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Provided by Repository of Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek

Sveučilište J. J. Strossmayera u Osijeku

Filozofski fakultet

Preddiplomski studij: Engleski jezik i književnost – Njemački jezik i

književnost

Tomislav Nedić

The Origins of the World: The Story of Creation in the Bible,

the Qur'an, Epic of Gilgamesh, the Ginnungagap and Hesiod's

Theogony

Završni rad

Mentor: doc. dr. sc. Borislav Berić

Osijek, 2015.
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CONTENTS

Abstract .................................................................................................................... 2

Introduction .............................................................................................................. 3

I The Bible .................................................................................................................. 4

II The Qur’an ............................................................................................................... 7

III The Epic of Gilgamesh ............................................................................................. 9

IV The Ginnungagap................................................................................................... 11

V Hesiod’s Theogony ................................................................................................. 14

Conclusion.............................................................................................................. 17

Works Cited ........................................................................................................... 19

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Abstract

Creation myths are stories that try to describe the origins of the world around us
and give some purpose to life and existence. Most of them describe how the world and
the human being came into existence. Most of the creation myths can be grouped one
way or another thanks to many common elements such myths share. Of course, there
are also some differences that are sometimes a result of different purpose various texts
serve. Sacred texts, such as the Bible and Qur’an praise God for the creation of the
world by virtue of his omnipotence and benevolence, while other, more secular texts
have somewhat more fortuitous causes of creation. These texts cannot be understood
literally nor as some basis for a scientific approach to a better understanding of how the
universe came to be. They have their own purpose, be it to preserve the national identity
of a certain group of people, enforce laws, promote religiousness, or simply to entertain.
However, one must take into account the time and place of the creation of such
documents as well as the original language in which they were written, because they
tend to use now obsolete phrases, puns or word play which are hard to translate
efficiently into modern languages. Since most of creation myths deal with the beginning
of time and space, with some of them even belonging to the oldest written sources and
as such have innumerable for history. They also represent the foundations of their
respective mythologies which in turn have influenced arts and literature to these days
and in some way shaped the modern civilization and its worldview. Having the
ambiguity of certain collocations in mind while examining such documents can help to
a better understanding of the message it is trying to convey and the influence it has had
on history.

Keywords: creation myth, God, the Bible, the Qur’an, mythology, the Epic of
Gilgamesh, civilization, the Ginnungagap, the Theogony
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Introduction

Because curiosity is in the human nature and it is only natural for us to wonder
about what we do not know, the most common type of myth in the human culture is the
creation myth. Almost every known civilization has some sort of creation myth among
its sacred texts. Most of them are either cosmogonical or anthropogenic myths, which
means that they describe the creation of the cosmos or the man. The creation myths
usually have a lot in common. They report about an unspecific time in the past and
include supernatural elements such as deities, talking animals, transformations etc.
Mircea Eliade, a professor of religion at the University of Chicago, classifies the
creation myths into five basic groups: creation ex nihilo, creation through the Earth
diver, creation from the chaos, creation by dismemberment of a world parent, and
creation by emergence (Leonard 32-33). The ability to precisely classify myths
according to these principles proves that many creation myths really have so much in
common. Some of them can even be classified in two or more groups.
This paper will present five different creations myths that all belong to the
Western civilization and have had some influence on it. Three of them originated in the
Near East but with some time difference. The other two were created at two opposite
ends of Europe, namely Iceland and Greece. Since they all have influenced the modern
society, it will be interesting to see how much they have influenced each other, how
many similarities and differences they have, and if they can be classified according to
the groups of prof. Eliade. At least one thing they have in common. All of them try in
their own framework and with their own intentions to give some answers to the
questions of who we are and how everything around us came into existence.
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1. The Bible

