Myths about the creation of the world and man. The myth of the origin of people

According to some, the world was created by Allah, Yahweh, the One God - whatever you call, but we owe him our life. Not a big bang, not natural space processes, but a creature that, in its opinion, looks like Alanis Morisette. But this was not always the case, once every nation offered its own version of the creation of life with the participation of sweat, masturbating gods and other heresies.

Scandinavians

According to the Scandinavians, in the beginning there was a void with the complex name Ginungagap. Near the void, as it should be, was the frozen world of the darkness of Niflheim, and in the south lay the fiery red-hot country of Muspellheim. And then elementary physics begins. Some ancient Scandinavian, noticing that frost came into contact from the contact of ice and fire, ventured to suggest that from such a neighborhood the world’s void was gradually filled with poisonous hoarfrost. And what happens when the poisonous frost melts? Usually he turns into evil giants. Here the same thing happened, and out of hoarfrost an evil giant was formed, whose name gives away Muslim notes. Simply put, Ymir. He was asexual, but since this, according to James Brown, is “The Male World,” we will refer to him as a man.

There was nothing to do in this void, and tired of hanging in the air, Ymir fell asleep. And here the tastiest begins. Considering that there is nothing more intimate than sweat (meaning secondary urine, not the Cambodian dictator), and they thought that the sweat dripping from under his arms turned into a man and a woman, from whom the genus of giants later went. And sweat, dripping from his feet, gave rise to Trudgelmira - a giant with six heads. Here is a story of the emergence of giants. Yes, and with a reserve.

And the ice continued to melt, and, realizing that it was necessary to eat something, they invented a cow with a beautiful name, Audumlu, arising from melt water. Ymir began to drink her milk, and she liked to lick salty ice. Licking the ice, she found a man beneath him, his name was Storms, the progenitor of all gods. How did he end up there? There wasn’t enough fantasy for this.

Buri had a son, Boryo, who married the hoarse giantess Bestle, and they had three sons: One, Willy and Ve. The sons of the Storm hated Ymir and killed him. The reason is purely noble: Ymir was evil. So much blood flowed from the body of the slain Ymir that she sank all the giants, except Bergelmir, Ymir’s grandson, and his wife. They managed to escape from the flood in a boat made of a tree trunk. Where did the tree come from in the void? Do you really care! Found, that's all.

Then the brothers decided to create something that the world had never seen before. His universe with a drakara and the Vikings. One and his brothers brought the body of Ymir to the center of the Ginungagapa and created the world out of it. They threw flesh into the blood - and the earth became. Blood, respectively, by the ocean. The sky came out of the skull, and the brain scattered across the sky, and the clouds turned out. So the next time, flying in an airplane, catch yourself thinking that you are in the skull of a giant on a huge bird, cutting giant brains.

The gods ignored only the part in which the giants lived. It was called Etunheim. They fenced off the best part of this world through the centuries of Ymir and settled people there, calling it Midgard.
  Finally, the gods created people. From two tree knots we got a man and a woman, Ask and Embley (which is typical). All other people are descended from them.

The latter built the impregnable fortress of Asgard, which rose high above Midgard. These two parts were connected by the rainbow bridge Beavrest. Among the gods, the patrons of the people, there were 12 gods and 14 goddesses (they were called “Ases”), as well as a whole company of other smaller deities (Van). This whole host of gods crossed the rainbow bridge and settled in Asgard.
  Over this multi-layered world, Yggdrasil ash has grown. Its roots sprouted in Asgard, Etunheim and Niflheim. On the branches of Yggdrasil there was an eagle and a hawk, a squirrel ran up and down the trunk, deer lived at the roots, and below all sat the Nidhegg snake, who wanted to eat everything.

This is the beginning of one of the most remarkable world mythologies. Reading the “Elder” and “Younger” Edd will not make you regret the time spent for a second.

Slavs

We turn to our ancestors, as well as to the ancestors of the Poles, Ukrainians, Czechs and other Slavic peoples. No one particular myth existed, there were several, and not one is approved by the Russian Orthodox Church.

There is a version that it all started with the god Rod. Before the white light was born, the world was shrouded in pitch darkness. In this darkness there was only Rod - the Progenitor of all things. When asked what happened before - an egg or a chicken, the Slavs would answer that the egg, because Rod was enclosed in it. Sitting in the egg was not very, and in some magical way, some, to the extent of their licentiousness, understood how, Rod gave birth to love, which ironically called Lada, and destroyed the dungeon by the power of love. Thus began the creation of the world. The world is filled with love.

At the beginning of the creation of the world, Rod gave birth to the kingdom of heaven, and under it he created the heavenly kingdom. He cut the umbilical cord with a rainbow, and with a stone firmness he separated the Ocean from the heavenly waters. Then there were economic trifles like the separation of Light and Darkness. Then the god Rod gave birth to the Earth, and the Earth plunged into a dark abyss, into the Ocean. Then the Sun came out of His face, the Moon - from His chest, the stars of the sky - from His eyes. Clear dawns appeared from Rod's eyebrows, dark nights from His thoughts, violent winds from His breath, rain, snow and hail from His tears. Thunder and lightning is nothing but his voice. Actually, Rod - this is all living things, the father of all gods and all things.

