UNIT 4:

Myths of Creation
 Myths of Creation

I. The Birth of Order

• Creation myths offer a cosmogony, meaning
“the birth of order.”
• From the Greek words
• cosmos means world
• gignesthai means to be born
• Cosmogony can be distinguished from
cosmology, which studies the universe at
large and throughout its existence, and which
technically does not inquire directly into the
source of its origins.
Myths of Creation
 Myths of Creation

II. Classifying Cosmogonies

• Usually, the most important myth in a culture
because it becomes the exemplary model for all
other myths
• Cosmogonies relate how the entire world came
into being
• Some narratives relate the creation of the world
from nothing (creation ex nihilo)
– a. Hebrew – Book of Genesis
– b. Egyptian, Ptah creates through speech
– c. Australian,
– d. Greek, Hesiod’s Theogony begins with great abyss, void
– e. Mayan, Popul Vu
 Myths of Creation

II. Classifying Cosmogonies

• Another type of cosmogonic myth is known as
the earth-diver creation story
• A divinity typically sends a waterfowl or
amphibious creature to dive to the bottom of the
primordial waters and bring up mud from which
the world grows
• Other cosmogonic myths describe creation as
emerging from the lower worlds
• Navajo and Hope tell of a progression upwards
from lower worlds resulting in the final
progression into the world of humanity
• A Polynesian myth tell of various layers within a
coconut shell
 Myths of Creation

II. Classifying Cosmogonies

• Other cosmogonic myths
describe creation emerging
from a world or cosmic egg
• Myths from Africa, China, India,
South Pacific, Greece and Japan
speak of creation symbolized as
breaking forth from a fertile
cosmic egg
• The Dogon people of West Africa
describe this egg as the “placenta
of the world”
 Myths of Creation

II. Classifying Cosmogonies

• Yet another type of cosmogonic
myth is the world-parent myth
• The Enuma Elish is the creation
story of the Babylonians; Apsu and
Tiamat bear offspring who later
oppose their parents; the result of
this confrontation is the creation of
the world (more on this story later)
– This myth (as well as others like it) are
also associated with creation from
dismemberment
• Other world-parent myths come
from the Egyptians, Zuni, and
Polynesians
 Myths of Creation

II. Classifying Cosmogonies

• Another approach from those listed
above: Van Over’s Six Basic
Themes
1. Idea of a primeval abyss
2. Originator(s) awakened or eternally
existing in this abyss
3. Originator(s) brood over the water
4. Theme of the cosmic egg or embryo
5. Creation from sacred sound or
spoken word
6. Theme of creation from the death of
and body parts of the primeval god
 Myths of Creation

II. Classifying Cosmogonies

• Yet another approach: Maclagan’s
8 themes
1. Inner and outer
2. Something from nothing
3. Conjugation of opposites
4. World order and the order of the
worlds
5. Descent and ascent
6. Earth body and sacrifice
7. Death, time, and the elements
 Myths of Creation

II. Classifying Cosmogonies

• Lastly, Weigle’s nine-part
typology
1. Accretion or conjunction
2. Secretion
3. Sacrifice
4. Division or conjugation
5. Earth-diver
6. Emergence
7. Two creators
8. Deus faber
9. Ex nihilo
 Myths of Creation

III. Types of Creation Myth

• Accretion or Conjunction Stories
– These stories depict the birth of order as resulting
from the mingling or layering of the primal
elements (e.g., earth, wind, fire, water).
– accretion is a process in which the size of
something gradually increases by steady addition
of smaller parts
• e.g., droplets of water vapor form clouds
• e.g., an increase in land mass through accumulation of
dirt, rock and sand
 Myths of Creation

III. Types of Creation Myth

• Secretion Stories
– This pattern involves the cosmos resulting from
divine emissions such as vomit, sweat, urination,
defecation, masturbation, web-spinning and
parthenogenesis (asexual reproduction).
1. Typically the secretions result in human forms but
some stories include secretions resulting in non-
human forms (seas, lands, animals, plants, etc.)
 Myths of Creation

III. Types of Creation Myth

• Secretion Stories
2. Example of non-human formations is found in the
story of Ku’urkil, the Chuckchee’s “self-formed”
Father Raven, defecates and urinates, thus creating
the earth and various bodies of water
3. More common are the secretions resulting in the
creation of conscious beings resembling the primeval
creator intellectually and spiritually.
 Myths of Creation

III. Types of Creation Myth

• Sacrifice Stories
– In some cosmogonies, the creator god sacrifices him or
herself or someone else in order to complete the work of
creation.
• Division or Consummation Stories
– Weigle says that these types of myths are “usually
associated with discriminating primal matter or a
cosmogonic egg with the consummated marriage of earth
and sky.”
– The consummation motif shares with cosmogonic egg
myths the knowledge that tiny germs contain within them
astonishing potential for organized growth.
 Myths of Creation

III. Types of Creation Myth

• Earth-Diver Stories
– In Weigle’s fifth type of creation myth, a god or his agent
dives to the bottom of the primordial deep, from which
most cosmogonies begin, and returns with a few grains of
sand or a bit of mud from which the earth and the rest of
the cosmos eventually arise. Some stories already
mentioned include this typology.
• Emergence Stories
– Emergence myths typically depict the first people or first
person as journeying from an original, cramped world or
womb into this world. Many Native American myths take
this form.
 Myths of Creation

III. Types of Creation Myth

• Two Creators
– This type of cosmogony, very common among African
and Native American traditions, depicts two gods creating
the world through cooperation or competition.
– Frequently, one god is more active or more human than
the other.
• Deus Faber
– This term means the Maker God, the quintessential
architect, artisan, or craftsperson.
– Deus faber stories celebrate the astonishing intricacy and
cleverness of creation.
 Myths of Creation

III. Types of Creation Myth

• Ex Nihilo = “out of nothing”
– A Latin term, literally means “from nothingness”
or “from spirit”
– Used to describe cosmogonies in which the
creator brings the world into being through
speech, breath, dream, thought, or laughter
(Weigle)
 Myths of Creation

IV. Reading Creation Myths

• Keep in mind, the categories through which we have
discussed creation myths need not be strictly distinct and
unrelated. Many myths exhibit multiple characteristics.
• Mythologist, once they understand a variety of types,
often ask more probing questions:
– Why do certain cultures depict the creation through one
chosen type rather than another?
– What is the culture ultimately trying to say about itself?
– Do any categories emphasize some values over other values?
 Myths of Creation

IV. Reading Creation Myths

– Do their environments influence the moods
or tones of their stories?
– What kind of relationship is depicted
between creators and humans and does this
speak to a culture’s contemporary
understanding of divine beings?
– What symbols are used and what remains
significant about these symbols in more
contemporary descendents?
 Myths of Creation
Hebrew Book of Genesis
 Myths of Creation
Babylonian Enuma elish
 Myths of Creation
Egyptian Book of Overthrowing Apopis
 Myths of Creation
Hesiod's Theogony
 Myths of Creation
Hindu’s Rig Veda
 Myths of Creation
Japanese Kojiki, “Record of Ancient Things”
 Myths of Creation
Norse Voluspa from the Poetic Edda
 Myths of Creation
Finnish Kalevala
 Myths of Creation
Quiche Maya’s Popol Vuh
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