Evidence
Each row links back to the complete public-domain source text and the structured extraction record.
| Tradition | Source | Passage | Confidence | Evidence | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biblical | Genesis | Genesis 7:17-24; 8:1-5 | medium | The flood was forty days on the earth... God remembered Noah... and the waters subsided. | record |
| Celtic Welsh | The Mabinogion | Branwen the daughter of Llyr; cauldron origin and battlefield use | medium | The Irish kindle fire under the cauldron of renovation, fill it with dead bodies, and the bodies rise next day as fighting men unable to speak. | record |
| Roman | The Aeneid of Virgil | PREFACE / THE AENEID / BOOK FIRST / THE COMING OF AENEAS TO CARTHAGE; lines 120-221 | low | Juno tells Aeolus that the father of gods and king of men gave him power over the winds and waves, then asks him to rouse the winds against her enemy people sailing the Tyrrhene sea with their conquered Ilian gods, sinking or scattering their ships. | record |
| Roman | The Aeneid of Virgil | BOOK FOURTH / THE LOVE OF DIDO, AND HER END / BOOK FIFTH / THE GAMES OF THE FLEET; lines 2945-2986 | low | Sergestus arrives late in a ship torn from a rock and missing oars; the ship is likened to a half-dead wounded serpent that still coils, hisses, and lifts its head. | record |
| Roman | The Aeneid of Virgil | BOOK FOURTH / THE LOVE OF DIDO, AND HER END / BOOK FIFTH / THE GAMES OF THE FLEET; lines 3234-3313 | medium | The women waver between longing for the land and the fated realm; the goddess rises on wings and draws a bow beneath the clouds. The women then cry out, take fire from hearths and altars, throw boughs and brands, and the Fire-god rages over the ships. | record |
| Roman | The Aeneid of Virgil | PREFACE / THE AENEID / BOOK FIRST / THE COMING OF AENEAS TO CARTHAGE; lines 402-491 | medium | Aeneas identifies himself as a Trojan carrying rescued household gods, seeking Italy by oracles and his goddess mother's guidance, and reduced from twenty ships to seven after storm and waves drove him to Libya. | record |
| Roman | The Aeneid of Virgil | BOOK EIGHTH / THE EMBASSAGE TO EVANDER / BOOK NINTH / THE SIEGE OF THE TROJAN CAMP; lines 5716-5801 | high | The Mother wards brands from her holy ships; a strange light and voice announce: “Disquiet not yourselves ... to guard ships of mine ... go, goddesses of the sea; the Mother bids it.” | record |
| Roman | The Aeneid of Virgil | BOOK EIGHTH / THE EMBASSAGE TO EVANDER / BOOK NINTH / THE SIEGE OF THE TROJAN CAMP; lines 5716-5801 | medium | The Mother wards brands from her holy ships; a strange light and voice announce: “Disquiet not yourselves ... to guard ships of mine ... go, goddesses of the sea; the Mother bids it.” | record |
| Ainu | Aino Folk-Tales | AINO FOLK-LORE. / I.--TALES ACCOUNTING FOR THE ORIGIN OF PHENOMENA. / II.--MORAL TALES. / IV.--MISCELLANEOUS TALES.; lines 1907-2004 | medium | In 'The Baby in the Box,' a woman jealous of her husband's love for their son sets the baby afloat in a box on the river while the husband is bear-hunting in the mountains, then lies that the child disappeared; the father grieves and refuses food. | record |
| Islamicate Folklore | The Arabian Nights Entertainments | The Arabian Nights Entertainments; lines 10397-10512 | high | The elder sisters stay in the palace near the expected birth of an heir; when a beautiful boy is born, they put him in his cradle, carry it to the canal, leave it there, and tell the Sultan the Sultana has given birth to a puppy. | record |
| Islamicate Folklore | The Arabian Nights Entertainments | The Arabian Nights Entertainments; lines 2842-2935 | medium | At the summit, Agib sleeps under the dome; an old man appears in a dream, tells him to dig up a brass bow and three lead arrows, shoot the statue, bury the horse, board a boat rowed by a metal man, and not speak Allah's name. | record |
| Islamicate Folklore | The Arabian Nights Entertainments | The Arabian Nights Entertainments; lines 3824-3922 | medium | The narrator, terrified and despairing, sees a passing ship, attracts notice by shouting and waving his turban, is rescued by boat, fed, and given a coat by the captain. | record |
| Islamicate Folklore | The Arabian Nights Entertainments | The Arabian Nights Entertainments; lines 67-194 | low | The preface imagines children of Ham, Shem, and Japhet hearing the tales in the Ark, Hector's child hearing them in Troy, and some stories known to Homer and written in Egypt around the time of Moses. | record |