The clan gave birth to the heavenly Svarog, and breathed into it its mighty spirit, and gave it a very useful ability these days to look in all directions at the same time, so that nothing would hide from it. It is Svarog that is responsible for the change of day and night and for the creation of the Earth. He makes to get the land hidden under the ocean, a gray duck. No more worthy were found.

At first, the duck did not appear for a year, could not get the Earth, then again Svarog sent it behind the Earth, it did not appear for two years and again did not bring it. The third time, Rod could not stand it anymore, freaked out, struck the duck with lightning and gave her plague power, and the shocked duck was absent for three years until she brought a handful of earth in her beak. Svarog squeezed the Earth - the winds blew the Earth from his palm, and it fell into the blue sea. The Sun warmed it, the Earth was baked on top with a crust, the Moon cooled it. He affirmed in her three vaults - three underground kingdoms. And so that the Earth does not go back to the Ocean, Rod gave birth to a powerful serpent, Yushu, under it.

It was customary for the Carpathian Slavs to believe that there was nothing but the blue sea and oak. How they appeared there is not specified. Two positive pigeons sat on the oak tree, who decided to take out fine sand from the bottom of the sea to create chernozem, “gelatin of water and green grass” and a golden stone from which the blue sky, sun, month and all stars are made.

As for the creation of man, of course, there was no natural selection. The Magi said the following. God washed in a bathhouse and sweated, wiped his cloth and threw it from heaven to earth. And Satan argued with God which one to create man from. And the devil made man, and God put his soul into him, because as man dies, his body goes into the earth, and his soul goes to God.

The Slavs also have an ancient legend about the creation of people, which could not do without eggs. God, cutting eggs into halves, threw them to the ground. Here, from one half, a man was obtained, and from the other, a woman. Men and women, formed from the halves of one egg, find each other and marry. Some halves fell into the swamp and died there. Therefore, some are forced to spend their whole lives alone.

China

The Chinese have their own thoughts on how the world came about. The most popular myth can be called the myth of Pan-gu, a giant man. The plot is as follows: at the dawn of time, Heaven and Earth were so close to each other that they merged into a single black mass. According to legend, this mass was nothing more than an egg, which was a symbol of life in almost every nation. And inside him lived Pan-gu, and he lived for a long time - many millions of years. But one day he was tired of such a life, and, waving a heavy ax, Pan-gu got out of his egg, split it into two. These parts subsequently became Heaven and Earth. He was unimaginable in height - some fifty kilometers in length, which, by the standards of the ancient Chinese, amounted to the distance between Heaven and Earth.

Unfortunately for Pan-gu and fortunately for us, the Colossus was mortal and, like all mortals, died. And then Pan-gu decomposed. But not the way we do it. Pan-gu decomposed really abruptly: his voice turned into thunder, his skin and bones became the firmness of the earth, and his head became Cosmos. So, his death gave life to our world.

Ancient Armenia

Armenian legends are very reminiscent of Slavic. True, the Armenians do not have a clear answer to how the world happened, but there is an interesting explanation of how it works.

Heaven and Earth are husband and wife who are divided by the ocean. The sky is a city, and the Earth is a piece of rock, which is held on its huge horns by an equally huge bull. When he shakes his horns, the earth bursts at the seams from the earthquakes. That, in fact, was all - as the Armenians imagined the Earth.

There is an alternative myth, where the Earth is in the middle of the sea, and the Leviathan floats around it, trying to grab its own tail, and constant earthquakes also explained it with its floundering. When Leviathan finally grabs his tail, life on Earth will cease and the apocalypse will come. Have a nice day.

Egypt

The Egyptians have several myths about the creation of the earth, and one is more striking than the other. But this one is the most original. Thanks to the Heliopolis cosmogony for such details.

In the beginning there was a great ocean, whose name was "Nude", and this ocean was Chaos, and there was nothing besides it. It was not until Atum created himself out of this Chaos by effort of will and thought. And you complain about the lack of motivation ... But then - more and more interesting. So, he created himself, now it was necessary to create land in the ocean. Which he did. After wandering around the earth and realizing his total loneliness, Atum became unbearably bored, and he decided to pawn more gods. How? He climbed the hill and began to do his dirty deed, desperately masturbating.

Thus, Shu and Tefnut were born from the seed of Atum. But, apparently, he overdid it, and the newborn gods were lost in the ocean of Chaos. Atum was grieving, but soon, to his relief, he still found and rediscovered his children. He was so glad to reunite that he cried for a long, long time, and his tears, touching the ground, impregnated it - and people grew up from the earth, many people! Then, while people fertilized each other, Shu and Tefnut also had a coitus, and they gave birth to other gods - Heb and Nut, which became the personification of the Earth and sky.

There is another myth in which Atuma replaces Ra, but this does not change the main essence - there, too, all fertilize each other en masse.

Creation is the original issue in any religion. How and when everything that surrounds a person was born - plants, birds, animals, man himself.

Science promotes its theory - there was a big explosion in the universe, this gave rise to the galaxy and the planets around. If the general scientific theory of creating the world is one, then different peoples have their own legends about it.

Creation Myths

What is a myth? This is a legend about the origin of life, the role of God and man in it. There are a huge number of such legends.

According to Jewish history, heaven and earth were original. The material for their creation was God's clothing and snow. According to another version, the whole world is an interweaving of threads of fire, water and snow.

