One commonalty about all past human civilizations possess is that they attempted to explicate the unknown through notional narratives of Gods. Goddesses. Liquors or other charming existences that through some mode were able to command the conditions and determine the universe around them. Amongst these varied narratives one peculiar set of myths stands out as being a common creative activity in past societies viz. that of the birth of the World.
It must be noted that about every individual civilisation that has come into being has had a creative activity myth as the foundation of their civilization from which all other predating myths are based upon. The ground for this is that it is basic human nature to seek to oppugn all that is around them and to try to reply these inquiries in whatever manner is available. Since at the clip of their creative activity most early civilisations did non rather hold on the scientific truths that we know of today as such they used myths to make full in the spreads so to talk.
One job with this method is that while they at times came near to the reply as to how the universe was really formed most of the clip due to the overdone nature of some of the myths they were incorrectly more than they were right. What this paper will seek to make is demo how the different creative activity myths of assorted civilizations at the same time got the facts incorrect and right at the same clip. Grecian Myth of Creation
The more popular facets of Grecian mythology are normally focused on the Olympic Gods and Goddesses and their assorted in contending. bickers and methods of intervention with the people of Grecian universe one facet that is seldom mentioned is the construct of how the Greeks viewed the creative activity of the universe. Grecian mythology provinces that ab initio the full existence was composed of a great black nothingness called pandemonium that was surrounded by a monolithic ageless watercourse of H2O that was purportedly ruled by the ancient God Oceanus.
This landscape of an eternal watercourse of H2O and a great gaping nothingness was said to tbe the sphere of the Goddess Eurynome ( Hamilton 1969 ) . That in a desire to do order from the pandemonium she danced on the moving ridges of Oceanus which helped to divide the sky from the sea and she besides created the land from which she placed a overplus of animals to dwell it ( Hamilton 1969 ) . In some facets the Greek narrative of creative activity did acquire some parts right when it came to depicting the creative activity of the universe.
It is true that ab initio the early Earth was covered by a huge ocean with no land mass nowadays at all and that there was besides relentless storms that occurred as a consequence of fickle conditions forms at the clip. It is besides true that land multitudes were formed after the oceans receded and from this came the eventual rise of works and carnal life on the planet. In several facets the Greek myth of creative activity was really right nevertheless it is extremely dubious that a Goddess danced on the moving ridges of the early Earth and created the land masss we have today since there is no grounds to turn out such a Goddess existed.
Egyptian Myth of Creation Ancient Egyptian mythology provinces in the beginning there was nil. that everything was darkness and all that existed was a great organic structure of H2O named Nun. It was through the power of Nun that a great shinning egg came out of the darkness and this was the great God Re who could take many signifiers and was powerful plenty that if he spoke of name that being or object came into being ( El Aswad 2005 ) . It was through Re talking the names of the Egyptian Gods that they came into being and the land. Sun. stars and sky came into being.
The one facet that the ancient Egyptians got right was it is true that originally the was void in the universe and yes there was a great organic structure of H2O on Earth during it’s early old ages nevertheless at that place has been no grounds to turn out that a great shinning sentient egg caused the creative activity of the Sun. sky and land simply by saying their names. Norse Myth of Creation Ancient Norse mythology provinces that ab initio there was a great null names Ginnungagap from which came a part of ice named Niflheim in the the North and Muspellsheim a part composed of fire in the South.
It was the meeting of these two parts that melted the ice of Niflheim and created the hoar giant Ymir who was finally killed by Odin. Vili and Ve who formed the Earth from his flesh and the celestial spheres from his skull ( Columbia 2009 ) . It must be noted that Norse mythology is improbably fatalistic and is among the most cheerless types of mythology to be read. It comes at no surprise that their construct of the creative activity of the Earth came out of decease.
