Questions tagged [creation]
For questions about myths of the creation of the universe, Earth, and all the things on it.
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Do we know of any pagan creation myths that also feature a creation week?
Is the creation week an introduction by Abrahamic religions, or are there other known religions that also have, as part of their creation myths, a creation week (not necessarily of 7 days)? I've ...
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Why did the creators of the myth "man was created from clay" choose clay?
The creation of life from clay is a theme that appears throughout world religions and mythologies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creation_of_life_from_clay
the question is: why did their imagination ...
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Are there analogues of Chaos in mythologies other than Greek?
By Chaos I mean the primordial, undifferentiated substance from which everything begins in Hesiod's Theogony:
First it was Chaos, and next broad-bosomed Earth, ever secure seat of all the immortals, ...
user10066
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Which culture believed in a bird whose flight sustains the universe?
I came across a mythological belief a few weeks ago, I believe in a Sam Kriss piece (1).
It centered around a bird (a swan or goose, I want to say?) that ceaselessly flew (in a primordial void/chaos?) ...
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Is there a name for the generational overthrow of gods/titans/giants?
There is a common pattern in various mythologies - particularly in the Indo-European "big family" set - of gods overthrowing monsters and sometimes being overthrown in turn by a new ...
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Myths on God committing suicide
I am looking for information on myths where God commit suicide, specifically myths based from Central America, South America, and Africa; especially on the idea that earth was created through a God's ...
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Are there other Gardens of Eden?
Outside the Abrahamic religions and mythology are there any equivalents to the Garden of Eden? More specifically:
A garden, orchard, or similarly cultivated or designed space distinct from wilderness ...
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How early is the Zoroastrian myth of mountains stabilizing a shaky Earth?
I found that this myth is in Zoroastrianism (Selections of Zadspram and the Greater Bundahishn). How early did this myth of mountains being used to stabilize a shaky Earth appear in Zoroastrianism? ...
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What high school subject would mythology & creation myth be covered in?
Not sure if this is the best site to ask this question, but what high school subjects would generally cover mythology and creation myth? I have heard that possibly ancient history or literature in ...
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Are there any Dragons myths about dragons being the creators of creation? Supernatural beings -as it were - that created the landscape?
I don't have a link to share, just seems to me that ancient man read the landscape and its spiritual and supernatural significance seems to pivot mostly around Dragon myths.
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Phrygian creation myth
Years ago I heard that the Phrygians had, in their creation myth, that they were the firstborn people of creation.
This came up in the context of biblical studies where the apostle Paul - in his ...
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Character that created themself?
Is there a character in any mythology or folklore that was notable for having created themselves?
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Iterative Creation Myths: Rare or Just Obscure?
I noticed that in the categorisation of creation myths, there isn't a slot for iterative creation, i.e. where one world is created after another (with or without destroying the previous one), without ...
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In What Myth the Octopus Hails from a Previous World?
I have at some point in my life encountered a claim that according to some islanders' myths, octopodes are the only survivors from a previous world, and managed to squeeze through a rift between ...
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Why do so many cultures have a myth of the world being made or remade from water?
In various creation and flood myths the world is said to be remade from water, why would different ancient cultures have this same theme?
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What started the flood in Sumerian Mythology?
This version of the great flood myth, I have found, is unique because it does not appear as if the gods started it or caused it. Just that they knew of it and didn't warn or try to save the humans.
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Did Yggdrassil exist before the world's creation
In the cosmos creation myth, Ymir is born from the clash of ice and fire that comes from Muspelheim and Niflheim. When Odin and his brothers kill Ymir and create the world using his body it sounds ...
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Humans and Ages of Man [closed]
I'm a little confused. In the Golden Age, it is said that humans and deities lived harmoniously, also living long lives. In the Silver Age, Zeus said that humans will live 100 years as children. But, ...
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Was Ymir ever awake?
Seems like he was always asleep, until Odin created the world out of his body.
He drank the milk of the cow Auðumbla, and he is illustrated to be conscious while doing so, but that need not be. Jotun ...
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Humans' missing piece myth identification
Does anyone know a myth that refers/explains the feeling of incompleteness that humans have, and which drives us, makes us seekers of a missing something/fulfillment?
Ideally an ancient or primitive ...
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What is the original creation myth of Hawaiian mythology?
According to what I read in the Internet, there are two variants of the creation myth in Hawaiian mythology. According to the first two websites, the god Kane emerged from Chaos or Po and he creates ...
user1385
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Why did Athena breathe life into the man Prometheus created?
I have seen many books and papers reference Athena breathing life into the man Prometheus molded out of clay, but I couldn't find any primary sources of this happening, and I couldn't find any good ...
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Do the seemingly random timespans in the Kalevala creation story have any significance?
The first chapter of the Kalevala always gives a specific number of years (sometimes multiple numbers) when describing time skips. The three examples I saw are quoted below. Is there any known ...
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Why did many ancient civilizations believe that giants created the world?
From what I know, there were at least three ancient civilizations that believed that giants created the world.
Firstly, we have the Chinese, where the creation myth dates back to 600 BC, according to ...
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To the Greeks, how was the Earth created?
In Greek mythology, Cronus/Kronos and Gaea were the first gods to exist, Gaea the goddess to rule the Earth and Cronus the moon. When they first appeared, the Earth was already in existence. Neither ...
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Does Iroquois legend tell where the Sky People came from?
The Iroquois creation myth tells of Sky people that lived in the Sky World.
From firstpeople.us:
In the beginning, the world was not as we know it now. It was a water
world inhabited only by ...
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Was the story of Adam and Eve influenced by Sumerian Ninti and Enki?
Was the story of Adam and Eve from Book of Genesis influenced by the Sumerian story of Enki and Ninti?
On Wikipedia page about Ninti we can read:
Some scholars suggest that this served as the ...
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Why is the Serpent the most common motif as the creator in indigenous Australian cultures?
Related to the question How long ago was the Dreaming?, according to the Wikipedia Rainbow Serpent page, the Rainbow Serpent is an integral part of many indigenous Australian cultures, and ...
user124
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Is there any explanation in greek mythology for the creation of Uranus and Gaea?
I was just wondering because there never seems to be a beginning. Greek mythology always seems to start with just there being Uranus and Gaea with no events before that. Is there a beginning before ...
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In Ho-Chunk mythos, how was the world created?
I'm interested in creation stories from various cultures. I find it interesting to see similarities and differences between various "origin of man" and "origin of the world" accounts.
The Ho-Chunk ...
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How long ago was the Dreaming?
The Dreaming, or dreamtime, is the Australian Aboriginal term for the pre-creation formless world, which was then given form by various deities including the rainbow serpent.
How long ago was the ...
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How does the Scientological creation myth describe the rebirth of humankind following Xenu's hydrogen bombing?
I don't know much about Scientology, but I hear that their version of cosmogony involves Xenu bringing a large number of humans to Earth from somewhere-or-the-other (some millions of years ago), and ...
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