According to Egyptian mythology, initially darkness and chaos reigned everywhere. Only young God Ra, who shed light and gave life, could defeat him. In one version, it hatched from an egg, and according to another version, it was born from a lotus flower. It is noteworthy that in Egyptian theory there are many variations, and in many there are images of animals, birds, insects.

In the stories of the Sumerians, the world arose when the flat Earth and the dome of Heaven united and gave birth to a son - the God of air. Then the deities of water, plants appear. Here for the first time it is said about the appearance of a person from the organ of another.

The Greek myth of the origin of the world is based on the concept of chaos, which swallowed everything around, the sun and moon were inseparable, the cold was combined with heat. A certain God came and divided all the opposites from each other. He also created a man with a woman from a single matter.

The parable of the ancient Slavs is based on the same chaos that reigned everywhere and around. There are deities of time, earth, darkness, wisdom. According to this legend, all living things appeared from dust - man, plants, animals. Stars appeared from here. Therefore, it is said that stars, like man, are not eternal.

Bible Creation

Holy Scripture is the main book of Orthodox believers. Here you can find answers to all questions. This also applies to the origin of the world, man and animals, plants.

The Bible has five books that tell the whole story. These books were written by Moses during wanderings with the Jewish people. All the revelations of God were initially recorded in one volume, but then it was divided.

The starting point in scripture is Genesis. Its name in Greek means "beginning", which speaks of content. It is here that the origin of life, the first person, the first society, is narrated.

As stated in the Scriptures, a person with his existence carries the highest goal - love, benefactors, perfection. He keeps in himself the breath of God himself - the soul.

According to biblical history, the world was not created at all for eternity. How many days did it take for God to create a world filled with life? Even children know about this today.

How God created the earth in 7 days

The emergence of the world in such a short time is briefly described in scripture. The book does not have a detailed description, everything is symbolic. Understanding goes beyond age and time - this is what has been stored for centuries. History says that only God can create the world out of nothing.

First day of the creation of the world

God created "heaven" and "earth." Do not take it literally. This does not mean matter, but some forces, entities, angels.

On the same day, God separated darkness from light, so he created day and night.

Second day

At this time, a kind of "firmness" is created. The personification of the separation of water on the earth and air. Thus, it is a question of creating airspace, a certain atmosphere for life.

Third day

The Almighty orders the water to gather in a single place and make room for the formation of land. So the earth itself appeared, and the water around became the seas and oceans.

Fourth day

It is notable for the formation of celestial bodies - night and day. Stars appear.

Now there is the possibility of counting time. The successive sun and moon count days, times, years.

The fifth day

Life appears on earth. Birds, fish, animals. It is here that the great phrase “reproduce and multiply” sounds. God gives rise to the first individuals who themselves will grow their offspring in this heavenly place.

Sixth day

God creates man “in His image and likeness,” breathes life into him. Man is molded of clay, and the breath of God enlivens dead material, gives him a soul.

Adam is the first man, a man. He lives in the Garden of Eden and understands the languages \u200b\u200bof the world. Despite the diversity of life around, he is lonely. God creates an assistant for him - the woman Eve from his rib while Adam is sleeping.

Seventh day

It is called Saturday. He is set aside to rest and serve God.

So the birth of the world took place. What is the exact date of the creation of the world according to the Bible? This is still the main and most difficult issue. There is a claim that the time is described long before the advent of the modern calendar.

Another opinion suggests the opposite, that the events in the Holy Book are our time. The figure varies from 3483 to 6984 years. But the generally recognized point of the report is considered to be 5508 BC.

Bible Creation for Children

The initiation of children into the doctrine of God teaches the correct principles of behavior and points to undeniable values. However, the Bible, as it is, is difficult for an adult to understand, let alone children's perception.

In order for the child to study the main book of Christians himself, a children's Bible was invented. A colorful, illustrated edition written in a language that the kid understands.

The story of the creation of the world from the Old Testament tells us that initially there was nothing. And God has always been. It is very briefly narrated about all seven days of creation. It also tells the story of the first people and how they betrayed God.

The story of Adam and Abel is described. These stories are instructive for children and teach the right attitude towards others, elders, nature. Animation and feature films come to the rescue, which clearly show the events described in the Holy Scriptures.

There is no age or time for religion. She is beyond the bounds of everything. To understand the origin of the environment and the role of man in the world, to find harmony and your own path is possible only by understanding the values \u200b\u200bthat faith carries.

"Primordial Darkness" - all the same chaos, was present in the representations of the ancient Slavs, both western and eastern.

“And there was the original darkness, and the Mother of Time lived in that darkness, the great Mother of darkness and eternity - Swa. And her heart yearned, she wanted to know the children's laugh, the little hands are tender, and she took the warmth of her soul, and, holding in her hands, turned into a spiral, rolled up a fiery embryo. And from that germ of fire she made her son. And a son was born from the embryo of fire, and from the umbilical cord a fire-breathing serpent was born, his name is Fert.

And the wise serpent became a friend to Svah's son, Svarog. While playing, they grew together. And Svarog became bored with his mother, for he had become a youth. And he also wanted to have small children. And he asked his mother to help him. Agreed Mother of Time. She took it from her heart and gave it to the wise snake to swallow. A lot of time has passed. And once Svarog woke up. He took the heroic staff and touched the tail of the serpent-Fert. And the egg fell out of the serpent.

