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By this term is understood an account of how the
(cosmos) came into being (gonia & gegona = I have become). It differs from , or the
of the , in this: that the latter aims at understanding the actual composition and governing
of t while the former answers the question as to how it first came to be. The
accounts for the origin of the
by creation ex nihilo of the matter out of which the
arose, and the preservatio, or maintenance, of Providence according to which it developed into what it now is. Modern
has propounded many theories as to how the primieval gaseous substance evolved into the present harmony of the . These theories may be called scientific and the account of the origin of the world given in Genesis, i and ii, is styled . The word cosmogony is, however, usually applied to mythic accounts of the world's origin current among the peoples of antiquity and the more modern races which have not been touched by recent scientific methods. In this article the word is understood only in this latter sense. In treating the strange admixture of psuedo-scientific speculations and religious
, unassisted by revelation, elaborated to account for the existence and harmony of the , we are forced at first to follow only the chronological order. The different accounts given of the origin of the heavens and the earth are at first sight so irreconcilable, so fanciful that no other order of trea but an attempt will be made in the conclusion to sum up and systematize the various
enumerated, to trace the various lines along which past thought and fancy developed to some great central principles, and thus to show the unity which underlies even this confusing diversity. As modern scholarship seems to suggest the Euphrates valley as the cradle of all civilization, the cosmogonies there in vogue sh although
on this subject can be traced to an antiquity at least as remote as that of the earliest
cosmogonies known to us.
Babylonian
Two different Assyro-Babylonian cosmogonies have come down to us. The longer one is known under the name of Creation Epos or "Enuma elish", the words with which it begins. The shorter one is commonly known as the Bilingual Account of creation because, on the fragmentary tablet on which it is written, the
is accompanied by a Sumerian version.
The creation epos
A good summary of this cosmogony had been known since the sixth century of the
era, through Damascus (the Athenian
when Justinian suppressed the
of ), as follows: "The Babylonians, passing over in silence the one-principle of the , constitute two, Tauthe and Apason, making Apason the husband of Tauthe and calling her the mother of the gods. And from these proceeds an only-begotten son, Moumis, who, I consider, is nought else but the intelligible world proceeding from the two principles. From them another progeny is likewise produced, Dache and Dachos, and also a third, Kisar& and Assoros, from which last three other proceed, Anos, and Illinos, and Aos. And to Aos and Dauke a son is born called Belos of whom they say that he is the creator of the world [demiurgus]."The Assyrian original upon which this summary is based was first discovered and published by G. Smith, in 1875, from seven fragmentary tablets in the British Museum. It has been translated by a number of scholars, and recently (London, 1903), with the addition of numerous fragments, by L. W. King of the same museum. It opens as follows:&
When on high the heavens were not uttered, Below the earth The ocean primeval was their begetter, Mummu Tiamtu the parent of all of them. Their waters were mixed together in one and Fields not yet marked, marshes not yet seen [?] When of the gods there existed still none None bore any name, the fates [not yet settled] Then came into being the gods [in order?] Lamu and Lahamu went forth [as the first?] Great were the ages . . . . Ansar and Kisar were produced, and over them Long grew the days, there appeared The god Anu, their son . . .
