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Middlemarch vocabulary
10 mythology vocabulary words
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Xisuthrus
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synonyms: Ziusudra, Ξίσουθρος ???
tags: [mythology]
► definition
Definition:the last king of Sumer prior to the deluge. He is subsequently recorded as the hero of the Sumerian flood epic. He is also mentioned in other ancient literature, including The Death of Gilgamesh[...][he is] a Hellenization of Sumerian Ziusudra, known from the writings of Berossus, a priest of Marduk in Babylon, on whom Alexander relied heavily for information on Mesopotamia. Among the interesting features of this version of the flood myth, are the identification, through interpretatio graeca, of the Sumerian god Enki with the Greek god Cronus, the father of Zeus; and the assertion that the reed boat constructed by Xisuthros survived, at least until Berossus' day, in the "Corcyrean Mountains" of Armenia.
► uses
Uses:
Many Oriental nations have traditions of a flood, and some of them of several floods. Xisuthrus of Chaldea built a ship, in which he saved himself and family during a mighty flood which overflowed the world; also Fohi of China, Menu of the Brahmins, Satravarata of India, and Deucalion of Greece. Hence it appears there were several families saved besides that of Noah's. Egypt and India have stories of two floods occurring. All these stories are evidently older than that recorded in the Christian Bible.
Kersey and Lydia Graves. The Bible of Bibles (1879)
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I don't care about his Xisuthrus and Fee-fo-fum and the rest; but then he doesn't care about my fishing-tackle.
George Eliot. Middlemarch
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