And the source of the Bible flood story is the Sumerian Gilgamesh story.
Mrs VS
Discovered in Nineveh, the Gilgamesh Epic (700 B.C.) was recorded on clay tablets and translated by George Smith in 1872.
Mr. Smith is quoted as saying, "I am the first man to read this text after two thousand years of oblivion."
The discovery of the tablets and the translation of the Gilgamesh Epic rocked the world.
Now, "scholars" believed that the Bible story of Noah and the Ark was inspired by the Gilgamesh Epic.
Some of the thousands of tablets discovered, narrate the flood account from the perspective of ancient Babylonians.
Notice a few items from the following section of the Gilgamesh Epic: 1) A fourteen day downpour (as opposed to forty), 2) The theme of multiple gods (as opposed to one), 3) A raven (as opposed to a dove) and 4) Mount Nisir (as opposed to Mount Ararat which is 350 miles away from Mount Nisir). This quote is taken from the book, The Search for Noah's Ark, by Charles Berlitz.
"I caused to embark within the vessel all my family and my relations, The beasts of the field, the cattle of the field, the craftsmen, I made them all embark. I entered the vessel and closed the door ... From the foundations of heaven a black cloud arose ... All that is bright turned into darkness ... The gods feared the flood, They fled, they climbed into heaven of Anu, The gods crouched like a dog on a wall, they lay down ... For six days and nights Wind and flood marched on, the hurricane subdued the land. When the seventh day dawned, the hurricane was abated, the flood Which had waged war like an army; The sea was stilled, the ill wind was calmed, the flood ceased. I beheld the sea, its voice was silent, And all mankind was turned into mud! As high as the roofs reached the swamp! ... I beheld the world, the horizon of sea; Twelve measures away an island emerged; Unto Mount Nisir came the vessel, Mount Nisir held the vessel and let it not budge ... When the seventh day came, I sent forth a dove, I released it; It went, the dove, it came back, As there was no place, it came back. I sent forth a swallow, it came back, As there was no place, it came back. I sent forth a raven, I released it; It went, the raven, and beheld the subsidence of the waters; It eats, it splashes about, it caws, it comes not back."
If twenty people come running into the room you're in right now, and one after another tells of a terrible accident that just happened across town, would it be reasonable to assume 1. There must not have been any real accident. 2. All accounts are mere copies of the original account given by the first person in the room?
If so, you must be a "scholar".
More likely, they are independent recordings of a story passed down orally through the generations of the same actual event.