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Creation Story: A Unique Trace of Creative Cultural History

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Creation Story: A Unique Trace of Creative Cultural History

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Introduction

Every culture holds special history, tradition, and foundation—building up for their literature. Creation stories or the origin of history of humankind and the world is truly common in almost all cultures. In this blog, some of the most popular identities’—Egyptian and Sumerian—renowned literature will be discussed.

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The Egyptian View of Creation Story

While it is true that almost every culture has their own creation story, it is also undeniable that these creation stories vary from one origin to another. The Egyptian view of how the world came to its structure is summarized as its being founded to the gods’ will and command. All the human principles, animal structure and hierarchy, land formations, waters, and the skies—they are all formed as how the gods instructed them to appear like. Through the hieroglyphic writings, the creation story is presented and preserved.

So, what is the Egyptian people’s view of the creation of world?

In the very beginning, there was only Nun, the primordial ocean of chaos that holds everything that is yet to become. Within the waters was the sun god—Ra, who, by his will emerged and broke free from chaos. Birthed by Ra were Shu (the god of air) and Tefnut (the goddess of moisture). And from the union of these two gods sprung two more gods: Geb (the earth god), and Nut (the sky goddess). They were the gods and goddesses who formed the physical structure of the earth.

Humankind was a result of Ra’s tears. As Ra grew old and weary, the ungrateful human beings planned badly against Ra. This made Ra furious, sending goddess Hathor to kill human beings. Hathor killed relentlessly, leaving only a few men behind. Ra took back his order of eliminating the race of men, sparing what was left of humankind. Then Ra grew tired of the world, leaving Shu to rule and govern what is learnt as the “present” world.

Geb and Nut married even when it was against the law of Ra. Upon learning of this, Ra ordered Shu to separate the two. Shu defeated Geb, separating him from the goddess of sky, Nut. The air god, Shu, raised Nut independently, away from Geb—but he learnt that Nut was pregnant. When Ra intercepted the event, he ordered that Nut was not to give birth at any time, day, and month of the year. Thoth, the god of learning, upon witnessing Nut’s plight, gambled with the moon for extra light, resulting to the addition of five more days in the Egyptian calendar having 360 days. Within those five days, Nut successively gave birth to five offspring: Osiris, Horus the Elder, Set, Isis, and Nepthys. Later, Osiris embodied the incarnation of good, and Set embodied evilness. This circumstance allowed for the settlement of the two poles of human morality.

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The Sumerian View of Creation Story

The Sumerians, one of the earliest people who migrated to and inhabited Mesopotamia, had their fair share in depicting creative stories about the creation of the world. These people have high regards and respect towards the gods, for they identified their existence at the very start before everything came into its form.

The Sumerian people anchor their understanding of the world’s creation with…

1.    The story of Gilgamesh and Netherworld

Perhaps “Gilgamesh and the Netherworld” is the most common and rather unique story plot of the Sumerian creation story. In this event, the gods and the goddesses, and the universe have long been existing—that the heavens and earth were joined and in communion, before they were separated until this very point of existence.

2.    The story of Enki and the World Order

Another creation story of the Sumerian pride was Enki and the World order which explains why the earth is structured and organized as it is. In this story, it is Enki who planned that the world be organized and well-organized in order to avoid chaos. Other gods were made responsible for managing other features of the earth such as the waters, vegetation, faunas, monitoring of the heavens and the earth, as well as the women’s activities.

3.    The story of Enki and Ninmah

This is continuation with item #2, the story of Enki and the World Order, it has been specified in this story (Enki and Ninmah) that lesser gods were provided with the responsibility of fulfilling the earth and its complexities. Feeling burdened, these lesser gods complained to Namma, the primeval mother. Namma, then, persuaded the god of wisdom, Enki, to create other substitutes for the lesser gods. The primeval mother kneaded some clay, planted them in her womb, giving birth to the first of the human race.

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Summary

Differing races produce creative history that is unique to their human experiences, environment, and identity. Creation stories are some of the most common and concrete manifestations of the varying development, understanding, and perception of human beings in an attempt to understand the point of origin and existence, as well as the natural world that humankind is encapsulated in. Some of the widely-studied and recognized cultures imparting their shares on the world’s creation are the Egyptian and Sumerian culture, which share the same characteristic of honouring gods and goddesses as the highest, mightiest, and causal creatures responsible for the total creation of the world. All-in-all, each culture is unique to its own experiences and natural setting—all of which, is of indispensable value and worth.