The Mother of Time caught him and, breaking, she made a star. Once again Svarog pressed with his staff on the tail of the fiery serpent, and a child (son or daughter) was born to a god with a goddess. Thus were born all the children of him and the Mother of Time - Swa.

How did all living things appear in the world white?

Svarog fell asleep, lay down on a serpent-friend and curled up a serpent, becoming a bed for his twin. The Mother of Time, the goddess of Eternity, wanted to surprise her son. She took clear stars in her hands, tore off the old skin from the snake, ground it all into silver dust. She swung her arms with swans, and dust scattered across the starry sky. And from that dust all living things were born. And it didn’t take a day, two, or a thousand years.

The man was made in the same way, only the Great Mother put a soul into everything in his body. That soul is the breath of the sleeping son of Svarog. Maybe that’s why the soul sleeps in our body and wakes up only in a difficult year. Maybe this is right, for if a man thought only of the exalted, without caring for his daily bread, people would die out. Know that man was born both by God and by the serpent. From that, both good and bad are contained in it. The left half is serpentine, and the right is stellar. It is only important to keep an eye on him, so that the good and the bad, the evil and the good, are in balance, he will only gain. If there will be more evil, the soul will burn in a fiery flame, in a flame of anger and envy. And there will be neither benefit nor joy from life. If the good is outweighed, then the person will become bored for people, a very righteous one is more boring than necessary. He takes lectures without measure. His instructions often do not come from the heart. Such a man is ridiculous.

But father and mother love all their children. Each child is cute in its own way. Loves Svarog and friend Fert the faithful. Once a year, Svarog walks with his staff across the horizon and from those steps the stars fall and space, form, time are born.

But not like people, stars in heaven are not eternal. Svarog itself is not eternal. Everything has death and birth. The hour will come, and Svarog will be destroyed by a friend, a beloved friend, a fiery serpent. He will burp from the mouth stinking fire, like a thousand hot suns. And the stars perish in the flame. And all life perishes in the white world. But dying, will be reborn. The update will occur. So it was already and it will be so. And at the death of the gods and the serpent of fire, their souls and souls of people will come together in a single whole, in one common spiral, and this whole Mother of Time will cherish. And add to it a particle of his soul. And a fire germ will appear from this over time, and fire, earth and water will appear, and at first everything will be repeated, and it will return to its circles. So it was, is and will be ... "

Everywhere, on all continents, people told stories that describe the deeds of the gods and help explain the secrets of the world. At first glance, all myths that have reached us about the creation of the world and people can amaze with their contradictory diversity. The creators of the gods, people and the universe in them are now animals, then birds, then gods, then goddesses. Different are the ways of creation and creators. The common thing for all legends is, perhaps, only the idea of \u200b\u200bprimitive chaos, from which these or other gods gradually arose and created the world in different ways.

Unfortunately, almost none of the myths about the creation of the world has survived to the present day entirely. Quite often, it is not possible to restore even the plot of a particular legend. Such fragmentary information about some variants had to be replenished with the help of other sources, and in some cases the legend was restored according to separate fragmentary data, based on both written and material monuments. Nevertheless, despite the incompleteness of the material, upon closer examination of the whole variety of myths that have come down to us, which are so different and seemingly in no way mutually connected, it still appears possible to establish a number of common features. And, despite such conflicting, confusing and diverse views, people “believed in one supreme god, self-born, self-sufficient, omnipotent and eternal, who created other gods, the sun, moon and stars, the earth, as well as everything that is on it.

We, modern people, are interested in the myths of ancient peoples in that they talk about how they lived, what they believed in, how our ancestors understood the world. Let us briefly consider the creation myths that existed in the ancient world, as well as in modern world religions.

Ancient religions

In most mythologies, there are general plots about the origin of all things: the separation of elements of order from the primordial chaos, the separation of mother and father gods, the emergence of land from the ocean, infinite and timeless, etc. In cosmogonic (about the origin of the world) and anthropogonic (about the origin human) myths, a group of stories about the creation of the world as the earth or the universe, the creation of the animal and vegetable world, the creation of man, describing their origin as an arbitrary act of "creation" with thorons of a higher being.

Myths of Ancient Egypt. God Ra appeared from the Water Abyss, and then all living beings came out of his mouth. First, Ra exhaled Shu - the first Air, after - the first moisture of Tefnut (Water), from whom a new couple was born, Geb Earth and Nut Sky became parents of Osiris Birth, Isis Renaissance, Seta Desert and Neptida, Chorus and Hathor. From the air and moisture, Ra created the Eye of Ra, the goddess Hathor, to see what he was doing. When Ra had an eye, he began to cry, and people appeared from his tears. Hathor was angry with Ra because she existed separately from his body. Then Ra found a place for Hathor on his forehead, after which he created snakes, from which all other creatures appeared.

Myths of Ancient Greece. In Greece, there was more than one creation myth: there were patriarchal and matriarchal versions. Chaos existed first. The gods that emerged from Chaos are Gaia Earth, Eros Love, Tartar of the Abyss, Erebus Darkness, Nikta Night. The gods that appeared from Gaia are Uranus Sky and Pontus Sea. The first gods gave birth to the Titans. One of the matriarchal versions was as follows: Mother Earth Gaia arose from Chaos and in a dream gave birth to Uranus ("Sky"). Uranus ascended to the place allotted to him in the sky and poured out his gratitude to his mother in the form of rain, which fertilized the earth, and the seeds that slept in it woke up to life.

