CHAPTER FIVE. The origin of the Zaporozhye Cossacks and their history before the impostor. - Description of their country and settlement. - An impostor on the Don. - The origin of the Don Cossacks and their relationship to the Moscow state. - The impostor enters the service of Prince Vishnevetsky. - Life

The controversy between the supporters of the theory of creationism and the evolutionary theory continues to this day. However, unlike the theory of evolution, creationism includes not one, but hundreds of different theories (if not more). In this article, we will tell you about ten of the most unusual myths of antiquity.

10. The myth of Pan-gu

The Chinese have their own ideas about how the world came to be. The most popular myth is that 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 an egg, and Pan-gu lived inside it, and lived for a long time - many millions of years. But one fine day he got tired of such a life, and, waving a heavy ax, Pan-gu got out of his egg, splitting it into two parts. These parts, subsequently, became Heaven and Earth. His height was unimaginable - some kind of 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 decayed. But not the way we do it - Pan-gu was decomposing really abruptly: his voice turned into thunder, his skin and bones became the solid earth, and his head became the Cosmos. So, his death gave life to our world.

9. Chernobog and Belobog

This is one of the most significant myths of the Slavs. It tells about the confrontation between Good and Evil - the White and Black gods. It all started like this: when there was only one continuous sea around, Belobog decided to create dry land by sending his shadow - Chernobog - to do all the dirty work. Chernobog did everything as expected, however, having a selfish and proud nature, he did not want to share power over the firmament with Belobog, deciding to drown the latter.

Belobog got out of this situation, did not allow himself to be killed, and even blessed the land erected by Chernobog. However, with the advent of land, one small problem arose: its area grew exponentially, threatening to swallow everything around.

Then Belobog sent his delegation to Earth in order to find out from Chernobog how to stop this business. Well, Chernobog got on a goat and went to negotiations. The delegates, seeing Chernobog galloping towards them on a goat, were imbued with the comicality of this spectacle and burst into wild laughter. Chernobog did not understand the humor, was very offended and flatly refused to talk to them.

Meanwhile, Belobog, still wanting to save the Earth from dehydration, decided to arrange a spy for Chernobog, having made a bee for this purpose. The insect coped with the task successfully and found out the secret, which consisted in the following: in order to stop the growth of land, it is necessary to draw a cross on it and say the cherished word - "enough". What Belobog did.

To say that Chernobog was not happy is to say nothing. Wanting to take revenge, he cursed Belobog, and cursed him in a very original way - for his meanness, Belobog was now supposed to eat bee feces all his life. However, Belobog was not at a loss, and made the bee excrement as sweet as sugar - this is how honey appeared. For some reason, the Slavs did not think about how people appeared ... The main thing is that there is honey.

8. Armenian duality

Armenian myths resemble Slavic ones, and also tell us about the existence of two opposite principles - this time male and female. Unfortunately, the myth does not answer the question of how our world was created, it only explains how everything around is arranged. But this does not make it less interesting.

So, here's a short summary: Heaven and Earth are husband and wife, who were separated by the 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 it rocks its horns, the earth is bursting at the seams from earthquakes. That, in fact, is all - this is how the Armenians imagined the Earth.

There is also an alternative myth, where the Earth is in the middle of the sea, and Leviathan swims around it, trying to grab onto its own tail, and constant earthquakes were also explained by its floundering. When Leviathan finally grabs himself by the tail, life on Earth will stop and the apocalypse will come. Have a nice day.

7. The Scandinavian myth of the ice giant

It would seem that the Chinese and the Scandinavians have nothing in common - but no, the Vikings also had their own giant - the beginning of everything, only his name was Ymir, and he was ice-cold and with a club. Before his appearance, the world was divided into Muspelheim and Niflheim - the realms of fire and ice, respectively. And between them stretched the Ginnungagap, symbolizing absolute chaos, and there, from the merger of two opposite elements, Ymir was born.

And now closer to us, to people. When Ymir began to sweat, a man and a woman crawled out of his right armpit along with the sweat. Strange, yes, we understand this - well, they are, severe Vikings, nothing can be done. But back to the point. The man's name was Buri, he had a son, Ber, and Ber had three sons - Odin, Vili and Ve. The three brothers were gods and ruled over Asgard. This seemed to them not enough, and they decided to kill Ymir's great-grandfather, making the world out of him.

Ymir was not happy, but no one asked him. In the process, he shed a lot of blood - enough to fill the seas and oceans; from the skull of the unfortunate brothers they created the vault of heaven, they broke his bones, making mountains and boulders out of them, and from the torn brains of poor Ymir they made clouds.

Odin and the company immediately decided to settle this new world: so they found two beautiful trees on the seashore - ash and alder, making a man out of ash, and a woman out of alder, thereby giving rise to the human race.

6. Greek myth of balls

Like many other peoples, the ancient Greeks believed that before our world appeared, there was only continuous chaos around. There was no sun or moon - everything was piled up in one big heap, where things were inseparable from each other.