The Greek copyist had evidently mistaken LACHOS for DACHOS, but otherwise the two ac Apason is Apsu the O Tauthe is Tiamtu, as Assyrian
Lache and Lachos are likewise Lamu and Lahamu; Kissare, Assoras, Anos, Illinos, and Aos correspond to Kisar and Ansar, Anu, Enlil, and Ea or Ae. Damascius considered Moumis the son of Tiamtu. But in the
text Mummu seems to have Tiamat in apposition, and the particle muallidati is in the feminine, yet on a later fragment Mummu does figure as the son of Tiamat, and Damascius' statement seems correct. In any case, they began with a double, purely material, principle Apsu and Tiamet, male and , probably personifying the mass of salt and sweet water "mixed together in one". Out of all these things even the gods arise, their birth is in reality the gradual differentiation of the as yet undifferentiated, undetermined, undivided watery ALL. The meaning of Ansar and Kisar they are personified ideals: Above and Below. The meaning of Lahmu and Lahamu is not so clear. Popular mythology speaks of the Lahmu as monsters and , spirits of , and their progeny sides with Tiamat as yet on the other hand, they cannot be
in themselves, for the good gods, Anu, Bel, and Ea, are their children. It has been suggested with great probability that Lahmu and Lahamu are the personifications of Dawn and Twilight. & In the watery chaos, fi an above and a below begin to be, and the result is Anu, Bel, and Ea & Sky, Earth, and Water. But this process of development is not to proceed unopposed, nor are the powers (gods) of order peacefully to conquer the power of Chaos. This
is mythologically described in the great Epos. Tiamat creates a brood of monsters to fight on her side, puts Kingu, her husband, at the head, gives him the tablets of fate in his bosom, thereby giving him supreme power. Ea hears of this plot, tells Ansar, his , who asks Anu to interfere, but in vain. Ea is likewise applied to, but without result. At last Ea's son Marduk, at the request of the gods, becomes their champion and conquers the Dragon of Chaos. Cutting the lifeless body of the dragon in two he makes of the one half the expanse of the heavens, thereby preventing the waters ab out of the other the earth. He then firmly fixes the stars, arranging the constellations of the zodiac, creates the moon, "sets him as a creature of night, to make known the days monthly without failing". After this Marduk's "heart urged him, and he made cunning plans, and he opened his mouth and said to Ae: "Let me gather my blood and let me [take my] bone, let me set up a man, and let the man . . . let me make then men dwelling . . ." The gods praise Marduk's work and they applaud
each god transferring to Marduk his own function and dignity. Marduk, then, is the real
or world-creator, a dignity, however, which was not originally his. The political success of Marduk's city, Babylon, necessitated this god's rise in rank in the P this was ingeniously contrived by inventing the legend of all the gods
ceding their place to him because he had conquered the Dragon of Chaos, Tiamat. This part of the cosmogony, therefore, probably does not date back before 2000 B.C. It is quite likely, however, that some story of a struggle with a monster of
and disorder is of much greater antiquity. In any case this cosmogony is sharply characterized because in it the cosmos arises out of a struggle between Chaos and Order,
and . It must, however, not be forgotten that both good and bad gods alike are the progeny of Apsu and Tiamat.
The bilingual creation story
The Bilingual Creation Story was found on a tablet in Sippar by Rassam in 1882. It consists of three columns, the central column being , the first and third being Sumerian, every line and sentence being cut in two by the intervening
version. It is really an incantation, unfortunately this tablet is mutilated, and the connection of this temple ritual with an account of the origin of the world is not quite clear. At the end of the tablet, a second incantation beings, of which only the words, "The star . . . long chariot of " are left & sufficient to show that these tablets belonged to an
or scientific series. The cosmogony begins, as is usual with cosmogonies, by thinking away all things in the world. It is remarkable that the empty void is expressed by first thinking away civilization, , gardens, houses, the ancient cities are even given by name: "Nippur had not been built, E-Kura [its temple] had not been constructed. Erech had not been built, E-ana had not been constructed." Th Eridu [the oldest of all cities, once in the Persian Gulf], with its foundation in the deep [the abyss], had not been constructed, the foundation of the house of the gods was not laid & the whole of the lands was sea. When within the sea there was a stream, on that day Eridu was made, Esagila [its temple] constructed & Esagila, which the god Lugalduazaga founded within the abyss & Babylon he built, Esagila [a counterpart of the Esagila of Eridu] was completed. He created the Anunnaki [tutelary spirits of the earth] created the glorious city together with him. The seat of their heart's journey he proclaimed on high. Marduk bound together a foundation [amu] upon the waters. He made dust and cast it over the foundation, that the gods might sit in a pleasant place. He made . Aruru [the goddess of Sippar] made the seed of
with him."Marduk then creates the animals, the plants, the city, the state, Nippur, Erech, and their . Lugalduazaga is considered to be another name for Marduk. In the text it is
whether the Anunnaki were created by Marduk or whether they were assistant-creators with Marduk. The latter seems preferable. The meaning of "he bound together a foundation" because of the uncertainty about the word amu. The ancients thought the earth to be like a section of a hollow ball floating on the great waters, convex side upwards. Marduk is here forming his rough skeleton of the earth as a raft on the waters, and he fills it up with soil or clay dust according to the text. This cosmogony is probably not so ancient as that of the Creation Epos, because it makes Marduk sole creator without reference even to Anu or Ea. It is remarkable that man is created before animals and plants, and scholars have not failed to draw attention to a similar statement in Genesis ii, 7-9. Furthermore, the Tigris and the Euphrates are named in this cosmogony: "He made them and set them in their place & well proclaimed he their name.", which also reminds one of the mention of the rivers in the same chapter of Genesis. Some remote connection is of course possible.
