“But to this, which they equally tell, the people of Hierapolis add a marvellous narrative:  That in their country a great chasm opened, into which all the waters of the Deluge poured.  Then Deucalion raised an altar, and dedicated a temple to Hera (Atargatis) close to this very chasm.  I have seen it; it is very narrow, and situated under the temple.  Whether it was once large, and has now shrunk, I do not know; but I have seen it, and it is quite small.  In memory of the event the following is the rite accomplished:  Twice a year sea-water is brought to the temple.  This is not only done by the priests, but numerous pilgrims come from the whole of Syria and Arabia, and even from beyond the Euphrates, bringing water.  It is poured out in the temple and goes into the cleft, which, narrow as it is, swallows up a considerable quantity.  This is said to be in virtue of a religious law instituted by Deucalion to preserve the memory of the catastrophe, and of the benefits that he received from the gods.  Such is the ancient tradition of the temple.”

“It appears to me difficult,” says Lenormant, “not to recognize an echo of fables popular in all Semitic countries about this chasm of Hierapolis, and the part it played in the Deluge, in the enigmatic expressions of the Koran respecting the oven (tannur) which began to bubble and disgorge water all around at the commencement of the Deluge.  We know that this tannur has been the occasion of most grotesque imaginings of Mussulman commentators, who had lost the tradition of the story to which Mohammed made allusion.  And, moreover, the Koran formally states that the waters of the Deluge were absorbed in the bosom of the earth.”

Here the Xisuthros of Berosus becomes Deucalion-Sisythes.  The animals are not collected together by Deucalion, as in the case of Noah and Khasisatra, but they crowded into the vessel of their own accord, driven by the terror with which the storm had inspired them; as in great calamities the creatures of the forest have been known to seek refuge in the houses of men.

India affords us art account of the Deluge which, by its poverty, strikingly contrasts with that of the Bible and the Chaldeans.  Its most simple and ancient form is found in the Catapatha Brahmana of the Rig-Veda.  It has been translated for the first time by Max Mueller.

“One morning water for washing was brought to Manu, and when he had washed himself a fish remained in his hands, and it addressed these words to him:  ‘Protect me, and I will save thee.’  ’From what wilt thou save me?’ ’A deluge will sweep all creatures away; it is from that I will save thee.’  ‘How shall I protect thee?’ The fish replied, ’While we are small we run great dangers, for fish swallow fish.  Keep me at first in a vase; when I become too large for it, dig a basin to put me into.  When I shall have grown still more, throw me into the ocean; then I shall be preserved from destruction.’  Soon it grew a large fish.  It said to Mann, ’The very year I shall have reached my full growth the Deluge will happen.  Then build a vessel and worship me.  When the waters rise, enter the vessel, and I will save thee.’