Patriarchal version: at the beginning there was nothing but Gaia and Chaos. From Chaos appeared Erebus (darkness), from night - ether and day. The earth gave birth to the sea, and then the great Ocean and other children. The father of the children, Uranus, planned to destroy them, envious of the love that Gaia had for them. But the youngest of the children - Kronos in revenge overshadowed his father and threw the clipped parts into the sea - this is how Aphrodite appeared, and the blood of Uranus, falling to the ground, gave birth to Fury. Kronos became the supreme deity and married Rhea. His children (Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon) Kronos, fearing to be overthrown, swallowed. Only the youngest Zeus managed to escape, who overthrew Kronos a few years later. Zeus freed his brothers and sisters and became the supreme deity. Zeus is one of the main gods of the ancient Greek pantheon.

Myths of Mesopotamia. According to the Sumero-Akkadian cosmogonic epic Enuma Elish, Tiamat mixed her waters with Apsu, thereby giving rise to peace. The words Apsu and Tiamat have a dual meaning, in mythology they meant the names of the gods, but when writing these words in Enuma Elish there is no DINGIR determinative meaning "deity", so in this context they should be considered more like natural elements or elements, than gods.

An interesting concept of the universe was created by Zoroastrians. According to this concept, the world has existed for 12 thousand years. His entire history is conditionally divided into four periods, each of 3 thousand years.

The first period is the pre-existence of things and ideas. At this stage of heavenly creation there were already prototypes of everything that was later created on Earth. This state of the world is called Menok (“invisible” or “spiritual”).

The second period is the creation of the created world, that is, the real, visible, inhabited by "creatures". Ahura Mazda creates the sky, stars, the moon, the sun, the first man and the primitive. Behind the sphere of the Sun is the abode of Ahura Mazda himself. However, Ahriman begins to act at the same time. He invades the firmament, creates planets and comets that do not obey the uniform motion of the celestial spheres. Ahriman pollutes the water, sends death to the first man of Guyomart and the primitive. But a man and a woman are born from the first man, from whom the human race came, and from the primitive all animals come. From the collision of two opposing principles, the whole world begins to move: the waters become fluid, mountains arise, celestial bodies move. In order to neutralize the actions of "harmful" planets, Ahura-Mazda assigns its spirits to each planet.

The third period of the existence of the universe covers the time before the advent of the prophet Zoroaster. During this period, the mythological heroes of the Avesta operate: the king of the golden age - Yima the Shining, in whose kingdom there is neither heat, nor cold, nor old age, nor envy - the creation of the devas. This king saves people and cattle from the Flood by building a special shelter for them. Among the righteous of this time is also mentioned the ruler of a certain region of Vishtasp, the patron saint of Zoroaster.

During the last, fourth period (after Zoroaster) in each millennium, three Savior, appearing as sons of Zoroaster, should appear to people. The last of them, the Savior Saoshyant, will decide the fate of the world and humanity. He will resurrect the dead, destroy evil and defeat Ahriman, after which the world will be cleansed with a “stream of molten metal”, and all that remains after that will gain eternal life.

In China, the most important cosmic forces were not the elements, but the male and female principles, which are the main active forces in the world. The famous Chinese yin and yang sign is the most common symbol in China. One of the most famous creation myths recorded in the II century BC. e. It follows that in ancient times there was only gloomy chaos in which two principles gradually formed themselves - Yin (gloomy) and Yang (light), which established eight main directions of world space. After establishing these directions, the spirit of Yang began to rule the heavens, and the spirit of Yin - the earth.

The earliest written texts in China were divinatory inscriptions. The concept of literature - wen (drawing, ornament) at the beginning was designated as the image of a person with a tattoo (hieroglyph). By the 6th century BC e. the concept of wen has gained meaning - the word. The books of the Confucian canon were the first to appear: The Book of Changes - Ijing, The Book of History - Shu Jing, The Book of Songs - Shi Jing XI - VII centuries. BC e. Ritual books also appeared: Book of Ritual - Li Ji, Music Records - Yue Ji; annals of the kingdom of Lu: Spring and Autumn - Chun qiu; Conversations and judgments - Lun yu. A list of these and many other books was compiled by Ban Gu (32-92 A.D.). In the book History of the Han Dynasty, he wrote down all the literature of the past and his time. In the I - II centuries. n e. one of the brightest collections was Izbornik - Nineteen Ancient Poems. These verses are subordinated to one main idea - the transience of a brief moment of life. In the ritual books, the following legend about the creation of the world exists: Heaven and earth lived in a mixture - chaos, like the contents of a chicken egg: Pan-gu lived in the middle (this can be compared with the Slavic representation of the beginning of the world when Rod was in the egg).

Japan. At first there was only the endless oily sea of \u200b\u200bChaos, then the three spirits of the Kami decided that peace should be created from this sea. Spirits gave birth to many gods and goddesses, including Izanaki, who was given the magic spear, and Izanami. Izanaki and Izanami came down from the sky, and Izanaki began to disturb the sea with a spear, and when he pulled out the spear, several drops gathered on its tip, which fell back into the sea and formed an island.

Then Izanaki and Izanami discovered differences in their anatomy, as a result of which Izanami conceived many wonderful things. The first creature they conceived turned out to be a leech. They put her in a cane basket and allowed her to swim on the water. After Izanami spawned Foamy Island, which was useless.