The creation story in the Bible can be found at the very beginning, in the first
verses of the first book of the Bible, Genesis. Genesis, together with the next four
books, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy belongs to the Torah, or the
Pentateuch, which is considered a sacred text among both the Christians and the Jews.
The Pentateuch is often attributed to Moses with the implication that Moses himself is
the central figure of the Pentateuch and that he, through his actions, laws, and probably
some written legacy founded the nation, religion, and identity of Israel and also
provided the core for the books of the Torah. In those days the books usually did not
have a single author. The biblical authors kept the tradition entrusted to them,
explained, modernized, and adjusted them in accordance with their time. That way, the
book also grew and matured in the course of time (Kresina).
In accordance with that in Genesis there are two creation stories which were
written long after Moses by two different traditions, the so-called Yahwist and Priestly
traditions. The Yahwist tradition is called that way because of the frequent use of God’s
name Yahweh. It dates back to King Solomon in tenth century BC. This tradition has
more of a cult than moral value and it uses many anthropomorphisms in describing God
and His actions. The Priestly tradition originated during the Babylonian captivity period
in sixth century BC by Aaron’s descendants, priests from the tribe of Levi. It focuses on
keeping the Commandments and carrying out regulations as a way of keeping the
national identity of Israel during their exile in Babylon (Kresina).
Despite being more recent than the Yahwist source, the Priestly account of
creation begins Genesis and the Bible as a whole. It is a more detailed description of
creation. God is presented as an eternal and omnipotent being that existed long before
anything else and created everything. The writer reports the whole creation day by day,
whereby God creates with ease and through the power of his words. The creation can be
divided in two halves. In the first three days God divides light from darkness, waters
under the firmament from waters above the firmament, and land from water. In the next
three days God decorates and populates heaven and earth. His creations are presented in
a way a contemporary Jew viewed things, in accordance to their perceived dignity with
humans coming at the end as the crown of creation: “Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). Furthermore, the writer keeps with the Jewish
tradition of reverence to the number seven.
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Wanting to give a theological and liturgical meaning to the whole

creation, the writer thoughtfully follows the framework of the Jewish
week which ends with the seventh days as the day of perfection (7 is a
symbolical number of completeness and perfection, peace and God’s
blessing). (Kresina)
That way, this creation story has features of an origin myth. The writer wanted to
emphasize the importance of observing Shabbat and has God resting on the seventh day,
thereby blessing it. The man is to do the same and rest on Shabbat.
The second creation story continues immediately after the first. It belongs to the
Yahwist tradition and centers on the creation of man rather than the creation of the
world. It is a more poetic story with the writer using many symbolic words. For
example, the story opens with words “in the day that Yahweh God made the earth and
the heavens” (Genesis 2:4). It is worth noting the difference between verbs make and
create. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the verb make is defined as “form
(something) by putting parts together or combining substances”. Verb create, however,
is defined as “bring (something) into existence”, out of nowhere. The God of the
Yahwist tradition is much more anthropomorphized than the God of the Priestly
tradition. He is a builder, who makes heaven and earth, and a potter who “form[s] man
of the dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:7). He then breathes life into the man, which
serves the same purpose as Genesis 1:26 since there is no difference in Hebrew between
words breath and spirit (hebr. ‫ – ַח ּ֫ו‬ruach), namely it denotes the distinctiveness of
mankind among all other creation. Seeing that “it is not good for the man to be alone”
(Genesis 2:18) God makes a woman out of the man’s rib. Here comes the Hebrew word
play again. Unfortunately, Hebrew is a rather poor language in terms of vocabulary, so a
single word often times conveys several meanings. So does the Hebrew word rib too
(hebr. ‫ – ֹתעָל ְצ‬tsela). Besides rib, it can also mean side. If interpreted as side, it adds
further to the equality of man and woman and is analogous to the Priestly creation story
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and
female created he them.” (Genesis 1:27). That way man and woman are created equal,
half of Adam being Eve, and half of Eve being Adam. The phrase “bone of my bones,
and flesh of my flesh” that the man uses to describe the woman in Genesis 2:23 was a
common Jewish expression used to denote unity and relatedness and occurs a couple of
times in the Bible and serves here to show that man and woman are one and that they
are equal but can also be understood quite literally. The second creation story ends with
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the observation that “they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not
ashamed” (Genesis 2:25) which will further lead them into temptation by the serpent.
The two creation stories are only the first part of Genesis and, despite not being
the central points of the book, they serve as the foundation for the whole Old Testament.
The first eleven chapters differ somewhat from the rest of Genesis because they focus
on humanity as a whole and try to give answers to questions about the origins of the
world, the meaning of life, the origins of evil. So they include themes that are common
among various human mythologies that also tried to find an answer to those questions.
Creation of the world, the fall of man, the deceitful snake and the deluge are only a few
of them. The rest of the chapters of Genesis are more historical in nature and serve to
show the deep connection between God and His people, the Jews. Nevertheless, the
books of the Bible cannot be taken as a source for natural sciences because they are
much younger than the Bible. The intent of the Bible is to religiously explain the world
and its nature. Its understanding of the world is confined to the time and space
when/where it was written. Such insight into the true nature of the Bible can help the
reader and serve as a basis for its scientific study (Kresina).
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2. The Qur’an

