Long, long ago, the sky was empty and Sky god, Hyborth, creator of everything, became lonely. He had two children with the goddess of the stars, Idea.They named one of their sons, Ilius and the other Amus. Ilius was a bright big star similar in shape to his mother, but he was even brighter in the sky. Amus, the younger brother, was very shy and not nearly as bright as his brother Ilius as he was made up of rock. Ilius grew up to be the Sun god, while Amus grew up to be the God of the Moon. Soon after the boys were born, Idea and Hyborth created the Earth and began to fill it with hundred of new animals and plants to live in the water and on the land. The Moon God grew up his life believing that he was only a reflection of his brother’s success. Since, Amus never got as much attention as his older brother, he spent a lot of his time alone in the darkness of the sky or …show more content…
The Sun God accepted, but Amus became very angry because he believed that since he spent more time tending to the water and the plants on Earth that it was his duty to take care of the Earth not Ilius’. Three days later, Idea, their mother also became ill. The magnificent sky god died on the ninth day of his illness holding on to the hand of their mother the goddess of the stars as they both passed away. The care of Hyborth’s sky and all of their creations were at the hand of the Sun God. The Moon God was so angry that he began to throw big rocks down to the Earth, destroying his family’s work. The Sun God tried to stop the pelting of rocks by shining strong rays of light destroying the rocks as they came down. This battle between brothers went on for months as the Moon God, Amus, continued to hit the Earth with rocks and the Sun God, Ilius, shined his light to stop them from ever hitting the creations he so dearly
At the beginning of time only the Gods where living, until one day Sovereign Plumed Serpent and Heart of the Sky, named Hurricane, created trees, bushes, and life. Bearer Begetter was the creator or animals big and small, like birds, deers, jaguars, pumas, and serpents. When the Gods created animals they created them for the sole purpose of being worshiped by them. However, when they realized that the animals could not speak they decided they would be sent to live in the woods and fend for themselves. After this Xpiyacoc and Xmucane attempted to make humans, but instead of not being able to speak. They appeared to be too unnatural and decided to call them manikins or wood carvings so, Heart of the Sky creates a flood killing them off. It is believed that monkeys look like humans because they are the manikins who survived the flood by climbing onto trees.
In a succession myth, the familial relationship between the gods is significant. In the three works: The Babylonian Enuma Elish, The Hittite Illuyanka Myths (version 2) and the Greek Theogony by Hesiod; it can be argued that the succession of the gods is a reflection of their power and that this power eventually leads to a redistribution of position within the gods. In the Babylonian Enuma Elish, each generation of god is proclaimed to be stronger than the last and eventually this culmination of power leads to Marduk killing his great-great grandmother. In the Illuyanka myths (version 2) there is a decrease of power in the line of succession but the power is restored to the Storm God in the form of his heart and his eyes. In the Greek poet Hesiod’s Theogony, gods and monsters (Cyclopes) also become more powerful with each succession and Zeus overthrows his father fulfilling the prophecy given by Heaven and Earth.
Roman and Greek mythology are filled with multiple interpretations of how the creator, be it the gods or nature, contributed to the birth of the world. These stories draw the backgrounds of the gods and goddesses that govern much of classical mythology. Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Hesiod’s Theogony are two pieces of work that account for how our universe came to be. A comparison of Theogony with Metamorphoses reveals that Hesiod’s creation story portrays the deities as omnipresent, powerful role whose actions triggered the beginning of the universe whereas in Metamorphoses, the deities do not play a significant role; rather the humans are center of the creation. The similarities and differences are evident in the construction of the universe, ages of man, and the creation of men and women on earth.
Ever wonder why the sun shines in the day and not at night or how night and day even came to be? It happened many, many years ago. Two young gods were trying to decide how to make the world. One wanted it to be square. The other wanted it to be a triangle. They could not seem to agree on anything at all. The young gods were twins, created at the exact same time. One was made by a ball of light that collided with a lone tree on a meteor she was named Lumina. Lumina means light in Romanian, pretty fitting for a god of light! The other god was created when a pitch-black meteor broke through a black hole; he was called Dorcha, which means dark in Irish. These two gods were completely different and could never see eye to eye.
Myths – as they are known to most of the world – give insight into the pasts of various countries and religions as the people saw them. They have been used to explain phenomenons in nature or describe the tales of courageous and important men and women throughout history. Creation myths in particular define how the Earth itself was created, along with the universe, heavens, hell, people, and creatures that exist today. Genesis of Christian mythology, for instance, tells the story of how the single deity God spoke and formed everything from day and night to man and woman. Various African creation myths, such as with the Yoruba, explain the creation of the Earth through at least a couple gods working together and all life sprouting from a seed. But all share a common themes, such as a form of chaos or nothingness before life is created. Joseph Campbell notes that “... the idea of an absolute ontological distinction between God and man – or between gods and men, divinity and nature - first became an important social and psychological force in the near East, specifically Akkad, in the period of the first Semetic Kings, c. 2500 B.C.,” showing another similar trait – a god or set of gods exists to create in each story (626). Joseph Campbell makes a comparison of how both Genesis and the Book of the Dead of Egypt share the same idea of their bodies belonging to their god in some way, or being reabsorbed into them at death (630-631). Others, like the Japanese and Iroquois creation myths, claim the Earth was once covered entirely of water before land was formed. Adam and Eve of Genesis and Izanagi and sister Izanami of Shintoism provide examples of myths that share both a passive and active pair of people who eventually create the Earth's population. In any case, certain popular creation myths, some closely tied to prominent religions, share more common characteristics than others. An entire sub-study, called comparative mythology, gives insight into this subject.
