MICHAEL+HALL's

Michael Hall Creations of Religions 2-13-12

People in the world use reason to try to explain many things in the universe. People say that we stay on the ground because of this thing called gravity. Science proves that we don’t live until one thousand because our bodies are not designed to last that long. For the things that man can’t prove like what happens to people when they die or what is the meaning of life, people look toward religion. Religion to most gives faith or a thing to look forward to after life. Religion also answers the question about how the world began. In some religions the world began within an egg. In some the world began with a mighty god shaping a void into the universe. These are called creation myths. They are made and told to explain how the universe and some things in it came to be. Most if not all are very different from each other but all have similarities between each other. In this article it explain different stories on how the world began and how they relate back to each other and if these connections can have an effect on people today. Creations myths are one in the same and it is because they are that people have more in common than they think.


 * Greek -**

Greek mythology explains many things in its many stories. On why the stars are in the sky or how the sky is held up. In its mythology it is said that Gaea (the earth) rose from a great chaotic darkness and then came Uranus (the sky). Both were the first gods and both fell in love with each other. That brought life to Gaea and she was no called mother earth. Uranus then became the lord of the universe and all things knew this. They then had offspring called the Kyklopes and Hekatonkheires. Each was very monstrous in appearance and Uranus hated seeing his children. So he imprisoned them inside the deepest part of Gaea called Tartarus. They then had twelve sons and six daughters who would be called the Titians. Gaea was upset that her previous had been imprisoned inside her so she got her son Cronos to attack his father and claim power. It was a success but Cronos did not let the Kyklopes and Hekatonkheires free. Cronos was told that he would be over thrown be his own son so to prevent this every time he had a child he ate it. His wife, Rhea, was not happy with this so when he had a son she tricked Cronos. Instead of eating the son he ate a rock. The son name was Zeus and he grew up strong. He tricked his father by making him vomit up his brother’s and sister’s, which would be called the Olympians. During that time it was a huge war between Titian’s and Olympians. The war ended with the Olympians victory and Zeus becoming the new king of the gods. Each god was given a job and thing to look over, like Apollo was in charge of carrying the sun in the day on his mighty chariot drawn by his horses. From there many things were created like echoes and humans from clay and Olympians on top of Mount Olympus ruled the world.



Source: Stephane Mallarmé

//Les Dieux Antiques, nouvelle mythologie illustrée.// Paris, 1880.



Uranus in Greek mythology


 * Norse – **

In the Norse mythology it is said that in the start there were only three regions in the universe. One was called Niflheim, which was a region of frozen frost and ice. Another was the land called Muspelheim, which was full of raging flames and in between these two areas was a black gap called Ginungagap. For ages the flames melted the frozen frost and the melted frostbite fell into Ginungagap. Then came out a huge figure. It was a frost giant named Ymir and he was the first of his kind. A cow also came out of Ginungagap with Ymir and the both were the first. Ymir survived off the cow’s milk and the cow fed off the salt from Niflheim. One day Ymir fell into a deep sleep and from him came monstrous creatures like frost giants and goblins. While the cow was licking, it had stated licking a figure into shape. The cow continued to lick and after awhile the figure was far more handsome than the other offspring of Ymir. The handsome creature then had a son and that son married a frost giant daughter. The two had three sons who were very handsome and holy. They were the Aesir gods and their names were: Odin, Hoenir, and Lodur. All of them had the power to create worlds but before they could they had to destroy Ymir for he had become dangerous in his old age. When the battle was over and Ymir was defeated, the Aesir made his body the earth but some of his offspring survived. When the Aesir created the sun and moon they had put both on a cart and carried by horses. The surviving offspring of Ymir didn’t like that and transformed into wolves and chase the sun and moon. The Aesir then created humans from two trees they had seen and taught man how to act and behave. The god then gave the earth to man and called it Midgard. The gods lived in a realm called Asgard.



Asgard : By [|Pixi]| Published November 18, 2011



Ymir fighting the first aesir gods


 * Christianity –**

It is said that before anything was anything there was only darkness. Then came God and with his power he created it all. In that time God created the heavens and the earth. He then said, “Let there be light” and came light. God separated the light and the darkness and called the light day and darkness night. He then called the waters to the earth, he called plants to grow and beast and fowl to inhabit his new creation. The new place was called the Garden of Eden and it was home to all the plants and animals of the world. God then created man in his image. He created woman from the rib of man. Many years later God created a angel called Lucifer. Lucifer was chief of the angels but got to proud for himself and tried to overthrow god. It not accomplished and god threw Lucifer out of heaven and on earth. From there god rules and watches man from above.



Jesus - Last Supper

DR. DAVID NEIMAN. //GARDEN OF EDEN//. 2012 . Graphic. WORDPRESSWeb. 15 Feb 2012. .