But then a certain god came, looked at the disorder reigning around, thought and decided that all this was not good, and got down to business: he separated the cold from the heat, the foggy morning from the clear day, and so on.

Then he set to work on the Earth, rolling it into a ball and dividing this ball into five parts: it was very hot at the equator, extremely cold at the poles, but between the poles and the equator - just right, you can't imagine more comfortable. Further, from the seed of an unknown god, most likely Zeus, the Romans known as Jupiter, the first man was created - two-faced and also in the shape of a ball.

And then he was torn in two, making him a man and a woman - the future of you and me.

5. The Egyptian god who loved his shadow very much

In the beginning there was a great ocean, whose name was "Nu", and this ocean was Chaos, and apart from it there was nothing. Not until Atum, by an effort of will and thought, created himself out of this Chaos. Yes, the man had eggs. But further - more and more interesting. So, he created himself, now it was necessary to create land in the ocean. Which he did. After wandering around the earth and realizing his total loneliness, Atum became unbearably bored, and he decided to scold more gods. How? And like that, an ardent, passionate feeling for his own shadow.

Thus, having fertilized, Atum gave birth to Shu and Tefnut, spitting them out of his mouth. But, apparently, he overdid it, and the newborn gods were lost in the ocean of Chaos. Atum grieved, but soon, to his relief, he nevertheless found and found his children again. He was so glad to be reunited that he cried for a long, long time, and his tears, touching the ground, fertilized it - and from the ground people grew up, many people! Then, while people fertilized each other, Shu and Tefnut also had coitus, and they gave birth to other gods - more gods to the god of gods! - Gebu and Nutu, who became the personification of the Earth and the sky.

There is another myth in which Atum replaces Ra, but this does not change the basic essence - there, too, everyone fertilizes each other en masse.

4. The myth of the Yoruba people - about the Sands of Life and chicken

There is such an African people - the Yoruba. So, they also have their own myth about the origin of all things.

In general, it was like this: there was only one God, his name was Olorun, and one fine day the thought occurred to him - that the Earth should be arranged somehow (then the Earth was one continuous wasteland).

Olorun did not really want to do this himself, so he sent his son, Obotala, to Earth. However, at that time, Obotala had more important things to do (in fact, a gorgeous party was planned in heaven then, and Obotala simply could not miss it).

While Obotala was having fun, the responsibility was shifted to Odudawa. With nothing on hand but chicken and sand, Oudawa got down to business. His principle was as follows: he took sand from a cup, sprinkled it on the Earth, and then let the chicken run on the sand and trample it down well.

After performing several such simple manipulations, Odudawa created the land of Lfe or Lle-lfe. This is where Oudawa's story ends, and Obootala reappears on the stage, this time drunk on the blackboard - the party was a success.

And so, being in a state of divine alcoholic intoxication, the son of Olorun began to create us humans. It turned out very badly for him, and he caused invalids, dwarfs and freaks. Having sober up, Obotala was horrified and quickly corrected everything, making people normal.

According to another version, Obotala never got better, and Odudawa also made people, simply by lowering us from the sky and at the same time assigning himself the status of the ruler of humanity.

3. Aztec "War of the Gods"

According to the Aztec myth, no original Chaos existed. But there was a primary order - an absolute vacuum, impenetrably black and endless, in which the Supreme God, Ometeotl, lived in some strange way. He had a dual nature, possessing both feminine and masculine principles, was good and at the same time evil, was both warm and cold, truth and lies, white and black.

He gave birth to the rest of the gods: Huitzilopochtli, Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca and Sipe Totec, who, in turn, created giants, water, fish and other gods.

Tezcatlipoca ascended to heaven, sacrificing himself and becoming the Sun. However, there he encountered Quetzalcoatl, entered the battle with him and lost to him. Quetzalcoatl threw Tezcatlipoca from the firmament and became the Sun himself. Then, Quetzalcoatl gave birth to humans and gave them nuts to eat.

Tezcatlipoca, still melting a grudge against Quetzalcoatl, decided to take revenge on his creations, turning people into apes. Seeing what became of his first people, Quetzalcoatl fell into a rage and caused a powerful hurricane that scattered the vile monkeys all over the world.

While Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoc were at odds with each other, Tialoc and Chalchiuhtlicue also turned into suns to continue the cycle of day and night. However, the fierce battle between Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca affected them too - then they too were thrown from heaven.

In the end, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoc ended the enmity, forgetting past grievances and creating new people from the dead bones and blood of Quetzalcoatl - the Aztecs.

2. Japanese "World Cauldron"

Japan. Chaos again, again in the form of an ocean, this time as dirty as a swamp. In this ocean swamp grew a magic reed (or reed), and from this reed (or reed), like our children from cabbage, gods were born, a great many of them. All together they were called Kotoamatsuki - and this is all that is known about them, for as soon as they were born, they immediately rushed to hide in the reeds. Or in the reeds.

