These chapters are perceived by some as factual descriptions, by others as allegory. Some view the 6 days of creation as describing the stages of the origin of the universe, although the phrase creation of the world has a religious connotation, and the phrase origin of the universe used in natural sciences. Very often the biblical story of creation is criticized for not being consistent with what has been proven by science. But are there any contradictions here? Let's speculate!
Creation of the World. Michelangelo
Before dwelling in more detail on the history of the Creation of the world, I would like to note one interesting feature. Most religions and ancient cosmogonic texts first tell about the creation of the gods, and only then about the creation of the world. The Bible describes a fundamentally different position. The Biblical God has always been, He was not created, but is the creator of all things.
Six days of the creation of the world.
As you know, the world was created out of nothing in 6 days.
The first day of the Creation of the world.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the abyss, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. And God said: Let there be light. And there was light. And God saw the light that it was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. And God called the light day and the darkness night. And there was evening and there was morning: one day. (Genesis)
This is how the biblical story of the Creation of the world begins. These first lines of the Bible allow us to better understand biblical cosmology. It should be noted that here we are not yet talking about the creation of the heaven and earth familiar to us; they will be created a little later - on the second and third days of creation. The first lines of Genesis describe the creation of the first substance, or, if you like, what scientists call the creation of the universe.
Thus, on the first day of creation, the first substance, light and darkness, was created. It should be said about light and darkness, because lamps in the firmament of heaven will appear only on the fourth day. Many theologians have discussed the topic of this light, describing it both as energy and as joy and grace. Today there is also a popular version that the light described in the Bible is nothing more than the Big Bang, after which the expansion of the Universe began.
Second day of the creation of the world.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate water from water. [And it became so.] And God created the firmament, and separated the water that was under the firmament from the water that was above the firmament. And so it became. And God called the firmament heaven. [And God saw that it was good.] And there was evening, and there was morning: the second day.
The second day is the day when the primary matter began to be ordered, stars and planets began to form. The second day of creation tells us about the ancient ideas of the Jews, who considered the sky to be solid, capable of holding huge masses of water.
The third day of the creation of the world.
And God said: Let the water that is under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear. And so it became. [And the waters under heaven were gathered into their places, and dry land appeared.] And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, “Let the earth bring forth green grass, grass yielding seed [after its kind and after its likeness, and] a fruitful tree bearing fruit after its kind, in which is its seed on the earth.” And so it became. And the earth brought forth grass, grass yielding seed according to its kind [and likeness], and a tree [fruitful] bearing fruit, in which is its seed according to its kind [on the earth]. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning: the third day.
On the third day, God created the Earth almost as we know it now: seas and land appeared, trees and grass appeared. From this moment we understand that God creates the living world. Science describes the formation of life on a young planet in a similar way; of course, this did not happen in one day, but still there are no global contradictions here either. Scientists believe that long rains began on the gradually cooling Earth, which led to the appearance of seas and oceans, rivers and lakes.
Gustav Dore. Creation of the World Thus we see that the Bible does not contradict modern science and the biblical story of the Creation of the world fits perfectly into scientific theories. The only question here is chronology. What one day is for God is billions of years for the universe. Today it is known that the first living cells appeared two billion years after the birth of the Earth, another billion years passed - and the first plants and microorganisms appeared in water.
The fourth day of the creation of the world.
And God said: Let there be lights in the expanse of the heaven [to illuminate the earth and] to separate the day from the night, and for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years; and let them be lamps in the firmament of the heaven to give light on the earth. And so it became. And God created two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars; and God set them in the expanse of the heaven to give light on the earth, and to rule the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning: the fourth day.
It is the fourth day of creation that leaves the most questions for those trying to reconcile faith and science. It is known that the Sun and other stars appeared before the Earth, and in the Bible - later. On the one hand, this is easy to explain if we take into account that the Book of Genesis was written when astronomical observations and the cosmological ideas of people were geocentric - that is, the Earth was considered the center of the Universe. However, is everything so simple? It is likely that this discrepancy between the cosmology of the Bible and science can be explained by the fact that the Earth is more significant or “spiritually central”, because man lives on it, created in the image of God.
