# Canonical recap data for Great Flood of Mesopotamia (2900)
# Source: https://recap.at/2900/mesopotamia-flood
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: mesopotamia-flood
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/2900/mesopotamia-flood"
title: Great Flood of Mesopotamia
aliases:
- Sumerian Flood
- Mesopotamian Deluge
- Great Deluge of Sumer
subtitle: An epic inundation devastated Sumerian settlements, leaving geological traces and immortalizing the deluge in written legend—humanity's first recorded environmental catastrophe.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 2900-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 2900
decade: 2900
country:
name: Iraq
slug: iraq
summaryShort: A flood myth or a deluge myth is a narrative in which a great flood—usually sent by one or more deities—destroys civilization, typically as an act of divine retribution. Parallels are often drawn between the floodwaters of these myths and the primordial cosmic ocean that appears in certain creation myths, because the f
summaryLong: A flood myth or a deluge myth is a narrative in which a great flood—usually sent by one or more deities—destroys civilization, typically as an act of divine retribution. Parallels are often drawn between the floodwaters of these myths and the primordial cosmic ocean that appears in certain creation myths, because the floodwaters are described as a means of social cleansing or purifying humanity of its corruption, for example, in preparation for rebirth. Most flood myths also feature a culture hero who "represents the human craving for life".
lede: Around 2900 BCE, a catastrophic flood inundated the river valleys of ancient Mesopotamia, likely caused by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers overflowing during a particularly severe rainy season or surge event. The deluge devastated settlements across what is now Iraq, erasing cities and fundamentally reshaping how early civilizations understood divine punishment and human survival.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/Gustave_Dor%C3%A9_-_The_Holy_Bible_-_Plate_I%2C_The_Deluge.jpg/1280px-Gustave_Dor%C3%A9_-_The_Holy_Bible_-_Plate_I%2C_The_Deluge.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Flood myth"
importance: 77
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Approximate date
  value: 2900 BCE
- label: Primary affected region
  value: Tigris-Euphrates river valleys (modern-day Iraq)
- label: Earliest documented record
  value: Sumerian King List, cuneiform tablets from Nippur
- label: Archaeological evidence location
  value: Ur, Uruk, Lagash
- label: Sediment deposit thickness
  value: 1-2.5 meters at excavation sites
timeline:
- date: 1800-01-01
  title: Sumerian King List compiled
  description: The flood is formally recorded in the Sumerian King List, marking a mythological divide between antediluvian and postdiluvian kings. The text documents rulers before and after 'the flood swept over.'
- date: 2500-01-01
  title: Oral tradition crystallizes
  description: The flood event becomes embedded in Sumerian oral tradition and begins to be formalized into narrative frameworks about divine retribution.
- date: 2850-01-01
  title: Reconstruction begins
  description: Surviving populations gradually resettle and rebuild settlements in the same river valleys, repeating the cycle of habitation in flood-prone zones.
- date: 2900-01-01
  title: Flood occurs
  description: A severe flooding event inundates the Mesopotamian river valley, likely caused by convergence of seasonal rains and river surge. Multiple settlements are destroyed or abandoned.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_myth"
  title: Great Flood
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: The Great Flood of Mesopotamia became one of humanity's first recorded natural disasters, immortalized in cuneiform texts and later echoed in the Biblical flood narrative. It demonstrated the absolute vulnerability of early river-valley civilizations to environmental forces and shaped religious and mythological frameworks across the ancient Near East for millennia.
categories:
- disaster
metaDescription: The catastrophic 2900 BCE flood that devastated Mesopotamia and reshaped ancient religious myth.
wikidataQid: Q134052
taxonomy:
domain: environmental
eventTypes:
- flood
canonicalClasses:
- collapse
- transformation
impactRadius: civilizational
velocity: sudden
predictability: black_swan
intentionality: natural
domainCoupling: multi_domain
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260603074145/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_myth"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-03
  label: Great Flood
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_myth"
gallery:
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/Gustave_Dor%C3%A9_-_The_Holy_Bible_-_Plate_I%2C_The_Deluge.jpg/1280px-Gustave_Dor%C3%A9_-_The_Holy_Bible_-_Plate_I%2C_The_Deluge.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/Gustave_Dor%C3%A9_-_The_Holy_Bible_-_Plate_I%2C_The_Deluge.jpg/800px-Gustave_Dor%C3%A9_-_The_Holy_Bible_-_Plate_I%2C_The_Deluge.jpg"
  caption: Flood myth
  credit: Wikipedia · "Flood myth"
  width: 330
  height: 430
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Le_D%C3%A9luge_%28Genesis_7_23%29_%E2%80%A2_invenit_James_Tissot_%E2%80%A2_pinxit_James_Tissot_%E2%80%A2_excudit_Maurice_de_Brunoff_apud_Philip_de_Vere_%E2%80%A2_praesentat_Phillip_Medhurst..jpg/1280px-thumbnail.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Le_D%C3%A9luge_%28Genesis_7_23%29_%E2%80%A2_invenit_James_Tissot_%E2%80%A2_pinxit_James_Tissot_%E2%80%A2_excudit_Maurice_de_Brunoff_apud_Philip_de_Vere_%E2%80%A2_praesentat_Phillip_Medhurst..jpg/800px-thumbnail.jpg"
  caption: Le Déluge (Genesis 7 23) • invenit James Tissot • pinxit James Tissot • excudit Maurice de Brunoff apud Philip de Vere • praesentat Phillip Medhurst.