The next that Izanami gave rise to are the islands of Japan, waterfalls, mountains and other natural wonders. Then Izanami gave birth to the Five Spirits, which severely burned her, and she fell ill. Her vomit turned into a prince and princess of the Mountains of Metal, from which all the mines sprang. Her urine became the spirit of Freshwater, and her bowel movements became clay.

When Izanami went down to the Land of Night, Izanaki cried and decided to return his wife. But when he came down behind her, he was afraid of her appearance - Izanami had already begun to decompose. Frightened, Izanaki fled, but Izanami sent the Spirit of Night to bring him back. The runaway Izanaki threw his crests, which turned into vines and bamboo, and the Spirit of the Night stopped to feast on grapes and young shoots. Then Izanami sent eight spirits of thunder and all the warriors from the Land of Night for her husband, but Izanaki began throwing peaches at them and they fled. Then Izanami promised her husband that every day a thousand people would pick him up if he avoided her. To this, Izanaki replied that a thousand people would give life every day. So death came to the world, but the human race did not die. When Izanaki washed away the mud of the Land of Night, gods and goddesses were born - Amaterasu - the sun goddess and ancestor of the emperor, Tsukiyomi no Mikoto - the Moon and Susano-o - the god of the storm.

The history of the creation of the world has worried people since ancient times. Representatives of different countries and peoples have repeatedly thought about how the world in which they live appeared. Ideas about this have been formed for centuries, growing from thoughts and conjectures into myths about the creation of the world.

That is why the mythology of any nation begins with attempts to explain the origins of the surrounding reality. People understood then and understand now that any phenomenon has a beginning and an end; and the logical question of the appearance of everything around logically arose among the representatives of Homo Sapiens. groups of people in the early stages of development vividly reflected the degree of understanding of a particular phenomenon, including such as the creation of the world and man by higher forces.

People conveyed theories of creating the world by word of mouth, embellishing them, adding more and more details. Basically, the myths about the creation of the world show us how diverse the thinking of our ancestors was, because in their stories either gods, then birds, or animals acted as the primary source and creator. The similarity was, perhaps, in one thing - the world arose from Nothing, from Primeval Chaos. But his further development took place in the way that representatives of this or that people chose for him.

Restoration of the picture of the world of ancient peoples in modern times

The rapid development of the world in recent decades has given a chance for a better restoration of the picture of the world of ancient peoples. Scientists of various specialties and areas were engaged in the study of found manuscripts, archaeological artifacts in order to recreate the worldview that was characteristic of the inhabitants of a country many thousands of years ago.

Unfortunately, the myths about the creation of the world have not survived in our time in full. Of the surviving passages, it is not always possible to restore the original plot of the work, which prompts historians and archaeologists to persistently search for other sources that can fill in the missing gaps.

Nevertheless, from the material that is available to modern generations, one can extract a lot of useful information, in particular: how they lived, what they believed, who the ancient people worshiped, what is the difference in worldviews among different peoples and what is the purpose of creating a world their versions.

Enormous help in finding and restoring information is provided by modern technologies: transistors, computers, lasers, various highly specialized devices.

The theories of creating the world that were common among the ancient inhabitants of our planet allow us to conclude: any legend was based on an understanding of the fact that all things arose from Chaos due to something Almighty, Comprehensive, feminine or masculine (depending on the foundations of society).

We will try to briefly outline the most popular versions of the legends of ancient people in order to make a general idea of \u200b\u200btheir worldview.

Myths about the creation of the world: Egypt and the cosmogony of the ancient Egyptians

The inhabitants of Egyptian civilization were adherents of the Divine principle of all things. However, the history of the creation of the world through the eyes of different generations of Egyptians is somewhat different.

Thebes version of the appearance of the world

The most widespread (Theban) version tells that the very first God, Amon, appeared from the waters of the boundless and bottomless ocean. He created himself, after which he created other Gods and people.

In later mythology, Amon is already known as Amon-Ra or simply Ra (God of the Sun).

The first ones that Amon created were Shu - the first air, Tefnut - the first moisture. Of these, he created which was the Eye of Ra and was supposed to follow the actions of the Divine. The first tears from the Eye of Ra caused the appearance of people. Since Hathor - Eye of Ra - was angry with the Divine for being separate from his body, Amon-Ra put Hathor on his forehead as a third eye. From his lips, Ra created other Gods, including his wife, the Goddess Mut, and the son of Khonsu - the lunar Deity. Together, they represented the Theban Triad of the Gods.

Such a legend about the creation of the world gives an understanding that the Egyptians laid the Divine principle in the basis of views on its origin. But this was the supremacy over the world and people of not one God, but their whole galaxy, which was honored and expressed their respect by numerous sacrifices.

World view of the ancient Greeks

The richest mythology inherited by new generations was left by the ancient Greeks, who paid great attention to their culture and gave it paramount importance. If we consider the myths about the creation of the world, Greece, perhaps, surpasses any other country in their number and variety. They were divided into matriarchal and patriarchal: depending on who his hero was - a woman or a man.

Matriarchal and patriarchal versions of the emergence of the world

For example, according to one of the matriarchal myths, the progenitor of the world was Gaia - Mother Earth, which arose from Chaos and gave birth to the God of Heaven - Uranus. The son, in gratitude to his mother for his appearance, poured rain on her, fertilizing the earth and awakening the seeds that slept in it to life.

