The Flood CycleBY:VALERIE DAVIDOV, JUSTIN CATAGUA, MORRIS WORELL, LNT, AND SI YU XIAO

The Flood Cycle

The Flood Cycle is an ancient Greek myth based on a flood that actually happened in Mesopotamia around 4,359 years ago or 2348 B.C. . The Flood is written in the Bible in the Old Testament. There is also many different versions of this myth from different cultures and countries.

Lycaon:The Cause

When Zeus recently became the lord of Olympus, he found out about humans who were selfish and who had no respect for fellow mortals or even gods. He decided to go down to earth and see for himself what was going on with the mortals and see what he heard was true. He dressed as an ordinary human traveler. As he was going through his journey on earth he realized the humans where even more wicked and evil then he thought. As the sun traveled across the sky and night fell, Zeus approached the palace of King Lycaon. Zeus told King Lycaon to let him in and show hospitality because he is the father of all gods and humans. Lycaon didn’t believe him and laughed at the “traveler”. Lycaon invited him in and gave Zeus a platter of raw human flesh. Zeus was enraged by this. He decided that all mortals should be punished and not live anymore. He turned Lycaon into a wolf, yet he did not change much because he was always a wolf.

The Flood: Punishment Zeus created a huge flood that

killed almost the entire population. Yet before that The Titan Prometheus who had created the first human beings, could see the future and how Zeus was about to destroy all human beings, called out for his mortal son Deucalion. Prometheus warned his son about the upcoming flood, after that Deucalion and his wife Pyrrah took their chest and floated away on the furious sea for 9 days and 9 nights.

Deucalion and Pyrrah: Rebirth When Zeus looked down from

Mount Olympus to the earth he saw that everyone was killed from the flood except Deucalion and Pyrrah, who were moral god fearing people. Zeus ordered for the aggressive winds and seas to calm down. Deucalion and Pyrrah finally reached land again they thanked the gods for saving their lives. After that Deucalion and Pyrrah started creating new life. The rocks that Deucalion and Pyrrah threw became man and women. Mother nature brought back all the forms of old life, as well as some new ones.

The Lesson Behind the Myth

The main lesson of this myth is that humans should be gentle, loving, and kind beings who are supposed to fear the gods. Zeus’s actions in the myth taught the humans through wrath and punishment that they should have better morals by being more humane and should not commit crimes of any sort including cannibalism, which was emphasized in this myth. Zeus chose to observe the humans for himself and found them to be disgusting, selfish, and malicious beings. The humans made many crimes including sacrifice and cannibalism which in turn provoked Zeus into creating massive natural disasters including deathly floods.

Character Motives/ Actions

Zeus becomes enraged when he sees the horrifying behavior humans have, while disguised as a human traveler on earth. According to this myth, the consequence for the humans was a great big flood that was supposed to rid all evil. In this myth, the humans are the evil. Some may say that Zeus’s decision of wiping out the human race is just, but it also seems rather immoral. All the Olympians are sought out to be seen immoral. Zeus makes the decision to wipe out all the human beings because he has found that not one human is kind, loving, and fearful of the gods. Zeus did not plan to have any survivors, but sparred Deucalion and Pyrrah because of their innocence. The gods however didn’t grieve over the riddance of the human race, but were disappointed that there would be no more sacrificial rituals for them, showing how heartless and selfish the gods could be. Zeus’s actions can be seen in two different perspectives, a god who did what was best for everyone, or a god who unreasonable and unjust. Killing is an immoral thing to do. Zeus killing the entire human race is no better. This proves that the gods were Justas evil and selfish as the humans where.

The Flood Cycle Quiz

Zeus is acting as the god in this myth

1. Mean

2. Rude

3. Selfish

4. Moral

Zeus is after he looks at the meat on his platter 1. Happy

2. Upset

3. Enraged

4. Both choice 2 and 3

Zeus turned Lycaon into a

1. Horse

2. Lion

3. Donkey

4. Wolf

The Flood Cycle Quiz The flood was a punishment for the act of the people

1. Kind

2. Immoral

3. Selfish

4. Both choice 2 and 3

Deucalion and Pyrrah were the last two humans alive because they are

1. Evil

2. God fearing people

3. Funny

4. Lovable

What did zeus do after he destroyed the human race?

1. He created a new human race

2. He didn’t do anything

3. He brought back the old human race

4. None of the above