- published: 27 Mar 2013
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The antediluvian (or pre-diluvian) period – meaning "before the deluge" – is the period referred to in the Bible between the Creation of the Earth and the Deluge (flood) in the Biblical cosmology. The narrative takes up chapters 1-6 (excluding the flood narrative) of Genesis. The term found its way into early geology and lingered in science until late Victorian era. Colloquially, the term is used to refer to any ancient and murky period.
In the Christian Bible and Hebrew Torah, the antediluvian period begins with the Creation according to Genesis and ends with the destruction of all life on the earth except those saved with Noah in the Ark. According to Bishop Ussher's 17th century chronology, the antediluvian period lasted for 1648 years, from creation at 4004 BC and the flood at 2348 BC. The elements of the narrative include some of the best-known stories in the bible - the Creation itself, Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel - followed by the genealogies tracing the descendants of Cain and Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve. (These genealogies provide the framework for the biblical chronology, in the form A begat B in his Xth year).
The Sumerian King List is an ancient manuscript originally recorded in the Sumerian language, listing kings of Sumer (ancient southern Iraq) from Sumerian and neighboring dynasties, their supposed reign lengths, and the locations of "official" kingship. Kingship was believed to have been handed down by the gods, and could be transferred from one city to another, reflecting perceived hegemony in the region. Throughout its Bronze Age existence, the document evolved into a political tool. Its final and single attested version, dating to the Middle Bronze Age, aimed to legitimize Isin's claims to hegemony when Isin was vying for dominance with Larsa and other neighboring city-states in southern Mesopotamia.