Creation Myths
Creation Myths across the Cultures
Hum/105 World Mythology
Creation Myths across the Cultures
“In the beginning, there was - Nun? Nothing? A great blackness? Water? Perhaps, there was only sand and sky?” All of the great Creation stories begin with this very simple statement, and then proceed to tell us of the gods and goddesses that created this vast and wonderful Earth. Although these stories had many similarities, they also had just as many differences. In this essay, I am going to examine two of the oldest civilizations myths and discuss those similarities and differences.
Greece
The Greek Story of creation is chock full of family dissension and anger. It shows a shift between a matriarchal culture in which people worshiped the Mother Earth for the crops that she would bare, to a society that was based on patriarchy. According to Greek myth, the original creator of the Earth was Gaia herself. In the darkness of Chaos, she gave birth to not only the mountains and the sea, but also to the sky, giving him equal standing with her and having him surround her on all sides, (Rosenberg, 2011). Gaia and Uranus had the three one hundred handed giants and three Cyclopes, but Uranus was terrified of his children and proceeded to throw them into the depths of Tartarus. After the birth of her next thirteen children, Gaia and her youngest son, Cronos conspired together to overthrow Uranus. While he slept, Cronos took a very sharp sickle and castrated his father, making himself the king of the sky. Cronos married his sister, the Earth goddess Rhea and together they had six children. But, Cronos feared that one of his children would overthrow him in the same way he had overthrown Uranus and he swallowed his first five children up. But Rhea hid her sixth child away from him and when he was of an age, Zeus took up the same sickle that had castrated Uranus and committed the same crime to Cronos. This incited a war between the gods and the titans
Hum/105 World Mythology
Creation Myths across the Cultures
“In the beginning, there was - Nun? Nothing? A great blackness? Water? Perhaps, there was only sand and sky?” All of the great Creation stories begin with this very simple statement, and then proceed to tell us of the gods and goddesses that created this vast and wonderful Earth. Although these stories had many similarities, they also had just as many differences. In this essay, I am going to examine two of the oldest civilizations myths and discuss those similarities and differences.
Greece
The Greek Story of creation is chock full of family dissension and anger. It shows a shift between a matriarchal culture in which people worshiped the Mother Earth for the crops that she would bare, to a society that was based on patriarchy. According to Greek myth, the original creator of the Earth was Gaia herself. In the darkness of Chaos, she gave birth to not only the mountains and the sea, but also to the sky, giving him equal standing with her and having him surround her on all sides, (Rosenberg, 2011). Gaia and Uranus had the three one hundred handed giants and three Cyclopes, but Uranus was terrified of his children and proceeded to throw them into the depths of Tartarus. After the birth of her next thirteen children, Gaia and her youngest son, Cronos conspired together to overthrow Uranus. While he slept, Cronos took a very sharp sickle and castrated his father, making himself the king of the sky. Cronos married his sister, the Earth goddess Rhea and together they had six children. But, Cronos feared that one of his children would overthrow him in the same way he had overthrown Uranus and he swallowed his first five children up. But Rhea hid her sixth child away from him and when he was of an age, Zeus took up the same sickle that had castrated Uranus and committed the same crime to Cronos. This incited a war between the gods and the titans
References: Rosenberg, D. (2011). World Mythology. Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database