| Celtic Irish | Gods and Fighting Men | CHAPTER I. BIRTH OF DIARMUID / CHAPTER II. HOW DIARMUID GOT HIS LOVE-SPOT / CHAPTER III. THE DAUGHTER OF KING UNDER-WAVE / CHAPTER IV. THE HARD SERVANT; lines 10963-11051 | medium | Finn grieves for fourteen carried-away men and says he is bound to bring them back; he tells Oisin that the Tuatha de Danaan left a ship-gift at Beinn Edair for those leaving Ireland. | record |
| Celtic Irish | Gods and Fighting Men | CHAPTER X. HIS CALL TO BRAN / CHAPTER XI. HIS THREE CALLS TO CORMAC / CHAPTER XII. CLIODNA'S WAVE / CHAPTER XIII. HIS CALL TO CONNLA; lines 4535-4606 | high | The woman tells Connla to come into her shining ship to go to the Plain of Victory, saying they will reach that country before night. | record |
| Celtic Irish | Gods and Fighting Men | CHAPTER XI. HIS THREE CALLS TO CORMAC / CHAPTER XII. CLIODNA'S WAVE / CHAPTER XIII. HIS CALL TO CONNLA / CHAPTER XIV. TADG IN MANANNAN'S ISLANDS; lines 4609-4694 | medium | Tadg orders a long-voyage curragh built with forty ox-hides, masts, oars, pitch, and supplies of food, drink, and clothing for a year. | record |
| Comparative | The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 1 of 2) | MACAULAY. / CHAPTER II. THE PERILS OF THE SOUL. / HEINE. / CHAPTER III. KILLING THE GOD.; lines 6597-6671 | medium | Plutarch describes priests carrying a sacred ark to the sea, a golden casket inside receiving drinking-water, a shout that Osiris is found, and mould mixed with water to fashion a crescent-shaped image that is dressed and adorned. | record |
| Comparative | The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2) | The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2) / CONTENTS; lines 4270-4347 | medium | Frazer says that more often expelled demons are not represented visibly but are understood to be invisibly present in a visible material vehicle that conveys them away. | record |
| Comparative | The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2) | The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2) / CONTENTS; lines 4349-4409 | high | In Timorlaut, a small prao containing a man-image and provisions is set adrift to mislead sickness-causing demons; people tell sickness to go away. | record |
| Comparative | The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2) | The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2) / CONTENTS; lines 4470-4550 | high | The passage introduces mediated expulsion of evils by scapegoat or other material vehicle and states that it tends to become periodic. | record |
| Comparative | The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2) | The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2) / CONTENTS; lines 4470-4550 | high | Leti, Moa, and Lakor annually make a small prao, place offerings and field insects in it, and send it to sea while telling it to take away sickness. | record |
| Comparative | The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2) | The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2) / CONTENTS; lines 4708-4787 | high | Evils may be sent away in a boat, giving a visible vehicle for invisible evils; Frazer adds, “a scapegoat is nothing more than such a vehicle.” | record |
| Comparative | The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2) | The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2) / CONTENTS; lines 5381-5418 | medium | In the Kirgis ancestry legend, a Khan keeps his daughter in a dark iron house; an old woman shows her the bright world, the eye of God falls upon her and she conceives, and her father sends her floating over the sea in a golden chest. | record |
| Greek | Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica | XXXIII. TO THE DIOSCURI / HOMERS EPIGRAMS2601 / FRAGMENTS OF THE EPIC CYCLE / THE WAR OF THE TITANS; lines 7586-7621 | medium | The author of the War of the Titans is said to be the first to tell that Heracles sailed across the sea in a cauldron. | record |
| Greek | The Iliad | THE REDEMPTION OF THE BODY OF HECTOR. / CONCLUDING NOTE. / A. POPE / END OF THE ILIAD; lines 23698-23815 | medium | The note discusses an annual Egyptian sacred-ship procession, the deity's return from Ethiopia, the sacred ship of Ammon, and an interpretation that Homer alludes to this in Jupiter's visit to the Ethiopians and twelve-day absence. | record |
| Japanese | Japanese Fairy Tales | THE BAMBOO-CUTTER AND THE MOON-CHILD / THE GOBLIN OF ADACHIGAHARA / THE SAGACIOUS MONKEY AND THE BOAR / THE HAPPY HUNTER AND THE SKILLFUL FISHER; lines 4010-4103 | medium | The old man says he can make something for sea travel, makes a basket, and gives it to the Happy Hunter, who mounts it at the water. | record |
