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Greek creation myths
Greek creation myths
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When it comes to myths, there are so many simple, everyday events or objects to be presented in different ways depending upon who is telling them. Depending upon what culture a myth comes from, there can be thousands of explanations of how the Earth was created, why the sky is blue or why the sun comes up every day. Each culture portrays their ideas of why the world works the way it works in order to understand our time on Earth. In Greek mythology, the Creation Myth explains the commencement of life and how all things were created. Through Theogeny, a poem written by the Greek poet Hesiod, the creation of the cosmos was told through the birth of the Greek gods and how their lives began to generate existence as a whole. In this myth, everything …show more content…
Chaos was the origin of where everything began. First came Gaia who personified the Earth and then Eros who embodied love. These three major elements were what originally contributed created existence of the cosmos at a very basic level. After Earth was created, then came Erebus and Nyx who encompassed the underworld and nighttime. Then came Uranus and Pontus who became the sky and sea. As these gods continued to give birth to more and more gods, they slowly began to create all the elements of Earth today. When the gods produced with other gods, they created attitudes such as doom and strife. As they continued to reproduce, then came feelings, fate, memory, and natural beings such as the moon and the rivers. Through the gods’ different joys and misfortunes, new explanations of why Earthly events occur became known to us through mythological standpoints. The gods created humans the human race and other mortal beings by separating gifts they were given such as personality and physical characteristics. Some were given strength, some were given beauty and some were given brains, as an example. These beings were given mortality so that they could inhabit the Earth unlike the gods …show more content…
On Earth, we experience events that can be considered unexplainable even though there is factual knowledge to back up why these occurrences happen. This is often referred to as phenomena – which can overwhelm the senses of human beings because we are unable to control them as they are happening. For example, the clouds are frequently given heavy burdens to carry. These burdens weigh the clouds down for as long as they can handle them. The clouds eventually are unable to carry this weight any longer, so they finally release them in the form of water. This natural phenomenon was a metaphorical way of describing rain. A clinical or scientific way of defining rain would be that the air is saturated with moisture through evaporation and because of this, clouds form. When clouds become heavy with precipitation, they release rain down onto the Earth, and then the cycle starts over. It’s a common occurrence, but could be difficult to explain without any previous knowledge or extensive scientific research – which is why we consider non-man made occurrences to be phenomena. The metaphorical explanation seems like a perfectly respectable way of describing how precipitation takes place on Earth if the scientific explanation was not presented when factual information comes in to play. Language in
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 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.
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.
Why do myths from different cultures around the world address such similar or universal themes? Do we see these same themes in today's myths? Think about how myths explain the unknown and the tribulations of mankind.
The tales of Greek heroes and the gods are older than all of us. Most of these tales are thought to be myths, but every interpretation of Greek mythology and the stories that it contains correlates with something in the real world today. The story of the creation of the world, and the stories of the heroes Hercules, Perseus and Theseus, are only but a few of the compelling stories Greek mythology has to offer. In the beginning, chaos was all that lived. Out of the void appeared Erebus, The place where death dwells, and with it came Night.
“A myth is a way of making sense in a senseless world. Myths are narrative patterns that give significance to our existence.” ― Rollo May
It is ironic that the entity in existence was the being called Chaos, for although it's Greek translation is Chasm, or emptiness, I believe that chaos and disorder will be their fate if the gods continue this eternal cycle of increasing self destructive behavior. All of this, however, was created as through the beliefs and imagination of Hesiod. Historians and mythologists still can not concretely separate, in his two stories, the Theogony and the Works and Days, which parts were of his imagination and which were not; it is therefore difficult to determine what the author's overall message was to the readers. It is possible that Hesiod wrote these stories in order to discredit the gods with gossip of their alleged human-like violence and sexual transgressions.
Mythology is defined as a collection of interrelated stories of a given culture. Myths are intended to explain and describe the mysteries of nature and give understanding about the world that surrounds us. Each culture has their own mythology that reflects their values and beliefs. Myths were also generated to tell the story of the first people to inhabit the earth. The Egyptian mythology elevated these people to the level of Gods and Goddesses by giving them supernatural and special powers. These myths of creation were passed from one generation to the next, either orally or by hieroglyphs painted in sacred temples, pyramids, and sanctuaries.
One parallel between Greek and Egyptian creation stories is that they both begin with a God or Gods being created from the universe. The creation of the Greek world began when Eros(cupid) sprang from the great, shapeless mass of chaos and was later followed by Gaea(Earth), Erebus(darkness), and Nox(night). These later deities would become the ancestors of all other Greek Gods and Goddesses.(Footnote pg 56 The Literature and Mythology of Ancient Egypt) Similarly in Egyptian mythology, Ra came into being, and gave life to other Gods, “After I had come into being as the only God, there were three gods aside from me[Shu, Tefnut, and Nun].”(Kaster 56) Eventually, Shu and Tefnut begot Geb and Nut, who in turn created Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. Creation by universe is a common factor in both Greek and Egyptian creation stories.
Ancient Greek creation story, the earth began with darkness and nothingness- a void, or Chaos, as known to the Greeks (Genesis 1:2; Tripp 159). This Chaos was the bearer (meaning that he gave birth to) of Ge/Gaia (Earth), Tartarus (underworld), Eros (love and sex), Erebus (darkness), and Nyx (night) (Tripp 159). In the Christian creation story, God is the parallel to the Greek Chaos in that he invents the same things (with the exception of an underworld; the creation of Adam and Eve and their later reproduction could be comparable to Eros) as Chaos bore (Genesis 1:1-18).
Essentially, there are three typical characteristics of mythology. Classic myths often include gods or supernatural heroes, are “closely linked to religion,” and “generally take place in a primordial age, when the world had not yet achieved its current form” (“Mythology” Wikipedia). Furthermore, myths provide an explanation for the existence of life and how the world came to be.
Mythology is an essential part of all cultures. Through myth, ancient cultures attempted to explain the world and make sense of their daily lives. Myth helps us to live in the minds and time period of people who lived many centuries ago with no technology, no running water, and a basic education. Greek myth is possibly the most commonly recognized myth simply because it is likely the most developed and best recorded. Modern Greek myth originated around 1000 B.C. in the writings of the famous Greek poet Homer in the Odyssey and the Illiad. Although early Greek myths are often vague and contain many primitive elements regarding their understanding of death, sacrifice, and fate, later myths show Greek culture developed and changed over time.
Once upon a time high above the earth, fluffy white clouds drifted through the atmosphere. In the clouds lived a family Droplet of water, round and content with life. For as long as I could remember, I spent my days lying on my back, relaxing and soaking up the sun's warm rays. One day, I took my usual place in the sun but the light didn't seem to be as bright. In fact, as the day went on, it grew darker and darker, loud claps of thunder shook the cloud, and the Droplet felt as if he were getting so heavy he could hardly move. This is called precipitation.
Throughout studying many myths, I came up with many new observations. Many questions came into my mind about these myths. Greek mythology takes us back to a time when people had a connection with nature and when nature played a major role in people’s lives. The religious beliefs of the people who wrote the myths are found in the background of these myths; however, they are not to be read like religious texts. The myths try to offer explanations of “how”, which makes us think deeply about the purpose of these myths and the questions they draw to our minds. According to the myths we studied in class, the world created the gods, not the other way around. The gods were always created in the image of man, which shows how much men were important in their society. Furthermore, many of these Greek myths show us the difference between the views of the Greek then and our view towards many aspects of the society, including nature. Monsters appear in Greek myths and have different representations and roles. Greek mythology reflects a view of the Greeks towards the world and how certain aspects of their lives are similar and different to modern society.