Creation Myths of the World


Greek Creation Myths

From Hesiod's Theogony (loosely interpreted):
In the beginning there was only Chaos, an empty void. This huge vacancy gave birth to Gaea (the earth), to Tartarus (the great region beneath the earth), to Eros (the god of love and attraction, to Erebus (the darkness of the underworld), and Night (the darkness over the earth). Then Erebus slept with Night, who gave birth to Ether (the heavenly light), and to Day (the earthly light). Later Night alone produced Doom, Fate, Death, Sleep, Dreams, Nemesis, etc. Meanwhile Gaea alone produced Uranus (the starry sky), the Mountains, and Pontus (the sterile sea). Uranus became mate and equal to Gaea, because he "covered" her on all sides. As a couple (he-sky, her-earth) they procreated the Twelve Titans, the three Cyclopes, and the three Hecatoncheires (with the fifty heads and hundred arms each). Uranus hated these latter children, and they hated him. In anger he pushed them back into Gaea's womb and kept them there. This was very painful for Gaea and she plotted revenge against Uranus. She fashioned a flint sickle and called upon her children to avenge her. All but Cronus, the youngest Titan, refused to help her for fear of Uranus's wrath. That night, when Uranus came to lie with Gaea, Cronus, hiding in ambush, was able to grab his father's genitals and sever them with the flint sickle. As the blood fell to the earth the Furies, the Ash-Tree Nymphs, and the Giants were created. When Cronus heaved the testicles into the sea Aphrodite arose from the foam. We hear no more of Uranus in the myths. Cronus then became leader of the Titans, and confined the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires to Tartarus. He married his sister Rhea and they produced many offspring. But Cronus had been warned by both Uranus and Gaea that a child of his would replace him as leader of the Titans, so when Rhea gave birth to a child and presented it to Cronus he would swallow the baby. This is what happened to Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon shortly after each was born. Rhea finally wised up, and when Zeus was born she presented Cronus a stone wrapped in the swaddling clothes, which he swallowed thinking it was the newest child. Zeus grew to manhood on the island of Crete, attended to by nymphs. He sought and got advice from Metis, another Titaness, who prepared an emetic potion for him. Soon, disguised as a cupbearer, he was able to get Cronus to drink the potion. Cronus immediately vomited up all the children he had swallowed, all safe and sound, and fully grown. They overwhelmed Cronus and bound him as a prisoner in Tartarus. And so the Olympians began their rule. (It took ten more years of strife and wars between Titans, Olympians, Cyclopes, Hecatoncheires, assorted monsters and dragons (like Typhoeus) before the rule of the Olympians was solidified.)


Norse Creation Myth:


At first there was only a great void, Ginnungagap. Eventually a region of mist and ice, Niflheim, was formed in the North and a region of fire, Muspellsheim, was formed in the South. The great world-tree, Yggdrasil, reached through all time and space, but was perpetually under attack from Nidhogg, the evil serpent. The fountain of Mimir, source of hidden wisdom, lay under a root of the tree. Niflheim came into contact with Muspellsheim, and the fires melted the ice, which yielded Ymir, the Frost-Giant with a human form. From Ymir's sweat came a race of Giants, so that a huge cow (Audhumla) was created to feed them. One day the cow licked the ice and hair emerged, on the next day a head, and on the third day Buri emerged, fully formed. Buri begot a son, Bur, who in turn had three sons: Odin, Vili, and Ve. These three were a new race, not Giants but gods. They banded together and murdered Ymir. Most of the other Giants drowned in Ymir's blood, which created a great sea. From Ymir's body the three gods made solid land, the earth, and from his skull they made the heavens. They then created a race of dwarves from the maggots that fed upon Ymir's body. This was followed by the creation of the first man and the first woman. They shaped the man from an ash tree and the woman from a vine.


