The mythologies are the vehicle through which the various civilizations have tried to understand the creation of the world , the emergence of natural phenomena and the existence of the gods. Next you will be able to discover a series of mythological narratives about the origin of the Milky Way, the attributes of a god or the birth of man.
- Also discover the 6 great myths about the creation of the universe.
INDEX
1. Popular theogonic
myths 2. Short theogonic myths Popular theogonic myths and their origin
From Taoist cosmogony and Greek myths, to the most exotic narratives of Norse mythology and North American Indian legends. Do not miss the following stories, each more enriching. 1. The birth of the Milky Way
The Greeks used to spend a long time looking at the sky, and like good astronomers, mythology served them to name the stars . This is the origin of the myth about the creation of the Milky Way, which grants such a privilege to Hera, wife of Zeus.
The most widespread version of the myth in Greek cosmogony says that Hera, jealous of theamorous adventures of her husband , the god of gods, Zeus, tried to thwart the birth of Hermes, a hero of classical Greek mythology.
He had been born from the union of Zeus with Alcmene, daughter of King Electrion of Mycenae, and after lying with Zeus she also did so with her husband, Amphitryon. She thus became pregnant with both of them, sheltering in her womb Heracles, son of Zeus, and Iphicles, son of Amphitryon. Hera ‘s anger erupted when Zeus recognized the unborn Heracles as her favorite son.
So she set out to prevent the birth of that demigod at all costs. When Heracles was born, after six months, Hera sent him two snakes that the boy suffocated, demonstrating supernatural strength. Despite his strength, Heracles was mortal., and could only achieve the immortality of the gods by sucking on Hera’s breasts.
Hermes, the messenger god, took Heracles to Hera and Hera began to nurse while the goddess slept. Upon waking up and seeing Heracles in her breasts, Hera abruptly pushed him away but his milk continued to flow and spread throughout the universe .
Zeus’ statue. | Francisco Ghisletti. 2. The eight geniuses of Taoism
The pantheon of Taoist gods, one of the most popular religions in China, is made up of the eight geniuses, who achieved immortality through alchemy and acquired a series of attributes that make them divinities . Lu Dongbin is the master of the other immortals., the wisest and the protector of the sick, who drives away evil spirits and misfortune with the sword. Lan Caihe is a hermaphrodite god without a specific sex, dressed in bamboo and flowers, protector of florists and horticulturists.
Zhang Guo Lao is an old man who ensures wisdom and longevity, while He Xiangu is the female deity associated with the lotus flower, guarantor of physical and mental health. Han Xiangzi is the guardian of the secrets of alchemy , and Li Tieguai, with his disheveled appearance, protects the weak and those who need help.
The pantheon of the eight immortals is also home to Zhongli Quan, who has the amazing ability to revive the dead.and transform stones into precious materials, and Cao Guojiu, who with his jade tablets represents the theater. 3. The legend of the Minotaur
This is one of the most popular theogonic myths of Greek mythology. His antagonist is the minotaur, a being fathered by the wife of King Minos of Crete, Pasiphae, and a white bull sent by Poseidon, the king of the sea. Half man half bull , the minotaur lived in a labyrinth where he fed on human flesh.
Actually, the minotaur was Poseidon’s punishment to King Minos for having offended the gods. With the intention of hiding him, out of shame, Minos had locked him in the labyrinth and offered him every year seven men and seven women that he imposed as tribute to the city of Athens (it had lost the war against Crete).
The brave heir to the Athenian throne, Theseus, volunteered to enter the labyrinth, defeat the minotaur, and free the city from the tragic imposition . Arriving in Crete, the daughter of King Minos, Ariadne, fell madly in love with Theseus, and gave him an invisible thread that Daedalus, the builder of the labyrinth, had given him.
So Theseus, after killing the beast, could find his way out and meet again with his beloved. And this is how it happened, closing the myth with a happy ending .4. The birth of Sleipnir
According to Norse mythology, the wall of Asgard, abode of the gods, had been destroyed and they were at the mercy of the giants. A builder offered to erect a sturdy wall in sixteen months, asking only the goddess Freya, the Sun, and the Moon in return.
