Mythology 2
A myth is a tradition, often an ancient story, dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes that serves to describe an accepted fundemental view of people. These views are communicated by explaining aspects of the natural world or outlining the psychology, customs, or ideals of a society. Many years ago, when science had not yet reached a higher level, the people of our world searched for answers to questions that could not be answered. During the time when these myths were created, there was no way to research for these types of answers about the creation of the universe, life, or even our planet. Not having answers to these questions makes it difficult for humans to find a purpose for life or a rulebook to apply to the way in which they live. So these myths were created to answer their questions. Many people consider Genesis to be the foundation for creation myths around the world. "Genesis is the oldest and most complex of the ancient writings that have been accepted in the word of God" (World Book 83). For this reason creations myths from around the world are often compared and contrasted with the Book of Genesis.The first things created in the Greek creation myth was the Gods. Gaea was the first Great Go
In the beginning of the Nigerian creation myth, the universe consisted of only the sky, the water, and the marshland. Olorun, the most powerful god, ruled the sky, while Olokun ruled all the water and marshland. Olokun was content with the kingdom, even though it created no vegetation or living things. Obatala wished to create living things on the earth, but he first had to obtain a gold chain that stretched from the sky above to the waters below. In Genesis, one advantage that God possessed was that he did not have to gain permission in order to create anything. He could just do as he please and as he wanted, with no one to set limits or restrictions. Obatala then created figures out of clay, only life could not be brought to these figures until Olorun breathed life into them. Once he did, the clay figures became active thinking human beings, only Obatala had created them while he was intoxicated from wine that he had consumed. When Obatala sobered, he realized that the humans that he had created were imperfect, and he then devoted himself to protected the deformed living in Ife (The Great Books) (Rosenberg). Not knowing what to do, Obatala calls upon Orunmila for help. Orunmila travels from the sky to Ife, he caused the waves to wane and the waters to retreat, drying up the marshland. The people that had been able to retreat to the hills were able to reestablish their lives. Orunmila stayed to live in Ife, long enough so that he was able to shows the gods and humans living there how to tell the future so that they could prevent something like this from ever happening again. This is a concept not explored in Genesis. In Ife, Gods and humans lived together as one, interacting and sharing. God was able to interact with the humans, but he did not live amongst them in every day life. In the Chinese creation myth, the entire universe was contained within an egg. Yin and Yang were formed when the egg split and became male and female forces. The light parts of the egg rose high and became the sky, while the heavier bits fell and became the earth and sea. Pangu, the first being, also came originated from the egg and he grew 10 feet every day for 18000 years. When he died, he was the same height as heaven is from the earth, As his body decomposed, his stomach became the mountains, his eyes became the sun and the moon, his breath became the wind, his tears became rivers, his semen became pearls, his bone marrow became jade, and his bones became metals and stones. This differed greatly from Genesis, in that God created the world, instead of the world being created by the god. God took it upon himself to create everything that he did, he didn't have things made out of parts of himself. The Mother Goddess Nugua created the first people, even though she herself was form like a human, only instead of legs, she has the tail of a dragon. This is another difference because many gods took part in the creation in this myth, while in Genesis, only God was responsible for everything that happened and was created (Rosenberg) (Thinkquest) (The Great Books). Unlike Genesis, Ra was very displease with what Hathor had done. This is very similar to the way that God reacts when Cain kills his brother Abel. God was very displeased with Cain to say the least, but he does not really react to Cain, just the same as Ra did not punish Hathor. Ra's only intention was to punish the humans, not to destroy the entire race. The Goddess Sektet them mixed together dad, fruit, and barley to make beer, with the hopes of attracting Hathor. Ra servents were then ordered to pour the mixture across the land. The beer became the great sea, which was then consumed by Hathor. Hathor became extremely intoxicated, and staggered off, leaving the last few humans behind. As was the case in Genesis, a few humans were spared, and from those humans, the population was reborn (Thinkquest) (The Great Books). Recreation took place in the dawn of
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Approximate Word count = 2663
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)
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