The Creation of the World - day four and day five. Mosaic. St. Mark's Cathedral. The heavenly saints in the Bible and in pagan beliefs are fundamentally different. For the pagans the sun, moon and others celestial bodies associated with the activities of gods and goddesses. The author of the Bible may be deliberately expressing a completely different attitude towards the stars and planets. They are equal to any other created object in the universe. Mentioned in passing, they are demythologized and desacralized - and, in general, reduced to natural reality.
Fifth day of the Creation of the world.
And God said: Let the water bring forth living things; and let the birds fly over the earth, across the firmament of heaven. [And it was so.] And God created the great fish and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. And there was evening and there was morning: the fifth day.
Creation of the world. Jacopo Tintoretto
And here the biblical story of the creation of the world fully confirms scientific facts. Life originated in water - science is sure of this, the Bible confirms this. Living organisms began to multiply and multiply. The universe developed according to the will of God's creative plan. Let us note that, according to the Bible, animals arose only after algae appeared and filled the air with the product of their vital activity - oxygen. And this is also a scientific fact!
Sixth day of the Creation of the world.
And God said, Let the earth produce living creatures according to their kinds, cattle and creeping things and wild beasts of the earth after their kinds. And so it became. And God created the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and the cattle according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And God said: Let us make man in Our image and after Our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing. on the ground. And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea [and over the animals], and over the birds of the air, [and over every livestock, and over all the earth,] and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed that is on all the earth, and every tree that has fruit yielding seed; - This will be food for you; And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to every [creeping thing] that creeps on the earth, in which there is a living soul, I have given every green herb for food. And so it became. And God saw everything that He had created, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning: the sixth day.
The sixth day of creation is marked by the appearance of man - this new stage of the universe, from this day begins the history of the human race. Man is something completely new on the young Earth; he has two principles - natural and divine.
It is interesting that in the Bible man is created immediately after animals, this demonstrates his natural beginning, he is continuously connected with the animal world. But God breathes the breath of His Spirit into a person’s face - and the person becomes involved in the Lord.
The creation of the world by God out of nothing.
The central idea of Christianity is the idea of creating the world out of nothing, or creation ex Nihilo. According to this idea, God created all things from non-existence, transforming non-existence into being. God is both the creator and the cause of the creation of the world.
According to the Bible, before the Creation of the world there was neither primordial chaos nor primordial matter - there was nothing! Most Christians believe that all three persons of the Holy Trinity participated in the creation of the world: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
The world was created by God to be meaningful, harmonious and obedient to man. God gave this world to man along with freedom, which man used for evil, as evidenced by. The creation of the world according to the Bible is an act of creativity and love.
History of the Creation of the World - sources (documentary hypothesis)
The Creation story existed in the oral tradition of the ancient Israelites long before it was recorded by biblical writers. Many biblical scholars say that it is, in fact, a composite work, a collection of works by many authors different periods(documentary theory). It is believed that these sources were combined together around 538 BC. e. It is likely that the Persians, after conquering Babylon, agreed to grant Jerusalem significant autonomy within the empire, but demanded that local authorities adopt a single code that would be accepted by the entire community. This led to the fact that the priests had to abandon all ambitions and bring together sometimes contradictory religious traditions. The story of the creation of the world came to us from two sources - the priestly code and the Yahwist. This is why we find in Genesis 2 the creation stories described in chapters one and two. The first chapter is given according to the priestly code, and the second - according to the Yahwist. First in to a greater extent tells about the creation of the world, the second - about the creation of man.
Both narratives have much in common and complement each other. However, we see obvious differences in style: Text submitted according to the Priestly Code, clearly structured. The narrative is divided into 7 days; in the text, the days are separated by phrases "And there was evening, and there was morning: day...". In the first three days of creation, the act of separation is clearly visible - on the first day God separates darkness from light, on the second - the water under the firmament from the water above the firmament, on the third - the water from the dry land. Over the next three days, God fills everything he has created.
The second chapter (Yahwist source) has smooth narrative style.
Comparative mythology argues that both sources of the biblical Creation story contain borrowings from Mesopotamian mythology, adapted to the belief in one God.
According to some, the world was created by Allah, Yahweh, the One God - whatever you call it, but we owe our lives to him. Not big bang, not to natural cosmic processes, but to a creation that, according to , looks like Alanis Morisette. But this was not always the case; once upon a time, each nation offered its own version of the creation of life with the participation of sweat, masturbating gods and other heresies.
