Similarities Of Creation Myths

All people throughout history have strived to explain the unknown. This is reflected best in the creation myth. The creation myth serves to answer that most pervasive of ancient questions: that of the origin of the world. All cultures have tried to answer this question. Two of these cultures are the Aztecs and the ancient Greeks. The Aztecs claimed that the world began with the goddess Coatlicue becoming impregnated by a ball of hummingbird feathers. Her previously born children try to kill her, but she gives birth to the sun god Huitzilopochtli, who kills her attackers and ascends to rule the heavens, leaving Coatlicue to rule the recently created earth. In Greek mythology, the earth goddess Gaia marries the sky god Ouranos, producing the titans, the first gods. One of the titans, Cronos, kills Ouranos with a sickle and rules the world. His children defeat him and send him down to Tartarus, the greek equivalent of hell. This essay serves to demonstrate the profuse similarities between the Aztec and Greek creation myths. The writer will show how the Aztec and Greek creation myths have many intrinsic themes and similarities.

Throughout the plot of these four creation stories, it is visible that each culture has varying beliefs on how land was developed. For example, Cherokee Indians conclude that land was created by a water beetle who sculpted soft mud, where as Hawaiians believe that land emerged from the slime in the ocean. Both Europeans and West Africans teach that a supreme being used his or her powers to form land. In Genesis, God was responsible for the land, whereas in the Golden Chain story, a creature called Obatala was deemed accountable for creating the land. One similarity betweens these stories is that they all begin in an almost identical setting. In every myth except for

The Lord God created man in his own image. He used the dust from the ground and molded it to create the first ever human, Adam. The

The humans were created through trial and error. The gods began their experimentation in creating humans. The first humans they created were made from mud. This left the gods without their creations since the humans kept falling apart. The human faces were lopsided and they would dissolve when they came in contact with water. This

It should be noted that all creation myths tend to possess similar themes, despite differing story lines. As noted before, there exists the basic ideas of chaos before creation, and gods to form life. But then various myths show that, once life has been created, the gods tend to retreat from the humanity they create, instead watching them from afar and using specifically chosen and often religious contacts to spread their words and commands. This deus

Almost every culture on earth has a creation myth. Most if not all of these myths borrow from the core theme of a God-centered creation as contained in the book of Genesis chapter one. According to Van Over (11), a good number of these creation stories show a similarity in the point of their origin. Rumor has it that some of these myths have emanated from actual historical occurrences or events. All creation myths emerge from one ancient source and only diverge when it comes to their timing and the surrounding cultural circumstances. The variations in the myths come as a result of the differences in time and cultural circumstances. Aside from the two causes of variation, in general all creation myths show a basic outline and they also share some basic elements.

Our origin stories and religions today can be phenomenally similar to those of ancient Native American tribes. The Iroquois and Shawnee creation stories each have great similarities to each other and to the creation story found in the Bible. For the Iroquois, the world started as water and sky, filled with birds and fish. The creation story found in the Bible includes a day when the world was only water and sky, only with fish and birds to inhabit the earth. For the Shawnee creation story, “Together [Grandmother and her

Origin myths deliver stories explaining how the world, humans or objects came to existence. Describing where the nation comes from, they are very important to the culture of given region. Therefore, each nation developed its own stories and beliefs; however, there are many similarities between myths of various religions and cultures. A good example would be Native American stories about origin and their resemblance to Greek mythology or to the Bible. Similarities can be seen in different spheres such as creation of humankind or even in the story about flood.

It's safe to say that throughout many millenniums there was a significant number of myths on how the earth was created; each possibly varying on beliefs, traditions, or specific origins. While reading Genesis and Iroquois I saw numerous similarities as well as differences, but there was one specific difference and one specific similarity that stood out the most.

Creation in Ancient Egyptian religion can be much different than the creation account taken from The Bible. Genesis has a set description of “The Beginning” while there are several different versions and variations in Egyptian mythology. The versions range from a “one god” myth (Ptah; see picture) to the more common creator out of Nun, which in itself has several derivations.

Compare and contrast the Biblical creation myths with other creation myths from Greece and the Ancient Near East.

Creation stories are common among different cultures, but the Greek and Genesis creation stories have both similarities and differences in how they began and how humans were created.

Throughout history many civilizations and cultures have had their own ways of explaining the world and its creation. Each of these civilizations has created unique descriptions and accounts of such events. However, when comparing them to each other, are they really different? Look at the ancient Greco - Roman creation myths as told by Hesiod in his Theogony and Works and Days and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, when compared to the creation myths as seen in the Old Testament’s book of Genesis they may not be as different as one would think. Taking a more in-depth look at both Genesis and Hesiod’s and Ovid’s work more closely, the reader can see that on multiple occasions the myths have almost identical similarities which reflect their views in

There are many motifs in mythology. A motif is a repeating idea. Learning these myths are challenging, but they explain so much about how the Earth, time, and humans were created. Explaining the myths, or even the motifs, could be hard considering there are many different ideas on why and how the motifs are included. Three motifs caught my attention, which were the destruction from gods, humans created from organic materials, and family trees, and I am here to explain them.

Each creation story highlights the most important aspects of the cultures that wrote them. Not only do they show the values of the people, but they can give us an insight into how these cultures might have been. Comparing the Atra-hasis, Rig Veda, Genesis, Yijing, and Popol Vuh has uncovered many distinct themes when focusing on the time and place the creation story occurred. Patterns found in creation stories from different parts of the world show how similar human beings are.