While they were hiding, new gods appeared, including Idzinami and Idzinagi. They started stirring the ocean until it thickened and formed the land - Japan. Idzinami and Idzinagi had a son, Ebisu, who became the god of all fishermen, a daughter, Amaterasu, who became the Sun, and another daughter, Tsukiyomi, who turned into the Moon. They also had one more son, the last one - Susanoo, who for his violent disposition received the status of the god of wind and storms.

1. Lotus flower and "Om-m"

Like many other religions, Hinduism also features the concept of the emergence of the world from emptiness. Well, like from the void - there was an endless ocean in which a giant cobra swam, and there was Vishnu, who slept on the tail of the cobra. And nothing more.

Time passed, the days followed one another, and it seemed that it would always be so. But once everything around was announced by a sound that had never been heard before - the sound of "Om-m", and the previously empty world was overwhelmed with energy. Vishnu awoke from sleep, and Brahma appeared from the lotus flower on his navel. Vishnu ordered Brahma to create the world, and in the meantime he disappeared, taking with him a snake.

Brahma, sitting in a lotus position on a lotus flower, set to work: he divided the flower into three parts, using one to create Heaven and Hell, the other to create the Earth, and the third to create the sky. Then Brahma created animals, birds, people and trees, thus creating all living things.

In ancient times, humanity developed by civilizations. These were isolated nationalities that were formed under the influence of certain factors and had their own culture, technology and were distinguished by a certain individuality. Due to the fact that they were not technically advanced as much as modern mankind, ancient people were largely dependent on the vagaries of nature. Then lightning, rain, earthquakes and other natural phenomena seemed to be a manifestation of divine powers. These forces, as it seemed then, could determine the fate and personal qualities of a person. This is how the very first mythology was born.

What is a myth?

According to the modern cultural definition, this is a story that reproduces the beliefs of ancient people about the structure of the world, about higher powers, about a person, the biography of great heroes and gods in verbal form. In some way, they also reflected the then level of human knowledge. These legends were written down and passed down from generation to generation, thanks to which we can today find out how our ancestors thought. That is, then mythology was a certain form and also one of the ways of understanding natural and social reality, which reflected the views of a person at a certain stage of development.

Among the many questions that worried mankind in those distant times, the problem of the appearance of the world and man in it was especially urgent. Because of their curiosity, people tried to explain and understand how they appeared, who created them. It was then that a separate myth about the origin of people appeared.

Due to the fact that humanity, as already mentioned, developed in large isolated groups, the legends of each nationality were in some way unique, since they reflected not only the worldview of the people at that time, but were also an imprint of cultural, social development, and also carried information about the land where the people lived. In this sense, myths have some historical value, since they allow one to build some logical judgments about a particular people. In addition, they were a bridge between the past and the future, a link between generations, passing on the knowledge that was accumulated in stories from the old clan to the new, thus teaching it.

Anthropogonic myths

Regardless of civilization, all ancient people had their own ideas about how man appeared in this world. They have some common features, but they also have significant differences, which are due to the peculiarities of the life and development of a particular civilization. All myths about the origin of man are called anthropogonic. This word comes from the Greek "anthropos", which means - man. Such a concept as the myth of the origin of people exists among absolutely all ancient peoples. The only difference is in their perception of the world.

For comparison, we can consider separately taken myths about the origin of man and the world of two great nations, which significantly influenced the development of mankind in their time. These are the civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient China.

Chinese view of the creation of the world

The Chinese imagined our Universe as a huge egg, which was filled with a certain matter - Chaos. From this Chaos was born the ancestor of all mankind - Pangu. He used his ax to break the egg in which he was born. When he broke the egg, Chaos burst out and began to change. The sky (Yin) was formed - which is associated with the light beginning, and the Earth (Yang) - the dark beginning. Thus, the world was formed in the beliefs of the Chinese. After that, Pangu put his hands on the sky, and his feet on the ground and began to grow. It grew continuously until the sky separated from the earth and became what we see it today. Pangu, when he grew up, fell apart into many parts, which became the basis of our world. His body became mountains and plains, flesh became earth, breath became air and wind, blood became water, and skin became vegetation.

Chinese mythology

As the Chinese myth of the origin of man says, a world was formed that was inhabited by animals, fish and birds, but people still believed that the creator of humanity was the great female spirit - Nuiwa. The ancient Chinese revered her as the organizer of the world, she was portrayed as a woman with a human body, bird legs and a snake's tail, who holds in her hand a lunar disk (Yin symbol) and a measuring square.

Nuiva began to sculpt human figures from clay, which came to life and turned into people. She worked for a long time and realized that her strength was not enough to create people who could populate the whole earth. Then Nuiva took the rope and passed it through the liquid clay, and then shook it. Where lumps of wet clay fell, people appeared. Still, they weren't as good as the hand-molded ones. This was how the existence of the nobility, which Nuiva blinded with her own hands, and people of the lower classes, created with the help of a rope, were justified. The goddess gave her creations the opportunity to reproduce independently, and also introduced them to the concept of marriage, which was very strictly observed in ancient China. Therefore, Nuiva can also be considered the patroness of weddings.

