY STORIES \ OF “NOAH’S ARK” Stories of serpents and dragons, created in the dawn of the world, and especially stories of the Flood are vitally revived by the coming of the spectacular “Noah’s Ark.” It may have been said that the serpent of his own accord, not having been killed by the Creator, maliciously flooded the earth (this according to the Algonquin myth) but was again overcome in battle, or that the serpent, after filling the earth with violence, and wrong, was at length slain by the Good Being, and that his blood, streaming out, produced a deluge. In any case it is unnatural to hold that the first flood (that which preceded creation) had a dragon, but not the second. An old cuneiform text, recopied later, however, appears to call the year of the deluge (that is, what we here call the “second flood”) the year of the raging, or red-shining, serpent, and certainly the North American myths distinctly connect serpent with the deluges. Among the. probable minor details are the presumed shorter and older myths we may include; (1) the warning of “Very-Wise,” either by friendly animals or by a dream; (2) the construction of a chest to contain “Very-Wise,” his wife and his sons, together with animals; (3) dispatch of three birds with a ha 0 American myths, however, it is some animal which gives the notice—an eagle or a coyote. As to (2), nothing is more common than the story of a divine child cast into the sea in a box. The ship-motive is also found, but it is not too rash to assume that the box-motive is the earlier, and in accordance with the parallels that the hero of the deluge was originally a god or a demigod. The translation of the hero to be with the gods is a transparent modification of the original tradition. As to (3), the original object of sending out the birds was probably not to find out where dry land was, but to use them as helpers in the work of re-creation. Take the story of the Tlatlasik Indians, where the diving bird. one of the three sent out, comes back with a branch of a fir tree, out of which were made mountains. earths and heavens. So, too, the Cain-angs relate that those who escaped from the flood, as they tarried on a: mountain, heard the song of the saracura birds, who came carrving earth in baskets and threw it into the waters. which slowly subsided. As to (4), the mountain would naturally be thought of as a place of refuge, even in the old. simnle, flood story. But when Babylonian mythology effected an entrance, the mountain would receive a new and much grander significance. It would come to represent the summit of that great and most holy mountain, which, save by the special favor of the gods, no human eye has seen. See tomorrow’s issue. FLOOD LEGENDS This interesting and in structive series of eight stories is concluded on page twenty-four of this press book.