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A creation myth or cosmogonic myth is a type of cosmogony, [2] a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] While in popular usage the term myth often refers to false or fanciful stories, members of cultures often ascribe varying degrees of truth to their creation myths.
A creation myth is usually regarded by those who subscribe to it as conveying profound truths, though not necessarily in a historical or literal sense. They are commonly, though not always, considered cosmogonical myths , that is, they describe the ordering of the cosmos from a state of chaos or amorphousness.
[19] [37] Some scholars, however, reject the association between biblical creation and notions of chaos from Babylonian and other (such as Chinese) myths. The basis is that the terms themselves in Genesis 1:2 are not semantically related to chaos, and that the entire cosmos exists in a state of chaos in Babylonian, Chinese, and other myths ...
Creatio ex nihilo is the doctrine that all matter was created out of nothing by God in an initial or a beginning moment where the cosmos came into existence. [13] [14] It has been suggested that ex nihilo creation can also be found in creation stories from ancient Egypt (the Memphite Theology), [15] the Rig Veda (X:129, also known as Nasadiya Sukta), [16] and many animistic cultures in Africa ...
Hesiod's Theogony, (c. 700 BCE) which could be considered the "standard" creation myth of Greek mythology, [1] tells the story of the genesis of the gods. After invoking the Muses (II.1–116), Hesiod says the world began with the spontaneous generation of four beings: first arose Chaos (Chasm); then came Gaia (the Earth), "the ever-sure foundation of all"; "dim" Tartarus (the Underworld), in ...
In ancient Egyptian creation accounts, the original mound of land comes forth from the waters of the Nun. [5] The Nun is the source of all that appears in a differentiated world, encompassing all aspects of divine and earthly existence. In the Ennead cosmogony, Nun is perceived as transcendent at the point of creation alongside Atum the creator ...
from chaos, or via a cosmic egg. [9] Creation myths may be etiological, attempting to provide explanations for the origin of the universe. For instance, Eridu Genesis, the oldest known creation myth, contains an account of the creation of the world in which the universe was created out of a primeval sea .
In the Babylonian creation story Enûma Eliš the universe was in a formless state and is described as a watery chaos. From it emerged two primary gods, the male Apsu and female Tiamat, and a third deity who is the maker Mummu and his power for the progression of cosmogonic births to begin. [110]