Unlike the Bible, the Qur’an does not have a unified creation story. Instead,
parts of the story can be found throughout the book where the writer deemed important.
The Qur’an itself is believed to be revealed verbally by Allah to Muhammad through
the angel Gabriel (or Jibril, as he is called in the Qur’an). It is considered a single book,
unlike the Bible which is composed of many smaller books. The only division is into
chapters (suras) and verses (ayahs). Being younger than the Bible, the Qur’an implies
some knowledge of the Judeo-Christian tradition, which includes the creation story too.
That may be one of the reasons that the creation story in Qur’an is not as highlighted as
the biblical one.
Indeed, your Lord is Allah, who created the heavens and earth in six days
and then established Himself above the Throne. He covers the night with
the day, [another night] chasing it rapidly; and [He created] the sun, the
moon, and the stars, subjected by His command. Unquestionably, His is
the creation and the command; blessed is Allah, Lord of the worlds. (The
Qur’an, Al-A’raf 7:54)
Just like in the Bible, the Qur’an has an ex nihilo creation story in which
everything was created in six days. The importance of the seventh day is not stressed,
however, as the Muslims do not observe the Shabbat; their holy day is Friday.
Moreover, modern scholars point out that the word used for days here (arab. ‫– ي وم‬
yawm, pl. ayyam) can mean both day and an unspecified time period. Moreover, the Al-
Ma’arij sura contains a quote that says: “The angels and the Spirit will ascend to Him
during a Day the extent of which is fifty thousand years” (The Qur’an, Al-Ma’arij
70:4). The quote seems to support the loose definition of a day in Qur’an. If interpreted
as period it would mean that the creation happened during a longer time divided into six
parts which would be closer to what modern science says about the Earth and the
Universe.
But the creation story of Qur’an is anthropocentric, and despite acknowledging
God’s omnipotence and creation of “the sun, the moon, and the stars” (The Qur’an, Al-
A’raf 7:54), his central and best creation is the human. To denote the distinctiveness of
the humans, God is portrayed creating him from various types of clay and mud, cleaned
through water and then formed into shape (The Qur’an, Al-Hijr 15:27). As well as
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creating the first man, God is also instrumental in creating every human being as shown
in the Al-Mu’minun sura:
And certainly did We create man from an extract of clay. Then We
placed him as a sperm-drop in a firm lodging. Then We made the sperm-
drop into a clinging clot, and We made the clot into a lump [of flesh], and
We made [from] the lump, bones, and We covered the bones with flesh;
then We developed him into another creation. So blessed is Allah, the
best of creators. (The Qur’an, Al-Mu’minun 23:12-14)
The Qur’an is definitely not a scientific text, but one cannot help but notice that the
writer of these lines possessed some knowledge of human gestation as this is a pretty
accurate description of fetal development.
Another major creation event mentioned is the creation of angels. Whereas the
Bible sometimes acknowledges the existence of angels and even that Satan once was
one of them, the Qur’an mentions the fall of Satan or Iblis too. In contrast to humans,
the angels and jinn were created from fire. When God formed man from clay, He
breathed life into him and commanded his angels to bow down before his newest
creation. All angels except Iblis obeyed believing himself to be better than man (The
Qur’an, Al-Baqarah 2:34).
At the moment of the creation, the angels are ordered by God to bow
down to Adam, and so they do, with the exception of Iblis, who is then
condemned for his rebellion and becomes the enemy and tempter of
humanity. The story is told seven times in the Quran, each time in a
slightly different form. (McAuliffe, ed. 82)
All in all, the Qur’an creation story differs only slightly from the biblical one.
Continuing on the Abrahamic and Judeo-Christian tradition it adds also the creation of
the angels and Satan’s rebellion, stories that exist in the Judeo-Christian tradition too
but were omitted in Genesis. Still, the two creation accounts are almost totally
equivalent, having the same creator God and almost the same structure. The main
difference is between the unity of the story in the Bible, despite having two accounts,
and the scattered parts of the story in the Qur’an. This is most likely because some
books of the Bible are also historical, so the writers wanted to order the events
chronologically, while the Qur’an is only a sacred text serving a spiritual purpose.
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3. The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh belongs to the oldest written texts of the Western
civilization. For better understanding of the text, it is important to have in mind the
circumstances and the literary style of in which they were written. It is a very allegorical
text in its nature and contains a lot of symbols. It also contains some stories similar to