The patriarchal version is more extended and deeper: in the beginning there was only Chaos - dark and limitless. He gave birth to the Goddess of the Earth - Gaia, from whom all life came, and the God of Love Eros, breathing life into everything around.

In contrast to the living and aspiring to the sun, a sullen and gloomy Tartarus - a dark abyss - was born underground. Eternal Darkness and Dark Night also arose. They gave birth to the Eternal Light and Bright Day. Since then, Day and Night succeed each other.

Then other creatures and phenomena appeared: Deities, titans, cyclops, giants, winds and stars. As a result of a long struggle between the Gods, Zeus, the son of Kronos, raised by his mother in a cave and toppled his father from the throne, led the Sky Olympus. Starting from Zeus, other well-known people considered to be ancestors of people and their patrons: Hera, Hestia, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Athena, Hephaestus, Hermes and others take their history.

People worshiped the Gods, propitiated them in every way, erecting magnificent temples and bringing countless rich gifts to them. But in addition to the Divine creatures living on Olympus, there were also such respected creatures as: Nereids - marine inhabitants, Naiads - custodians of water bodies, Satire and Dryads - forest talismans.

According to the beliefs of the ancient Greeks, the fate of all people was in the hands of three goddesses, whose name is Moira. They spun the thread of each person’s life: from the day of birth to the day of death, deciding when to break off this life.

Myths about the creation of the world are replete with numerous incredible descriptions, because, believing in the forces that are higher than man, people embellished themselves and their deeds, endowing them with supernormal abilities and opportunities inherent only to gods to rule the fate of the world and man in particular.

With the development of Greek civilization, myths about each of the deities became increasingly popular. A great many of them were created. The worldview of the ancient Greeks significantly influenced the development of the history of the state that appeared at a later time, becoming the basis of its culture and traditions.

The appearance of the world through the eyes of ancient Indians

In the context of the theme "Myths about the creation of the world", India is known for several versions of the appearance of all things on Earth.

The most famous of them is similar to Greek traditions, because it also tells that at first the impenetrable darkness of Chaos reigned on Earth. She was motionless, but full of hidden potential and great power. Later, Water emerged from Chaos, which generated Fire. Thanks to the great power of heat, a Golden Egg appeared in the Waters. At that time, there were no celestial bodies and time dimensions in the world. Nevertheless, in comparison with the modern count of time, the Golden Egg floated in the vast waters of the ocean for about a year, after which an ancestor of everything by the name of Brahma appeared. He broke the egg, as a result of which its upper part turned into Heaven, and the lower part into Earth. Between them Brahma was placed airspace.

Further, the ancestor created the countries of the world and laid the foundation for the countdown. Thus, according to the tradition of the Indians, the universe arose. However, Brahma felt very lonely and came to the conclusion that living beings must be created. Brahma was so great that he could use it to create six sons - great lords, and other goddesses and gods. Tired of such global affairs, Brahma transferred power over everything existing in the Universe to his sons, and he retired to rest.

As for the appearance of people in the world, according to the Indian version, they were born from the goddess Saranu and the god Vivasvat (who from God turned into a man by the will of the older gods). The first children of these gods were mortals, and the rest were gods. The first of the mortal children of the gods died Yama, who in the afterlife became the master of the kingdom of the dead. Brahma's other mortal child, Manu, survived the Great Flood. It is from this god that humans came.

Revels - The First Man on Earth

Another legend about the creation of the world tells of the appearance of the First Man named Pirushi (in other sources - Purusha). characteristic of the period of Brahmanism. Purusha was born thanks to the will of the Almighty Gods. However, later Pirushi sacrificed himself to the gods who created him: the body of the primordial man was cut into parts from which the celestial bodies (the Sun, the Moon and stars), the sky itself, the Earth, the countries of the world and the social class of society came into being.

The Brahmanas arising from the mouth of Purusha were considered the highest class - caste. They were the priests of the gods on earth; knew the sacred texts. The next most important class was the kshatriyas - rulers and warriors. Their Primordial Man created from his shoulders. From the hips of Purusha appeared merchants and farmers - vaisyas. The lower class, arising from the feet of Pirusha, were the sudras - bonded people who performed the role of servants. The most unenviable position was occupied by the so-called untouchables - they could not even be touched, otherwise a person from another caste would immediately become one of the untouchables. Brahmins, ksatriyas, and vaisyas, upon reaching a certain age, were consecrated and became "twice born." Their life was divided into certain stages:

• Student (a person learns life from wiser adults and gain life experience).
• Family (a person creates a family and is obliged to become a decent family man and householder).
• Hermit (a person leaves the house and lives the life of a hermit monk, dying alone).

Brahmanism assumed the existence of such concepts as Brahman - the foundation of the world, its cause and essence, the impersonal Absolute, and Atman - the spiritual principle of each person, inherent only to him and striving to merge with Brahman.

With the development of Brahmanism, the idea of \u200b\u200bSamsara arises - the circulation of life; Incarnations - rebirth after death; Karma - destiny, the law that will determine in which body a person will be born in the next life; Moksha is the ideal to which the human soul must strive.

Speaking about the division of people into castes, it is worth noting that they should not have contacted each other. Simply put, each class of society was isolated from the other. Too rigid caste division is explained by the fact that only the brahmanas, representatives of the higher caste, could deal with mystical and religious problems.