Scandinavians
According to the Scandinavians, in the beginning there was a void with the complex name Ginungagap. Next to the void, as expected, was the frozen world of darkness Niflheim, and in the south lay the fiery hot country of Muspellheim. And then it begins elementary physics. Some ancient Scandinavian, noticing that frost appears from the contact of ice and fire, ventured to suggest that from such proximity the world's emptiness was gradually filled with poisonous frost. What happens when the poisonous frost melts? He usually turns into evil giants. The same thing happened here, and an evil giant was formed from the frost, whose name has Muslim overtones. Simply put, Ymir. He was asexual, but since this is, according to James Brown, “a man’s world,” we will refer to him as a man.
There was nothing to do in this emptiness, and, tired of hanging in the air, Ymir fell asleep. And here the most delicious part begins. Considering that there is nothing more intimate than sweat (referring to secondary urine, not the Cambodian dictator), they came up with the idea that the sweat dripping from under his arms turned into a man and a woman, from whom a line of giants later descended. And the sweat dripping from the feet gave birth to Trudgelmir - a giant with six heads. This is the story of the emergence of giantess. And with a smell too.
But the ice continued to melt, and, realizing that they needed to eat something, they invented a cow with beautiful name Audumlu, which arose from melt water. Ymir began to drink her milk, and she liked to lick the salty ice. Having licked the ice, she discovered a man under it, his name was Buri, the progenitor of all gods. How did he end up there? There wasn't enough imagination for this.
Buri had a son, Boryo, who married the frost giantess Bestla, and they had three sons: Odin, Vili and Ve. The sons of the Storm hated Ymir and killed him. The reason is purely noble: Ymir was evil. So much blood flowed from the body of the murdered Ymir that it drowned all the giants except Bergelmir, the grandson of Ymir, and his wife. They managed to escape the flood in a boat made from a tree trunk. Where did the tree in the void come from? What difference does it make to you! Found it, and that's it.
Then the brothers decided to create something that the world had never seen before. Your own Universe with Drakar and Vikings. Odin and his brothers brought Ymir's body to the center of Ginungagapa and created a world from it. They threw flesh into blood - and the earth became. Blood, accordingly, is an ocean. The sky was made from the skull, and the brain was scattered across the sky to form clouds. So next time, when flying on a plane, catch yourself thinking that you are in a giant’s skull on a huge bird, cutting the giant’s brains.
The gods ignored only the part where the giants lived. It was called Etunheim. The best part They fenced off this world for centuries from Ymir and settled people there, calling it Midgard.
Finally, the gods created people. From two tree knots, a man and a woman, Ask and Emblya (which is typical), turned out. All other people descended from them.
The latter built the impregnable fortress of Asgard, which rose high above Midgard. These two parts were connected by the rainbow bridge Bifrost. Among the gods, patrons of people, there were 12 gods and 14 goddesses (they were called “Aces”), as well as a whole company of other smaller deities (Vanir). This entire host of gods crossed the rainbow bridge and settled in Asgard.
The ash tree Yggdrasil grew above this multi-layered world. Its roots sprouted into Asgard, Jotunheim and Niflheim. An eagle and a hawk sat on the branches of Yggdrasil, a squirrel rushed up and down the trunk, deer lived at the roots, and below all sat the snake Nidhogg, who wanted to eat everything.
This is the beginning of one of the world's most wonderful mythologies. Reading the “Elder” and “Younger” Eddas will not make you regret the time spent for a second.
Slavs
Let's turn to our ancestors, as well as to the ancestors of Poles, Ukrainians, Czechs and others Slavic peoples. There was no one specific myth, there were several of them, and not one of them is approved by the Russian Orthodox Church.
There is a version that it all started with the god Rod. Before the white light was born, the world was shrouded in pitch darkness. In this darkness there was only Rod - the Progenitor of all things. When asked what came first - an egg or a chicken, the Slavs would answer that it was an egg, because Rod was imprisoned in it. Sitting in the egg was not very good, and somehow magically, some, to the extent of their licentiousness, understood how, Rod gave birth to love, which, ironically, he named Lada, and with the power of love he destroyed the prison. This is how the creation of the world began. The world was filled with Love.