the Bible and Qur’an, the most distinctive ones concerning the creation of man and his
downfall and the story of the deluge. Some scholars believe that it directly influenced
the creation stories of the Abrahamic religions.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is a part of the Sumerian mythology to which the so
called Eridu Genesis also belongs. The text, despite being younger than the Epic of
Gilgamesh could explain the creation of the world of the epic. Unfortunately, many
parts of the text are missing and what is left is a completely anthropocentric creation
story, not unlike the one featured in the Epic of Gilgamesh with the world already
created. The Epic of Gilgamesh begins by describing the magnificence of king
Gilgamesh, but it also tells about him tormenting his kingdom, Uruk. The gods hear
their cry and the goddess Aruru “washed her hands, took a pinch of clay, threw it down
in the wild” (Gilgamesh 1:101-102). There was Enkidu created, from clay and water.
He is described as a wild man, living in harmony with animals as one of them, his
whole body covered in hair. While obviously not being the first man ever created in the
epic, his creation story can be compared to the creation stories of the Bible and Qur’an.
Just like in the Qur’an, man is created from clay and water. However, there is no
mention of breathing life into him, nor giving him a soul. What is mentioned though, is
Enkidu having “the virtue of the god of war, of Ninurta himself” (Gilgamesh 1:104).
That way Enkidu is presented as both fragile and strong, both mortal and godlike. Just
like Adam, who was also created from dust, water and clay, but who was created “in
[God’s] image, after [His] likeness” (Genesis 1:26).
Another interesting point connects the three creation stories. Namely, it seems
that man was created as vegetarian. In the Bible not only man, but also all of the
creation, as it was supposed to be perfect.
God also said, 'Look, to you I give all the seed-bearing plants everywhere
on the surface of the earth, and all the trees with seed-bearing fruit; this
will be your food. And to all the wild animals, all the birds of heaven and
all the living creatures that creep along the ground, I give all the foliage
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of the plants as their food.' And so it was. God saw all he had made, and
indeed it was very good. (Genesis 1:29-31)
O Adam! Dwell you and your wife in the Garden, and eat you freely of
the fruits thereof where you will. (The Qur’an, Al-Baqarah 2:35)
Enkidu receives no such instruction from any of the gods, but it is implied that he and
the animals lived in harmony.
with the gazelles he grazes on grasses,
joining the throng with the game at the water-hole,
his heart delighting with the beasts in the water. (Gilgamesh 1:110-112).
Furthermore, he is described as helping the animals in avoiding traps set for them in the
wilderness and escaping from trappers.
That is the point when the woman comes into his life and this leads to the fall of
man in this story. Some trapper sees Enkidu and gets scared by him. His father advises
him to bring a harlot to the wild man saying that “her allure [was] a match for even the
mighty!” (Gilgamesh 1:141). When Enkidu sees the harlot, he is instantly smitten and
the two of them have intercourse “for six days and seven nights” (Gilgamesh 1:193).
After that, when he looked around, he realized that he became alienated from the
animals who were surrounding him and that he no longer belonged to the wilderness.
Asking the harlot to lead him to civilization, he abandons his former home and
companions. In comparison, the Bible and Qur’an have a similar story where God
realizes that “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18) and decides to
make him a help. After the man fails to recognize any of the animals as a "worthy help”,
God creates the woman from the man’s rib. Soon after, a serpent tempted Eve, the first
woman, into disobeying God by eating a fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and
evil. Adam, the first man, was tempted through Eve, and he ate too. After God found
out, He expelled them from the Garden of Eden thereby cursing the ground “for the
man’s sake” (Genesis 3:17). Given that “in Ancient Near Eastern culture, the words for
"fruit" and "knowledge" both carry strong sexual overtones” (Damen) it can be argued
that the fall of Adam, just like fall of Enkidu happened because of the symbolical loss of
innocence through sexual intercourse.
Contrary to the Bible and Qur’an which are sacred religious texts the Epic of
Gilgamesh is basically a secular narrative with some religious elements, in spite of
which the epic probably never had a religious purpose. It is an epic that mostly deals
with human mortality and Gilgamesh’s fruitless attempts to avert it from which most of
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the tragedy stems (Mastin, "Gilgamesh"). His motivation for such a quest came after his
friend Enkidu succumbed to an illness. Trying to outsmart death has since become a
general human theme upon which many modern stories are built.