Babylonian Creation Myths


From the mixing of Apsu (sweet water) and Tiamat (salt water) there arose the gods, Mummu (the waves), and Lakhmu and Lakhamu (gigantic twin serpents). The serpents produced Anshar (heaven) and Kishar (earth). From these two came Anu, Enlil, and Ea, as well as all the other gods of the sky, earth, and underworld. Apsu and Tiamat became angered because of the noise made by such a large group of gods, and began talking about killing off their progeny so they could get some rest. When Ea, the all-knowing, learned of this he used his magic to capture Apsu and Mummu. Tiamat was furious and raised a large army of gods and freaks to battle Ea and his cohorts. Anu and Ea became frightened and Ea created Marduk to battle Tiamat. Marduk promised to do so if he were granted supremacy over all the other gods. All the gods agreed and Marduk, armed with bow and arrows, lightning, the winds, a hurricane, and a special net sallied forth to battle Tiamat. When they clashed, Marduk caught Tiamat in his special net, and as she opened her mouth to swallow him, loosed the hurricane into her mouth. As she swelled from the hurricane within her, Marduk slew her with an arrow into her belly. Then he cast the net again capturing her army within it. These he chained and cast into the underworld. From her corpse the world is created. He was then proclaimed God of the Gods.
Another Babylonia Creation Myth
In the beginning there was only darkness and water. Out of this Chaos there came many odd creatures: men with wings, two faces, or both; creatures that were male and female combined; humans with goat feet; others who were part horse and part man. These creatures were ruled over by Omorka, the (female) moon. Marduk cut Omorka in two, and separated the the halves into sky and earth, and destroyed all of the odd beings that existed. Then Marduk commanded one of the gods to cut off his head, and from the blood and clay of the earth, he created humans, animals, stars, sun, moon, and everything that is.


Egyptian Creation Myth


Only the ocean existed at first. Then Ra (the sun) came out of an egg that appeared on the surface of the water. Ra brought forth four children, the gods Shu and Geb and the goddesses Tefnut and Nut. Shu and Tefnut became the atmosphere. They stood on Geb, who became the earth, and raised up Nut, who became the sky. Ra ruled over all. Geb and Nut later had two sons, Set and Osiris, and two daughters, Isis and Nephthys. Osiris succeeded Ra as king of the earth, helped by Isis, his sister-wife. Set, however, hated his brother and killed him. Isis then embalmed her husband's body with the help of the god Anubis, who thus became the god of embalming. The powerful charms of Isis resurrected Osiris, who became king of the netherworld, the land of the dead. Horus, who was the son of Osiris and Isis, later defeated Set in a great battle and became king of the earth.



Another Egyptian Creation Myth:


At first there was only Nun, the primal ocean of chaos that contained the beginnings of everything to come. From these waters came Ra who, by himself, gave birth to Shu and Tefnut. Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture gave birth to Geb and Nut, the earth god and the sky goddess. And so the physical universe was created. Men were created from Ra's tears. They proved to be ungrateful so Ra, and a council of gods, decided they should be destroyed. Hathor was dispatched to do the job. She was very efficient and slaughtered all but a remnant, when Ra relented and called her off. Thus was the present world created. Against Ra's orders, Geb and Nut married. Ra was incensed and ordered Shu to separate them, which he did. But Nut was already pregnant, although unable to give birth as Ra had decreed she could not give birth in any month of any year. Thoth, the god of learning, decided to help her and gambling with the moon for extra light, was able to add five extra days to the 360-day calendar. On those five days Nut gave birth to Osiris, Horus the Elder, Set, Isis, and Nephthys successively. Osiris became the symbol of good, while Set became the symbol of evil. And thus the two poles of morality were fixed once and for all.


Celtic Creation Myth


The giants are the gods of old. In the first winter, a mighty giant was created from hoarfrost. And when fire came, he melted. From the enormous bulk of his body came the world. From his blood flowed the sea, from his bones the mountains, from his hair the forests, from his skull the sky. In the centre of the Earth, on hills rising high as mountains, live the gods, and below seethes the Underworld, land of the dead and all their secrets.

