Part 1 of Essay
Stories of a primeval flood exist in all parts of the world, virtually every branch of the human race has traditions of a Great Flood that destroyed all of mankind, except one family. The closest parallel to the Biblical story of the flood occurs in the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, our fullest version of which is furnis ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... every living thing. Then to board it with his family and possessions and launch it on the waters. For six days and nights the wind and flood raged. On the seventh day the flood abated. Everything, including mankind, had turned to mud and clay. Utnapishtim sent out a dove on the seventh day but it came back. He then sent out a swallow, but it came back. Finally he sent out a raven. The raven, however, saw that the waters had receded; it found food, and started to caw and wallow in the mud; it never came ba ....