Originally published in
Creation has been a mystery to all even when Science came in the picture to try its very best to give us clarity. Well, even Science still faces the mystery of such details.
Now, let me present to you the stories of creation from the Bible, Norse and Greek Mythology. You might want to challenge yourself to see the single strand that binds them all.
Let us begin with the story of creation told in the book of Genesis.
Now, let's get a glimpse of how NORSE mythology tell its version of creation.
You are now about to delve into the GREEK's a complex story of creation as they may vary depending on the storyteller it is based from. Let us begin with the CREATION OF THE GODS mostly based from the storytelling of Edith Hamilton who also based it from Hesiod's Theogony.
CREATION 1: MASTERPIECES OF EPIMETHEUS AND PROMETHEUS
By now all was ready for the appearance of mankind. It was time for men to be created. However, there is but more than one account of how that came to pass. Some say it was delegated by the gods to Prometheus, the Titan who had sided with Zeus in the war with the Titans, and to his brother, Epimetheus. Prometheus, whose name means forethought, was very wise, wiser even than the gods, but Epimetheus, which means afterthought, was a scatterbrain who invariably followed his first impulse and then changed his mind. So he did in this case. Before making men he gave all the best gifts to the animals, strength and swiftness and courage and shrewd cunning, fur and feathers and wings and shells and the like - until no good was left for men, no protective covering and no quality to make them a match for the beasts. Too late, as always, he was sorry and asked his brother’s help. Prometheus, then, took over the task of creation and thought out a way to make mankind superior. He fashioned them in a nobler shape than the animals, upright like the gods; and then he went to heaven, to the sun, where he lit a torch and brought down fire, a protection to men far better than anything else, whether fur or feather or strength or swiftness. And now though feeble and short-lived, mankind has flaming fire and therefrom learns many crafts.
CREATION 2: FIVE AGES OF MAN
According to another story, the gods themselves created men. They made first a golden race. These, although mortal, lived like gods without sorrow of heart, far from toil and pain. The cornland of itself bore fruit abundantly. They were rich also in flocks and most of all they were loved by the gods. When the grave covered them they became pure spirits. They become the guardians of mankind. In this account of creation the gods seemed bent on experimenting with the various metals, and, oddly enough, proceeding downward from the excellent to the good to the worse and so on. When they had tried gold they went to silver. This second race of silver was very inferior to the first. They had so little intelligence that they could not keep from injuring each other. They too passed away, but, unlike the gold race, their spirits did not live on after them. The next race was of brass. They were terrible men, immensely strong, and such lovers of war and violence that they were completely destroyed by their own hands. This , however, was all to the good, for they were followed by a splendid race of godlike heroes who fought glorious wars and went on great adventures which men have talked and sung of through all the ages since. They departed finally to the isles of the blessed, where they lived in perfect bliss forever. The fifth race is that which is now upon the earth: the iron race. They live in evil times and their nature too has much of evil, so that they never have rest from toil and sorrow. As the generations pass, they grow worse; sons are always inferior to their fathers. A time will come when they have grown so wicked that they will worship power; and reverence for the good will cease to be. At last when no man is angry any more at wrongdoing or feels shame in the presence of the miserable, Zeus will destroy them too. And yet even then something might be done, if only the common people would arise and put down rulers that oppress them.
CREATION 3: THE BANE OF MEN
For a long time, certainly throughout the happy Golden Age, only men were upon the earth; there were no women. Zeus created these later, in his anger at Prometheus for caring so much for men Prometheus had not only stolen fire for man; he had also arranged that they should get the best part of any animal sacrificed and the gods the worst. He cut up a great ox and wrapped the good edible parts in the hide, disguising them further by piling entrails on top. In other words he tricked the gods, especially Zeus, who was enraged when he found out. He swore to be avenged, on mankind fiesta and then on mankind’s friend. He made a a great evil for men, a sweet and lovely thing to look upon, in the likeness of a shy maiden, and all the gods gave her gifts, silvery raiment and an embroidered veil, a wonder to behold, and bright garlands of blooming flowers and a crown of gold - great beauty shone out from it. Because of what they gave her they called her Pandora, which means “the gift of all”. When this beautiful disaster had been made, Zeus brought her out and wonder took hold of gods and men when they beheld her. Being the first woman, from her comes the race of women, who are an evil to men, with a nature to do evil. Pandora is the source of all misfortunes because only of her curiosity. The gods presented her with a box into which each had put something harmful, and forbade her ever to open it. Then they sent her to Epimetheus, who took her gladly although Prometheus had warned him never to accept anything from Zeus. He took her and afterward when that dangerous thing, a woman, was his, he understood how good his brother’s advice had been. Pandora was possessed of a lively curiosity. She had to know what was in the box. One day she lifted the lid - and out flew plagues innumerable, sorrow and mischief for mankind. In terror Pandora clapped the lid down but it was too late. One good thing however, was there - HOPE. It was the only good thing the casket had held among the many evils and it remains to this day mankind’s sole comfort in unfortunate circumstances. When Zeus had punished men by giving them women he turned his attention to the arch-sinner himself, Prometheus. Though Zeus received a great deal of debt from Prometheus when he sided with him during the war against the Titans, none of that matters now after his treachery. Zeus sent his servants FORCE and VIOLENCE to seize him and take him to the Caucasus mountains where they bound him.
CREATION 4: THE STONE PEOPLE
Men are descended from a race of stone. This story begins with the Deluge. All over the earth men grew so wicked that finally Zeus was determined to destroy them. He decided to mingle storms and tempest over boundless earth and make an utter end of mortal man. He sent the flood. He called upon his brother, the god of the sea, Poseidon to help him and together, with torrents of rain from heavens and rivers loosed upon the earth, the two drowned the land. The might of water overwhelmed the dark earth, over the summits of the highest mountains. Only towering Parnassus was not quite covered, and the bit of dry land on its very topmost peak was the means by which mankind escaped destruction. After it had rained through, nine days and nine nights, there came drifting to that spot of what looked to be a great wooden chest, but safe within it were two living beings, Deucalion and Pyrrha. Deucalion was the son of Prometheus and Asia; while Pyrrha was the mortal daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora. Prometheus a wise Titan that he is knew the flood would come and he bid his son build the chest, store it with provisions, and embark in it with his wife. Fortunately Zeus was not offended, because the two were pious, faithful worshipers of the gods. When the chest came to land and they got out, to see no sign of life anywhere, only a wide waste of waters, Zeus pitied them and drained off the flood. Slowly like the ebbing tide the sea and the rivers drew back and the earth was dry again. Pyrrha and Deucalion came down from Parnassus, the only living creatures in a dead world. They found a temple all slimy and moss-grown, but not quite in ruins, and there they gave thanks for their escape and prayed for help in their dreadful loneliness. They heard a voice, “Veil your heads and cast behind you the bones of your mother” the commands struck them with horror. Pyrra said, “We dare not do such a thing.” Deucalion found out what might lie behind the words and suddenly he saw their meaning. “Earth is the mother of all,” he told his wife. “Her bones are the stones. These we may cast behind us without doing wrong.`` So they did, and as the stones fell they took human shape they were called the STONE PEOPLE, and they were a hard, enduring race, as was to be expected and indeed, as they had needed to be, to rescue the earth from the desolation left by the flood.
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