Sodom and Lot, historicity and plausibility of Genesis 19

however, it's not an isolated case. there are literally thousands of ancient myths where two gods (or angels) disguise themselves as men, and visit a town or city that doesn't accept them and is generally mean. but one resident takes them in, feeds them, protects them, etc. he is rewarded, and the rest of the city punished. it's an archetypal myth. very, very common.

rrhain writes:One can see the connection of the story of Deucalion and Pyrrha to the story of Ut-Napishtim from Babylonian mythology.

(from list of deluge myths Three times (every 1200 years), the Gods became distressed by the disturbance from human overpopulation. The Gods dealt with the problem first by plague, then by famine. Both times, the God Enki advised humans to bribe the God causing the problem. The third time, Enlil advised the Gods to destroy all humans with a flood, but Enki had Atrahasis build an ark and so escape. Also on the boat were cattle, wild animals and birds, and the family of Atrahasis. After seeing the suffering caused by the flood, the Gods regretted their action, and Enki established barren women and stillbirth to avoid the problem in the future.

Arachnophilia writes:
there are literally thousands of ancient myths where two gods (or angels) disguise themselves as men, and visit a town or city that doesn't accept them and is generally mean. but one resident takes them in, feeds them, protects them, etc. he is rewarded, and the rest of the city punished. it's an archetypal myth. very, very common.db writes:
This is the first I have heard of such. Can you direct me to a few of the "thousands"

rrhain writes:My understanding is that the flood story of Ut-Napishtim is from the Epic of Gilgamesh which,again by my understanding, is Assyrian-Babylonian.

http://wiki.cotch.net/index.php/Ziusudra writes: Ziusudra, also known as Utnapishtim and Atrachasis, was a hero from the Sumerian myth saga The Epic of Gilgamesh.

http://home.comcast.net/~chris.s/sumer-faq.html writes: In the Sumerian version of the flood story, the pious Ziusudra of Shuruppak is informed of the gods decision to destroy mankind by listening to a wall. He weathers the deluge and wind-storms aboard a huge boat. The only surviving detail of the boat is that it had a window. The flood lasts for seven days before Utu appears dispersing the flood waters. After that, Ziusudra makes appropriate sacrifices and protrations to Utu, An and Enlil. He is given eternal life in Dilmun by An and Enlil.

(NO REDIRECT)Atrahasis and Ut-napishtim,
Like the Sumerian Ziusudra (the Xisuthros of Berossus) or Noah from the Pentateuch, were the long-lived survivors of the great flood which wiped out the rest of humanity. In Atrahasis' case, Ellil had grown tired of the noise that the mass of humanity was making, and after a series of disasters failed to eliminate the problem, he had Enki release the floodgates to drown them out. Since Enki had a hand in creating man, he wanted to preserve his creation, warned Atrahasis, and had him build a boat, with which he weathered the flood. He also had kept his ear open to Enki during the previous disasters and had been able to listen to Enki's advice on how to avoid their full effects by making the appropriate offerings to the appropriate deities. He lived hundreds of years prior to the flood, while Utnapishtim lives forever after the flood.Utnapishtim of Shuruppak was the son of Ubaratutu. His flood has no reason behind it save the stirrings of the hearts of the Gods. As with Atrahasis, Utnapishtim is warned to build an ark by Ea. He is also told to abandon riches and possessions and seek life and to tell the city elders that he is hated by Enlil and would go to the watery Abyss to live with Ea via the ark. He loads gold, silver, and the seed of all living creatures into the ark and all of his craftsmen's children as well. After Ea advises Enlil on better means to control the human population, (predators, famine, and plague), Enlil makes Utnapishtim and his wife immortal, like the gods.

arach writes:lets see if he goes and looks up the good old stith thompson and comes back with a good count for me.