4. The Ginnungagap

The Norse creation myth is quite unlike the myths of the Ancient Near East.
However, there are some similarities. For one, it is a polytheistic myth which would
bring it closer to the Sumerian tradition. Unlike any of the previous stories though, it
features a multitude of characters and the creation itself is quite dynamic and violent,
but also colorful and interesting.
Everything begins with the Ginnungagap, the primordial void. It is an endless
void separating Niflheim, the ice world, from Muspelheim, the fire world, and roughly
corresponding to Chaos in the Greek mythology and the state of the world in the Bible
before God created light. According to the Gylfaginning, a part of the Prose Edda, a
collection of mythological stories by Snorri Sturluson from the thirteenth century
Iceland, the fires of Muspelheim and the ice of Niflheim met in the Ginnungagap and
formed Ymir, the first giant. After him, a cow named Audhumbla was also created by
ice and fire. Ymir fed on her milk while she fed on “the ice-blocks which were salty”
(Sturluson, Gylfaginning). By licking the ice, Audhumbla uncovered Buri, the first of
the Aesir gods, who would become Odin’s grandfather. Later on, Odin and his brothers
slew the giant Ymir and from his body, they created the world,
from his blood the sea and lakes, from his flesh the earth, from his bones
the mountains; rocks and pebbles they made from his teeth and jaws and
those bones that were broken […] They also took his skull and made the
sky from it and set it over the earth with its four sides, and under each
corner they put a dwarf. These are called: East, West, North, and South.
(Sturluson, Gylfaginning).
The celestial bodies were created from embers flying from Muspelheim into
Ginnungagap. After all of that was done, Odin and his two brothers walked by the sea
and found two trees from which they created the first humans, Ask and Embla. It is
described how they in turn gave them life, form, senses, and reason.
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According to the Norse myth, apart from the primordial void, the worlds of ice
and fire have always existed too. It is not hard to see where such tradition would come
from, being that Snorri Sturluson hails from Iceland. Two worlds meet in Iceland, in the
form of tectonic plates. Thanks to the tectonic activity and its latitude, it is an island of
great diversity, a place where ice and fire regularly meet, a place where active volcanos
spill lava over the dormant ice. Important to note is also the fact that the ice coming to
Ginnungagap is salty, which would imply the existence of a sea. It is only natural for
the writer to start the creation of the world in a place he is familiar with. Similarly, the
writers of the Bible and Qur’an write the Garden of Eden somewhere in Mesopotamia
even identifying the rivers Euphrates and Tigris as flowing through it. The Epic of
Gilgamesh is also clearly set in Mesopotamia, together with the creation of Enkidu.
The next thing very important to note is the absence of ex nihilo creation.
Nothing was created out of nothing, the matter used to create the world already existed.
A giant was formed from fire and ice and after his death his body was used to create the
world. This macabre imagery actually goes along with the scientific law of conservation
of matter, according to which all the matter there is was created during the Big Bang, so
new matter cannot be produced while the existing matter cannot be destroyed. What is
more, the course of the Norse mythology is cyclical, rather than linear, which means
that a cosmos is created after the destruction of the previous cosmos in the event known
as Ragnarok (McCoy). It is really a depressing cycle where gods already know the
future and know that in the end they will have to face the giants again whereby all of
them will go down and the world will descend into Ginnungagap again until the cosmos
is created anew. It is an utter absence of ex nihilo creation and is actually a combination
between the creation from chaos and the world parent as the world parent himself is
created from the chaos and is later dismembered so that his body becomes the world.
The creation of man is also somewhat different from the Ancient Near Eastern
traditions but has more similarities than the creation of the world. The man was made
by the gods, also using something that already existed and transforming it. The gods
then give the man form, reason, and even soul or “spirit and life” as it is put in
Gylfaginning. The names Ask and Embla are also somewhat similar to the names Adam
and Eve. The difference is that the Norse myth is not anthropocentric at all. The only
anthropogenic part of the Edda creation story is when the gods literally stumble upon
two trees and then and there decide to make a man and a woman. No purpose or reason
for the decision is listed. They are the put into Midgard and gods try to protect them
 13