| Finnish/Karelian | Kalevala: The Epic Poem of Finland | JOHN MARTIN CRAWFORD. / THE KALEVALA. / PROEM / BOOK II; lines 16143-16329 | medium | The mother tells him to take his father's vessel, cross nine oceans, and in the tenth sail to the forest-covered island and cliffs where his father hid from pursuers. | record |
| Finnish/Karelian | Kalevala: The Epic Poem of Finland | JOHN MARTIN CRAWFORD. / THE KALEVALA. / PROEM / BOOK II; lines 16516-16685 | high | He rebuilds a new magic sailing vessel from small fragments of lumber, board, spool, and distaff, completing it with three powerful blows and secret knowledge. | record |
| Finnish/Karelian | Kalevala: The Epic Poem of Finland | JOHN MARTIN CRAWFORD. / THE KALEVALA. / PROEM / BOOK II; lines 17416-17614 | medium | Untamoinen's people counsel how to kill the magic infant; they fasten him in a basket and lower him among reeds and rushes into deep waters. | record |
| Finnish/Karelian | Kalevala: The Epic Poem of Finland | JOHN MARTIN CRAWFORD. / THE KALEVALA. / PROEM / BOOK II; lines 23564-23746 | low | At a broad river, Wainamoinen begins building a vessel with Ilmarinen’s aid, shaping rowlocks, oars, and rudder from oak, pine, and aspen. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | PUBLIC SERVICES, / AND EMINENT LITERARY ATTAINMENTS, / THE TRANSLATOR. / PREFACE; lines 12642-12768 | high | Noah is told by revelation that no more will believe except current believers; he is commanded to build the Ark under divine oversight and not plead for those to be drowned. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | PUBLIC SERVICES, / AND EMINENT LITERARY ATTAINMENTS, / THE TRANSLATOR. / PREFACE; lines 12770-12897 | high | “O Earth! swallow up thy water”; the water abates, the decree is fulfilled, and the Ark rests upon Al-Djoudi. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | PUBLIC SERVICES, / AND EMINENT LITERARY ATTAINMENTS, / THE TRANSLATOR. / PREFACE; lines 14942-15074 | high | Noah is sent to his people; after a long tarrying, the flood overtakes them, while Noah and those in the vessel are rescued and made a sign. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | PUBLIC SERVICES, / AND EMINENT LITERARY ATTAINMENTS, / THE TRANSLATOR. / PREFACE; lines 15076-15223 | low | When people embark on shipboard they call on God with sincere worship, but after He brings them safe to land they join partners with Him. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | PUBLIC SERVICES, / AND EMINENT LITERARY ATTAINMENTS, / THE TRANSLATOR. / PREFACE; lines 15892-16024 | high | Noah’s people treat him as a liar; God rescues Noah and those with him in the ark, makes them survive, and drowns those who reject the signs. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | PUBLIC SERVICES, / AND EMINENT LITERARY ATTAINMENTS, / THE TRANSLATOR. / PREFACE; lines 16684-16805 | high | Noah tells his people to worship God alone and warns of chastisement; they accuse him of error and treat him as a liar; he and those with him are delivered in the ark, while the deniers are drowned. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | PUBLIC SERVICES, / AND EMINENT LITERARY ATTAINMENTS, / THE TRANSLATOR. / PREFACE; lines 19679-19788 | high | The prophet says the sign of Saul’s kingship is the Ark coming to them, containing a pledge of security and relics from the families of Moses and Aaron, borne by angels. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | PUBLIC SERVICES, / AND EMINENT LITERARY ATTAINMENTS, / THE TRANSLATOR. / PREFACE; lines 25848-25971 | medium | A note compares Sura liv. 15 and says traditions about pitch and wood from the Ark, used for amulets or preserved as fragments, reached Muhammad through Jewish informants; fragments are said to have been moved from mountain al Djoudi to a mosque. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | PUBLIC SERVICES, / AND EMINENT LITERARY ATTAINMENTS, / THE TRANSLATOR. / PREFACE; lines 3457-3676 | medium | When the Flood rises high, people are borne in the Ark so the event may be a warning that the retaining ear retains. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | PUBLIC SERVICES, / AND EMINENT LITERARY ATTAINMENTS, / THE TRANSLATOR. / PREFACE; lines 4762-4955 | high | Noah is rejected and asks for succour; heaven sends torrents, earth springs meet them, and Noah is carried on a planked vessel with nails, left as a sign. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | PUBLIC SERVICES, / AND EMINENT LITERARY ATTAINMENTS, / THE TRANSLATOR. / PREFACE; lines 5185-5401 | medium | Jonas is an apostle who flees to a laden ship; lots are cast, he is doomed, and the fish swallows him because he is blameworthy. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | PUBLIC SERVICES, / AND EMINENT LITERARY ATTAINMENTS, / THE TRANSLATOR. / PREFACE; lines 5790-5982 | high | God recalls telling Moses' mother to cast him into an ark and onto the sea or river, which would throw him onto shore; an enemy would take him up; his sister identifies a nurse, and he is returned to his mother. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | PUBLIC SERVICES, / AND EMINENT LITERARY ATTAINMENTS, / THE TRANSLATOR. / PREFACE; lines 6440-6654 | high | God saves Noah and those with him "in the fully-laden ark," and afterwards drowns the rest. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | PUBLIC SERVICES, / AND EMINENT LITERARY ATTAINMENTS, / THE TRANSLATOR. / PREFACE; lines 8028-8198 | high | A sign is that human posterity was borne in the full-laden Ark; similar vessels are made for embarkation, and drowning occurs unless God grants mercy for a time. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | PUBLIC SERVICES, / AND EMINENT LITERARY ATTAINMENTS, / THE TRANSLATOR. / PREFACE; lines 8862-9028 | high | God reveals to Noah to make the ark under divine eye and teaching when doom comes and the earth's surface boils up. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | PUBLIC SERVICES, / AND EMINENT LITERARY ATTAINMENTS, / THE TRANSLATOR. / PREFACE; lines 8862-9028 | high | Noah is told to carry into the ark a pair of every kind and his family except one already sentenced, and not to plead for the wicked because they will be drowned. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | CHAPTER I. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD / CHAPTER II. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.; lines 10394-10454 | high | The prophet says the sign of Talut's kingdom will be the ark coming with tranquility from God and relics of the families of Moses and Aaron, brought by angels. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS / THE KORAN. / PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE / SECTION I.; lines 1192-1244 | medium | A Mohammedan tradition is cited in which the ancestor of the former tribe of Jorham was one of eighty persons saved in Noah's ark; the tribe was contemporary with Ad and perished. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | CHAPTER VI. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / CHAPTER VII / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.; lines 16058-16128 | high | "we delivered him and those who were with him in the ark ... we drowned those who charged our signs with falsehood" | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | CHAPTER VI. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / CHAPTER VII / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.; lines 16130-16184 | medium | A note says believers entered a vessel with a male figure and reports traditions that eight, six, ten, twelve, seventy-eight, or eighty persons were saved in the ark. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / CHAPTER IX. / CHAPTER X. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.; lines 19146-19242 | high | Noah's people accuse him of imposture; God delivers Noah and those with him in the ark, makes them survive the flood, and drowns those who charge God's signs with falsehood. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | CHAPTER X. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / CHAPTER XI. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.; lines 19469-19571 | high | It is revealed to Noah that no further people will believe except those already believing; he is told not to grieve, to make an ark according to revealed form and dimensions, and that the unjust are doomed to be drowned. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | CHAPTER X. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / CHAPTER XI. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.; lines 19573-19653 | high | The sentence is executed; the oven pours forth water; Noah is commanded to carry animal pairs, his family except one already condemned, and believers into the ark; few believe with him. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | CHAPTER X. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / CHAPTER XI. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.; lines 19573-19653 | medium | The sentence is executed; the oven pours forth water; Noah is commanded to carry animal pairs, his family except one already condemned, and believers into the ark; few believe with him. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | CHAPTER X. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / CHAPTER XI. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.; lines 19655-19741 | high | “O earth, swallow up thy waters, and thou, O heaven, withhold thy rain”; the water abates, the decree is fulfilled, and the ark rests on Mount al-Judi; the ungodly people are dismissed. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | CHAPTER XVI. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / CHAPTER XVII. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.; lines 22514-22592 | medium | "O posterity of those whom we carried in the ark with Noah"; Noah is called a grateful servant. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | CHAPTER XVIII. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / CHAPTER XIX. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.; lines 24046-24144 | low | The prophets are linked to the posterity of Adam, those carried in the ark with Noah, and the posterity of Abraham and Israel; when the signs of the Merciful are read, they fall down worshipping and weep. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | CHAPTER XIX. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / CHAPTER XX. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.; lines 24397-24462 | high | God recalls revealing to Moses' mother to put him into the ark and cast him into the river; the river would throw him on shore, an enemy would take and raise him, and God bestowed love on him so he might be bred up under God's eye. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | CHAPTER XIX. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / CHAPTER XX. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.; lines 24464-24562 | high | Commentary: Moses' mother makes a papyrus ark, places the child inside, commits it to the river; it reaches Pharaoh's garden and fishpond, and Pharaoh orders the child brought up. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / CHAPTER XXIII. / ENTITLED, THE TRUE BELIEVERS; REVEALED AT MECCA. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.; lines 25890-26000 | high | Noah is commanded to make the ark; when the oven pours forth water, he must take one pair of every animal species and his family except those sentenced to destruction; the unjust will be drowned. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | ENTITLED, AL FORKAN; REVEALED AT MECCA. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / CHAPTER XXVI. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.; lines 27321-27391 | high | Noah asks God to judge and deliver him and the true believers; “we delivered him, and those who were with him, in the ark filled with men and animals; and afterwards we drowned the rest.” | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | CHAPTER XXVII. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / CHAPTER XXVIII. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.; lines 28042-28140 | high | Pharaoh lifts himself up in Egypt, divides his subjects, weakens one party, slays their male children, preserves females alive, and is called an oppressor. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | CHAPTER XXVIII. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / CHAPTER XXIX. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.; lines 28542-28629 | high | Noah is sent to his people and remains one thousand years minus fifty; the deluge takes away the unjust, while Noah and those in the ark are delivered, and the ark is made a sign. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / CHAPTER XXXVI. / ENTITLED, Y. S.; REVEALED AT MECCA. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.; lines 30824-30891 | low | A sign is that people carry their offspring in a ship filled with merchandise and have other riding-conveniences; God may drown them with none to help, unless mercy delivers them for a season. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / CHAPTER LIV. / ENTITLED, THE MOON; REVEALED AT MECCA. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.; lines 34760-34864 | high | The gates of heaven are opened with pouring water, the earth breaks forth into springs, and the waters of heaven and earth meet according to an established decree. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / CHAPTER LXIX. / ENTITLED, THE INFALLIBLE; REVEALED AT MECCA. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.; lines 36754-36875 | high | "When the water of the deluge arose, we carried you in the ark which swam thereon" | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / CHAPTER LXXI. / ENTITLED, NOAH; REVEALED AT MECCA. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD.; lines 36977-37065 | uncertain | Noah asks forgiveness for himself, his parents, everyone who enters his house as a true believer, and true believers of both sexes, and asks destruction for unjust doers. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / FINIS / AN INDEX / OF THE; lines 39628-39754 | medium | "Arafat, Mount"; "Ark of Israel taken by the Amalekites"; "Arrows for divination forbidden". | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / FINIS / AN INDEX / OF THE; lines 39927-39986 | high | Al Judi is the mountain where Noah's ark rested. | record |
| Islamic | The Koran (Al-Qur'an) | IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / FINIS / AN INDEX / OF THE; lines 40156-40260 | medium | The index says Moses' and Aaron's relics are in the ark and that Moses' law is now corrupted. | record |
| Celtic Welsh | The Mabinogion | PWYLL PRINCE OF DYVED / THE DREAM OF MAXEN WLEDIG / HERE IS THE STORY OF LLUDD AND LLEVELYS / TALIESIN; lines 8612-8701 | high | Caridwen finds and swallows Gwion Bach as a grain, bears him nine months, spares him because of his beauty, wraps him in a leather bag, and casts him into the sea. | record |
| Celtic Welsh | The Mabinogion | PWYLL PRINCE OF DYVED / THE DREAM OF MAXEN WLEDIG / HERE IS THE STORY OF LLUDD AND LLEVELYS / TALIESIN; lines 8703-8821 | medium | Taliesin sings of being formed, doing penance in Caridwen's court, being liberated by a smiling black old hag, fleeing in many forms, becoming a white grain of wheat, being thrown into a dark leathern bag and set adrift on a boundless sea, and being set at liberty by the Lord God. | record |
| Celtic Welsh | The Mabinogion | PWYLL PRINCE OF DYVED / THE DREAM OF MAXEN WLEDIG / HERE IS THE STORY OF LLUDD AND LLEVELYS / TALIESIN; lines 8917-9040 | low | Taliesin claims presence in the highest sphere, at Lucifer's fall, with Alexander, among the stars, in Canaan, at the crucifixion, in Arianrod's prison, at Nimrod's tower, in Noah's ark, and at Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction. | record |
| Sufi | The Mesnevi | OF QONYA. / PREFACE. / IN THE NAME OF GOD, / THE ALL-MERCIFUL, THE VERY-COMPASSIONATE.; lines 6225-6332 | high | The soul must return to daytime cares; the speaker asks God to keep his soul in God's hand as the Sleepers in the Grotto and Noah's ark brought to land, and addresses God as Cave, Mate, and friend. | record |
| Roman | The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Books I-VII | EXPLANATION. / EXPLANATION. / BOOK THE SEVENTH. / EXPLANATION.; lines 10903-10977 | medium | Æetes seizes Athamas' treasures; the Greeks plan an expedition to recover them and avenge Phryxus. Pelias, fearing an oracle about a one-shoed person, sends Jason into the perilous expedition after Jason loses a shoe at a river. Young nobles choose Jason as leader and embark in the Argo. | record |
| Roman | The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Books I-VII | EXPLANATION. / EXPLANATION. / EXPLANATION. / EXPLANATION.; lines 1463-1562 | medium | The explanation compares Parnassus with Ararat, Deucalion and Pyrrha with Noah and his family, notes virtuous conduct and post-flood sacrifice or altar, and cites Josephus on ancient writers preserving the universal deluge history. | record |
| Roman | The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Books I-VII | EXPLANATION. / EXPLANATION. / EXPLANATION. / EXPLANATION.; lines 7298-7393 | high | Danaë is confined after Acrisius hears a prophecy about her child; Jupiter is said to seduce her as a shower of gold, while a rationalizing account says Prœtus bribed guards with gold; Danaë bears Perseus, and mother and child are exposed in a boat, reach Seriphus, and are received by Polydectes. | record |
| Roman | The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Books VIII-XV | BOOK THE THIRTEENTH. / EXPLANATION. / EXPLANATION. / EXPLANATION.; lines 9677-9769 | medium | Virgil describes Anius as king of Delos and priest of Apollo; Rhea is exposed at sea in an open boat, reaches Delos, gives birth to Anius, and Anius later has three frugal daughters by Dorippe who amass provisions from offerings. | record |
| Sufi | The Mystics of Islam | ILLUMINATION AND ECSTASY / CHAPTER III / THE GNOSIS / THE REVELATION OF THE SEA; lines 1855-1986 | medium | "God bade me behold the Sea, and I saw the ships sinking and the planks floating; then the planks too were submerged." | record |