At the beginning of the creation of the world, Rod gave birth to the kingdom of heaven, and under it created the heavenly kingdom. With a rainbow he cut the umbilical cord, and with a rock he separated the Ocean from the heavenly waters. Then there were economic little things like the separation of Light and Darkness. Then the god Rod gave birth to the Earth, and the Earth plunged into a dark abyss, into the Ocean. Then the Sun came out of His face, the Moon - from His chest, the stars of heaven - from His eyes. Clear dawns appeared from Rod's eyebrows, dark nights- from His thoughts, violent winds - from His breath, rain, snow and hail - from His tears. Thunder and lightning are nothing but his voice. Actually, Rod is all living things, the father of all gods and everything that exists.
Rod gave birth to the heavenly Svarog, and breathed into him his mighty spirit, and gave him the ability, which is very useful in our days, to look in all directions at the same time, so that nothing could be hidden from him. It is Svarog who is responsible for the change of day and night and for the creation of the Earth. He forces the gray duck to get the land hidden under the ocean. There were no more worthy ones.
At first the duck did not appear for a year, could not get the Earth, then again Svarog sent it for the Earth, it did not appear for two years and again did not bring it. The third time, Rod could no longer stand it, he freaked out, struck the duck with lightning and gave it incredible strength, and the shocked duck was absent for three years until she brought a handful of earth in her beak. Svarog crushed the Earth - the winds blew the Earth from his palm, and it fell into the blue sea. The Sun warmed it, the Earth became crusty on top, and the Moon cooled it. He established three vaults in it - three underground kingdoms. And so that the Earth would not go back into the Ocean, Rod gave birth to the powerful snake Yusha under it.
The Carpathian Slavs believed that there was nothing but the blue sea and oak. How they got there is not specified. Two positive pigeons sat on an oak tree, who decided to take out fine sand from the bottom of the sea to create black soil, “icy water and green grass” and a golden stone from which the blue sky, the sun, the month and all the stars are made.
As for the creation of man, there was, of course, no natural selection. The Magi said the following. God washed himself in the bathhouse and sweated, wiped himself with a rag and threw it from heaven to earth. And Satan argued with God over who should create a man from her. And the devil created man, and God put his soul in him, because when a man dies, his body goes to the earth, and his soul goes to God.
Found among the Slavs and ancient legend about the creation of people, in which there were eggs. God, cutting the eggs into halves, threw them on the ground. Here, from one half a man was obtained, and from the other, a woman. Men and women, formed from the halves of one egg, find each other and marry. Some halves fell into the swamp and died there. Therefore, some are forced to spend their entire lives alone.
China
The Chinese have their own ideas about how the world came into being. The most popular myth is the myth of Pan-gu, the giant man. The plot is as follows: at the dawn of time, Heaven and Earth were so close to each other that they merged into a single black mass. According to legend, this mass was nothing more than an egg, which was a symbol of life for almost every nation. And Pan-gu lived inside him, and he lived for a long time - many millions of years. But one fine day he got tired of such a life, and, swinging a heavy ax, Pan-gu got out of his egg, splitting it into two parts. These parts later became Heaven and Earth. He was of unimaginable height - about fifty kilometers in length, which, by the standards of the ancient Chinese, was the distance between Heaven and Earth.
Unfortunately for Pan-gu and fortunately for us, the Colossus was mortal and, like all mortals, died. And then Pan-gu decomposed. But not the way we do it. Pan-gu decomposed in a really cool way: his voice turned into thunder, his skin and bones became the earth's surface, and his head became the Cosmos. Thus, his death gave life to our world.
Ancient Armenia
Armenian legends are very reminiscent of Slavic ones. True, Armenians do not have a clear answer to how the world came to be, but they do have an interesting explanation of how it works.
Heaven and Earth are a husband and wife separated by an ocean. The sky is a city, and the Earth is a piece of rock, which is held on its huge horns by an equally huge bull. When he swings his horns, the earth bursts at the seams with earthquakes. That, in fact, is all - this is how the Armenians imagined the Earth.
There is an alternative myth where the Earth is in the middle of the sea, and Leviathan floats around it, trying to grab onto its own tail, and constant earthquakes were also explained by its flopping. When Leviathan finally bites its tail, life on Earth will cease and the apocalypse will begin. Have a nice day.
