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Atlantis : the antediluvian world by Ignatius Donnelly
page 90 of 487 (18%)
must have been a very large body of water; in fact, an ocean.

CHAPTER IV.

THE DELUGE LEGENDS OF OTHER NATIONS.

A collection of the Deluge legends of other nations will throw light
upon the Biblical and Chaldean records of that great event.

The author of the treatise "On the Syrian Goddess" acquaints us with the
diluvian tradition of the Arameans, directly derived from that of
Chaldea, as it was narrated in the celebrated Sanctuary of Hierapolis,
or Bambyce.

"The generality of people," he says, "tells us that the founder of the
temple was Deucalion Sisythes--that Deucalion in whose time the great
inundation occurred. I have also heard the account given by the Greeks
themselves of Deucalion; the myth runs thus: The actual race of men is
not the first, for there was a previous one, all the members of which
perished. We belong to a second race, descended from Deucalion, and
multiplied in the course of time. As to the former men, they are said to
have been full of insolence and pride, committing many crimes,
disregarding their oath, neglecting the rights of hospitality, unsparing
to suppliants; accordingly, they were punished by an immense disaster.
All on a sudden enormous volumes of water issued from the earth, and
rains of extraordinary abundance began to fall; the rivers left their
beds, and the sea overflowed its shores; the whole earth was covered
with water, and all men perished. Deucalion alone, because of his virtue
and piety, was preserved alive to give birth to a new race. This is how
he was saved: He placed himself, his children, and his wives in a great
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