The fundamental
cosmogonies can be gathered from the Book of the Dead, chapter xvii, which goes back to the eleventh dynasty (c. 2560 B.C.). Cosmogonic speculations in greater detail can be found in the funeral inscriptions of Seti I, in the Valley of the Dead near Thebes (ca. 1400 B.C.), nor are they wanting in texts on monuments and papyri down to late in the Ptolemaic period. But according to Brugsch,
thought was but little subject to change even during the scores of centuries and more during which it is known to us. In the beginning there was neither
nor earth. Shoreless waters, covered with thick darkness, filled the world-space. These primeval waters are called Nun, and they were said to contain the male and
germs and the beginning of the future world. From the very first there dwelt in this watery proto-matter a divine source or proto-soul which pervaded and penetrated its as yet not differentiated parts. This penetration was so absolute that this
became almost identical with the matter it pervaded. The divine proto-soul then felt a desire for creative activity and this will, personified as the god Thot, bro whereas the image of the
had previously formed itself in the eyes of Thot. The word of Thot brought movement into the still watery substance of Nun & movement both conscious and purposeful. Nun now began to differentiate itself & i.e., its qualities became manifest in a cosmogonic ogdoad of
(four pairs, male and ); Nun and Nunet, Heh and Hehet, Keke and Keket, Nenu and Nenut. Nun and Nunet represent the begetting and bearing Proto-Matter-S Heh and Hehet are rather difficult
to grasp, perhaps active and passive
would be a good expression. This
is mostly conceived in relation to time, and is consequently equivalent to, and often described by the Greek Aion; as
of form it resembles Eros. Keke and Keket are the abysmal darkness, the Erebos of the Egyptians. Nenu and Nenut symbolize the two other names or titles of Nenu, Gohr and Hems, embody the same
& to settle or lie down, to cease from work. Contrary to the
with the Dragon of Chaos, tranquility is, in , a principle of progress. All united, these divinities of the ogdoad form the beginnings and are the fathers and mothers of all things. Pictorially, they are indicated by figu the men the
a serpent's head on their shoulders. The frog and serpent represent the first elements of animal creation; the unaccounted for appearance and disappearance of frogs in marshes seemed like a sort of spontaneous generation of animal life o the serpent periodically shedding its skin was a symbol of the yearly renewal of nature. The male figures are colored blue, to signify water the be the
are flesh-colored to signify the life produced. These cosmognic gods then transform the invisible divine will of Thot into a visible , harmoniously welded together. The first act of a creation is the formation of an egg, which rises upon the hands of Heh and Hehet out of the proto-matter. Out of the egg arises the god of light, R&, the immediate cause of life in this world. Now this
was conceived as being both the house and the body of God, divinity not dwelling in, but being identical with, the cosmic All.
