The Ancient World (HUM 124 - UNC Asheville)/Connections between Ancient Texts

Throughout the spiritual texts, there is a variety of reoccurring themes and main ideas.

How to use this page

1. Link to this page from another page that you are working on if you feel like there is an important connection between two or more texts that needs to be addressed. Examples of good connections to make include themes (such as creation and sacrifice), shared characters (like Socrates), and types of stories (creation stories, coming of age stories).
2. Take one of the ideas below and fork it into a separate page! This should happen once there is enough detail in the section below.

Creation of Human Beings

Throughout several spiritual texts, the creation of humans is often included. In the Ifa Divination poems, human beings are formed from clay. This is also a story-line that can also be found in the Epic of Gilgamesh in the formation of Enkidu. According to the Qur’an, the first humans were molded by Allah from clay as he shaped them into their form. In chapter 25 of the Teachings of Amenemope, from ancient Egypt, they mention the creation of humans from clay by saying, "Do not laugh at a blind man, Nor tease a dwarf, Nor cause hardship for the lame. Don't tease a man who is in the hand of the god, Nor be angry with him for his failings. Man is clay and straw, The god is his builder..."

The Role of Offerings/Sacrifice

One of the most extensive accounts of sacrifice can be found in the Ifa Divination poems. They describe a variety of practices in which both everyday individuals and priests, relate to higher beings through sacrifice or offerings. There are a variety of objects that are considered sacred each serving their own purpose, often unique to each spirituality. Sacred items can be used in sacrifices, a common practice among religions. In Yoruba religion, pine nuts are often used in rituals and are believed to be very sacred. Additionally, cowrie shells are used as an offering to the Gods.

Respect for Nature

Throughout multiple creation stories and ancient texts, there is a recurring theme that ancient people have a profound respect for nature and for the natural world around them. An example of this in the Corn Woman story is that the Cherokee people let the raven eat their crops because they feel that the raven deserves the right to do this after being depicted as a hero in the story. Although ravens in many other cultures are viewed as evil spirits, the Cherokee believe that letting them eat some of their crop is the right thing to do as they also naturally ward off bigger predators and threats from the corn field. The Cherokee creation story even mentions that animals and plants were made before humans, showing how deep the respect for nature goes in their culture. Another creation story that makes evident their respect for nature is the Yao creation story, which is the story of the Yao people in East Africa. Their creation story also starts off with a world without people and plants and animals living together on the beautiful planet, but when humans are introduced, they cause great destruction to the environment and habitats around them. In the entirety of the creation story, it seems like a rant against mankind and the harm that they have done to the natural world around them in the short amount of time they have been there. Ancient Texts make evident that ancient civilizations all respected nature and the world around them, and whether they blamed humans or not for the destruction of it, the ideas of preservation and respect still remained intact.

Creation of the universe

In the second story of the Upanishads, it says the world was simply non-existent and became existent out of nothingness. In the story of genesis we see that same phenomenon, of one day Earth just came to be by the hands of some supernatural force.

The Flood Myth

In a multitude of ancient religious texts, there appears to be a recurring theme of humanity being wiped out for its sins. God or the gods determine that humanity has turned its back on them, and deserves to be eradicated for its sins. The various versions of the flood myth, and the symbolism within, will be discussed below.

Genesis Flood Myth

In the bible, we see this through the story of Noah and the Ark. God looked down upon his creation, mankind, and was displeased. Mankind had turned its back to him, and sin thrived everywhere. God decided that humanity deserved to be punished for this and brought about a huge flood to wipe out it. However, there was one man who didn't sin and loved God. He walked in the path of the light and was humble, living life as was expected of one of God's children. God was pleased with Noah and decided he would be the one to save the animals from the flood and start the second chapter of humanity's story. God told Noah his plans to flood the Earth and drown the evil, and he gave him directions to build a boat that would fit him and a mating pair of every species on the planet. The flood came and it rained for 40 days and 40 nights before clearing up. When the storm ended, the only survivors were the ones in Noah's ark. An important note to make here is the significance of the flood. Water is associated with life and rebirth, as well as redemption and purity. The flood in the story symbolizes the purging of humanity's sins and its rebirth as a species that follows the ways of God. Humanity is by no means perfect, but the old ways of sin are being washed away here and humanity is given a chance to start anew and grow close to God once more.

Mesopotamian Flood Myth

In tablet XI of The Epic of Gilgamesh, we see an almost identical flood myth. The gods are planning to wipe out humanity, and one of them breaks his vow of secrecy to tell Utnapishtim, a human, about the flood. Utnapishtim is directed to build a boat among other things, and he boards it the day of the storm. There is frightful lightning and the gods rage in the skies, bringing a destructive flood down upon humanity and wiping it away. After the storm, a sheep is sacrificed to the gods and they become furious with Ea for leaking the plan to flood the Earth. Ea denies this, accuses Enlil of an overzealous punishment, and Utnapishtim and his wife are allowed to live. Again, we see symbolism through the imagery of a flood and the purification by water of a human race who has sinned against the gods.

