This is a reconstruction of a lost story about a Sumerian king named Ziusudra, later known as Noah, who was king of the city-state Shuruppak about 2900 BC when a local river flood submerged his city. This book combines six surviving ancient versions of the flood story, separates the myth from the legend, and determines what the ark was, where it grounded (not on Mt. Ararat), where the flood hero sacrificed to the gods, and what he did afterwards.
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"Your suggestions are creative and stimulating and should generate some interesting discussion. I think you are on the right track in attempting to glean pertinent information from all the flood stories and not just one. Your book is exceptionally well organized, written, and documented. The scientific matters you touch on appear to be accurate. -- Prof. Davis A. Young, Calvin College
About the Author
The author was born in Pennsylvania and received a BS degree in Physics from Carnegie-Mellon University.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
60 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Solved: The Story of Noah and the Flood,
By Bruce McGrew (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Noah's Ark and the Ziusudra Epic: Sumerian Origins of the Flood Myth (Hardcover)
This book examines six versions of an ancient flood legend (The Ziusudra Epic, The Atrahasis Epic, The Epic of Gilgamesh, Genesis 6-9, The Berossus History, and The Moses of Khoren. The author begins by listing phases and words common to each version, to demonstrate they are related and have a common origin. He then extracts the plausible and possible portions of each legend and removes the mythical (physically impossible or highly improble) elements. He draws upon archeological evidence of actual historical events, sites, and persons, examines early numbering systems, and the various meanings of key words in early written languages. The result: a very realistic, readable, and convincing reconstruction of the flood myth.The author attributes the Noah story to a six day flood on the Euphrates River, around 2900BC. Noah (Ziusudra, a known king of the Sumerian city-state Shuruppak) and his family are swept down the river into the Persian Gulf on Noah's commercial river barge. They drift for nearly a year and eventually ground in an estuary near the mouth of the river. This book is the most convincing and plausible account of the Noah legend I have read, or ever expect to read. The author examines every detail of the legend, and shows how mistranslations of key words and phrases led to faulty modern interpretations, such as the ark grounding on Mt. Ararat. Also included is an analysis of the ages of Noah and the other antediluvians. Again, the author is totally convincing. This book is a scientific "tour de force". The author sifts through a mountain of information and extracts its essence ... what REALLY happened to Noah. This book should be read by anyone interested in biblical history including (1) creationists, who may be disappointed, (2) those who are wasting their time searching for an ark on Mt. Aratat, (3) advocates of the Black Sea innundation theory, and even (4) biblical skeptics, who will discover the story is not so farfetched as it seems!
37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A well-reasoned proposal for the reality of the legend,
By
This review is from: Noah's Ark and the Ziusudra Epic: Sumerian Origins of the Flood Myth (Hardcover)
At last there is a well-reasoned proposal for the historical reality underlying the legend of Noah and the Flood. Best does not speculate that the Flood is merely an allusion to one of the many floods of the Tigris-Euphrates plain. Rather "Noah" is a king/priest who lived at the beginning of the third millenium. The Flood is the flood of 2900 BCE. Best includes chapters on the transmission of the text, the construction of the Ark, the voyage of the Ark, and what happened to Noah and his family after the voyage. Most thought-provoking is Best's detailed explanation of the biblical fi- gures found in Genesis 11. This book is fascinating and worth reading by anyone interested in the stories of Noah and the Flood.
32 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant explanation of the Noah myth,
By meirion30 (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Noah's Ark and the Ziusudra Epic: Sumerian Origins of the Flood Myth (Hardcover)
A great book.An excellent guide to the origin of the Noah myth and the other flood myths from the area.Great detail had been achived in researching possible origins for the many wild statements made in Genesis,and in showing that the flood was not global. A great book to give to a creationist as a present.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Every year in December, millions of otherwise rational people speak and sing about an overweight man in a red and white suit who some say is pulled through the air by flying reindeer and who reportedly slides down narrow chimneys with a sack of toys. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
commercial river barge, gur sign, barge refloated, barge grounded, local river flood, grounding spot, round stylus, archaic numbers, ziggurat hill, flood hero, cattle barge, archetype story, fractional years, crest stage, quintillion tons, ark grounded, runaway barge, genealogy data, ancient story tellers, spring inundation, flood story, archaic sign, grounding place, punting poles, global flood Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Persian Gulf, Early Dynastic, Mount Judi, Tigris River, Mount Ararat, University of Chicago Press, Moses of Khoren, Old Babylonian, Aghri Dagh, Samuel Noah Kramer, Mount Nisir, New York, Santa Claus, Sumerian Noah, Clarendon Press, Babylonian Noah, Black Sea, Saint Nicholas, The Babylonian Story of the Flood, University of South Carolina Press, Ancient Near Eastern Texts, Harvard University Press, Only Noah, Alexander Heidel, Atrahasis Ill New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Every year in December, millions of otherwise rational people speak and sing about an overweight man in a red and white suit who some say is pulled through the air by flying reindeer and who reportedly slides down narrow chimneys with a sack of toys. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
commercial river barge, gur sign, barge refloated, barge grounded, local river flood, grounding spot, round stylus, archaic numbers, ziggurat hill, flood hero, cattle barge, archetype story, fractional years, crest stage, quintillion tons, ark grounded, runaway barge, genealogy data, ancient story tellers, spring inundation, flood story, archaic sign, grounding place, punting poles, global flood Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Persian Gulf, Early Dynastic, Mount Judi, Tigris River, Mount Ararat, University of Chicago Press, Moses of Khoren, Old Babylonian, Aghri Dagh, Samuel Noah Kramer, Mount Nisir, New York, Santa Claus, Sumerian Noah, Clarendon Press, Babylonian Noah, Black Sea, Saint Nicholas, The Babylonian Story of the Flood, University of South Carolina Press, Ancient Near Eastern Texts, Harvard University Press, Only Noah, Alexander Heidel, Atrahasis Ill New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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