In a new blockbuster film, the actor Russell Crow portrays Noah as he struggles to save God’s creation from a global flood. The story of Noah and the ark is strongly linked to the Hebrew Bible, but that’ not the only place the myth of a global flood appears. According to the archeologist Irving Finkel, a very similar flood myth circulated among the Babylonians, long before Hebrew existed, and versions of the story are told in cultures around the world. Finkel joins us Monday to explore the roots of the flood myth and to help us understand why we’ve told and retold it for millennia.
Irving Finkel is an archeologist and Assyriologist. He's Assistant Keeper of ancient Mesopotamian script, languages, and cultures at the British Museum, and he's author of the book The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood [Amazon|Indiebound].
