Most ancient middle-eastern peoples have a flood narrative. These probably relate to the cataclysmic events that followed when the Mediterranean broke through the land dam on the Bosporus flooding vast swathes of land before settling into the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. Geologists recognise the layer of clay that was deposited and date the event to around 10,000 BC. (That upsets the Genesis brigade for a start). The event has been mixed with stories of the periodic flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates (Gilgamesh) and the Nile (Osiris).
When Cyrus of Persia freed various subjugated peoples from captivity in Babylon, his quid pro quo was that they should write down their oral folklore. The account of Noah and the flood came from Jewish tradition. The only people equipped to write long documents were the scribes of the priestly caste and they gave everything a moralising twist and this is how much of Genesis came about.
The Hebrew people were divided between two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. Israel agreed a treaty with the Babylonians and their citizens were not carried off. Judah held out and suffered many years of subjugation. When they returned, they became known as Jews. They reviled those from Israel and called them Samaritans. Both peoples had similar origins to their folklore. However the Samaritan version of the flood narrative was written down some 200 years after the Jewish version and lacks the direct intervention of God.
Images of the story of Noah have him sailing in some kind of ship, but the word translated as “ark” means a large box.