from the giants. However, given that the Norse mythology deals a lot more with gods
and their affairs and taking into account the fatalistic worldview it has it is no wonder
that the man is left aside.
Unlike the Judeo-Christian, Greco-Roman and even Egyptian myths the Norse
mythology has often been left aside, except for its native Scandinavia, Great Britain and
to an extent Germany. In the modern times, however, it gains on influence, especially in
comics where Thor, Odin, Loki, and others make regular appearances and modern
fantasy literature for example in works of J. R. R. Tolkien and G. R. R. Martin whose
series of novels’ title A Song of Ice and Fire could also be a cue to the Ginnungagap and
the Norse creation myth.
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5. Hesiod’s Theogony

Greek mythology is very rich in terms of narratives so that it contains many

stories and traditions with some of them overlapping and even contradicting themselves.
Among the less ambiguous stories is the story of creation. It is preserved thanks to the
Theogony, a poem written by the Greek poet Hesiod in seventh century BC. It is a poem
about the beginnings of the world, the origins of the gods, and their fight against the
Titans, dubbed Titanomachy.
The Theogony, like all Greek poems, begins with an invocation to the gods and
the Muses. After that, the creation begins:
First of all Chawos [Gap] came into being. But then
Gaia broad-chested, always the unshakable seat of all
the immortals who hold the peaks of snowy Olympus,
and dark Tartaros in the recesses of the wide-wayed earth,
and Eros, the most beautiful among the immortal gods, 120
loosener of limbs, who subdues the mind and prudent counsel
in the chests of all gods and of all men. (Hesiod 116-122)
Just like many myths in the world, and comparable to the Bible, Qur’an, and especially
the Edda, in the beginning there was only Chaos, a gaping void of nothingness.
However, very soon, the Earth appears, together with the personifications of hell and
love. It is interesting to note the role Gaia, the personification of the Earth plays.
Contrary to the modern worldview that started with the Judeo-Christian tradition in
which the world is a “mere artifact, into which [God’s] divine substance never enters”
(McCoy), the Greek myth supports the animistic view where the Earth has its own
conscience of which is Gaia the personification as the literal Mother Earth. Similarly,
the Norse myth has the world as the dead body of a giant, giving it that way some sort
of spirit and life.
Afterwards, Mother Earth gives birth to her first son Uranus, the sky, and has
children with him. She gives birth to the Titans, Cyclopes and Hecatonchires “and they
hated their father from the beginning” (Hesiod 155). It seems that their father-children
relationship was severely strained because Uranus hated his children too, and so
“conceal[ed] them all in hiding place in Gaia and did not sent them back into the light,
and he delighted in his evil deed” (Hesiod 157-158). Gaia loved her children and
devised a plan with the youngest of the Titans, Kronos, to save her children by
 15

