◆ PARALLAX

Same. I now have an index card that says "genre first" beside my computer. This is humiliating in a good way.

Is there any actual connection between the Apkallu and later Watchers, or is that just Marlow being Marlow?

It is partly Marlow being Marlow, but not only that. The broad pattern of pre-flood or boundary-crossing instructors appears in several Near Eastern and later traditions: wisdom from beyond, craft transmission, danger attached to knowledge, punishment or withdrawal. Direct line? Often no. Shared grammar? Strongly yes. The responsible move is to compare motifs without pretending they are the same myth wearing different hats.

I agree with that version. I do not agree with the version where Apkallu, Watchers, Prometheus, Viracocha and every local culture hero become one alien outreach department. The comparison is useful until it starts eating the differences.

The seven sages before the flood sound like survivors from a previous civilisation.

They may be survivors of a previous order in the language of myth. That is not trivial. My question would be: what behaviours and institutions does a society preserve by telling itself wisdom came from semi-divine pre-flood teachers? The story may be a memory technology before it is a memory.

Seven also matters as a number that can gather a system around it. Once a culture has seven sages, seven days, seven gates, seven planets, the count starts carrying authority. I am not saying magic number. I am saying number as filing cabinet for sacred memory.

Gita, this is your better lane. Number as filing cabinet is defensible. Number as proof of aliens is where I get the rolled-up newspaper.