Yoruba Creation/Flood Myth


In the beginning was only the sky above, water and marshland below. The chief god Olorun ruled the sky, and the goddess Olokun ruled what was below. Obatala, another god, reflected upon this situation, then went to Olorun for permission to create dry land for all kinds of living creatures to inhabit. He was given permission, so he sought advice from Orunmila, oldest son of Olorun and the god of prophecy. He was told he would need a gold chain long enough to reach below, a snail's shell filled with sand, a white hen, a black cat, and a palm nut, all of which he was to carry in a bag. All the gods contributed what gold they had, and Orunmila supplied the articles for the bag. When all was ready, Obatala hung the chain from a corner of the sky, placed the bag over his shoulder, and started the downward climb. When he reached the end of the chain he saw he still had some distance to go. From above he heard Orunmila instruct him to pour the sand from the snail's shell, and to immediately release the white hen. He did as he was told, whereupon the hen landing on the sand began scratching and scattering it about. Wherever the sand landed it formed dry land, the bigger piles becoming hills and the smaller piles valleys. Obatala jumped to a hill and named the place Ife. The dry land now extended as far as he could see. He dug a hole, planted the palm nut, and saw it grow to maturity in a flash. The mature palm tree dropped more palm nuts on the ground, each of which grew immediately to maturity and repeated the process. Obatala settled down with the cat for company. Many months passed, and he grew bored with his routine. He decided to create beings like himself to keep him company. He dug into the sand and soon found clay with which to mold figures like himself and started on his task, but he soon grew tired and decided to take a break. He made wine from a nearby palm tree, and drank bowl after bowl. Not realizing he was drunk, Obatala returned to his task of fashioning the new beings; because of his condition he fashioned many imperfect figures. Without realizing this, he called out to Olorun to breathe life into his creatures. The next day he realized what he had done and swore never to drink again, and to take care of those who were deformed, thus becoming Protector of the Deformed. The new people built huts as Obatala had done and soon Ife prospered and became a city. All the other gods were happy with what Obatala had done, and visited the land often, except for Olokun, the ruler of all below the sky. She had not been consulted by Obatala and grew angry that he had usurped so much of her kingdom. When Obatala returned to his home in the sky for a visit, Olokun summoned the great waves of her vast oceans and sent them surging across the land. Wave after wave she unleashed, until much of the land was underwater and many of the people were drowned. Those that had fled to the highest land beseeched the god Eshu who had been visiting, to return to the sky and report what was happening to them. Eshu demanded sacrifice be made to Obatala and himself before he would deliver the message. The people sacrificed some goats, and Eshu returned to the sky. When Orunmila heard the news he climbed down the golden cahain to the earth, and cast many spells which caused the flood waters to retreat and the dry land reappear. So ended the great flood.


Vodun (Haitian evolution of Yoruba mythology) Creation Myth


Damballah (Sky-serpent loa; wise and loving father) created all the waters of the earth. The movement of his 7,000 coils, when in his serpent guise, formed hills and valleys on earth and brought forth stars and planets in the heavens. He shed his skin in the sunlight, releasing all the waters over the land. The sun shone in the water and created the rainbow. Damballah loved the rainbow's beauty and made her his wife, Aida-Wedo; she shares his function as cosmic protector and giver of blessings.


Aztec


Quetzalcoatl, the light one, and Tezcatlipoca, the dark one, looked down from their place in the sky and saw only water below. A gigantic goddess floated upon the waters, eating everything with her many mouths. The two gods saw that whatever they created was eaten by this monster. They knew they must stop her, so they transformed themselves into two huge serpents and descended into the water. One of them grabbed the goddess by the arms while the other grabbed her around the legs, and before she could resist they pulled until she broke apart. Her head and shoulders became the earth and the lower part of her body the sky. The other gods were angry at what the two had done and decided, as compensation for her dismemberment, to allow her to provide the necessities for people to survive; so from her hair they created trees, grass, and flowers; caves, fountains, and wells from her eyes; rivers from her mouth; hills and valleys from her nose; and mountains from her shoulders. Still the goddess was often unhappy and the people could hear her crying in the night. They knew she wept because of her thirst for human blood, and that she would not provide food from the soil until she drank. So the gift of human hearts is given her. She who provides sustenance for human lives demands human lives for her own sustenance. So it has always been; so it will ever be.


Maya


In the beginning was only Tepeu and Gucumatz (Feathered Serpent). These two sat together and thought, and whatever they thought came into being. They thought earth, and there it was. They thought mountains, and so there were. They thought trees, and sky, and animals etc, and each came into being. But none of these things could praise them, so they formed more advanced beings of clay. But these beings fell apart when they got wet, so they made beings out of wood, but they proved unsatisfactory and caused trouble on the earth. The gods sent a great flood to wipe out these beings, so that they could start over. With the help of Mountain Lion, Coyote, Parrot, and Crow they fashioned four new beings. These four beings performed well and are the ancestors of the Quiché.