emasculating Uranus which Kronos did with a sickle. The severed genitals, however,
produced offspring of their own. The blood that fell on Gaia gave birth to giants and
Erinyes. The genitals themselves fell into the ocean and from the sea foam around them
appeared the goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite. Having overthrown his father,
Kronos assumed the position of the king of the world and took his sister Rhea as wife
siring in the process six children with her. To avoid being overthrown by his sons like
he overthrew his father, he swallowed his children. This is a repetition of history, as
Uranus himself did almost the same. Just like Gaia, Rhea was unhappy with such
treatment of her children so she hid her youngest son Zeus. When he grew up, he
liberated his brothers and sisters and led a war against the Titans which the gods won.
Just like his Kronos, Zeus overthrew his father and assumed his position. He also took
his sister Hera as wife which marked beginning of the rule of the Olympians.
Somewhat similar to other accounts of the creation of the world, Hesiod’s
Theogony is, just like its name says, a poem about the appearance of gods. And in that it
is unique among the works covered in this paper. Having no anthropogenic element, as
it never even mentions the humans, the Theogony certainly is anthropomorphic and
describes gods and other entities as having human characteristics. They fight, have sex,
get married, and even lead wars. That way the Theogony is not only a creation story, but
also an allegorical poem that deals with human psyche as well. It is interesting to note
that in his other poem Works and Days Hesiod divides history into five ages, whereby
ages get progressively worse. He identifies the first age, the so called Golden Age, as
the age when Kronos ruled. Zeus’s takeover marks begin of the Silver Age. It is clear
that in Theogony, Zeus is presented in a much more favorable light than Kronos, who is,
typically for the Ancient Greek poetry, formulaically described as “Kronos of crooked
counsel”. Despite that, his rule seems to be considered better than Zeus’s. Or at least the
time when he ruled was deemed better.
Another thing important to note is the similarity between the treatment Uranus’s
and Kronos’s children received from their fathers. The difference being that Kronos is
described as actually swallowing his children alive, whereas Uranus only hides them
inside Gaia. This can serve as an allegory of time ruthlessly destroying its own children,
e. g. everything that took time to be made will one day again be destroyed by time.
Taking this together with Hesiod’s division of Ages of Man in consideration could
mean that the Theogony in part is about nostalgia or that it at least has some
psychological topics covered. It is hard not to notice elements from Freudian theories
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which of course include the Oedipus complex (with Oedipus too being a figure from
Greek mythology) present in Uranus who takes his mother Gaia for wife, Kronos who
despises his father and eventually overthrows him, and Zeus who also overthrows his
father. There is also the emasculation of Uranus and according to Freud the castration
anxiety is triggered after the onset of Oedipus complex during early childhood.
Certainly, Hesiod’s Theogony contains a lot of material for a psychoanalytical study.
The Theogony is basically a collection of Ancient Greek stories about their gods
and the origins of the world. To a degree it has the same purpose in the Greek
mythology as Genesis has in the Bible because it brings the story of the birth of gods
and their familial relations. Despite that, it cannot be observed as a definitive source of
Greek mythology but provides insight into the understanding of the Greek mythology at
the time. Greek mythology was always changing as time went by and together with
time, some traditions and narratives have also changed (Mastin, "Theogony").
 17

Conclusion

Among these five texts, two are considered sacred texts important in their own
respective religions. Coincidentally, they are also texts belonging to monotheistic
religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The other three texts are secular and epic in
their nature, while still based on polytheistic traditions. This division is of course the
most obvious one, and it is not hard to notice the many similarities between the creation
accounts of the Qur’an and Bible. Both of them feature a single omnipotent, omniscient,
and benevolent deity who exists before time and forever and creates ex nihilo, from
nothing, only through his words. Because of this, these accounts seem more
supernatural.
In contrast to them, the European myths start with a gaping void which gives
birth to creatures. These creatures themselves represent the world and certain aspects of
it. Such accounts use personification to a great extent. Lacking an omnipotent deity,
they feature no ex nihilo creation and actually seem more natural and cyclical. The best
example is the contrast between Genesis and the Theogony. Whereas Genesis attributes
all of creation to God’s infinite power and use of words, the Theogony presents a story
of creation as a large family tree where sex and reproduction have the primary role in
creating. After the god of love Eros was born “evolution (with a few exceptions) is
biological, female and male deities joining in intercourse to produce offspring, each of
whom adds further diversity and complexity to creation” (Scully 24). That way, Eros, as
a symbol of lust and erotic love is identified as the force behind the creation in
Theogony. Meanwhile, in Genesis sex is only vaguely implied through the forbidden
fruit.
When it comes to the creation of man, the Bible and Qur’an again have basically
the same story, but the Epic of Gilgamesh comes very close to them and even Snorri
Sturluson’s account shows some similarities. What is important to note is that in the
Bible and Qur’an man is formed and not created. This implies the distinctiveness of
humans as the best and most important creation. Just like in the Epic of Gilgamesh, man
is formed from dust, clay, and/or water. Being an older text, many scholars agree that
the Epic of Gilgamesh had a major influence on the Judeo-Christian creation story, but
also on Genesis as a whole. In regards of the Edda, the main similarities are the names
of the first humans and the fact that they were also formed from something that was
already in existence.
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As it was already said, the creation myths cannot be used for natural scientific
explanations but they are not necessarily incompatible with sciences either. For
example, the Big Bang theory about the spreading of the Universe contains some
elements of the ex nihilo creation as well. The point of infinite density in which the
Universe was compressed can be identified as the primordial void. The creation of man
regularly features using something that already exists and molding it to form a human
being. The evolution works on same principles, whereby an already existing life form
changes over time giving life to new species across the world. However, the creation
myths serve other purposes and are of more interest to social than to natural sciences.
 19

Works Cited

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