Atlantis: The Antedeluvian WorldDonnelly, Ignatius
History
Atlantis: The Antedeluvian World
Donnelly, Ignatius
Atlantis (Legendary place); Deluge; Ethnology
"But it is not so, perhaps, with another triad, speaking of the vessel
Nefyddnaf-Neifion, which at the time of the overflow of Llyon-llion,
bore a pair of all living creatures, and rather too much resembles the
ark of Noah. The very name of the patriarch may have suggested this
triple epithet, obscure as to its meaning, but evidently formed on the
principle of Cymric alliteration. In the same triad we have the
enigmatic story of the horned oxen (ychain banog) of Hu the mighty, who
drew out of Llyon-llion the avanc (beaver or crocodile?), in order that
the lake should not overflow. The meaning of these enigmas could only be
hoped from deciphering the chaos of barbaric monuments of the Welsh
middle age; but meanwhile we cannot doubt that the Cymri possessed an
indigenous tradition of the Deluge."
We also find a vestige of the same tradition in the Scandinavian Edda.
Here the story is combined with a cosmogonic myth. The three sons of
Borr--Othin, Wili, and We--grandsons of Buri, the first man, slay Ymir,
the father of the Hrimthursar, or ice giants, and his body serves them
for the construction of the world. Blood flows from his wounds in such
abundance that all the race of giants is drowned in it except Bergelmir,
who saves himself, with his wife, in a boat, and reproduces the race.
In the Edda of Soemund, "The Vala's Prophecy" (stz. 48-56, p. 9), we seem
to catch traditional glimpses of a terrible catastrophe, which reminds
us of the Chaldean legend:
"Then trembles Yggdrasil's ash yet standing, groans that ancient tree,
and the Jötun Loki is loosed. The shadows groan on the ways of Hel (the
goddess of death), until the fire of Surt has consumed the tree. Hyrm
steers from the east, the waters rise, the mundane snake is coiled in
jötun-rage. The worm beats the water and the eagle screams; the pale of
beak tears carcasses; (the ship) Naglfar is loosed. Surt from the south
comes with flickering flame; shines from his sword the Valgod's sun. The
stony hills are dashed together, the giantesses totter; men tread the
path of Hel, and heaven is cloven. The sun darkens, earth in ocean
sinks, fall from heaven the bright stars, fire's breath assails the
all-nourishing, towering fire plays against heaven itself."
Egypt does not contain a single allusion to the Flood. Lenormant says:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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