THE APPEARANCE OF MYTHOLOGY AT 2300 BC
The catastrophe prompted the appearance of new religions everywhere. Mythologies associated with those religions clearly described the phenomenon associated with the catastrophe.
MIDDLE EAST
"Most of the surviving myths in Sumerian were written down, on the tablets we possess, as early as about 1700 BC, but can be shown on linguistic and other grounds to have originated by about 2300 BC. Many of the surviving Akkadian myths, on the other hand, are known primarily from Neo-Assyrian tablets recovered from the library of Ashurbanipal in seventh-century BC Nineveh, but can be shown to go back to the Old Babylonian era before the middle of the second millennium BC. Some contain still earlier material.” [Kirk]
"Almost all important Assyro-Babylonian myths were put into substantially the form which they kept until the end of Accadian civilization during the second half of the third millennium BC, under the dynasties of Accad, Guti, Ur III and Isin....Moreover, these Accadian myths and epics are generally only slight modifications of much earlier Sumerian ones.” [Albright]
"Although most (Ugaritic) mythological tablets, according to the colophons of several tablets, were inscribed... in the first half of the fourteenth century BC, the myths recorded on them may go much further back, some even to the turn of the third to the second millennium BC.” [Oldenburg]
EGYPT
"The basic concepts of Egyptian mythology were already established about 2200 BC, and the succeeding changes represented an increase in variations and combinations rather than alterations of the concepts.” [Anthes]
"The chief features of the Egyptian religion remained unchanged from the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties down to the period when the Egyptians embraced Christianity.” [Budge]
It is generally agreed that the Pyramid Texts (written on the walls of pyramid tombs of Egyptian rulers) are the earliest source for Egyptian mythology. These texts are also referred to as the Book of the Dead. There are four versions of the Book of the Dead. The earliest version, referred to as the Heliopolitan version, is known from the five copies inscribed upon the walls of the chambers and passages of the pyramids of the rulers of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties at Sakkara. The consensus of opinion is that the end of the Fifth Dynasty occurred at 2340 BC.
INDIA
The principal mythology of India is contained in two bodies of literature, the Rgveda and the Mahabharata, with the former being the most important.
The Rgveda "Veda of verses" consists of a large body of hymns generated over a time span of at least a thousand years. Although no unanimity of opinion exists, a sizable number of sources place the date for the material in the earliest books to the latter half of the third millennium BC and the Indo-European movement occurring at that time.
The Mahabharata is the greatest of the Indian epics, centering around the events of the Bharata War, involving cosmological conflicts between the gods during which the earth suffered great damage. Sengupta has done considerable work on dating the Bharata War to the end of the third millennium BC.
BRITAIN
This mythology is pretty much centered on the legendary invasions of Ireland that traditionally extend from 2700 BC to 1900 BC. These are Partholan and his colony, the Fomorians, the Nemedians, the Firbolgs, and the Tuatha de Danaan, centered at about 2300 BC.
There are two key characteristics of these invasions. First, the history is repetitive to a large degree; and second, the groups are genealogically related. A number of investigators have voiced opinions that the sequence of invasions is an artificial chronological arrangement of originally separate traditions relating to the same event.
CHINA
Chinese mythology is best represented by the legendary Five Sovereigns who are supposed to have ruled the land from about 2700 BC to 2200 BC, bracketing 2300 BC – Hwang-ti, Shen-nung, Yao, Yu, and Shun. The Five Sovereigns are central to the mythology since they reflect many aspects of the catastrophic event. They are identified as rulers of the Xia Dynasty, traditionally existing from 2200 BC to 1700 BC. The archaeological record does not reveal any "empire" at this time, however, supporting the conclusion that the five rulers are likely to have been deities. A possibly significant aspect of the Five Sovereigns is the lack of general agreement either on their chronological order or absolute dates.
The investigation involved many different fields of inquiry
Roadmaps are provided in the book to guide the reader through the different areas of evidence --
Archaeological and Geophysical
The Earth and its inhabitants were very different after 2300 BC --
Destruction, Deterioration and Disappearance
The mythology is a strong supporting element --
The Appearance of Mythology at 2300 BC
Nuts and Bolts