Hesiod’s Theogony and the Babylonian Enuma Elish are both myths that begin as creation myths, explaining how the universe and, later on, humans came to be. These types of myths exist in every culture and, while the account of creation in Hesiod’s Theogony and the Enuma Elish share many similarities, the two myths differ in many ways as well. Both myths begin creation from where the universe is a formless state, from which the primordial gods emerge. The idea of the earth and sky beginning as one and then being separated is also expressed in both myths.
The myths which prove the contradictory behavior of the gods, acting as both benefactors and tormentors of man, can readily be explained when viewed in light of the prime directive for man, to worship the gods and not “overstep,” and the ensuing “Deus ex Mahina” which served to coerce man to fulfill his destiny as evidenced by the myths: “Pandora,” “Arachne, and “Odysseus.” Humankind and it’s range of vision over the gods beauty and power portrayed them to be benefactors but unseemingly it depicted their affliction towards humans.
Apollo used the devastating force to influence his worshipers to seek out the great wrong that stirred his anger. Inducing a great tragedy or outstanding miracles were the common way that Sun Gods get recognition. Worshipers will present gratitude towards acts performed by the sun god; sacrifice and construction of monuments were believed to pay homage to the Gods. Helios was the sun god of Greek mythology. Like Ra Helios gave light and life to those on Earth and in the heavens. His power was greatly honored by man that a Cult of Helios was formed (Cult of Helios). The Members of the cult went to the far extremes to appease Helios. Each year a giant horse drawn chariot was driven off a cliff into the vast ocean along with an enormous bronze statue of Helios holding the sun, which over looked the island of Rhodes. It was renounced as one of the Seven Wonders of the World even after its destruction.
These human attributes bring to being mother earth and father sky in the form of Father Rangi and Mother Papa who were joined together in eternal darkness by their love for each other. This aspect is similar to other myths in that the male and female Gods of origin join together to make earth and sky and their offspring become aspects of the weather, seasons of the year and various plant and animal life that ultimately sustain life for humans that were created by the children of the original beings. Another similarity that this myth has with others is a flood story where the tears of Rangi flood the earth and create the rivers and seas because he was forcefully separated from Papa in order to bring light to the earth.
Since the beginning of time, people had the need to explain and understand all the mysteries of the Universe. They didn’t have the same science as we do now, but they still created stories -Myths- to help them understand the unknown. All around the world, there are many cultures with different beliefs, languages and race; which lets us have several different myths. The Colombian and Korean cultures are very different but they both have myths about the sun and the moon. They may be different but they let people understand the origin of these two celestial objects.
People of the ancient world often had questions about their existence and how life and people came to be on earth. Most ancient people answered these questions through religion. The Sumerians were the first important group of people to inhabit Mesopotamia and they were known to practice a form of worship called polytheism, which is the worship of several gods. Mesopotamians associated different gods with natural events, emotions, and other occurrences. Their main deities included An (the god of the heavens), Enlil (Lord Storm), Enki (god of wisdom), and Nihursaga (the mother of all living things)(p.22). The Mesopotamians believed that the gods controlled all of the events and occurrences in life. An ancient text called “Creation of Man by the Mother Goddess” (p.34) helps us understand how the M...
“The story begins with an ocean, a watery chaos called Nun. The sun god Atum emerged from the watery chaos and created two children. Shu was the god of the air, and Tefenet was the goddess of water. Shu and Tefenet went to explore the land. They were gone so long that Atum began to worry. When they finally came back, he wept for joy. Atum’s tears became the first humans. Shu
“Gods can be evil sometimes.” In the play “Oedipus the King”, Sophocles defamed the gods’ reputation, and lowered their status by making them look harmful and evil. It is known that all gods should be perfect and infallible, and should represent justice and equity, but with Oedipus, the gods decided to destroy him and his family for no reason. It might be hard to believe that gods can have humanistic traits, but in fact they do. The gods, especially Apollo, are considered evil by the reader because they destroyed an innocent man’s life and his family. They destroyed Oedipus by controlling his fate, granting people the power of prophecy, telling Oedipus about his fate through the oracle of Apollo, and finally afflicting the people of Thebes with a dreadful plague. Fundamentally, by utilizing fate, prophecies, the oracle of Apollo, and the plague, the gods played a significant role in the destruction of Oedipus and his family.
Before there were humans and animals, there were giants. They were the sons and daughters of the sky spirits. The giants used to live in the sky with the sky spirits, but the giants dishonored the sky spirits, so the sky spirits punished them to live on the Earth and wonder their whole lives, so most of them were evil out of anger and hated the Earth. But a few were good and wanted the Earth to flourish and grow so life might be better. There was only soil on the Earth, so the good giants dug. They dug with their hands for days and found nothing. The giants cried out of sorrow. From their tears sprouted trees and bushes, when the giants saw this it made them hopeful. They began to dig again. They dug until they found a worm. This worm was small
Utu, Inanna, Ninurta, and Enki are gods and goddess in ancient Mesopotamia. Based on Jacobsen's analysis in chapter 2, he describes Utu as the brother of Inanna, and in one of the courtship stories of chapter 2, he chooses a bridegroom for her. He is also the sun god, which is a crucial part that the earth needs to survive. The sun guides the growth of the planet. Inanna is the sister of Utu, and in some parts of the text in chapter 2 she is said to be spoiled, rich and noble. This description of her means she is free from any responsibilities other people have. Later on, she becomes destruction itself when she disappears into the underworld. She was saddened when the other people begged for her return to the world and were lamenting, all wanting