Where did it all begin? The creation of mankind has been and continues to be the most told and most changed story of all time. How did man come to be on Earth? How did Earth come to be in space? Who or what created all of this? There has to be some kind of explanation because without one, then nothing else makes sense. There has to be a purpose to life because without one, there is no point in living. Most importantly there has to be hope because without someone or something to believe in, you lose all belief in yourself.
The Creation stories all tell a tale of the beginning of time. The story of a high and mighty God possessing immense power, incredible strength, a sea of knowledge, and infinite wisdom. Someone to go to when in need of help, but also someone to fear in time of wrongdoing. In the Babylonian Creation Epic, there are numerous texts focused around a godly figure that goes by the name of
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In most of the stories, the almighty God, goes through a trial of some sort to prove his strength. As said in Tablet VII, “Let them sound abroad the song of Marduk / How he defeated Tiamat and took kingship” (17-18). Marduk kills Tiamat and uses her body to create the world that we live in. This is also shown in Theogony, “He subdued his father, Kronos by might and for the gods / made a fair settlement and gave each his domain”(73-74) a text describing the triumph of the Gods of Olympus, lead by Zeus, over the titans. The only distinction being how they went on to create man after their glorious victory. After discovering who waged the war against him, Marduk punished the traitor by using his blood to create man. As mentioned in tablet VI “It was Qingu who made war / Suborned Tiamat and drew up for battle / They bound and held him before Ea / They imposed the punishment on him and shed his blood / From his blood he made humankind”(29-33). In a way man was his trophy. Their eternal praise and worship will forever serve as a
The Enuma Elish’s emphasis is not on the creation of humanity, but rather on the rise of the sun god Marduk, and how he became the supreme god. Marduk was born of Ea, who was born of the bitter water god Tiamat, and was very powerful. He was enlisted to defeat Tiamat and her monsters in a great war, and agreed on the condition that he will forever remain king of the gods. He defeated Tiamat, tore her body in half and used it to create the Earth and the sky. He is also credited with positioning the constellations to represent the gods, and assigning jobs to the gods who fought on the losing side with Tiamat in the war. He then created man to serve the gods in their defined duties, as it was deemed beneath them to perform such duties. The creation of man as a working servant of the gods established a lower role of humans in the Babylonian society than in that of the Mayans, where the people were created to praise the gods, not serve them through hard
A myth is a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events. Each civilization has its myths about the creation of the world and its human race. Most speak of “gods” who perform feats far beyond that of humankind. Most are legends passed down through oral tradition, and embellished along the way. The book of Genesis is one of the most significant books in the Bible and is sacred scripture for Jews, Samaritans, and Christians. The Babylonian epic, Enuma Elish, is one of the most important sources for understanding the Babylonian worldview. Hesiod’s Theogony is a poem describing the origins and genealogies of
is the idea of a divine being or, in other words, god. Early humans were
Though the two Creation stories are supposedly intended to be connected - even interchangeable - the only similarity they share is the presence of the omnipotent God and His role in the creation of the earth. Where the first creation describes a detailed, six-day process in which God first delineates day and night, establishes the physical world, and then finally creates man, the second creation is a much simpler process, one almost contradictory to the first story's strict schedule.
The creation myths that I have studied are similar in many ways. They also have differences that show an inherently different way of thinking about the world. All have creators-gods that make the world into what is now. There are conflicts within their world, and these conflicts change the face world. God to god or human to god maybe be involved in these conflicts. Their bloody struggles prove who is more powerful, causing change in the control of the world. Some gods are beneficial to man and others are self-serving, using man only as a tool.