Egypt
The Egyptians have several myths about the creation of the earth, and one is more amazing than the other. But this one is the most original. Thanks to the cosmogony of Heliopolis for such details.
In the beginning there was a great ocean, whose name was “Nu,” and this ocean was Chaos, and besides it there was nothing. It was not until Atum, by an effort of will and thought, created himself from this Chaos. And you complain about the lack of motivation... But then - more and more interesting. So, he created himself, now he had to create land in the ocean. Which is what he did. After wandering the earth and realizing his total loneliness, Atum became unbearably bored, and he decided to make more gods. How? He climbed the hill and began to do his dirty work, desperately masturbating.
Thus, from the seed of Atum, Shu and Tefnut were born. But, apparently, he overdid it, and the newborn gods were lost in the ocean of Chaos. Atum grieved, but soon, to his relief, he found and rediscovered his children. He was so glad to be reunited that he cried for a long, long time, and his tears, touching the earth, fertilized it - and people grew out of the earth, many people! Then, while people impregnated each other, Shu and Tefnut also had coitus, and they gave birth to other gods - Geb and Nut, who became the personification of the Earth and sky.
There is another myth in which Atum is replaced by Ra, but this does not change the main essence - there, too, everyone fertilizes each other en masse.
In the beginning there was nothing, neither Heaven nor Earth. Chaos alone - dark and boundless - filled everything. He was the source and beginning of life. Everything came from it: the world, the Earth, and the immortal gods.
At first, Gaia, the goddess of the Earth, emerged from Chaos, a universal safe haven, giving life to everything that lives and grows on it. In the depths of the deep earth, in its darkest core, the gloomy Tartarus was born - a terrible abyss full of darkness. How far is it from the ground to bright sky, so far lies Tartarus. Tartarus is fenced off from the world with a copper fence, night reigns in his kingdom, the roots of the earth entangle him and he is washed by the bitter-salty sea.
From Chaos the most beautiful Eros was also born, which, with the power of Love, spilled in the world forever, can conquer hearts.
Boundless Chaos gave birth to the Eternal Darkness - Erebus and the Black Night - Nyukta, they, combined, gave life to the eternal Light- Ether and Happy Day- Gemera. The light spread throughout the world, and night and day began to replace each other.
The foremother of the gods, Gaia, gave birth to an equal Starry Sky - Uranus, which, like an endless cover, envelops the Earth. Gaia-Earth reaches out to him, raising sharp mountain peaks, giving birth, not yet united with Uranus, to the ever-noisy Sea.
Mother Earth gave birth to the Sky, Mountains and Sea, and they have no father.
Uranus took the fertile Gaia as his wife, and six sons and daughters - mighty titans - were born to the divine couple. Their firstborn, the son Ocean, deep, whose waters gently wash the Earth, shared his bed with Tethys, giving life to all the rivers that rush to the sea. The gray Ocean gave birth to three thousand sons - river gods - and three thousand daughters - oceanids, so that they would give joy and prosperity to all living things, filling them with moisture.
Another pair of titans - Hyperion and Theia - gave birth to the Sun-Helios, Selene-Moon and the beautiful Eos-Dawn. From Eos came the stars that sparkle in the sky at night, and the winds - the swift northern wind Boreas, the eastern wind Eurus, the moisture-filled southern Not and the gentle western wind Zephyr, bringing white foam clouds of rain.
Three more giants - the Cyclops - were also given birth to by Mother Gaia, who were similar to the titans in everything, but had only one eye in their forehead. Gaia also gave birth to three hundred-armed and fifty-headed giants, the Hecatoncheires, possessing immeasurable strength. Nothing could stand against them. They were so strong and terrible that Father Uranus hated them at first sight, and imprisoned them in the bowels of the Earth so that they could not be born again.
Mother Gaia suffered, the terrible burden contained in her depths crushed her. And then she called her children, telling them that Lord Uranus was the first to plan the crime, and punishment should fall on him. However, the titans were afraid to go against their father; only the cunning Cronus - the youngest of the titan children born by Gaia - agreed to help the Mother overthrow Uranus. With the iron sickle that Gaia handed over, Cronus cut off his Father’s reproductive member. From the drops of blood that spilled onto the ground, the terrible Erinyes were born, who knew no mercy. From the foam of the sea, which for a long time washed a piece of divine flesh, the beautiful Aphrodite, the goddess of love, was born.
