4 ms·

Another thing which fascinates me about these events is that as fragile as humans and even civilisations may be, stories and legends live on. Santorini is thou

Another thing which fascinates me about these events is that as fragile as humans and even civilisations may be, stories and legends live on. Santorini is thought to be the origins of the myths of a lost city that disappeared under the waves, as well as the biblical flood legend, and potentially also the parting of the Red Sea. They're not contemporaneous in the bible, of course, but you do have to bear in mind that the Old Testament was cobbled together from the myths and legends of various peoples with various "long time agos", which got slotted into a chronology.

JoeDaDude 10y ago
Indeed. Some analysis of the similarities and differences between many culture's myths lead researchers to believe they could be very old indeed. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12618341 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12618341
mirekrusin 10y ago
I remember coming to sanatorini and wondering where the hell is that volcano some people have mentioned. Then, when waiting for something I looked at sanatorini map and I realised. Wow.
jonstewart 10y ago
To stretch the limits of plausibility, there's always the Zanclean flood: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanclean_flood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanclean_flood. That would make the flood myth a story handed down from our ancestors, the Australopithecus and/or Ardipithecus. There's also the Black Sea deluge hypothesis, which would have been within civilization's memory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sea_deluge_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sea_deluge_hypothesis
- duaneb 10y ago
  Is it so hard to see that floods are a common theme, especially in agrarian land near rivers (e.g. Mesopotamia and Egypt)? I don't see much evidence they all point to the same thing.
  - jonstewart 10y ago
    No, not hard to see at all, it's just not as much fun. :-)
    - duaneb 10y ago
      Hah, no argument there.

JoeDaDude 10y ago

Indeed. Some analysis of the similarities and differences between many culture's myths lead researchers to believe they could be very old indeed. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12618341 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12618341

mirekrusin 10y ago

I remember coming to sanatorini and wondering where the hell is that volcano some people have mentioned. Then, when waiting for something I looked at sanatorini map and I realised. Wow.

jonstewart 10y ago

To stretch the limits of plausibility, there's always the Zanclean flood: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanclean_flood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanclean_flood. That would make the flood myth a story handed down from our ancestors, the Australopithecus and/or Ardipithecus. There's also the Black Sea deluge hypothesis, which would have been within civilization's memory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sea_deluge_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sea_deluge_hypothesis

duaneb 10y ago
Is it so hard to see that floods are a common theme, especially in agrarian land near rivers (e.g. Mesopotamia and Egypt)? I don't see much evidence they all point to the same thing.
- jonstewart 10y ago
  No, not hard to see at all, it's just not as much fun. :-)
  - duaneb 10y ago
    Hah, no argument there.