Could the myth of Noah and the flood in Genesis symbolise the demise of the bronze age civilization at the hand of the "SEA" peoples?

by thedandy11
itsallfolklore

This is an interesting proposal, but the problem here is that such a connection relies of speculation that cannot be proven - so such an idea must continue to dwell in the land of speculation rather than be taken as something more akin to a reliable aspect of history.

Even more important here is to understand the nature of the Noah story and its place in oral tradition. Folklorists look at this account as an etiological legend - originally an oral narrative about a past time that seeks to explain the origin of things as they are. In general, these types of oral narratives from Europe and the Middle East were not told as allegories referring to historical events: one would expect a narrative about invading people, but it is less likely that oral tradition would arrive at an allegorical narrative to address an historical event.

In addition, the counterpart of the Noah story found in the remnants of the Epic of Gilgamesh predate anything that might be associated the so-called "Sea People" - and the roots of the epic are likely far older than the tablets that preserve it. Given this evidence, it is likely that the story of a primordial flood is indeed very ancient if not prehistoric, far older than the question of the "Sea People.".