These myths do exactly what their title insinuates, explains the creation of the cosmos and life. This paper will examine two creation myths from two different cultures, Norse Mythology and Genesis Mythology. This paper will compare and contrast many different aspects of both of these myths including the various worlds, the creators, and the importance of the myths in culture. Norse Mythology and Genesis: An Overview The Norse creation myth is the combination of various types of creation including secretion, sacrifice, and accretion/ conjunction myths. Norse mythology explains the beginning of life coming from burning ice and biting flame (Leonard & McClure, 2004).
During the early Roman Republic, Romans began to adopt religion from the Latin and Greek cultures. Many of the gods and goddesses the Romans adopted into their pantheon have a Greek equivalent, some of whom maintained their Greek name. Some of the Greek gods and goddesses Rome accepted were Apollo whose name remained the same, Aphrodite whose name became Venus, Hera whose name became Juno, and Zeus whose name became Jupiter (Encyclopedia Mythica). Romans had a god or goddess for almost every aspect of life and each god or goddess represented a specific aspect in life. For example, Apollo was the god of medicine and poetry, Venus was the god of love, Juno represented females and marriage, and Jupiter played the highest role as overseer of the heavens and Earth.
Exam 1- Mesoamerica Question#2 Discuss the iconography of the Milky Way and the Dark Rift. Include specific examples of artworks or architecture that define them. The Maya believed that spiritual forces and their ruling deities underlie and control material manifestation, therefore recognition of astronomical features is critical to understanding the true meaning of the Maya end-date 2012. Image C shows how the Earth will be impacted before and after December 21, 2012.This paper discusses the importance and representation the Milky Way and the dark-rift have on the Mesoamericans. According to John Major Jenkins, “The Mesoamericans mythologized the Milky Was as a cosmic tree, a cosmic mountain or volcano, a cosmic ballcourt, a Great Mother, a snake or crocodile monster, a white toad, and a river.” In the centre of the Milky Way (Image D) lies the dark rift also known as xibalba be, which consists of interstellar dust visible to the naked eye.
In the Greek creation myth, The Theogony “is a mythical account of how the Greek gods came into existence and of the relationships and conflicts bewtween them, which led to a divine monarch under the ruler Zeus.”[2] Features include, a polytheistic worldview, with gods being part of the natural environment and personified, to the extent of having male and female sex characteristics. [3] They are also considered anthromorphic and therefore take on qualities of humans in form and behaviour. There is a contrast of the female representing the earth goddess, (Gaea) and the male representing heaven(Uranos), who is both the son and partner of Earth. Creation, therefore takes place through birth of these elements and continue with their offspring producing a further generation of gods. [4] These features are shared also in the Babylonian creation myth, Enumera Elish.
What are the divinity’s attributes, such as divine powers or characteristics? What objects does the divinity possess, such as a weapon or animal, that assist him or her? Zeus as the Lord of the Sky, was able to control conditions of the atmosphere, including lightning bolts and rain. Whatever his lightning bolt came into contact with was set on fire. (University of Phoenix World Mythology: An Anthology of the Great Myths and Epics 1994.)
this. Special beliefs that they held about the creation of people were: “the only thing that the world lacked was a symbol of God”, “Seeing this, Prometheus sculpted a figure, man, out of earth.”, and “This figure was to symbolize the gods, thus human life is formed” (“Roman Creation Myth”). As evident from the quotes, one can see that the Romans’ beliefs were quite odd from what a human living in the present day would believe in. These beliefs are ‘special’ to a present-day human as the Romans created these myths based strictly off of their imagination. In the current age, one would not need to create their own stories because we now have correct information because of the scientific knowledge that is currently present.
Cosmic Creation Myths Across Cultures Victoria A. Provencal HUM/105 World Mythology Wednesday, June 6, 2012 Cherie Ann Turpin The study of mythology is used to describe stories from various cultures to describe/explains certain actions that might have occurred that are considered mysterious or unexplainable. In moving forward, creation myths is defined as telling a special kind of story known as “cosmogony”, a word deriving from Greek that means, literally, “the birth of order.” (Leonard, S., & McClure, M. 2004) In performing some research and reading more into “cosmogony”, cosmogony is also defined as a mythological explanation for the creation and evolution of the universe. (Cosmogony, 2004). In reading both definitions of “creation myths” and “cosmogony”, you can see that they both relatively mean the same thing. As we study mythology and creation myths, you will understand that creation myths typically deal with different cultures and what each culture seeks to explain how this world was created.
The Etruscan believed that every physical phenomenon was a clear act of divine power and this power could be dissuaded or persuaded to favor human acts. The Etruscan had a god for everything: The sun, Catha and Usil; a civil god, Selvans; Turan, the goddess of love; there was a god for war, a god for the moon, etc. The Etruscan afterlife was negative, gods were hostile and were said to bring misfortune, so their religion was centered on interpreting the will of the gods and satisfying it. The Egyptian's had a large belief in the afterlife, and also believed heavy in divine right. They believed that every human being was composed of physical and spiritual parts or aspects.
The Greek gods were named and based after human personality traits such as Love (Eros) or their area of expertise such as Poseidon (Sea). The Roman deities were named after objects rather than human personality such as Flora, the goddess of flowers and springtime. Both mythologies involve each god being in charge of a certain area of human life whether it be traveling (Hermes or Mercury) or victory (Nike or Victoria). Since the Greeks believed in gods who resembled humans, they each had certain characteristics that determined their actions such as Aphrodite is the goddess of love so she had many lovers and many children with other gods who were not her husband Hephaestus. In contrast, Roman gods and goddesses were not gender specific so their individual characteristics were not central to the myths.
Undoubtedly, Rome came to greatness by rigid laws that tied the kingdom together as well as a Republic. The empire started as a small place around the Mediterranean Sea in about 500 BCE, and by the time it had deteriorated in 467 CE, it had at one point stretched from present day Britain to present day Armenia. To unify that entire empire from, they had consistent, strict laws everyone abided by. In contrast, India had a more loose government and was less politically unified which at times weakened it. The caste system which was a part of their religion mostly gave order to the land.