The Most Common Motifs In Greek Creation Myth

Around the world, there are many myths from culture to culture. Creation myths explain how the world and the universe came to be. They also describe how the animals and mankind came to be. All of these myths have one main creation god or branch off from other gods who then create other things. One of the most well-known myths is the Greek creation myth. Some other ones come from Ancient Egyptian and Norse mythology. Those would be some of the biggest myths that most people have heard about at some point in their lives. It is interesting because all these myths revolve around similar motifs. Some of these include primitive chaos, the struggle between gods, and the creation of man.

One of the most common motifs in world creation myths and probably the biggest one is the creation of man. This motif shows up again, and again in myths all around the world. In an article from Bernard Doyle, this is his last motif in the article. Doyle claims, “The final general aspect of creation myths shown in the P’an Ku

This one I particularly like because it usually involves some sort of argument or war between one another or multiple gods. Some cultures this motif can be found in is Greek, Scandinavian, and African myths. Doyle uses the example of “The Norse and Babylonian creations myths also involve the notion whereby the creation of the universe involves a struggle between primordial gods and/or beings” (Doyal). The Scandinavian myths I find the most interesting because they relate a lot to the Marvel universe, which is comics and movies. In the Scandinavian myths, there is a war between two cosmic regions; Niflheim, the frozen world, and Muspell, the hot world (Wilkinson and Phillips 115). Ymir is a frost giant and is killed by Oden (god of war). Gods Vili and Ve are also killed (Wilkinson and Phillips 115). Their bodies are then turned into the world and mankind is created (Wilkinson and Phillips