What Role Did Polytheism Play In The World

Zoroastrianism on the other hand is a monotheistic religion, originating in Iran, and has evolved throughout the ages. With approximately 130,000 remaining followers. Zoroastrianism’s early stage, is presumed to have influenced Buddhism, and introduces beliefs of Gods and Devils that have been adopted by other religions such as Christianity, and Islam. The Zoroastrian gods represented elements, aspects of nature, and principles such as justice and obedience. These gods were called daevas meaning (“shining ones”), with higher ranking gods called Ahuras or (“Lords”) with the supreme god Ahura Mazda, being worshipped above all the other gods as the divine creator; through good thoughts, words, and deeds, like the Jainism ahimsa. Zoroastrians believed there was a cosmic battle between good and evil and to support good one must dedicate themselves as spiritual warriors for good.

Nearly every culture has a creation myth to explain the unknown wonders of the world, such as how the world came to be and how humans came to exist on earth. Creation myths paint a picture for the confused and answer question for the curious minds of its people. These stories have influence on its believers and tied into their religion and how they go about their life. There are many creation myths that give credit to different divine beings for creating everything. All of the creation myths are different in their own way but many of them share signification ideas and themes. The Mesopotamian myth, Enuma Elish, is similar to the Egyptian creation myths, Creation by Atum and Theology of Memphis, because of their use of chaotic water and system resemble a family tree, however, they differ in the creation of men.

Every culture has its own past belief on how everything was created; Gods, lands, plants, animals, creatures, and humans all have a unique story to be told throughout the ages. But it is plain to see there is some overlap between ideas on how everything was made. Take the Greek Mythology, the most popular and well known type of mythos, has connections to other cultures like Nordic and Native American. But of course, each story has their own twist or other idea to it, as well.

One parallel between Greek and Egyptian creation stories is that they both begin with a God or Gods being created from the universe. The creation of

Myths – as they are known to most of the world – give insight into the pasts of various countries and religions as the people saw them. They have been used to explain phenomenons in nature or describe the tales of courageous and important men and women throughout history. Creation myths in particular define how the Earth itself was created, along with the universe, heavens, hell, people, and creatures that exist today. Genesis of Christian mythology, for instance, tells the story of how the single deity God spoke and formed everything from day and night to man and woman. Various African creation myths, such as with the Yoruba, explain the creation of the Earth through at least a couple gods working together and all life

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.

When you look back on history there were many defining religions, beliefs and values among different cultures and societies. The beliefs varied from believing in one single God to multiple gods, from being patriarchal to matriarchal. When discussing difference you can see numerous among the Ancient Hebrew culture and the Archaic Greeks. Greeks believed in multiple gods, the Olympians and the Chthonian whereas Ancient Hebrew’s believed in one God whose name shouldn’t even be pronounced it was so sacred. These two cultures perceived the world and their surrounds in a completely different way.

While I was reading these interesting stories, each story had some qualities that where similar, but there were also many differences. Which wasn’t really a huge surprise since the setting of each story happened during different times, and on different parts of the planet. All the stories involved a special child, and everyone knew he was gifted. A few characters in these myths have powers, but some do not. Sikhism and Christianity seem to be based on Monotheistic viewpoint, but Buddhism and Shinto seem to be based on a polytheistic viewpoint. Each story was either about a god, or a prophet spreading his new found message to the people.

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

The creation myths of these religions indicates that they are all monotheistic. In the Judeo-Christian account of creation, God created heaven and earth and separated the light from the darkness, on the first day . On the second day, He separated the waters from the sky. On the third day, He created the land and vegetation. On the fourth day he made the Sun, Moon and stars. On the fifth day He created the creatures of the seas and the birds. On the sixth day

Myth still remains one of the major links that merges the different cultures and religions from various ethnicities. “The Creation of the Titans and the Gods”, as well as “The Creation, Death, and Rebirth of the Universe”, are among the many creation myths that highlight these combinations. Throughout history, myths have created various similarities and differences between the cultures and religions of the world.

Creation myths across cultures have several obvious similarities and differences. There is substantial importance in the larger ideas, such as gender, the role of the human beings, and the outcome of the creation. I find it fascinating that many of the mythical stories from around the world have told a story where a God floods the earth. I think the flood stories in each myth may be a link between them. Creation myths concern our ancestors and gods of nature; the earth, the sky, the sun, the moon, and the stars. They are supernatural explanations of human origin and they help explain what humans could not explain to answers question about the creation of the earth and man that could be passed on for generations. Our culture and history would not be the same without the mythical place that surround the stories of our creation.

The most popular creation myth, in present day is the “one god” myth. It existed yet, had a brief life and it was in the minority. Here Ptah was the closest thing to monotheism that the ancients had. This is a popular theme in Memphite theology, but it was present in parts of Egypt. Ptah supposedly had all that is manifest in thought and then created them with his Word (Baines, 1991). It is also said that the “one god” is and the other god names are used to personify an extension of the “one god” (Ancient Egyptian Religion pg. 2 and 3). Ptah creates the Ennead with thought and word. This monotheism was not very widespread and it did not last long.

The monotheistic creation of the universe is accomplished by separating each part into its place to fulfill its function (for example; the moon and sun) whereas all polytheistic myths involve another deity being created, usually through the union of two others, to represent the different parts of the physical universe or in some cases, like the great Babylonian goddess Mammu-Tiamat being split into two to form the earth and the heavens, the god and the physical object created are one and the same .

In short, each religion differs somewhat, but they all have similarities as well. Many stories in several classical religions share common themes or events. There are a great many similarities between stories of Babylonian, Greek, and Christian origin. An example of a shared event would be "the flood" story. Each of these religions tries to explain the reason of a severe flood, which historians have found actually occurred in their shared region.