Cosmic Creation Myths Across Cultures
Jessica Farrah
Hum/105
Janurary-18-2016
Paul Nersesian
Mythology. When you think of what that means to you it may be mainstream as in Hercules, Troy, and many other movies and stories that have been inspired by the gods and religion. Yet there is a much deeper story behind what we know. Tracing back for centuries in forms of different religions and countries upon their own belief. In this paper I will discuss the Greek Theogoina and the Sumarian creation myth of Ulligara and Zalgarra.
In Greece, circa 700 BC, Hesiod lived and wrote a poem called the Theogonia, which means “the birth of the gods.” Today, we call it the Theogony, and it is more spiritual than Greek and Latin poetry about myths that followed the Theogony. Hesiod is closer to a time when there was less distinction between the world of myth and that of daily life. (63. Leonard, McClure)
The Earth, in the Theogony, is represented by Gaia. The Sky is represented by Ouranos. Tartarus is an early stage in the development of the Underworld. Chaos, or a “yawning void” came into being, and then Gaia, also known as the mother of the Earth in some cultures, followed by Tartaros and Eros. Chaos, Gaia, Ouranos, and Tartaros are the creators of all things in the Theogony. Things kind of generated spontaneously and eventually Gaia and Ouranos, who are also considered brother and sister, produced twelve Titans; six male and six female. They also gave life to the Cyclopes and the Hundred-Handed Giants. Ouranos entrapped the Cyclopes and Giants within Gaia. Gaia gets mad at Ouranos because of this and when she has Kronos, her last child, she has him castrate his father. When Kronos does this, he essentially separated the Earth from the sky and becomes master of the world. A prophecy is told that forsees Kronos being overthrown by his own son, much like Kronos did to Ouranos. To stop that from happening Kronos actually eats each of his children, except Zeus. When Zeus was born, Kronos’ wife/sister, contrived that his birth should be hidden from Kronos, for she felt a pain for her children she could no longer bear. So she gave birth to Zeus on the island of Crete and presented Kronos with a stone wrapped in babies clothes to eat. Zeus was hidden in a cave until he came to maturity, he forced Kronos to vomit out his siblings. They then go to war with the Titans with the help of the Cyclopes and Hundred-Handed Giants. Zeus overthrows the Titans and traps them in the underworld with Tartarus.
In a Sumarian creation myth, tablets were found in what is now known as Iraq. detailing the creation of Ulligara and Zalgarra. They were dated approximately 800 BC. The Gods, or creators in this story are Anu, the god of air and sky, Enlil, the god of storms and earth, Shamash, the god of sun and fire, Ea, the god of water, and Anunnaki, his words become destiny. After these Gods have created the heavens and earth, they discuss what else they need to do to finish their work. They decide that what they need are human beings. In order to create human beings they need the blood of another god. They conspire to do so and they slay the Lamga gods and mingle their blood with clay to create man. They then create the first human beings Ulligara, the establisher of abundance, and Zalgarra, the establisher of plenty. Their reasons for creating humans was to do the gods daily labor work like building temples worshipping them, tending the fields, raising livestock and ensuring that the gods rightful offerings were made.
In conclusion both myths and religions are more similar than one might think at first. They started out with a group of creators of life and through sacrifice; the Theogony, as seen throughout the story sacrificed their relationships with each other to continue to make life, and in the Sumarian creation myth, they sacrificed another group of gods to use their blood to create life. They differ in many ways, however, whereas in the Greek myth they create many gods amongst themselves until Zeus comes along who is a god of both gods and humans, and in the Sumarian myth, the group of gods create humans to basically do their dirty work for them, and want humans to worship them because of it. In my research, I never came across mention of the Greek gods, in this story expecting humans to worship them, however in the Sumarian story I also never came across a mention of humans being fearful of the gods. The Greek gods come across as all powerful over everything and take a part in what actually happens on earth, whereas the Sumarian gods come across as, to put it bluntly, lazy and just want to relax and be worshipped and make sure their rightful offerings were made.