This is the Chinese myth of the origin of man. As you can see, it reflects not only traditional Chinese beliefs, but also some features and rules that guided the ancient Chinese in their lives.

Greek mythology about the appearance of man

The Greek myth of the origin of man tells how the titan Prometheus created people from clay. But the first people were very defenseless and could not do anything. For this act, the Greek gods became angry with Prometheus and decided to destroy the human race. However, Prometheus saved his children by stealing fire from Olympus and bringing it to a man in an empty cane stalk. For this, Zeus imprisoned Prometheus in chains in the Caucasus, where the eagle was supposed to peck at his liver.

In general, any myth about the origin of people does not give specific information about the appearance of humanity, more concentrating on subsequent events. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the Greeks considered man insignificant against the background of the omnipotent gods, thus emphasizing their importance for the whole people. Indeed, almost all Greek legends are directly or indirectly connected precisely with the gods, who guide heroes from the human race, such as Odysseus or Jason, and help them.

Features of mythology

What are the features of mythological thinking?

As you can see above, myths and legends interpret and describe the origin of man in completely different ways. You need to understand that the need for them arose at an early age. They arose from a person's need to explain the origin of man, nature, the structure of the world. Of course, the way of explanation used by mythology is rather primitive; it differs significantly from the interpretation of the world order that science supports. In myths, everything is quite concrete and detached, there are no abstract concepts in them. Man, society and nature merge into one. The main type of mythological thinking is figurative. Every person, hero or god has a concept or phenomenon that follows him necessarily. This one denies any logical reasoning based on faith, not knowledge. It is unable to generate questions that are not creative.

In addition, mythology also has specific literary techniques that allow you to emphasize the significance of certain events. These are hyperboles that exaggerate, for example, the strength or other important characteristics of the heroes (Pangu, who was able to lift the sky), metaphors that attribute certain characteristics to things or creatures that do not actually possess them.

Common features and impact on world culture

In general, one can trace a certain pattern in how exactly the myths of different peoples explain the origin of man. In almost all variants there is a certain divine essence that breathes life into lifeless matter, thus creating and shaping a person in this way. This influence of ancient pagan beliefs can be traced in later religions, for example, in Christianity, where God creates man in his own image and likeness. However, if it is not entirely clear how Adam appeared, then God creates Eve from a rib, which only confirms this influence of ancient legends. This influence of mythology can be traced in almost any culture that existed later.

Ancient Turkic mythology about how man appeared

The ancient Turkic myth about the origin of man as the progenitor of the human race, as well as the creator of the earth, calls the goddess Umai. In the form of a white swan, she flew over the water, which has always existed, and looked for land, but did not find it. She laid the egg right into the water, but the egg immediately drowned. Then the goddess decided to make a nest on the water, but the feathers from which she made it turned out to be fragile, and the waves broke the nest. The goddess held her breath and dived to the very bottom. She carried out a piece of earth in its beak. Then the god Tengri saw her suffering and sent Umai three fish made of iron. She put the earth on the back of one of the fish, and it began to grow until all the earth's land was formed. Then the goddess laid an egg, from which the whole human race, birds, animals, trees and everything else appeared.

What can be determined by reading this Turkic myth about the origin of man? A general similarity with the legends of Ancient Greece and China already known to us is visible. A certain divine power creates people, namely from an egg, which is very similar to the Chinese legend about Pangu. Thus, it is clear that initially people associated the creation of themselves by analogy with living things that they could observe. There is also an incredible reverence for the mother, women as a lifespan.

What can a child learn from these legends? What new does he learn from reading the myths of peoples about the origin of man?

First of all, this will allow him to get acquainted with the culture and life of the people that existed in prehistoric times. Since the myth is characterized by a figurative type of thinking, the child will quite easily perceive it and will be able to assimilate the necessary information. For children, these are the same fairy tales, and, like fairy tales, they are filled with the same morality and information. When reading them, the child will learn to develop the processes of his thinking, learn to benefit from reading and draw conclusions.

The myth of the origin of people will give the child the answer to the exciting question - where did I come from? Of course, the answer will not be correct, but children take everything for granted, and therefore it will satisfy the child's interest. By reading the above Greek myth of the origin of man, the child will also be able to understand why fire is so important to humanity and how it was discovered. This will be useful in the subsequent education of the child in primary school.

Variety and benefits for the child

Indeed, if we take examples of myths about the origin of man (and not only them) from Greek mythology, we can see that the brilliance of the characters and their number are very large and interesting not only for young readers, but even for adults. However, you need to help the child deal with all this, otherwise he will simply get confused in the events, their causes. It is necessary to explain to the child why God loves or dislikes this or that hero, why he helps him. Thus, the child will learn to build logical chains and compare facts, drawing certain conclusions from them.