The crippled Uranus became angry, cursing his children. Punishment for crime became born of the Goddess Nights of terrible deities: Tanata - death, Eridu - discord, Apatu - deception, Ker - destruction, Hypnos - a dream with a swarm of dark, heavy visions, Nemesis who knows no mercy - revenge for crimes. Nyukta gave birth to many deities that bring suffering into the world.
These gods brought horror, strife and misfortune into the world, where Cronus reigned on the throne of his father.
Since ancient times, man has wondered who and how created this world, heaven and earth, animals and plants, and even man himself. Since science appeared much later than this issue, people had to explain the creation of the world with some kind of fantasy stories, myths, legends, tales. All versions of the origin of the world, which differ among different faiths, races and even peoples, are not confirmed and are completely fictitious.
Slavic legends about the creation of the world
Slavic culture is no exception. And our ancestors had a rich imagination. Therefore, here are the stories about the creation of the world from the ancient Slavs.
- One day a young man went to the underground world. And he found himself in copper kingdom, then in the kingdom of silver and gold. In each of them he received from the beautiful princesses one egg, containing a whole kingdom. When he left the dungeon, he threw the eggs on the ground, and then the kingdoms spread out.
- One day a duck was flying over the sea and dropped an egg into the water. It broke in half. And the lower part turned into the ground, and the upper part into the blue sky.
- Good fellow Once he defeated a terrible snake, killed him and took an egg of gold. Then he broke the egg, and from it three kingdoms were formed: heaven, earth and underground.
- However, the most popular is the myth of how the god Rod, imprisoned in an egg, freed himself from it and created the world. First he gave birth to Lada (love), then heaven. Next came the rainbow, stone, water, moon and sun. He also gave birth to Svarog, who created the Earth.
All these myths and legends are very variable and numerous. They were invented, of course, back in the days of paganism (the Slavs did not have a single god, but had a whole pantheon). This diversity in versions of the creation of the world clearly echoes Slavic polytheism.
Bible version
After the adoption of Christianity, the only correct hypothesis was the theological, or divine, one described in the Bible. It says that God was first alone among the emptiness and darkness. And he wanted to create all living things. First God occupied himself with earth and sky, light and darkness. He divided it all, so day and night appeared. On the second day, God created the firmament (Sky), which divided the water in half. On the third day it was time to lay down the land (Earth), sea and plants. On the fourth day God created the Sun and the Moon to separate day and night. The fifth day was marked by the appearance of fish and birds, as well as sea animals. The sixth is the beasts on land, as well as Man, who would become a helper. And Man looked like God himself. Adam became the first man, and from his rib God made the woman Eve.
The connection between the Bible and Slavic interpretations
Inveterate Slavic paganism was also reflected in the peculiar interpretation of the Biblical legend. It was believed that God was not the only creator. Satan “helped” him. The people believed that the enmity between good and evil is eternal, therefore it existed even at the creation of the world. The land stood, in their opinion, on huge fish. Since it is a living being, it moves. Because of this, there are rains, droughts, and earthquakes. According to another version, the earth stands on whales. As for the creation of the first man, the Slavs also edited the biblical version. It was believed that Satan took part here too. Moreover, God “was responsible” for his soul, and Satan was responsible for his flesh. Therefore, after death, the soul flies to God, and the body to the earth.
Patriarchal. All that was in the beginning is Chaos. He created Gaia (goddess of the Earth), who gave rise to all life in the world. Chaos also created Eros (the god of love), who filled everything around him with life.
Myth about the origin of the world from the primeval chaos, told by Hesiod, is classified as a cosmogonic myth, according to which the world gradually developed from an initial formless state, but it also contains the creation of the world by divine principles. It should be noted that, unlike the Biblical tradition about the creation of the world by the Triune God, there are no feelings here, there is no place for the love inherent in the Biblical Creator for His creation.
