Cosmogonical myths

Mesopotamian cosmogony:  The basic feature of Mesopotamian cosmology was the firmament, or vault of heaven, that created a dry space above the Earth. The Earth was a disk, and the firmament rested on the Earth around its edge – as was obvious to any Mesopotamian scanning the horizon. Beneath the Earth were the waters of the abyss. The Earth had some thickness as was obvious from digging and from caves. Within the thickness of the Earth-disk was the underworld.

Sumer: Nammu the mother of all. Nammu creates an (heaven) and ki (earth). An, the sky, is a hard metallic shell lies on the earth, ki. The union of an and ki produce Enlil, the god of air, wind, and storm. Enlil lifts an away from ki, filling the space in which humans live. The space is filled with lil (atmosphere). The brighter parts of the lil form the sun, moon, and stars. Enlil also creates all living things. He also invents all the tools used by man and teaches him to use them. But it isn’t Enlil that creates man; it is his son Enki.

Babylon: But there are two kinds of water: fresh, deified in Apsu (male), and salt, deified in Tiamat (female). They call into being a whole genealogy of gods. The new gods were noisy and Apsu complains that he gets no rest either by day or night. This is significant since the gods are still existing in the primordial waters; sun, moon, and earth have not yet been created. This shows that the Babylonians were not aware that day was caused by the sun. They thought of day and night as fundamental and the sun as a mere marker of day. Apsu proposes to kill off the children gods that he and Tiamat have produced. But the gods take measures to prevent this and kill first Apsu and then Tiamat. The latter is accomplished by Marduk who is then the chief god. He splits Tiamat’s body in two ‘like and oyster’.

Ancient Israel: It is referred to as the “Preistly” or “P” account. It is very close to the Babylonian account and was probably learned by the Hebrew priests during Jewish captivity in Mesopotamia. It begins with a formless void of water. Yaweh’s spirit (i.e. breath, like Enlil the air) moves over the waters. He creates night and day; before creating the Sun, just as in the Babylonian myth. He creates the firmament that separates the waters and creates the Earth. He brings forth vegetation first and then produces the Sun, Moon, and stars. After creating all the other living things he makes man and woman and tells them to multiply and dominate the Earth.

Egypt: The Egyptian world view was dominated by the Sun and the Nile. For the Egyptians godhood was flexible. Kings and noblemen could become gods. Even the common people could be immortal. Gods, people, animals, and the natural world were suffused with the same kind of life force. The cosmos emerged from primeval waters, just as in the Mesopotamian myths. It was hollowed out of the abyss, Nun. This was no doubt suggested by the way high ground reappeared, rising from the water as the Nile’s floodtide receded. The primeval waters were held back by an arched living female figure Nut, as shown in figure 3, instead of a metallic firmament; Or in some accounts by a cow or a shell.

Greek: The world began with chaos. Gaia, mother Earth, arose from the chaos. She gives birth Uranos. Uranos is the sky and holds back the chaos. As in the Babylonian myth, there is a revolt among the gods and Zeus becomes the chief god. In the Greek mythology the gods are just humans writ large. They live on Mount Olympus and engage in power struggles and intrigue and sex. As in the Egyptian and Mesopotamian religions, different gods are benefactors and protectors of different cities.