| Sufi | The Mystics of Islam | CHAPTER V / SAINTS AND MIRACLES / CHAPTER VI / THE UNITIVE STATE; lines 3713-3824 | high | He became Noah; at His prayer the world was flooded, and He went into the Ark. | record |
| Greek/Roman | Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome | VESTALIA. / PART II.--LEGENDS. / CADMUS. / PERSEUS.; lines 6633-6734 | high | Acrisius hears the child, discovers Danae's union with Zeus, orders mother and child placed in a chest and thrown into the sea; Zeus has Poseidon calm the water and the chest reaches Seriphus, where Dictys rescues them. | record |
| Greek/Roman | Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome | VESTALIA. / PART II.--LEGENDS. / CADMUS. / PERSEUS.; lines 6736-6832 | high | Ion is introduced as the son of Creusa, daughter of Erechtheus, and the sun-god Phoebus-Apollo, with the union unknown to Creusa's father. | record |
| Greek/Roman | Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome | SATURN. / RHEA (OPS). / DIVISION OF THE WORLD. / THEORIES AS TO THE ORIGIN OF MAN.; lines 746-830 | high | Because humanity became degenerate, the gods resolved to destroy mankind by flood; Deucalion, son of Prometheus, and Pyrrha alone are saved because of piety. | record |
| Norse | Myths of the Norsemen: From the Eddas and Sagas | CHAPTER XXVI: THE SIGURD SAGA / CHAPTER XXVII: THE STORY OF FRITHIOF / CHAPTER XXVIII: THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS / CHAPTER XXIX: GREEK AND NORTHERN MYTHOLOGIES; lines 12651-12759 | medium | The magic ship Skidbladnir, made by dwarfs and large enough for all the gods, is compared with the swift Argo, which bore Greek heroes to Colchis. | record |
| Norse | Myths of the Norsemen: From the Eddas and Sagas | CHAPTER V: TYR / CHAPTER VI: BRAGI / CHAPTER VII: IDUN / CHAPTER IX: FREY; lines 4487-4607 | medium | Frey owns Blodug-hofi, a steed that passes through fire and water, and Skidbladnir, a ship that travels land and sea, has favorable winds, expands to carry gods and gear, and folds like a napkin. | record |
| Norse | Myths of the Norsemen: From the Eddas and Sagas | CONTENTS / LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS / INTRODUCTION / CHAPTER I: THE BEGINNING; lines 456-592 | high | Giants wage war against Buri and Börr; Börr marries Bestla; Odin, Vili, and Ve slay Ymir; Ymir's blood causes a deluge in which only Bergelmir escapes by boat with his wife. | record |
| Greek | The Odyssey | BOOK III / TELEMACHUS VISITS NESTOR AT PYLOS. / BOOK IV / BOOK V; lines 2386-2472 | medium | Calypso says she found Ulysses alone on a keel after Jove struck his ship with lightning, sank it in mid-ocean, and drowned the crew; wind and waves drove him to her island. | record |
| Greek | The Odyssey | BOOK III / TELEMACHUS VISITS NESTOR AT PYLOS. / BOOK IV / BOOK V; lines 2474-2559 | low | At dawn Ulysses and Calypso dress; Calypso thinks how to speed him on his way, gives him a bronze axe and adze, and leads him to tall dry alder, poplar, and pine at the end of the island. | record |
| Sufi | Poems from the Divan of Hafiz | XVIII / XXIII / XXVII / XXVIII; lines 2337-2463 | high | The river of mortality roars around Life’s unstable house; Noah pilots the heart and guides its ark to the desired shore along a far, perilous road. | record |
| Hindu | The Ramayan of Valmiki | Canto LXXXI. The Assembly. / Canto LXXXII. The Departure. / Canto LXXXIII. The Journey Begun. / Canto LXXXV. Guha And Bharat.; lines 22352-22413 | medium | Guha's people obey; five hundred boats are moored, with some bearing a mystic sign, bells, flags, and sailors for helm and oar. | record |
| Hindu | The Ramayan of Valmiki | Canto CXVI. The Meeting. / Canto CXIX. Glory To Vishnu. / Canto CXXI. Dasaratha. / Canto CXXIII. The Magic Car.; lines 56396-56450 | medium | Vibhishaṇ says Pushpak, a wondrous chariot made by divine hands and seized by Rávaṇ from the God of Gold, can bear Ráma through the air to Ayodhyá in one day. | record |
| Hindu | The Ramayan of Valmiki | SCHLEGEL. / GORRESIO. / HIPPOLYTE FAUCHE. / ADDITIONAL NOTES.; lines 57936-58038 | high | In the fish avatar Vishnu saves King Satyavrata, the seven Rishis, and their wives in an ark from a deluge that destroys the earth. | record |
| Sufi | The Sufism of the Rubáiyát, or, the Secret of the Great Paradox | The Sufism of the Rubáiyát, or, the Secret of the Great Paradox / PREFACE / THE AUTHOR. / NOTES; lines 1140-1298 | high | The passage casts the self onto an ocean: the body is the boat, will the helm, life the sails, the soul steers the barque past death's shoals, and the cargo is consigned to the Master Pilot who rules winds and tides. | record |