The gods were furious at such audacity, but Loki, the trickster giant, told the gods that if he could build the wall in just six months he would be accepted. The gods agreed, and using his horse Svadilfari, he carried the stones from one side to the other with surprising speed. When there was little left for the deadline to expire, the wall was almost ready.
The gods, frightened, did not want to deliver the beautiful Freya, much less deliver the Moon and the Sun. They asked Loki for help, and he gave them the key: without his horse, the mason could not finish his work . Loki, disguised as a mare, took the horse away and the builder, realizing it, flew into a rage with such irritation that his costume fell off: he was actually a giant.
Thor gave him what he deserved with a hammer blow to the head, and Loki returned as a pregnant mare giving birth to an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir , which he gave as a gift to Odin promising that he would take him faster than anyone on land, sea and air.
Norse mythology also explains the origin of their gods. | Pierre Bouillot.5. A North American Indian Myth
On the way home, a group of hungry North American Indians scattered to look for food, and one of them, putting his ear to the ground, thought he heard a herd of buffalo approaching. The group prepared to attack, with the leader in the lead. However, what appeared were not buffalos, but a giant snake. After killing and cooking it , the Indians assured that the meat of that snake was tastier than that of the buffalo, and everyone ate satisfied except for a boy who accompanied the group. At midnight, the chief of the tribe woke up horrified to see all his companions turned into snakes.
Even his own body had begun to transform into a snake.. They all surrounded the boy but, instead of eating him, they gave him all his amulets and asked him to leave them on a peak, under some trees.
The boy returned to the village with a message: the snake-warriors would visit their relatives in the summer, and so they did. And when winter came, they disappeared forever with their horses and their chores. 6. Horus vs. Seth
According to Egyptian mythology, before Osiris died he had been a mythical king who founded the nation and a wise and kind ruler. During his reign, Osiris visited territories and instructed the peasants in cultivation, which made him gain more and more followers everywhere. But while he was traveling, his brother Seth, envious, took his throne from him.
The myth says that in a struggle for dominance in Egypt, Seth killed his brother and cut him to pieces, scattering him throughout Egypt. Isis collected the pieces and put them together to embalm him and bring him back to life . Thus he spawned Horus, who was appointed to avenge the death of his father with the assistance of the god Ra.
When he was ready, his father helped him gather an army and transformed into a giant to save the ships from the storm that Seth sent him, he ended up killing him by shooting a harpoon into his mouth, which had turned into a hippopotamus . . short theogonic myths
There are other short theogonic myths that condense in one or two paragraphs extraordinary narratives about the origin of the gods or their action in nature and men. We gather below the Buddhist, Aztec, Greek and Mesopotamian mythology. 7. Ometeotl, the god who created himself
According to Aztec mythology, Ometeotl is the god who invented himself to originate everything else. The source of him is a mix of chaos and order, life and death, black and white, and a whole host of antagonists that give him the power to create and destroy . Maximum representation of balance, he is the only divinity that does not participate in human affairs. 8. Brahma and the immortality of man
Hindu mythology says that at the beginning men were immortal, but Brahma stole that privilege from them for their bad behavior. He met with other gods to decide where he would hide mortality, and after much thought he came up with a brilliant idea: in the one place man would never look for it , within his very being.
Since then, man lives in ignorance of carrying immortality within him.
Short theogonic myths of various cultures. | Dominic Vanyi. 9. The origin of Fortune
The goddess Fortune, daughter of Zeus, had been trained by Mercury to run faster than anyone else. Her father had given her a task: travel the whole earth every morning to collect the fruits of immortality that the gods consumed before the first rays of the sun destroyed them. When a human crossed paths with her , the gods feared losing her food so they granted a wish to free her. Hence the origin of Fortune. 10. The Mesopotamian myth of the creation of the world
Mesopotamian civilization was born around the river, survived thanks to the river and always grew up with the river as a reference. For this reason, according to their beliefs, chaos was an immense ocean and the world originated from the fusion of two rivers : the divinities Tiamat and Apsu, fresh water and salt water. From their union came the first gods.
