was to be three stories high, and to
be furnished with a high door and window, but whether it was a ship or a
refuge on the mountain top does not appear. The same tradition speaks of
Eden and of a serpent, but the account is suddenly cut short.[177]

The Greek traditions of a flood varied according to the different
branches of the Greek nation. The Arcadians traced their origin to
Dardanus, who was preserved from the great flood in a skin-covered boat.
The Pelasgians held the tradition of Deucalion and his wife, who were
saved in a ship which was grounded on the summit of Pindus. As the water
receded they sent out a dove to search for land. The Assyrian account,
which was found a few years ago on a tablet in the palace of
Assur-bani-pal, claims to have been related as a matter of personal
experience by Sisit, the Chaldean Noah, who was commanded to construct a
ship 600 cubits long, into which he should enter with his family and his
goods. At the time appointed the earth became a waste. The very gods in
heaven fled from the fury of the tempest and "huddled down in their
refuge like affrighted dogs." The race of men was swept away. On the
seventh day Sisit opened a window and saw that the rain was stayed, but
the water was covered with floating corpses; all men had become as clay.
The ship rested on a mountain top, and Sisit sent forth a dove, a
swallow, and a raven. The dove and the swallow returned, but the raven
was satisfied with the floating carcasses. Sisit went forth and offered
sacrifice, around which "the gods hovered like flies."

Professor Rawlinson thinks that these accounts and those given in
Genesis were both derived from the earlier traditions, the Assyrian
version having been greatly corrupted. The Chaldean tradition is
slightly different. The Noah of the Chaldeans was commanded in a dream
not only to build a ship, but to bury all important documents and so
preserve the antediluvian history. As the flood subsided he, his family,
and his pilot were transferred to heaven, but certain friends who were
saved with them remained and peopled the earth. Among the ancient
Peruvians we find a tradition of a great deluge which swept the earth.
After it had passed, the aged man Wiracotscha rose out of Lake Titicaca
and his three sons issued from a cave and peopled the earth.[178] Hugh
Miller and others have named many similar traditions.

The fact that in nearly every case those who were rescued from the flood
imme