不同文明的神話：creation of universe

神話本來就是傳說，比較不同文明的神話不容易。只能缩小範圍，只談 creation of universe宇宙開始。儘量不看 Institutional religions （有組織的宗教）。

Mesopotamian （3500-550 BCE）

Stories describing creation are prominent in many cultures of the world. In Mesopotamia, the surviving evidence from the third millennium to the end of the first millennium B.C. indicates that although many of the gods were associated with natural forces, no single myth addressed issues of initial creation. It was simply assumed that the gods existed before the world was formed. Unfortunately, very little survives of Sumerian literature from the third millennium B.C. Several fragmentary tablets contain references to a time before the pantheon of the gods, when only the Earth (Sumerian: ki) and Heavens (Sumerian: an) existed. All was dark, there existed neither sunlight nor moonlight; however, the earth was green and water was in the ground, although there was no vegetation.

這可能最古老的文明，可惜記載不詳。

 

Egyptian （3000-550 BCE）

One common feature of the myths is the emergence of the world from the waters of chaos that surround it. This event represents the establishment of maat and the origin of life. One fragmentary tradition centers on the eight gods of the Ogdoad, who represent the characteristics of the primeval water itself. Their actions give rise to the sun (represented in creation myths by various gods, especially Ra), whose birth forms a space of light and dryness within the dark water. The sun rises from the first mound of dry land, another common motif in the creation myths, which was likely inspired by the sight of mounds of earth emerging as the Nile flood receded. With the emergence of the sun god, the establisher of maat, the world has its first ruler. Atum, a god closely connected with the sun and the primeval mound, is the focus of a creation myth dating back at least to the Old Kingdom. Atum, who incorporates all the elements of the world, exists within the waters as a potential being. At the time of creation he emerges to produce other gods, resulting in a set of nine deities, the Ennead, which includes Geb, Nut, and other key elements of the world. The Ennead can by extension stand for all the gods, so its creation represents the differentiation of Atum's unified potential being into the multiplicity of elements present within the world. The origin of humans is not a major feature of Egyptian creation stories. In some texts the first humans spring from tears that Ra-Atum or his feminine aspect, the Eye of Ra, sheds in a moment of weakness and distress, foreshadowing humans' flawed nature and sorrowful lives.

好像和我們的神話差不多。人類的出現似乎不是整個宇宙的重點。

Hindu （2500-1500BCE）

It all started with the enunciation of a sacred sound, oom (aum). The ultimate reality (Brahman) has three main functions. These three characteristics are seen in the trinity of gods: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. That is why we can see images where the heads of the trinity are merged together into a single body called the Trimurti. In the Trimurti, Brahma is the creator of everything, Vishnu is the preserver of nature, and Shiva is the ultimate destroyer who brings about change whenever it becomes necessary.

Brahma brings the universe into being through his thoughts. The world then passes through a Maha Yuga, or great age, that lasts 4,320,000 years. The Maha Yuga contains four yugas, or ages. Each is shorter and more immoral than the one before, from the Krita Yuga—Brahma's golden age—through two intermediate ages under Vishnu's protection to the Kali Yuga—Shiva's dark age. Each dark age in turn gives way to a new golden age, and the cycle of the Maha Yuga repeats a thousand times. Then Shiva destroys all life with scorching heat and drowning flood, and the earth remains empty while Vishnu sleeps. After a thousand Maha Yugas, a lotus flower emerges from Vishnu's navel, and it becomes Brahma, ready to perform his creative act anew.

 

和其他文明有一個大區別：宇宙的開始，進行和結束有 cycle。循環不息。

 

Greek (2000BCE-)

In the beginning, there was only Chaos, the gaping emptiness. Then, either all by themselves or out of the formless void, sprang forth three more primordial deities: Gaea (Earth), Tartarus (the Underworld), and Eros (Desire). Once Desire was there, Gaea and Eros – two female deities – were able to procreate and shape everything known and unknown in the universe.

宇宙的開始不是重點。Desire，這個字不知其原意，有些地方用love， 是一切事物的動力。我想是“想要”，說欲望，希望，愛，，，都可以。不很清楚，待考。

 

China (2000BCE-)

盤古開天，女媧補天，共工觸天，雷澤華胥，后弈射日，女媧造人。

 

比較起來，好像神人共處了很常一段時間。也許神只是有超人能力的人。