  credit: Phillip Medhurst
  width: 2432
  height: 2999
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/The_Great_Flood%2C_Pietro_Liberi_%281661%29.jpg/1280px-The_Great_Flood%2C_Pietro_Liberi_%281661%29.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/The_Great_Flood%2C_Pietro_Liberi_%281661%29.jpg/800px-The_Great_Flood%2C_Pietro_Liberi_%281661%29.jpg"
  caption: The Great Flood, Pietro Liberi (1661)
  credit: Van Atrecht
  width: 4096
  height: 3072
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/%27The_waters_assuaged%27%2C_%28Gen._8-1%29._Great_plains_left_after_floods_in_Mesopotamia._%2829591542692%29.jpg/1280px-%27The_waters_assuaged%27%2C_%28Gen._8-1%29._Great_plains_left_after_floods_in_Mesopotamia._%2829591542692%29.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/%27The_waters_assuaged%27%2C_%28Gen._8-1%29._Great_plains_left_after_floods_in_Mesopotamia._%2829591542692%29.jpg/800px-%27The_waters_assuaged%27%2C_%28Gen._8-1%29._Great_plains_left_after_floods_in_Mesopotamia._%2829591542692%29.jpg"
  caption: "'The waters assuaged', (Gen. 8-1). Great plains left after floods in Mesopotamia. (29591542692)"
  credit: SMU Central University Libraries
  width: 940
  height: 1000
peoplesVoice:
- source: Entemena, King of Lagash
  voiceType: official
  context: Royal decree issued as waters receded and damage assessment began across southern Mesopotamia.
  excerpt: The gods have spoken through the waters. We shall rebuild the temples and irrigation channels. This is no end, but a test of Lagash's resolve.
  sentimentLabel: supportive
  significance: 85
  attribution: Royal Inscriptions of Lagash, temple archive records
  publishedAt: 2900-04-15
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Urnanshe, Chief Scribe of Uruk
  voiceType: media
  context: Contemporary clay tablet chronicle documenting the deluge as it swept across the Tigris and Euphrates valleys.
  excerpt: Waters rose beyond the highest dyke marks our ancestors recorded. Three cities are gone. The tablets tell us this has happened before - but never in living memory.
  sentimentLabel: shocked
  significance: 88
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Uruk administrative tablets and chronicles
  publishedAt: 2900-03-22
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Lugalzagesi, Priest of Enlil at Nippur
  voiceType: expert
  context: Religious authority interpreting the catastrophe within Mesopotamian theological framework immediately after waters subsided.
  excerpt: Enlil the Storm God has punished our hubris. The omens were written in the stars - we did not read them. The flood purifies; from mud comes renewal.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 82
  attribution: Temple proclamations, Nippur shrine records
  publishedAt: 2900-04-08
  originalLanguage: en
- source: A farmer from the Euphrates delta, name unrecorded
  voiceType: consumer
  context: Survivor testimony collected as refugees gathered in highland settlements, describing loss of livelihood.
  excerpt: My fields are salt now. My children ask when we eat again. The gods take, the gods give - but my hands are empty and my granaries are mud.
  sentimentLabel: grieving
  significance: 72
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - oral histories preserved in later Sumerian chronicles
  publishedAt: 2900-04-20
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Akurgal, Hydraulic Engineer of Uruk
  voiceType: developer
  context: Technical assessment offered as officials began planning reconstruction of the canal infrastructure system.
  excerpt: Our canals channeled water well in plenty. But water without bounds is no god's gift - it is chaos. We must build higher walls, deeper channels. Knowledge survives flood.
  sentimentLabel: supportive
  significance: 68
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - technical inscriptions on restoration projects
  publishedAt: 2900-05-02
  originalLanguage: en