At the Greeks. The only people who could survive the flood were Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha. And the great gods invited them to create a new humanity. Deucalion and Pyrrha, according to legend, began to throw stones behind their backs, and the stones began to turn into statues. The statues sang songs, Deucalion and Pyrrha had to choose one song about humanity they liked, and they chose from all the songs a story about Greek heroes: about Theseus, Hercules and other demigods. And thus humanity was reborn on earth. Deucalion and Pyrrha died, and the singing statues they rejected began to demand a fair trial from the gods. The gods decided to pass a verdict by weighing the decision of Deucalion and Pyrrha on the scales. And the court of the gods recognized the choice of the married couple as correct! Humanity, praising the Greek heroes, has become the only one on earth.

At the Turks. Humanity was born on a black mountain. In one cave, a pit was formed, which in shape resembled a human body, streams of rain carried away the clay and filled the form. The clay, warmed by the sun, remained in shape for nine months. And nine months later, the first man came out of the cave: AI ATAM, who is called the father of the moon.

Among the Mexicans (XVII century). Here everything is a little more confusing, since ancient cults and Catholicism influenced the formation of the legend with equal force. God made a man out of pottery clay and put him in a furnace. But left it in the oven too long. Therefore, the man came out of the furnace burnt and black. God decided that he was mistaken, threw his child on the ground and ended up in Africa. But God did not stop there and created another person, whom he left in the furnace for a much shorter time. The man turned out to be completely white. God decided again that he was wrong. And again he threw the man to the ground and ended up in Europe. The third time, God took a closer look at the process and monitored the readiness of his product. He waited for the man to bake properly, until golden brown. This time, God did it. And slowly, very carefully, he placed a successful man in America. This is how the Mexicans appeared.

Among the Sioux tribes. According to Sioux legend, man was created by the universe rabbit, who found a blood clot on the road. The rabbit began to play with it with its paw, and the clot turned into intestines. The rabbit continued to amuse himself, and a heart appeared on the intestines, then eyes, and finally, it turned out to be a real little boy, the first boy in the world. Rabbit called this first person a rabbit boy. This was the ancestor of the Sioux.

At the Arabs. There is an option for creating the Old Testament. In their cosmogony, in order for a person to be born, an earth of four different colors is needed: blue, black, white and red. God sent the angel Gabriel after her, but when he bent down in order to collect land, the earth spoke and asked what he wanted. “Earth so that God could create man,” explained Gabriel. The earth replied: "I cannot allow this to you, because the person will be uncontrollable and will want to destroy me." The angel Gabriel conveyed her opinion to God. Then God sent the angel Michael. The same story happened. Exactly the same failure. The earth again opposed the birth of man. Then God sent the angel Azrael, whose feature was that he was the angel of death. He was not convinced by the arguments of the land. Thus, man exists thanks to the angel of death, and therefore man is mortal. From the brought earth, God created Adam. But he did nothing for forty years, he just lay on the ground. The angel could not understand why the person did not move. He looked into Adam's mouth to find out what was inside him, and understood why Adam remained motionless. Inside, the man's body was empty. Then the angel told God about it, and he decided to give a person a soul. Adam came to life, and God, in order to give him an advantage over the earth, nature, plants and animals, allowed him to name everything that surrounded him. One person has the right to give names even to spirits (jinn) and mountains. And every time he utters a name, he conquers the one he calls. (Taba ri, Arabic chronicler of the 9th century, Abba Sidov caliphate.)

U Mongol.Man was created by God who dug a hole in the earth in the shape of a human figure. Then God caused a storm, and clay with streams of water filled the hole (very similar to the Turkish version). The rain stopped, the moisture dried up, and the man, like a cake out of a mold, came out of the pit.

The Navajo Indians. In the beginning, half-humans, half-beasts lived on earth. They crossed the three heavens, from where they were expelled because of their foolish deeds. Eventually they descended to earth, where four local gods, blue, white, black and yellow, came to see them. The gods tried to teach them something with the help of gestures, but the subhumans did not understand anything. Then all the gods, except one, the black one, left them. The black god told the demi-humans that they were filthy and smelly fools. “The rest of the gods will be back in four days,” he told them. “Wash yourselves and we will indulge in the human creation ceremony.” The gods brought with them various objects, deer skins and two ears of corn, yellow and white. A man emerged from a white ear, and a woman emerged from a yellow one. They made love under the awning and gave birth to five pairs of twins. The first twins were hermaphrodites, but the rest gave birth to children, and these children were married with the new people. This is how modern humanity appeared.

Legends about the origin of humanity. The legends of different peoples surprisingly have many overlaps. Initially, all ancient peoples had faith in one God - the most important, the creator of the entire universe and all that exists. For many ancient myths, it is characteristic that initially everything had an anthropomorphic appearance - all creatures, animals, objects, natural phenomena. Therefore, the emergence of a person is often presented not so much as his creation, as his isolation from the number of other human-like creatures, which gradually lose their human appearance, which is preserved only in humans. (Totemistic myths).

