The Flood Ships
Many of the oldest texts tell of a great flood and of the vessel that carried life through it: Genesis, the Shatapatha Brahmana, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Sumerian flood tablet and Apollodorus among them.
This chapter of Sacred Ships holds 9 ships. For each one we give the source, what happens, and only what the text itself says about the vessel. See all 102 ships on one page.
Subject to interpretation, Marea can build any of these ships as a scale model, with the maximum detail the scale permits. We build her as the text describes her: the timber, the oars, the sails. Seventeen of these texts even give her size or her crew.
This database was put together by Ai Refloat™, Marea’s own artificial intelligence, from published translations of the texts and from museum and university sources. Ai Refloat is still young & like any teenager, it can be a little volatile and unpredictable at times, but above all, it is learning fast. So this list may well contain mistakes and we welcome the input of everyone who knows these texts and traditions better than we do.
Have you spotted a mistake? Tell us which ship and which text, and we will amend it accordingly. Tell us here
The ships
The Flood Ships · Hebrew Bible
Noah's Ark Ark
Genesis 6:13 to 8:19
Tradition Hebrew Bible
God tells Noah to build an ark and take his household and pairs of living creatures aboard before a flood covers the earth. The ark floats while the waters rise and fall, and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day, it comes to rest upon the mountains of Ararat.
The vessel Gopher wood, with rooms, pitched within and without. 300 cubits long, 50 broad and 30 high, a window finished a cubit above, a door in the side, and “lower, second, and third stories” (6:16, KJV).
Sources Bible Gateway
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Flood Ships · Deuterocanonical (Ethiopian Orthodox canon)
Noah's Vessel in the Animal Apocalypse Ark
1 Enoch 89:1 to 9
Tradition Deuterocanonical (Ethiopian Orthodox canon)
In Enoch's dream vision a white bull, Noah, is taught a secret, becomes a man and builds a great vessel for himself and three bulls. Torrents flood the enclosure, the other animals perish, and when the waters drain the vessel settles and they come out.
The vessel A great vessel, covered in: he “built for himself a great vessel and dwelt thereon” (89:1, Charles).
Sources sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Flood Ships · Deuterocanonical
The Weak Vessel Ark
Wisdom of Solomon 14:1 to 7
Tradition Deuterocanonical
The passage contrasts a sailor who prays to a wooden idol with the providence that makes a safe path through the waves. It recalls that when the proud giants perished, the hope of the world escaped in a weak vessel and left a seed of generation to all ages.
The vessel “A weak vessel”, in which people entrust their lives “to a small piece of wood” (14:5, KJV Apocrypha).
Sources sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Flood Ships · Hindu
Manu's Ship Voyaging ship
Shatapatha Brahmana I.8.1 (Eggeling, Sacred Books of the East vol. 12)
Tradition Hindu
A small fish comes into Manu's hands and promises to save him from a coming flood if he rears it. It grows into a great fish and tells him to build a ship. After the flood Manu makes offerings, a daughter is born to him, and through her he continues the human race.
The vessel A ship built on the fish's instruction and towed to the northern mountain: “to its horn he tied the rope of the ship”.
Sources sacred-texts.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Flood Ships · Hindu
The Boat of the Matsya Purana Voyaging ship
Matsya Purana, chapters I to II
Tradition Hindu
King Manu finds a small fish that keeps growing, from a jar to a tank, to the Ganges and to the ocean. The fish warns of a deluge and is revealed as Vishnu. Their dialogue during the flood makes up the rest of the Purana.
The vessel A great boat carrying Manu with all kinds of living creatures and the seeds of plants. The serpent Shesha is the rope that fastens it to the horned fish. The sources disagree on who built it.
Sources Wikipedia: Matsya · Vaivasvata Manu · Matsya Purana
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Flood Ships · Sumerian
The Huge Boat of Ziusudra Voyaging ship
The Sumerian flood tablet, one fragmentary Old Babylonian tablet of the 17th century BC, published by Arno Poebel in 1914
Tradition Sumerian
Enki warns Ziusudra to build a large vessel. A storm rages for seven days while “the huge boat had been tossed about on the great waters”. When the sun appears Ziusudra opens a window and sacrifices an ox and a sheep, and is given eternal life in Dilmun.
The vessel A huge boat with a window. The passage with the building instructions is lost.
Sources Wikipedia: Ziusudra
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Flood Ships · Babylonian
The Boat of Atrahasis Ark
Atrahasis Epic (Old Babylonian); dimensions from the Ark Tablet (c. 1900 to 1700 BCE) published by Irving Finkel
Tradition Babylonian
Enki warns Atrahasis to leave his house, build a ship and save his life. Atrahasis takes food, birds and animals aboard, and the flood lasts seven days.
The vessel The epic says to roof it like the Apsu. The Ark Tablet describes a round coracle about 230 feet across with walls about 20 feet high, of palm fibre rope sealed with bitumen, with the animals going in two by two.
Sources Wikipedia: Atra-Hasis · Biblical Archaeology Society
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Flood Ships · Babylonian
The Boat of Utnapishtim Ark
Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet XI
Tradition Babylonian
The god Ea warns Utnapishtim to pull down his house, build a vessel and save life. He loads it with the seed of all living things, his family, cattle, wild beasts and craftsmen, and survives the flood.
The vessel A floor of one field (one iku, about an acre), walls of ten gar (about 120 cubits) and each side of the deck ten gar, so a cube. Six decks make seven levels, divided into nine compartments, sealed with bitumen and pitch.
Sources sacred-texts.com · ancienttexts.org · Wikipedia: Gilgamesh flood myth
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
The Flood Ships · Greek
Deucalion's Chest Chest or basket
Apollodorus, Library 1.7.2
Tradition Greek
When Zeus sends the flood to destroy humankind, Deucalion builds a chest on Prometheus's advice and boards it with his wife Pyrrha. They float for nine days and nights and come to rest on Parnassus.
The vessel A chest (larnax) stocked with provisions, big enough for two. No other construction details.
Sources theoi.com
Illustration: an AI interpretation of the text, to come.
Explore Sacred Ships by chapter
- The Flood Ships9 ships
- Ships of the Bible15 ships
- Ships of the Quran5 ships
- Ships of the Later Scriptures6 ships
- Boats of the Sun, the Moon and the Dead13 ships
- Greek and Roman Heroes at Sea13 ships
- Celtic Voyages and the Round Table9 ships
- The Northern Seas8 ships
- India, China and Japan13 ships
- The Pacific and the Americas11 ships