98 The Atlantis Encyclopedia
The Deluge
Known around the world, this virtually universal human tradition is mankind’s
outstanding myth. Modern researchers are still astounded by the general uni-
formity of its story, even of many details held in common by peoples separated by
often great geographical barriers and many centuries. These traditions describe
two or three Atlantean catastrophes, while sometimes confusing elements of
them all. For example, the Greeks knew of the Ogygian flood and a later disaster
associated with Deucalion. Plato’s account of Atlantis appears separate from both,
but may be identical with Deucalion’s deluge. Edgar Cayce, too, spoke of three
Atlantean floods.
The Egyptians recorded four separate events, the earliest being the sinking of
a great ceremonial “mound” from which gods and men sailed to the Nile Delta,
where they founded dynastic civilization. The second cataclysm took place when
Ra, the sun-god, ordered Hathor to exterminate mankind, but was ultimately pre-
vented by a flood of beer. A third appears in the Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor, a
piece of mythic fiction investigators believe was based on real circumstances. The
final Egyptian version was recorded by XX Dynasty scribes, who wrote that the
island kingdom of their enemies, the “Sea Peoples,” perished at sea. All four trade
details among themselves, blurring any sharp distinctions there may have been at
one time.
Conservative Atlantologists admit to four different geologic upheavals. The
first may have comprised a series of major earthquakes and floodings that took
place at the end of the 4th millennium B.C., followed around 2100 B.C. by another
natural disaster. A penultimate cataclysm struck in the late 17th century B.C., when
Atlantis was damaged but swiftly rebuilt, despite the partial emigration of its popu-
lation. The final catastrophe was far more abrupt, lasting, in Plato’s words, only “a
day and a night.” It occurred in early November, 1198 B.C., according to contem-
porary temple records at the “Victory Temple” of Medinet Habu, in West Thebes,
Upper Egypt.Desana Flood Story
A remote Amazonian people, they still recall the ancient tribal memory of a
time when the sun-god punished their sinful ancestors. “Everything caught fire”
in a world-conflagration that was soon after extinguished by a universal flood.Deucalion
In Greek myth, he and his wife, Pyrrha, were the only survivors of a great
deluge which otherwise exterminated all mankind. The human race is descended
from this pair, a way of expressing in myth the Atlantean heritage of every Greek
born thereafter, because Deucalion’s uncle was none other than Atlas himself.