Ancient Indian myths. The progenitor of the world was Brahma. People appeared from the body of Purusha - the primordial man, whom the gods sacrificed at the beginning of the world. From this sacrifice, hymns and tunes, horses, bulls, goats and sheep were born. From his mouth arose priests, his hands became warriors, from his thighs were created farmers, and from his feet the lower class was born. From the mind of Purusha a month arose, from the eye - the sun, fire was born from his mouth, and from his breath - the wind. Air came from his navel, the sky came from his head, and the sides of the world were created from his ears, and his legs became earth. Thus, out of the great sacrifice, the eternal gods created the world. From the descendants of Brahma, other gods began to arise, and in total there were thirty-three thousand, thirty-three hundred and thirty-three more.
According to Hindu beliefs, the Universe is divided into 14 regions, and the Earth is the seventh from the top. Together with the sun, the lord of the solar disk arose - the god Vishnu, who could take various forms, ranging from a fish and a turtle to a human form. In the form of a boar, Vishnu plunged into the depths and lifted all the earth from the depths on his fangs. Soon the land was inhabited by animals and birds.

The birth of a person. In ancient Slavic mythology, people were born by Gods, and considered their Gods a family, relatives.

It is worth noting that the legends of the ancient peoples have undergone significant changes during the wars of conquest (this is especially true of the American continent). But in the mythology of various peoples, an amazing collorite of local customs has been preserved.
Creation of man.
In many ancient beliefs, humans are artificially created by the gods. Man was created or created by God, deified beings. So in the myths of the Sumerians, the origin of mankind from aliens. Perhaps this also includes the Indian myths about the Lunar ancestors in the Prologue legend - "The Great Lords gave the order to the Lords of the Moon - Pitris - to create people."
What were humans created for? This issue is not discussed in totemic legends. The main thing is to create a good, correct person. All Sumerian and Babylonian myths converge on one thing: that man should serve the gods, perform temple rituals and feed the gods. Also in Egyptian mythology, the gods created the world specifically for people, demanding from them in return only worship, the construction of temples and regular sacrifices. In Jewish mythology, man was created to cultivate, cultivate the land.

How man was created. Scandinavian mythology Northern, Scandinavian and Germanic, the ancient religion is known as Odinism (in honor of Odin), as well as asatru (Icelandic term meaning "faith (tru) in the gods (ases)") or simply as troth (from English troth - faith or loyalty). It was believed that the structure of the world cannot be reflected in a two-dimensional or even three-dimensional model. It consists of nine worlds, or spheres. The first man and woman were created from trees by the triad of gods of consciousness (Wotan-Willie-Ve, or Odin-Khenir-Lodur). The man was made of ash, and the woman was made of elm. The first people did not breathe, they did not have spirit, blush on their faces, warmth and even voice. But then Odin gave them breath, Henir gave them spirit, and Lodur gave them warmth and blush. This is how the first people appeared, and their name was: a man - Ask, and a woman - Embla.
Greece. The ancient Greeks, as far as can be judged from the sources that have come down to us, the origin of people was of little interest. They were interested in the gods, their birth and death, their intrigues and exploits. The Greek gods did not separate themselves from people with an impregnable wall, but even took part in earthly affairs. In Greek mythology, a new kind of people originated from stone. The only people who could survive the flood were Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha. And the great gods invited them to create a new humanity. Deucalion and Pyrrha, according to legend, began to throw stones behind their backs, and the stones began to turn into statues. The statues sang songs, Deucalion and Pyrrha had to choose one they liked
them a song about humanity, and they chose from all the songs a story about Greek heroes: about Theseus, Hercules and other demigods. And thus humanity was reborn on earth. But by no means all Greeks were descended from stones. Some tribes considered themselves autochthonous, that is, arising from the earth. The Thebans, for example, thought that they came from the teeth of the dragon killed by the Phoenician Cadmus, which he sowed into the ground.

Apparently, a later borrowing in Greek mythology: People were molded from earth and water by Prometheus, the son of the titan Iapetus, a cousin of Zeus. According to some myths, people and animals were created by the Greek gods in the depths of the earth from a mixture of fire and earth, and the gods instructed Prometheus and Epimetheus to distribute the abilities between them.

The creation of people from clay or earth, by analogy with the Biblical version, is found in almost all Indo-European mythology. Linguists even note that in the Hebrew language the words "earth" and "man" have a similar origin. (there is a connection between the Latin words homo - man and humus earth).
Egyptian mythology In ancient Egyptian myths, little attention is paid to the creation of man. Although the myths make it clear that Ra - Atum - Khepri created himself, emerging from the chaos, which was called Nun, or the First Ocean. This ocean had no physical dimensions or time. The newborn god could not find a place where he could stay, and therefore created a hill, or rather the island of Ben-ben. Already on solid ground, he began to create other gods. Thus, the Great Nine of Gods arose - the Heliopolis Ennead. In Memphis, many gods were included in the myth of the creation of the world, subjugating them Ptah, who acted as the creator of everything. It is interesting that here the creation of the world was not a physical process, but exclusively by thought and word.
The Egyptians believed that people and their Ka (soul) were molded from clay by the ram-headed god Khnum. He is the main creator of the world. He sculpted the whole world on a potter's wheel, the first people and animals from clay.