The first creation myth I will begin with is Hebrew in origin and comes from the Old Testament book of Genesis, specifically chapters one through three. Chapters one and two focus on Jehovah’s (God) creation of the heavens, earth and all living things. After man (Adam) is created Jehovah, gives him a single command: “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of he tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die (The Revival Study Bible, Genesis 2:16-17).” Jehovah then creates a mate for the man, woman (Eve). Throughout this creation story the reader is given the impression that the creation itself is perfect i.e.: following creation God declares everything good, man has a close friendship with his creator, man and woman were naked and experienced no shame. Unfortunately that perfection ends when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They then felt shame, cast blame to others rather than to themselves and hid from God. As a result of their disobedience God punished them according to his law. Both Adam and Eve and their offspring after them were sentenced to a life of pain, suffering and death.
Can religions and cultures be anything more than their history? Why do we have a concept of history in the first place? Obviously history exists, but like the human ability to conceive of the future, history seems to be a rare phenomenon tied with our ability for language and the telling of stories. What’s even more fascinating is the human ability to make up a history or to tell a story, such as a creation myth, that seeks to explain something that has not been witnessed by anyone and does not have any role in finding food or creating shelter. We do not have a physical need to know how the earth came to be or to know how it is that we came to be here. Still, creation stories exist in almost all human cultures and, amazingly, many share many of the same elements. The question is, why? Is it a coincidence that so many of them share the same elements? By looking at a comparison of two creation stories, we should be able to understand the meaning of these similarities better.
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 phenomena 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.
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.
In Egypt, the sexual perversion between humans and animals came to pass; deliberately, the idolatry of sexual intercourse with women and he-goats, and male worshippers with she-goats, transpired within temples and in public. Manifestly, numerous scholars believe that from such perversions as exemplified, the idea of semi-divine beings, half man and half animal originated. Directly, Egypt prided itself on frequent half-human and half-animal creatures; however, unlike the majority of Egyptian deities and gods that stayed in their nation, signs of the continuation of goatmen creatures soon evolved into other lands. Specifically, the territory known as the “land of Canaan” existed as a vast wilderness where Semitic tribes lived, (roughly
Perhaps one of the main reasons the Epic of Gilgamesh is so popular and has lasted such a long time, is because it offers insight into the human concerns of people four thousand years ago, many of which are still relevant today. Some of these human concerns found in the book that are still applicable today include: the fear and concerns people have in relation to death, overwhelming desires to be immortal, and the impact a friendship has on a person’s life. It does not take a great deal of insight into The Epic of Gilgamesh for a person to locate these themes in the story, and even less introspection to relate to them.
There are specifically nine classifications of creation myths and many employ more than one motif. Genesis cosmogonies apply both the deus faber and ex nihilo motifs. The story often considered the ex nihilo myth, meaning "out of nothing" is the account in the first book of the Old Testament, Genesis, of God's creation in six days by speaking into existence light and darkness, sun and moon, stars and earth, plants and animals, and birds and fish. God then generates Adam in His image from the dust and breathes life into him and Eve was formed from one of Adam's ribs, therefore combining deus faber (the "maker-God") with ex nihilo motifs.
We learn about ancient civilizations through literature, artifacts, and stories passed down from generation to generation. The Mesopotamian civilization is one of earth's earliest civilizations, and it's also one we know very little about. We can gather information about these people's way life, beliefs, and geographical location. The Epic of Gilgamesh, a literary work from this time period, shows us several important pieces of information that helps us understand this ancient civilization. This epic shows us the Mesopotamian peoples belief system, their views on death, and their description of the after life.
For all intents and purposes, there are two views of the beginning of the universe. One of these is the creation told in chapters one and two of Genesis. Genesis confirms that God created the Heavens and the Earth on the first day of the first week of Earth’s history.
Genesis is the first creation story. God creates, establishes, and puts everything into motion. After putting all of this in motion he then rests. He creates everything on earth in just seven days. Before creation Gods breath was hovering over a formless void. God made earth and all of the living creatures on earth out of nothing. There was not any pre-existent matter out of which the world was produced. Reading Genesis 1 discusses where living creatures came from and how the earth was formed. It’s fascinating to know how the world began and who created it all. In Genesis 1 God is the mighty Lord and has such strong power that he can create and banish whatever he would like. His powers are unlike any others. The beginning was created from one man only, God.