Mankind
was never the creator of the universe. He was often an after
product or byproduct of the process of creation by higher creatures.
To explain the phenomenon of human existence, the creation of
human beings have become as essential to mythology as the creation
of the universe itself, though these myths are seldom given
the same degree of emphasis and detail as that of creation.
The creation
of mankind, to a certain extent, serves in part, to answer the
age old question of the meaning of life. Yet, what is so amazing
about myths of the creation of humanity, are the striking similarities
between cultures across the globe. The general idea was that
humans were made out of mud or clay in the image of themselves,
and were given life.
This is
true of Greek mythology where the Titan Prometheus made little
statues of the gods for his own entertainment. The goddess Athene
were enchanted by the little gods when she saw them, and thus
breathed life into them, making humans as we know them today.
In Chinese mythology, the goddess Nu Wa felt lonely, and thus
started making little humans out of mud, who sprang to life
once they were done. However, Nu Wa herself had the body of
a human and the tail of a snake, but in order to enable her
little creatures to be able to stand upright, she put legs in
place of the tail.
With this
done, the creation of humanity seems to be complete, but yet,
it is not, as the myths go on to explain to formation of two
genders.
The first
woman in Greek mythology was Pandora, who was made by Zeus in
order to bring disaster upon humanity. In the famous tale from
the Christian Bible, God created Eve, the first woman, out of
a rib of Adam, the first man. Many other myths echo this idea,
for example, a central African myth which told of the first
woman being made out of the left knee of the first man.
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Supernatural
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