At the beginning of everything there was formless, dimensionless Chaos, then Gaia (Earth) appeared with Tartarus (the abyss) lying deep in its depths and the eternal force of attraction that existed long before them - Eros. The Greeks called the god of love, who accompanied the goddess of love Aphrodite, by the same name, but Eros, who stood at the beginning of the universe, excludes any feeling. Eros can be compared to the force of universal gravity - it is like a law. This force set Chaos and the Earth in motion. Chaos produces the feminine principle - Night and the masculine principle - Erebus (Darkness). Night gave birth to Thanat (Death), Sleep (Hypnos), huge amount dreams, goddesses of fate - Moira, the goddess of retribution Nemesis, Deception, Old Age. The creation of the Night also became Eris, who embodied rivalry and strife, from which came Exhausting labor, Hunger, Sorrow, Battles, Murders, False words, Litigation and Lawlessness, but also the inexorably fair Orc, punishing anyone who takes a false oath. And from the connection of Night with Erebus, transparent Ether and shining Day were born - Light from Darkness!
It is significant that the motives Greek mythology, along with other eastern systems, are present in the Gnostic worldview. Gnosticism, in addition, absorbed practically incompatible components, including elements of the Old Testament law and early Christian teaching.
According to the myth about the origin of the world, after this Gaia awakened: first Uranus (Sky) was born from her, then Mountains rose from her depths, their wooded slopes were filled with the nymphs she gave birth to, and Pontus (Sea) spilled over the plains. The covering of the Earth by Heaven led to the appearance of the first generation of gods - there were twelve of them: six brothers and six sisters, powerful and beautiful. They were not the only children from the union of Gaia and Uranus. Gaia also gave birth to three huge, ugly Cyclops with a large round eye in the middle of the forehead, and after them three more arrogant Hundred-Handed Giants. The Titans, having taken their sisters as wives, filled the expanses of Mother Earth and Father Sky with their offspring: they gave rise to a tribe of gods of the most ancient generation. The eldest of them, Oceanus, had three thousand daughters, beautiful-haired oceanids, and the same number of river streams that covered the entire land. Another pair of Titans produced Helios (Sun), Selene (Moon), Eos (Dawn) and numerous Stars. The third pair gave rise to the winds Boreas, Not and Zephyr. The Titan Iapetus could not boast of as abundant offspring as his older brothers, but he became famous for his few, but great sons: Atlas, who took on his shoulders a heavy burden firmament, and Prometheus, the noblest of the Titans.
The youngest son of Gaia and Uranus was Cronus, impudent and impatient. He did not want to endure both the arrogant patronage of his older brothers and the power of his own father. Perhaps he would not have dared to raise his hand against him, encroaching on the supreme power, if not for Gay’s mother. She shared with her matured son her long-standing resentment against her husband: he hated Uranus for the ugliness of his sons - the Hundred-Handed Giants - and imprisoned them in her dark depths. Cronus, under the protection of Nikta and with the help of his mother Gaia, seized his father's power. Taking his sister Rhea as his wife, Cron laid the foundation for a new tribe, to which people gave the name of the gods. However, the insidious Kron was afraid of his offspring, because he himself raised his hand against his father, and, so that no one would deprive him of power, he began to swallow his own children immediately after their birth. Rhea complained bitterly about her sad fate to Gaia and received advice from her on how to save another baby. When the child was born, Gaia herself hid him in one of the inaccessible caves, and Rhea gave the swaddled stone to her husband.
Meanwhile, Zeus (as the mother of the rescued baby called him) grew up in a cave hidden from view on the slopes of wooded Ida, the very high mountain islands of Crete. He was guarded there by the young men of the Curetes and Corybantes, drowning out the children's cries with the blows of copper shields and the rattling of weapons, and Amalthea, the noblest of goats, fed him with her milk. In gratitude for this, Zeus, who subsequently took a place on Olympus, constantly took care of her, and after death he took her to heaven so that she would forever shine in the constellation Auriga. It is interesting that Zeus kept the skin of his nurse for himself, making a shield from it - a sign supreme authority. This shield was called “aegis”, which in Greek meant “goat”. According to him, Zeus received one of his most common epithets - aegis-sovereign. The horn, which Amalthea accidentally broke during her earthly life, was turned into a cornucopia by the ruler of the gods and given to his daughter Eirene, the patroness of the world.
Having matured, Zeus became stronger than his father and not through deceit, like Cronus, but in a fair fight he overcame him and forced him to vomit his swallowed brothers and sisters from the womb: Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter and Hestia. Thus, according to the myth about the origin of the world, the end of the era of the titans, who by this time had filled the heavenly and earthly expanses with several of their generations, was coming - the era of the gods of Olympus began.
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