The Greek Creation Epic, The Metamorphoses by Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid), describes the formation of the Earth and mankind in ex nihilo, the Latin phrase defined as “out of nothing”. Ovid’s Metamorphoses tells a story of Earth’s creations as a god transforms a natural object Chaos into Earth and then populating it with humans and animals. This famous Greek mythical creation story has its similarities and differences with other creation stories we’ve studied such as Enuma Elish, Gensis 1 & 2, Hesiod’s Theogony. The Metamorphoses relates to some of these stories because of their emphasis the creation of the world being formed from the power of a god rather than being formed from chaos. The Metamorphoses was originally written in Latin by Ovid …show more content…
In The Metamorphoses the story begins with the earth and its features not existing and the only things that existed are the unknown god and Chaos. In the beginning of Enuma Elish, the two gods Apsu and Tiamat already exists and the Earth has not been created. This is seen in the opening lines of Enuma Elish stating “When in the height heaven was not named, And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name, And the primeval Apsu, who beneath them, and chaos, Tiamut, the mother of them both” (Enuma Elish line 1-4). Again this theme of having a god and the earth not yet being created is seen Genesis 1 and 2, were God already exists and he then creates the earth and all of its quantities as God says “Let there be light” (Genesis 158). This is seen in the opening lines of Genesis 1 stating “When God began to create heaven and earth, and the earth then was welter and waste and darkness over the deep and God’s breath hovering over the waters, God said, ‘Let there be light’ and there was light.” (Genesis 1-2 158). According to Lopez-Ruiz these “cosmogonies and theologies can be sketched as follows: most of them place the beginning of the world in natural elements or abstract states, such as Earth, Sky, the primordial waters, a void or Chasm” (Lopez-Ruiz 31). In The Metamorphoses, Genesis 1 and 2, and Enuma Elish the gods and/or humans are described. For the Metamorphoses, …show more content…
These differences are seen in how each creation stories describes how the Earth and all her quantities are created. In The Metamorphoses a god uses the existing being Chaos to create the earth as seen with “that god (whichever one it was) had given Chaos form, dividing it in parts which he arranged, he molded earth into the shape of an enormous globe” (Ovid 1077) then created Earths features such as oceans, lakes, mountains, and forest. In Enuma Elish there is much detail in explaining the origins of how the earth was created due to Marduk killing Tiamat and then using her corpse to form the Earth and its heaven, which he then populates the Earth with animals and humans. In Genesis 1 and 2 God creates the Earth and everything it entails out of nothing. He creates Earth in a Seven-day time period, on day one he creates the heavens and the earth, on day two he creates the sky, day three he creates land, on day four he creates the stars and other heavenly bodies such as the moon and sun, on day five he creates all animals that live in the water, on day six he creates all animals that live on the land including humans, and on day seven “the heavens and the earth were completed” so he rests. Another difference between these three stories is the format in which they are written, The Metamorphose is a poem written in dactylic hexameter, Enuma
In Genesis chapter 1:2 God 's spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters." before God changed anything water existed on the Earth. In the sky tree it says that "In the beginning, earth was covered in water." so water had always been on Earth since the start. In the creation story in How the World Was Made it states " in the long time ago, when everything was all water" once again water was before anything else. Another way that these creation stories are similar is that the land came from beneath or was brought up above the water. In Genesis 1:9 "God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear '" here God pulled the water away from some land and it became dry and livable. The Sky Tree depicts that "all of the water animals began to dive down and bring up soil... and placed the soil on Turtle 's back." this is what created the
Like the Greek Theogony, the creation of the world in the Enuma elish begins with the universe in a formless state, from which emerge two primary gods, male and female:
The Biblical account in Genesis, probably written by Moses around 1500 B.C., and the story of creation and flood in Ovid's Metamorphosis, written somewhere between 8 and 17 A.D., have weathered the criticism and become the most famous. The Genesis account, however, may be the most prominent of the two accounts. Within these accounts, are many similarities, as well as differences, which make these two writings well respected, while holding their own in the literary world. Though both accounts of the creation and flood are well respected on their own, when compared side to side, they are drastically different.
The passage to be analysed comes from Book 11 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (lines 399-538) (A.Melville, 1986) it is the story of Callisto translated meaning the Moon which is a fitting transition as it starts with the ending of the story of the Sun. Ovid uses the destruction caused by Phaethon after using this fathers chariot and winged horses to prove his paternal parentage.
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.
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.
Throughout the world there are various cultures with varying religions and creation stories to explain the creation of the Earth and it’s inhabitants. Of these creation stories two with similar and also different characteristics is the Creation story in the book of Genesis which is a part of the 1st Testament in the Hebrew Bible and explains the creation of Earth and humans, and the Theogony which is the greek creation story that describes the origins of the Earth and the Greek Gods. Both the Theogony and the Creation in Genesis show nature as a blessing for humans but it can also affect them negatively, However the myths differ in the ways that the Earth and humans were created and how humans interact with the deities of the creation stories.
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.
The second creation myth I will examine in this essay is of Greek origin and is known as The Five Ages of Man. This myth begins wit...
The Enuma Elish mirrors the subordinate disordered lives of the Babylonians that created it. Genesis mirrors the newfound freedom and idealism of the Jewish people who created it after years of oppression. These two writings contrast the differences between the ancient Babylonians and the ancient Hebrews. Creation stories give great insight into the lives of the people who created them.
In this paper I will discuss three similarities and four differences between Enuma Elish-The Epic of Creation (King,1902) and Genesis 1:1-3:24 as described by Michael Fishbane (Fishbane, 1979). These writings are selected to describe the story of creation of the earth and the inhabitants of the earth. However, each author has a very different view and way of explaining what they have interpreted the sacred texts to mean.
The difference between the way Homer and Ovid present the gods and their relation to human being is that in Homer, the gods are more tough on the humans than in The Metamorphoses. In The Iilad, some gods were focused on returning Odysseus home while some were trying to stop him in his tracks. This story also focuses more on environment and symbolism because of the way the story is written. In Metamorphoses, the gods seem to care more about human beings. They show stronger emotions towards them. You can see this through all of the theme changes that occur in the story. They penalized people who were wicked and reward those that were piety. Metamorphoses set the tone in Book I, when the gods punished Lycaon for trying to kill Jupiter in his
This essay will compare and contrast Greek mythology’s The Theogony by Hesiod and the Babylonian creation story found in the Enuma Elish. Both creation myths start off with an empty universe in a formless state. Two chief god entities materialize from this state of nothingness, one represented as a male and the other as a female.
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.
Life is a never-ending metamorphosis. It is always changing, always transforming. Sometimes a change is followed by positive results, but on the darker side, a metamorphosis can lead to damage or suffering. But of course, the concept of metamorphosis can also be related into the wonderful yet unrealistic world of magic and sorcery. Metamorphosis can mean a rapid transformation from one object to another or a distinct or even degenerative change in appearance, personality, condition, or function. The concept of metamorphosis is commonly used in pieces of literature to describe an extreme change in character or form.