Among the peoples of Africa (the supreme deity of the Dogons Amma makes the first human pair from raw clay.
In one of the variants of the Sumerian myth, Enki and Ninmah first mold "successful" people from the clay of the underground world ocean, and then, drunk, create freaks.
In the Sumerian myth of Lahar and Ashnan: At the behest of Nammu, the mother of the gods and Ninmah, with the help of other gods, mixing water and clay, man was created.
According to the Akkadian version, Marduk (together with the god Eya) makes people from clay mixed with the blood of the Kingu monster he killed.
In the Babylonian creation myth, called "Enuma Elish", the creation of man is described in the sixth tablet (seven were found). The god Marduk from clay mixed with the blood of the murdered god Kingu, in the image and likeness of Kingu creates people,

In Jewish mythology, there are two options for the creation of the world. In both versions of the myth, a person is created from clay, and life fills the clay in one case with the blood of Yahweh in the other with divine breath

At the Turks. Humanity was born on a black mountain. In a cave alone
a pit was formed, which in shape resembled a human body,
the streams of rain carried away the clay and filled the mold. Clay,
warmed by the sun, remained in shape for nine months. And after
nine months the first man came out of the cave: AI ATAM, whom
called the father of the moon.

At the Arabs. There is an option for creating the Old Testament. In their cosmogony
for a person to be born, an earth of four different colors is needed:
blue, black, white and red. God sent the angel Gabriel for her,
but when he bent down in order to gain land, the earth spoke
and asked what he wants. “Earth, so that God can create
a person, ”Gabriel explained. The earth replied: “I cannot give you this
allow, because the person will be uncontrollable and want to destroy me. "
The angel Gabriel conveyed her opinion to God. Then God sent the angel Michael.
The same story happened. Exactly the same failure. The earth resisted again
the birth of a person. Then God sent the angel Azrael, whose feature was
that he was the angel of death. He was not convinced by the arguments of the land. So
Thus, man exists thanks to the angel of death, and therefore man is mortal.
From the brought earth, God created Adam. But that for forty years nothing
did, just lay on the ground. The angel could not understand why the person did not move.
He looked into Adam's mouth to find out what was inside him and realized
why Adam remains motionless. Inside, the man's body was empty. Then the angel
told about it to God, and he decided to give the person a soul. Adam came to life, and God, for
in order to give him an advantage over land, nature, plants and
animals, allowed him to name everything that surrounded him. One man has
the right to give names even to spirits (jinn) and mountains. And every time he
pronounces the name, he conquers the one whom he calls. (Taba ri, Arabic
chronicler of the 9th century, Caliphate Abba Sidov.)

U Mongol. Man was created by God, who dug a hole in the ground in the form
human figure. Then God caused a storm, and clay with streams of water
filled the hole (very similar to the Turkish version). The rain is over, moisture
dried up, and the man, like a cake out of a mold, came out of the pit.
In Altai mythology (Ulgen creates the first seven people from clay and reeds),

America. Iroquois. Yoskeha sculpts the first people from clay according to his reflection in the water.
Cahuilla Indians. Demiurge Mukat, who took out the black earth from his heart, creates from the body of people. Temayauit, who took out the white earth from his heart, unsuccessfully sculpts people with stomachs on both sides; with eyes on both sides of the head; when Mukat proved to him the failure of his creations, Temayahuit, angry, hides with them in the underworld, trying to drag the whole earth with him.
Mexicans (XVII century). the formation of the legend was influenced with equal force by the ancient cults and Catholicism. God made a man out of pottery clay and put him in a furnace. But left it in the oven too long. Therefore, the man came out of the furnace burnt and black. God decided that he was mistaken, threw his child on the ground and ended up in Africa. But God did not stop there and created another person, whom he left in the furnace for a much shorter time. The man turned out to be completely white. God decided again that he was wrong. And again he threw the man to the ground and ended up in Europe. The third time, God took a closer look at the process and monitored the readiness of his product. He waited for the man to bake properly, until golden brown. This time, God did it. And slowly, very carefully, he placed a successful man in America. This is how the Mexicans appeared
North American Akoma tribe. the first two women learned in a dream that people live underground. They dug a hole and set people free.
The Incas. In Tiahuanaco, the creator of all things created the tribes there. He made from clay one person from each tribe and painted the dress that they were to wear; those who should be with long hair were sculpted with long hair, and those who should be cut with short ones; and each nation was given its own language, and its songs, and cereals, and food. When the creator finished this work, he breathed life and soul into every man and every woman and ordered them to go underground. And each tribe went out where it was ordered.
Central America. The gods blinded the first people from wet clay. But they did not meet the hopes of the great gods. Everything would be fine: both living and able to speak, but how can clay fools even turn their heads? They stare at one point and goggle. And then they will begin to creep, sprinkle them with a little rain. But worst of all - they came out soulless, mindless ... The gods got down to business a second time. "Let's try to make people out of wood!" - they agreed. No sooner said than done. And the earth was inhabited by wooden idols. But they had no heart, and they were foolish.
And the gods decided to once again take up the creation of people. “To create people of flesh and blood, we need a noble material that will give them life, strength, and intelligence,” the gods decided. They found this noble material - white and yellow maize (corn). They threshed the cobs, kneaded the dough, from which they made the first reasonable people.
Indians of Mexico. When everything was ready on Earth, Nohotsakyum created humans. The first were the kalsia, that is, the monkey people, then the koha-ko - the wild boar people, then the kapuk - the jaguar people and, finally, the chan-ka - the pheasant people. So he created different nations. He made them out of clay - men, women, children, fitted them with eyes, noses, arms, legs and everything else, then put the figurines into the fire, on which he usually baked tortillas (corn cakes). The fire hardened the clay, and people revived.

