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Creation myth, philosophical and theological elaboration of the primal myth of creation within a religious community. Myths of creation refer to the process through which the world is centered and given a definite form within the whole of reality. Learn more about creation myths in this article.
A creation myth (or creation story) is a cultural, religious or traditional myth which describes the earliest beginnings of the present world. Creation myths are the most common form of myth, usually developing first in oral traditions, and are found throughout human culture.
An origin myth is a type of myth that explains the beginnings of a natural or social aspect of the world. Creation myths are a type of origin myth narrating the formation of the universe. However, numerous cultures have stories that take place after the initial origin.
- Heliopolis creation story – ancient Egypt. According to the ancient Egyptians, the universe started with a primordial ocean known as Nun. At the center of Nun was a giant pyramid called benben.
- Proto-Indo-European Creation Myths. Among many Proto-Indo-European cultures, Ymir was the force that existed in the time before time. This being was also the embodiment of the vast sea of chaos (Ginnungagap) – a region devoid of any life form or structure or order.
- Mayan creation story. The Mayan creation story is contained in the Popul Vuh (also known the “Book of the Community” or the “Book of the People”). The text was written in Mayan hieroglyphics.
- Babylonian creation myth. The ancient Babylonians believed that in the beginning two primordial gods – Aspu and Tiamet (or Tiamat) – existed. Prior to that, the universe was a vast void of nothingness, land and sky had yet formed.
- Greek Creation. In the beginning was Chaos. Then came Earth which produced Sky. Covering Earth each night, Sky fathered children upon her. Earth was personified as Gaia/Terra and sky was Ouranos (Uranus).
- Norse Creation. In Norse mythology, there was only a chasm, Ginnungagap, in the beginning (somewhat like the Greeks' Chaos) bounded on either side by fire and ice.
- Biblical Creation. The first book of the Old Testament is the Book of Genesis. In it is an account of the creation of the world by God in 6 days. God created, in pairs, first the heaven and the earth, then day and night, land and sea, flora and fauna, and male and female.
- Rig Veda Creation. W. Norman Brown interprets the Rig Veda to come up with various underlying creation stories. Here is the one most like the preceding myths.
Feb 1, 2013 · An Illustrated Guide to the World’s Creation Myths. Each culture has its own version of how the universe began. Artist Noah MacMillan brings this “visual vocabulary” to life. February 1, 2013.
There are, therefore, almost as many cosmogonic myths as there are human cultures. Until quite recently, the classification of these myths on an evolutionary scale, from the most archaic cultures to contemporary Western cultures (i.e., from the assumedly simplest to the most complex) was the most dominant mode of ordering these myths.