All in all similar to ancient Egyptian mythology Nose mythology merely got the impression of a amorphous nothingness correct the parts sing the formation of the Earth through the dead carcase of a giant is decidedly incorrect. Judeo- Christian Myth of Creation One of the most good known myths in the universe today is the Judeo – Christian myth of how the universe was created by God in seven yearss. It must be noted that while it is true that this peculiar myth was the consequence of the early Judaic faith of trying to construe the creative activity of the universe through God it is the clip border itself that is incorrect ( Mclaren 2006 ) .
While it may be true that there is a one true God the creative activity of universe has been proven to hold been the consequence of a procedure one million millions of old ages in the devising. The myth did acquire several parts right though. The initial events of the creative activity of visible radiation could be stated as the start of the large knock. after which the creative activity of the starts. seas and land mass on Earth all follow a prescribed and accurate order as to how things were created in a measure by measure procedure. The creative activity of adult male though is something to be contended with since harmonizing to dodo records and Darwin’s theory of development adult male originated from apes and non from the land.
Aztec Myth of Creation The Aztec myth of creative activity is based upon the actions of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca who looked down from their topographic point in the sky and saw merely H2O below. They attempted to make a mass of land on the H2O nevertheless a mammoth goddess that was drifting on the H2O Ate everything they made with her many oral cavities ( Hofstadter 2005 ) . As a consequence the two Gods transformed themselves into elephantine serpents and rupture her in two with her caput and shoulders going the Earth and the lower portion of her organic structure the sky.
From the hair of the goddess came the workss of the Earth. from her eyes and talk the Waterss of the Earth and from her nose and shoulders the mountains. hills and vales ( Hofstadter 2005 ) . The Aztec myth of creative activity is similar to that of the Norse myth of creative activity which states that the Earth was born from the decapitated organic structure of a elephantine being. One job with the Aztec myth of creative activity is that besides the point bespeaking that there was a elephantine organic structure of H2O in the beginning of the Earth’s creative activity which is true the remainder of the myth is extremely inaccurate when sing the facts that are known today.
For one thing. similar to this paper’s reaction to Norse mythology. the Earth was most surely non created from the decapitated organic structure of a elephantine goddess instead it was formed through the interaction of volcanic activity and fadeout oceans. Incan Myth of Creation The Incan myth of creative activity provinces that the Earth was originally covered in darkness and that from the lake Collasuyu emerged the Incan God Con Tiqui Viracocha who brought worlds with him. When he emerged Con Tiqui brought forth the Sun and stars and fashioned more worlds from elephantine stones that he found nearby ( Feld 2000 ) .
When construing the Incan myth of creative activity it become obvious that while the Incans were cognizant of the construct of darkness covering the Earth it becomes clear that that myth assumes that when worlds arrived on Earth everything was already formed and that all it needed was light in the signifier of the Sun and stars. The Incan myth of creative activity is different from the other myths presented in this paper due to the fact that it states that there was no demand for land and H2O to divide because everything was already arranged in the beginning.
Besides the history of darkness covering the Earth most of the Incan myth of creative activity is extremely inaccurate and is non an accurate history of what creative activity of the Earth was like. List of References Hamilton. Edith. Mythology: Dateless Narratives of Gods and Heroes. Pg. 66 – 68. 1969. Warner Books: New York “Ymir. ” Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. 6th Edition ( 2009 ) : 1. Maclaren. Alexander. “THE VISION OF CREATION. ” 3-5. Undertaking Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. 2006. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web.
7 June 2010. Hofstadter. Dan. “THE AZTECS: Blood AND GLORY. ” Smithsonian 35. 10 ( 2005 ) : 76. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 7 June 2010. Feld. Evelyn Dana. “The Inca creative activity myth. ” Calliope 10. no. 7 ( March 2000 ) : 36. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCOhost ( accessed June 7. 2010 ) . El-Aswad. el-Sayed. Jane Garry. and Hasan El-Shamy. “Creation Myth: Cosmology and Cosmology. Motifs A600-A899. ” Archetypes & A ; Motifs in Folklore & A ; Literature: A Handbook ( 2005 ) : 24-31. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 7 June 2010.