Greek Flood Myth

Yet another example presents itself in greek mythology, with the story of Prometheus and Deucalion. The myth of Prometheus isn't relevant to this section beyond providing context for the story of Deucalion, and as such will not be discussed in great detail. Prometheus created humanity out of clay, and he stole fire for them to keep them warm. As punishment, he was chained to a cliff in the Caucasus Mountains where an eagle would eat his liver. Being immortal, his liver grew back overnight only for the eagle to eat it the next day. Deucalion was Prometheus's son, and he often visited his father to keep him company. He could not break the chains that bound his father, but Deucalion was good company and helped keep his father's mind off of his suffering. One day Prometheus, being able to look into the future, discovered that Zeus was planning to flood the Earth. Zeus was unhappy with humanity since they possessed fire and had learned other tricks from Prometheus that displeased him. Prometheus shared this vision with his son, and he told him to build an ark and sail away with his wife Pyrrha. Deucalion did just that, and when Zeus let all four of the winds out and opened the floodgates in the sky, he boarded his ark with his wife and was saved. In this case, it rained for nine days and nine nights, and only the tallest mountain peaks remained above water and all mortals were drowned save for Deucalion and Pyrrha. On the tenth day, the storm finally ended and Deucalion left the ark to wander the barren Earth. In a similar fashion as the Mesopotamian flood myth, Deucalion and Pyrrah entered an overgrown temple and offered prayer and sacrifice to the gods. Zeus was touched, and he ordered them to throw the bones of their mother and throw them over their shoulders. In this case, the bones of their mother refer to Gaea, the goddess of Earth and mother nature personified in Greek mythology. The bones of Gaea referred to rocks, and so Deucalion and Pyrrah threw rocks over the shoulders. Behind Deucalion, a score of men rose up and behind Pyrrah, a score of women. The new mortal race was known as Deucalion's race from then on. In this myth, more interesting symbolism occurs with the bones of Gaea. Rocks represent endurance and sturdiness, which could both symbolize the endurance of Deucalion and his wife as well as the endurance of the new mortal race. The original race of mortals, created by Prometheus, was shaped from clay. Clay is soft and malleable, and therefore this race fell to sin and evil deeds. This is expanded upon by the myth of Pandora, a lovely lady who let loose all the sins of the world. The clay race's skin was easily pierced by the evil being Pandora released, but Deucalion's race was made from stone. This means they were less vulnerable to these beings and therefore less evil, also symbolizing humanity's hardiness as a race.

Egyptian Flood Myth

The Egyptian flood myth isn't necessarily a flood myth, but it is important to mention as it shares characteristics with the other three mentioned in this section. The Egyptian flood myth also speaks of the king of the gods, Ra, and his displeasure with a sinful humanity. He wished to remove them from Earth, as the evil of Apophis had entered their hearts and they were worshiping the dark dragon instead of him. Ra called together a council of the gods, and asked their advice upon the issue of humanity. The goddess Nun responded, telling him to not use his eye to burn Egypt as it would make the land a desolate desert; instead, she told him to create a power which would only slay the wicked men and women. So Ra created Sekhmet, a lioness goddess to destroy humanity. Before long, Sekhmet had killed most of the evil men and women in Egypt, and the rest begged Ra to spare them and show mercy. Ra, having no desire to be ruler of a land with no subjects, decided to spare their lives. However, Sekhmet could not be stopped. Having tasted blood, she refused to stop killing and instead kept bathing in the blood of the people of Egypt. Ra was greatly displeased by this, so he devised a trick to prevent Sekhmet from killing any longer. He gathered tons of red ochre from the city of Elephantine, and he had the other gods help him to create a beer that the dyed red with the ochre. This they spread across Egypt, and when Sekhmet found the beer, she mistook it for blood from her previous hunt and greedily lapped it all up. Once finished, she found that she was too intoxicated to either hunt or kill. Ra then descended to Egypt and appeared before her, telling her that she was no longer Sekhmet but now Hathor, lady of love. In that regard, her power over humanity was greater than ever before. There are several key connections to be made between this myth and the other flood myths. The overarching thing of a god displeased with humanity is present, and there is also the theme of anger which softens and turns into pity or love. In the christian flood myth, God's anger dissipates and he creates a covenant with Noah, promising never to flood the Earth again. He goes back to loving humanity, and this relationship remains strong. In the Egyptian myth, Ra's anger also dissipates and he turns the murderous goddess Sekhmet into Hathor, lady of love, symbolizing his newfound love for humanity and his desire to save them from their own doom. The great question here, however, is why the Egyptian myth doesn't utilize a flood like the other myths. One potential answer is that Egypt relied on annual floods for crops and food. The flooding of the Nile was a joyous event and meant that the people would survive another year. A flood wouldn't fit with a story of an angry god's revenge, so a murderous beast was used instead. It also matches the role of Ra, who is the Egyptian sun god. In the ancient Greek myth, Zeus floods the Earth by opening up the floodgates of the sky. This is symbolic as it matches Zeus's station as god of the skies. The eye of Ra, which would have turned Egypt into a desert, matches Ra's station as the sun god. The sun would dry up the land, preventing the flooding of the Nile and ensuring that Egypt became desolate. The ties to other flood myths are there, but a different culture and different idea of the gods results in a different mechanism for the destruction of humanity. It is important to analyze differences in cultures and perception in order to understand the differences between myths that fall under the same umbrella but tell different stories.