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What are creation myths?
What do origin stories tell us about human life?
What are the creation myths of the Australian Aborigines?
Where did the Greek origin story come from?
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.
- 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.
Nov 23, 2015 · Creation myths, or origin stories, tell us what a culture believes about how humans came to be. They can also tell us much about what that culture values. These are often religious or spiritual explanations for human life.
- The Primal Cosmic Egg in Earliest Hindu Myths. The theme of the Cosmic Egg is found in many ancient civilizations. From the Polynesians, Finnish, to the Greek and Phoenicians, the theme was present in one way or the other.
- The Brutal World Creation from Ymir’s Remains. The ancient Vikings were well known for their incredibly intricate and imaginative creation myths. And one of the central figures in them was the primordial giant - Ymir.
- The Emergence of the Hopi Indians. Hopi are one of North America’s oldest and most enigmatic Native tribes. Living in the arid and remote desert environments of Arizona, the Hopi were a true mystery for the Spanish conquistador explorers.
- Life Created from a Decapitated Head’s Spit. The deities and the myths of the Ancient Maya are famed for their incredible vibrancy, the intricacy of their pantheon, and the imaginative stories of their peoples’ origins.
The Creation Sources. There’s no better place to read about the Creation than Hesiod’s “Theogony,” a book whose title can be literally translated as “The Birth of the Gods.”. See Also: Chaos, Creation II, Uranus, Cronus, Zeus, Titanomachy, Typhon.
We know the Greek origin story from some of the earliest Greek literary sources that have survived, namely The Theogony and Works and Days, by Hesiod. This oral poet is thought to have been active sometime between 750 and 650 BCE, within decades of when the Homeric epics, The Iliad and The Odyssey, took the form in which we know them.
One of the very oldest creation myths we have documented in its ancient form is Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation story. Here I write at some length about its content and how to interpret it, especially its introductory part in which the world is created and the gods have their initial battle for sovereignity.
