Creating the Past
Ancient Egyptians and Norsemen along with all other cultures believe that the world and all that lies there in was created by a Supreme Being or force. For most people faith alone is not enough to base their very existence on; people want to know why, how, and all of the details. It is only human nature for a person to be curious and want to know why something happened the way it did. Curiosity is the reason the Egyptians and Norsemen began to write or create myths and deities. Authors since the beginning of time have written based on the inspiration of their lives and surroundings, including the Egyptians and Norsemen. Ancient Egyptian and Norse creation mythologies and deities yield logical evidence of the cultures from which they came. A few different creation stories occupied the Egyptian region, but most all of them began the same. According To Pierre Montet, the world was created from nothing in "a time when there was no sky, when neither the earth, nor men nor gods existed, and when even death did not exist" (154). In Egypt like in most other places, only a small percentage of boys and girls attended school, and they were from upper class families. The lack of education in the Egyptian culture
The ancient Egyptian and Norse myths and deities reflect many different aspects of culture including the environment, society, way of life, and people. The Egyptians based most of their myths on parts of their society and way of life. By looking at life around them, the authors of Egyptian mythology created an explanation for their existence. Norse myths were influenced by the environment and people of the culture, and the Vikings created their existence from surrounding evidence. Cultural influence was extremely important in the creation of both Egyptian and Norse mythology. Many times, the Vikings massacred people as they were terrorizing a country. With a life like that it is no wonder they created a myth in which the creation of the earth came from a slaughtered giant (Jones 92). The god Odin was the god of battle and death and lived in the home of the gods, Asgard. The Vikings believed that if they died fighting they would go to a hall in Asgard called Valhalla, where they would fight all day and dine all night. The Vikings also had burial customs that involved great ceremony. Many Vikings were buried in a ship with their possessions and in some cases with their live slaves and dogs. Such graves were supposed to "ensure a safe journey to the land of the dead" (Oeland 67-68).
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Approximate Word count = 2637
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)
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