Many cultures around the world believe in a "flood myth": a tale set deep in the past, when a wrathful god sent a great flood to destroy human civilisation in recompense for its sins. 

In the world's oldest book, the Epic of GilgameshA heroic saga written in ancient Mesopotamia, over 3,000 years ago., the god Enlil floods the world because humans are too noisy. HinduA follower of Hinduism, the third-largest religion in the world. Roughly 95% of Hindus live in India. mythology tells of Manu, the sole survivor of a great flood sent to cleanse the world. In GenesisOrigin or beginning. The book of Genesis is the first book of the Bible, and opens with one of the most famous first sentences of any literary work: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.", God punishes humanity with a global flood, saving only Noah and his family.

This idea of a flood sent to punish and purge a sinful world has been on some people's minds this week as terrible floods ravage central Europe.

So far 18 people have been killed by the deluge, caused by Storm Boris, in the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Romania, and Slovakia.¹

At the physical level, the storm is believed to be fuelled by climate breakdown, which is making extreme weather events much more common.²

But some see a more metaphysical hand at work. They say the floods are a metaphor for the decline and fall of Europe.

Back in April, French president Emmanuel MacronThe current president of France, nicknamed "Jupiter" after the chief of the Roman deities for his top-down manner of governance. sounded the alarm: "Our Europe is mortal. It can die, and it all depends on our choices".³

Certainly Europe has waxed and waned over the centuries. Modern Europeans tend to trace the origins of their civilisation back to ancient GreeceAbout 2,500 years ago, Greece was one of the most important places in the world. Ancient Greeks lived all around the Mediterranean, not just in Greece.. Greek city-states developed many of the ideas that still dominate life today: democracy, republicanismSupporting the idea of a country having an elected head of state, such as a president, rather than a hereditary king or queen., philosophy.

At this time, however, there was no single European culture, and the locus of the Greek world was not Europe, but the Mediterranean, including the Middle East and north Africa. Its ideas did not penetrate north, into modern-day France, Germany and Britain.

This changed with the arrival of the Roman EmpireLasting from 27BC to 476AD, the Roman Empire controlled regions around the Mediterranean in Europe, North Africa and Western Asia. , which conquered much of northern Europe and spread its own culture throughout. When it eventually fell to German invasions, the invaders also picked up its culture. A pan-European civilisation was born.

By this time, however, Europe was not the centre of the world. The Roman Empire had shifted east, to ConstantinopleThe city renamed Istanbul in 1930. It is in modern-day Turkiye, between Europe and Asia. in modern Turkey. The great economic powerhouses of the world were India and China, which shipped luxury goods like clothes and spices to the impoverished, war-torn backwater that was Europe.

This changed when Europeans made contact with, then colonised, the Americas. They began to exploit the land for precious metals and luxury materials like cotton. Now it was Europeans shipping their goods to the Asian superpowers. Europe grew in wealth and stature and began to colonise the rest of the world, exporting its culture as it went.

As a result, Europe's cultural influence on the world remains immense. Almost 30% of the planet speaks English, Spanish or French.⁴ Most countries are republics, constitutional monarchies, or dictatorshipsA form of government in which one person possesses all the power without any limits. , all terms created in Europe.

Today, however, it is caught between two superpowers. It is economically dependent on China and militarily dependent on the USA. Meanwhile, the rise of the far-rightA range of ideologies that emphasise social order, racial purity and the elimination of opponents. is eating it from within.

Some, like Macron, fear that unless it finds a way to stand on its own, it will be ripped apart by its ties to the two tussling giants to the east and west, or by its internal political tumult.

Is Europe dying?

Yes: Every civilisation has its time in the sun. Europe's time is over. It will once again become a poor backwater, fought over for influence by the US and China.

No: Floods destroy but they also allow rebirth. European leaders have a plan: integrate Europe into a single economy that can compete with the US and China. If they pull it off, they can create a tripolar world.

Or... There never was a single "Europe". Western and eastern Europe have completely different values and cultures. Britain is both of and not of Europe. To survive, Europe will first have to be created.