 * The Analysis **


 * Compare – **

In each religion it states that the first beings of power came from a great darkness or void. In the Greek it was a chaotic darkness that born Gaea and Uranus, like in Christianity, God came from a chaotic realm where he came from empty nothingness that was absent of life. In Norse mythology it was the realm called Ginungagap where the first being called Ymir arose from, in Greek mythology the beings Gaea and Uranus arose from a void. If all these religion can agree that the world began with nothing but from that nothing came a creator or creators then that’s a similarity. Maybe all of these religions are stating that the great void was space or the universe with no type of life or form. There is a hypothesis called the Big Bang Theory that states that the universe wasn’t noting and that everything was in a sphere as small as the golf ball. Then in one huge explosion everything came out. This sudden explosion of events could be the same thing as the gods coming out of the nothingness. In Norse mythology horses on a type of chariot pull the sun and the moon. But are chased by the remains of Ymirs offspring. This tells us how the sun and moon move in Norse mythology, in Greek Mythology the sun and moon are also pulled by horse that are ridden by gods who control the setting of the sun and rising of the moon. In Christianity the moon and sun are set into motion after each other by God. It seems that in each religion gods control the sun and moon or the gods set the motion for day and night. This could explain that not matter he creation myth people do believe that the sun and moon are like in an never ending cycle that is either pulled or set. In each of the three religions we saw all have a tale of some struggle for power. It can be see as a good or bad thing for anybody looking at the religion form an angle. The struggles usually include some younger gods challenging a elder god for the right of power or a minor figure stepping up to a god. In the Greek religion it has two incidents of this happening the first is the Titian Cronos cutting his father and the other is the Olympian Zeus challenging his father Cronos for power over the universe. This is similar to the Norse mythology when the Aesir gods fought Ymir, while was much older than them, for power and right to create worlds. In Christianity the most prized angel, Lucifer, tried to stand up to God for power because he thought he should rule. All of these show a struggle for power against deities of some sort. These may show more than just the struggle between the two figures but the challenges that man have within themselves to challenges authority. Bringing up man, in each creation myth man was created from the ground. The Norse believe that the first man and woman was created from two trees that the Aesir gods saw, similar to the Greeks thought that the titian Prometheus created man out of clay. Also In Christianity god saw that his work had been done but he wanted more so he created man from himself and woman from man. God gave man the world just like the other gods gave the world to man. This could be seen as people trying to say that since the gods created the world they are not of it. But since man was created form the world then it is the world that holds man down form becoming gods. Also all the gods have a place to reside other then the earth. Greeks Olympians live high on mount Olympus like the Norse gods live in Asgard and God resides in heaven. All these places are usually seen as being in the sky or high up. It means that the gods are above man and they look down on man to keep a close eye on him.


 * Contrast – **

In the religions that we have seen the gods be seen to have some similarities but just as their names are different so are some things in the religions. A difference is that just like the Greek had a pantheon of gods and the Norse had multiple gods, Christianity only has one major god. This difference could be created from the fact that In Christianity multiple gods are seen as a sin, idol gods are never suppose to be worshipped equal to a true god. Unlike the Greeks and Norse’s who believe in multiple gods. The multiple gods might be there to allow people at those times to worship more than one god. In today’s society it is hard for worshipping only one god and the main religions only contain one main god to worship. If multiple gods today is frown upon then he practice of others serving more then one god will most likely create tension between others. The other difference is that in Christianity, God I seen as all knowing. He knows all and sees all, never is wrong and only knows of holy actions. The Greek gods and Norse gods do represent a more holy power but are like man in many ways. They have arguments between each other over simple things that man should only worry about and use treachery against one another. This could be seen as man trying to relate themselves back to gods. Yet only the Greek and the Norse have done this so in the eyes of the third party, this could be saying that only Greeks and Norwegians try to compare themselves to gods.

The theme that comes up is that the universe was created out of either love or loneliness. The Aesir crated the world because they and did so with the power of themselves. The Olympians did not create the world but only reside in it. If they were to destroy it then they would be nothing more then humans with powers. God was said to have created the universe out of nothing, then created man with his free will. In Christianity god is the alpha and omega, he didn’t need anything else or anything but when he created man he most likely did, so he can look at something a little more than animals. If all this connects then it says that gods create to look back and not feel so like gods. Maybe even feel like they are man.
 * Theme – **

I learned that religion is only a lens that people use to view and observe the world. Since everybody uses a different lens then it creates problems and people see things different. I made the connection that the Norse and Greek gods are maybe the same thing all together but the story was just changed up. It is important to know what others think in order not to upset them in some way. It is also important to recreate the image of a god in others views so that the other party can understand your point of view.
 * Reflection – **


 * Bibliography **

D'Aulaire, Ingri, and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire. // D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths //. 1. 1. United States: Random House Digital, 1992. 1-137. Web. <http://books.google.com/books?id=gvWKTD0YTbMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=D'aulaire book of greek myths&hl=en&sa=X&ei=2R83T5q9L4ji0gH9m93mAg&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAA

The Theoi Project : Greek Mythology was created and is edited by Aaron J. Atsma, Auckland, New Zealand.

Website copyright © 2000–2011 Aaron Atsma. Books offered in association with Amazon

D'Aulaire, Ingri, and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire. // D'Aulaires' book of Norse myths //. 1. 1. United States: Random House Digital, 1992. 1-139. Web. <http://books.google.com/books?id=TzMqpL66DDYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=D'Aulaires Book of Norse Myths&hl=en&src=bmrr&sa=X&ei=zSE3T_fuKKLt0gG1ru2YAg&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAA

2010-2012. Norse-Mythology.com.

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