Anthropogonic myths of a totemic nature are of great interest, according to which a person once did not differ from animals (for example, he was covered with wool, as in the mythological ideas of the Selkups, Western Siberia). In Anthropogonic myths of a totemic nature, most often it is not about the origin of all people, but of a certain group, the zoomorphic totemic symbol of which is this or that animal.
The Tibetans arose on their own. Their ancestors were the mountain spirit Aryabalo and the monkey, which was the embodiment of Darehe. According to another legend, which explains the origin not of the world, but only of the Tibetan people, Tibetans descend from the monkey and the deity of the underworld and the waters of Lu. According to another version of the legend, it was not Avalokiteshvara himself who took the form of a male monkey, but sent his disciple to Tibet. The male monkey, settled in Tibet for contemplation, became the king of the monkeys that lived there. The monkey king was a handsome man, and the demoness of the mountains and rocks, Lu, fell in love with him. The similarity between man and monkey gave rise to two types of A. m. Of the opposite character. According to one of them, which exists in Tibet and among the Hazapi tribe in South Africa, man is descended from a monkey. According to another, known among the Bushmen, monkeys (baboons) were once people, but the mythological hero Tsagn turned them into monkeys, punishing them for killing his son. According to the myths of some other African peoples (bambuti, efe), chimpanzees are an ancient people who went into the forest because they were deceived by the pygmies.
America. Among the Sioux tribes. According to Sioux legend, man was created by the universe rabbit, who found
on the road a blood clot., turned out to be a real little boy,
the first boy in the world. Rabbit called this first person a rabbit
boy. This was the ancestor of the Sioux.
The myth of the North American Indians. Once it was such a hot summer that the pond in which the turtles lived was dry. Then the turtles decided to look for another place to live and hit the road. The fattest turtle took off its shell to make it easier for itself. So she walked without a shell until she turned into a man - the ancestor of the Turtle clan.
The Navajo Indians. In the beginning, half-humans, half-beasts lived on earth. They crossed
three heavens, from which they were expelled because of their foolish deeds. Finally
they went down to earth, where four local gods: blue, white, black
and yellow, came to see them. The gods tried to teach them something when
using gestures, but the subhumans did not understand anything. Then all the gods except
alone, black, left them. The black god told the demi-humans that they
dirty and smelly fools. "The rest of the gods will return in four days," said
he them. “Wash yourselves and we will indulge in the human creation ceremony.”
The gods brought with them various objects, deer skins and two ears of corn,
yellow and white. A man emerged from a white ear, and a woman emerged from a yellow one. They
made love under the awning and gave birth to five pairs of twins. The first twins were
hermaphrodites, but the rest gave birth to children, and these children were married with an alien
people. This is how modern humanity appeared.

Australian myths. At first, the Earth was covered by the sea, and at the bottom of the dried up primitive ocean and on the slopes of rocks protruding from the waves, there were already ... lumps of helpless creatures with glued fingers and teeth, closed ears and eyes. Other similar human "larvae" lived in water and looked like shapeless balls of raw meat, in which only the rudiments of human body parts were guessed. A flycatcher with a stone knife separated human embryos from each other, cut through their eyes, ears, mouth, nose, fingers .. She taught how to make fire by friction, cook food, gave them a spear, a spear thrower, a boomerang, each provided him with a personal churin goy ( the guardian of the soul).
Various Australian tribes consider kangaroos, emu, opossum, wild dog, lizard, crow, bat as their ancestors.
Once upon a time there lived two brothers, two twins - Bunjil and Palian. Bunjil could turn into a falcon, and Palian could turn into a crow. One brother made mountains and rivers on the earth with a wooden sword, and the other - salt water and fish that live in the sea. Once Bunjil took two pieces of bark, put clay on them and began to crush it with a knife, sculpting the legs, torso, arms and head - this is how he created a man. He made the second one. He was pleased with his work and danced the dance with joy. Since then, people have existed, since then they have been dancing with joy. He attached wood fibers to one man as hair, and to another too - the first had curly hair, the second had straight. Since then, men of some genera have curly hair, while others have straight hair.

PS / Preliminary version. A brief incomplete review of the mythology of the peoples of the World, the materials of research works, numerous articles on the Internet