Comparing Enuma Elish, The Origin Of Life And Fire

The Creations of Life
There has long been a fascination with how the beginning of the world and much more specific human beings were created. Many myths and epics developed from this fascination. Though the explanation given is always a bit different from one another. Some of these myths explain the creation of the gods, humans, and the world we live in. The myths provide as entertaining stories as well. Though each story is unique, they do have common motifs as well as cultural differences. Three of these creation myths are The Enuma Elish, The Ages of Man, and The Origin of Life and Fire. Each myth gives an explanation of the creation of living beings, but also shows similarities and differences among them, such as common motifs and cultural differences.
Creation myths explain how the wonders of the Earth came to be. Creation Myths are the most common form of myth, found throughout many cultures. Like most myths they were passed in an oral tradition and were considered sacred accounts. They tell how the earth and how life came to inhabit it. A supreme being appears in

almost all these myths. It is usually that Supreme Being that causes the events triggering the creations of life. Sometimes there can be two beings, a passive and active creator. Also the creation of life at times does not come until after generations after the first god came into being. “The story of the 'making of the world' is
a global legacy of all traditional cultures” (Origin Beliefs).

In creation myths, there is often a common motifs among them.

The reason for the commonality of these myths, because have how each myth was passed along. Since they were passed along orally, the myths then developed common themes and motifs. In the creation myths, The Enuma Elish, The Ages of Man, and The Origin of Life and Fire, there is a common motif of generations. In each myth, generations are emphasized and influential in the creation of humans. Whether it be the generations of the gods or the humans themselves, generations are present. In The Enuma Elish and The Origin of Life and Fire, the generations of gods create humans out of civil war in first myth and intentionally in the latter myth. In The Ages of Man, Zeus creates generation of humans, the gold, silver, bronze, heroes, and iron generations. This myth come from different cultures, but they hold similarities to each

other.
The myths, The Enuma Elish, The Ages of Man, and The Origin of Life and Fire all come from different regions and cultures. The Enuma Elish comes from the region of the Middle East. Archeologists found the myth on seven clay tablets in the 1840s in their excavations at Nineveh, in what is now Iraq. There were other versions of the myth found in areas close by with slights differences only. The Enuma Elish is Babylonian myth, so it takes shape with Babylonian gods such as Marduk. In Babylon, the myth was highly celebrated and was considered to have magical power over the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. (Rosenberg 3) In contrast, The Ages of Man is a myth that’s comes from Greece. It contains the Greek gods and geographical aspects, such as the plants and trees mentioned. Finally, The Origin of Life and Fire comes from the western part of central Africa. In the myth African elements, such as the animals Bumba vomits up, which many are native to Africa. Each myth comes from a different culture with different gods and regions on earth. Though the cultures are different, there are still similarities within them.
In creation myths, the creations themselves of living beings come in all shapes and sizes. In The Enuma Elish, the creation of humans comes from the civil war amongst the gods. When the war was over, one of the gods, Ea, made humans out of the traitor, Kingu’s blood. He then explained that the purpose of the humans was to serve the gods. In The Ages of Man, humans were made by Zeus. He made multiple generations of humans after one generation passed away. The generations who served and loved the gods and fellow humans lived virtuous lives. In The Origin of Life and Fire, humans were created by the god Bumba, who vomited up the first human beings. Bumba created animals and humans to live peacefully with one another. In each of these myths, living beings were created either serve the gods or to just simply live peacefully.
The myths, The Enuma Elish, The Ages of Man, and The Origin of Life and Fire give an explanation of the creation of living beings, but also show the similarities and differences among them such as common motifs and cultural differences. These myths are traditional myths that come from different cultures from across different countries and regions. Though they come from such different cultures, they share similarities with each other, such as their motifs and main themes. Their main theme was creation and a motif they shared was the motif of generations. These creation myths have stood firm for generations and will continue to for many more generations to come.