Later, however, more democratic religious teachings emerged - Buddhism and Jainism, which held a point of view that was opposed to official teaching. Jainism has become a very influential religion within the country, but has remained within its borders, while Buddhism has become a world religion with millions of followers.

Despite the fact that the theories of creating the world through the eyes of one and the same people are different, on the whole there is a common beginning in them - this is the presence in any legend of a certain First Man - Brahma, who eventually became the main deity that was believed in ancient India.

Cosmogony of Ancient India

The latest version of the cosmogony of Ancient India sees in the foundation of the world the triad of the Gods (the so-called Trimurti), which included Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Guardian, Shiva the Destroyer. Their responsibilities were clearly divided and delineated. Thus, Brahma cyclically gives birth to the Universe, which Vishnu preserves, and destroys Shiva. As long as the universe is there, Brahma's day lasts. As soon as the universe ceases to exist, the night of Brahma comes. 12 thousand divine years - such is the cyclic duration of day and night. These years consist of days that are equal to the human concept of the year. After the hundred years of Brahma's life, he is replaced by the new Brahma.

In general, the cult significance of Brahma is secondary. Evidence of this is the existence of only two temples in his honor. Shiva and Vishnu, on the contrary, gained widespread popularity, which was transformed into two powerful religious movements - Shaivism and Vishnuism.

Creating a Bible World

The history of the creation of the world according to the Bible is also very interesting from the point of view of theories about the creation of all things. The holy book of Christians and Jews in its own way explains the origin of the world.

The creation of the world by God is covered in the first book of the Bible - Genesis. Like other myths, the legend tells that in the very beginning there was nothing, there was not even Earth. There was only continuous darkness, emptiness and cold. Almighty God contemplated all this and decided to revive the world. He began his work with the creation of the earth and sky, which did not have any definite shapes and shapes. After that, the Almighty created light and darkness, separating them from each other and naming them, respectively, day and night. This happened on the first day of the universe.

On the second day, a firmament was created by God, which divided the water into two parts: one part remained above the firmament, and the second under it. The name of the firmament has become Heaven.

The third day was marked by the creation of land, which God called the Earth. To do this, he collected all the water that was under the sky in one place, and called it the sea. To revive what was already created, God created trees and grass.

The fourth day was the day of the creation of the stars. God created them to separate day from night, and also so that they always illuminate the earth. Thanks to the luminaries, it has become possible to keep track of days, months and years. During the day the great Sun shone, and at night the smaller Sun shone - the Moon (the stars helped him).

The fifth day was devoted to the creation of living beings. The very first appeared fish, aquatic animals and birds. God liked the creation, and he decided to increase their number.

On the sixth day, creatures living on land were created: wild animals, cattle, snakes. Since God still had much to do, he created an assistant for himself, calling him a Man and making himself like himself. Man was to become the master of the earth and all that dwells and grows on it, while God left behind him the privilege of governing the whole world.

From the dust of the earth a man appeared. More precisely, it was molded from clay and called Adam ("man"). His God settled in Eden - a paradise country, along which flowed a mighty river, overgrown with trees with large and tasty fruits.

In the middle of paradise, two special trees stood out - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. Adam was instructed to guard and care for him. He could taste the fruits of any tree except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God threatened him that by eating the fruit from this tree, Adam would die immediately.

Adam was bored alone in the garden, and then God told all living things to come to man. Adam gave all the birds, fish, reptiles and animals names, but did not find someone who could become him a worthy helper. Then God, taking pity on Adam, put him to sleep, took a rib from his body and created a woman from him. Waking up, Adam was delighted with such a gift, deciding that the woman would become his faithful companion, assistant and wife.

God gave them parting words - to fill the earth, to possess it, to rule over sea fish, birds of the sky and other animals that walk and crawl on the ground. And he, tired of the work and contented with everything created, decided to rest. Since then, every seventh day is considered a holiday.

Such was the creation of the world by the days of Christians and Jews. This phenomenon is the main dogma of the religion of these peoples.

Myths about creating a world of different nations

In many ways, the history of human society is, first of all, the search for answers to fundamental questions: what was in the beginning; what is the purpose of creating the world; who is its creator. Based on the worldviews of peoples living in different eras and in different conditions, the answers to these questions acquired an individual interpretation for each society, which in general terms could be in contact with the interpretation of the emergence of peace among neighboring peoples.

Nevertheless, each nation believed in its own version, worshiped its god or gods, and tried to disseminate among the representatives of other societies and countries their doctrine, religion, concerning such an issue as the creation of the world. The passage of several stages in this process has become an integral part of the legends of ancient people. They sacredly believed that everything in the world arose gradually, in turn. Among the myths of different nations, there is not a single story where everything existing on earth appeared in an instant.

Ancient people identified the birth and development of the world with the birth of a person and his growing up: first, a person is born into the world, every day gaining more and more knowledge and experience; then there is a period of formation and maturation, when the acquired knowledge becomes applicable in everyday life; and then comes the stage of aging, extinction, which involves the gradual loss of human life force, which ultimately leads to death. The same stages in the views of our ancestors belonged to the world: the appearance of all living things due to one or another higher power, development and flowering, extinction.

Myths and legends that have survived to this day constitute an important part of the history of the development of the people, allowing you to associate your origin with certain events and gain an understanding of how it all began.