This , however, was formed by concurrence of nine divine things, i.e., the great Ennead of the Gods: (1) Shu, th (2) Tafnut, the night air, pregnant with the ray (3) Keb, the god of the earth, (4) Nut, the goddess of the heavens above, (5) Osiris, the moist or fructifying(6) Isis, the maternal or conceivin (7) Set, the gods of
and contradiction & the destructive force in nature, opposing the light, moisture and fertility of the earth & in popular mythology the brother-enemy of Osiris and I (8) Horus, popularly conceived as the divine child of Isis and Osiris, living nature in the circle of perp (9) Nephthys, the boundary spirit or horizon, the world-limit or the strand of the endless sea.
Parallel with these quasi-scientific explanations of the , the popular mind attributed to its divinities a share in the cosmogony. In Upper , the egg-productive energy gave first rise to a divinity, Chnum, the potter who shapes
in lower , Ptah, the artificer, becomes the creator of the egg. Sometimes, however, a divine bird is required to lay it. Not unfrequently the cosmogonic functions of the egg are attributed to a lotus-bud. In one of the inscriptions of Denderah,
hands a lotus flower to the solar deity, saying: "I hand thee the flower which arose in the beginning, the glorious lily on the great sea. Thou camest forth in the city of Chmun out of its leaves, and thou didst give light to the earth, till then wrapped in darkness."
On the one hand, R& is not merely the enlightener, but the personal creator of the world, the Lord,
in his being, the Master Everlasting, who w none is like unto him. He suspended the heavens above that he he laid the foundations of the earth that it might sustain his form; he created the deep, that he might be hidden in the lower spheres, he the noble youth, came forth out of Nun. This personification of the spirits of light in the sun-god R& could evoke real sublimity of thought and expression, so much so that, for a little while, the
reached a quasi-monotheism under Amenophis III and IV. On the other hand the amplitude of the divine titles of each local deity plays havoc with cosmogonic consistency, thus Ptah in
is ruler of
(Heh) and Lord of
(Tet), Mim Amum, Lord of Infinity, Hathor of Denderah, Mistress of Infinity and Creatrix of E Hathor and Horus are mother and father to Horsamuti, a phase of R& the sun-god, and similar fancies.
In considering these cosmogonies we must distinguish a threefold phase of development: (a) The ancient Iranian phase as given in the , the Yasnas, and the Vendidads. Without entering into the much-disputed question of the
of the , it may be safely said that these oldest cosmogonies go back to about 1000 B.C.(b) The later Iranian or early Persian phase, as contained in
Pahlavi literature, the Bundahis and the Mainochired. (c) Heterodox Iranian opinion among
, as the Zervanites, Gayomarthiya, Rivayets, and others. We shall find the , which is the great characteristic of Iranian thought, showing a gradual tendency toward monism, and its primeval simplicity transformed into fanciful intricacy without, however, losing the loftiness of its first .
Although we possess no full systematic expositions of the views of the ancient Iranians on the origins of the , yet scattered passages in the
that at the beginning of all things they postulated a twofold principle:
and . At the head indeed of all creation stands , a purely spiritual being, who is distinctly and expressly styled "Creator of the World" of spirit and matter. Yet in the older books the
of the unity of origin of the
is far from hav so in the Gathas a distinct
is taught. At the end of Yasna xviii, Zarathrustra asks: "Do thou, , teach me from thyself, that I may declare it forth, through what the primeval world arose." And in Yasna xxx comes the answer: "Thus are the primeval spirits who, as a pair & yet each independent in his action & have been formed of old. They are [these two spiritual principles] a better thing and a worse thing as to thought, word, and deed. When the two spirits came together at the first to make life and non-life, and to determine how the world a last should be made, [then there was] for the wicked the worst life and for the holy the best state of mind. He who was the
one chose the , but the bountiful spirit chose righteous ness." , or, as the name later became abbreviated, , the Wise Lord, is the good spirit, or Spento Mainyu; the
is Anro Mainyu, the destroying spirit later known as . The absolute
of the above pas in the beginning was Good and Evil; the good became as it were incarnate in , the
in . The name , however, does not actually occur in this Yasna. This
gradually softened as centuries went on, and
was repeatedly and emphatically designated as the Creator. Thus Yasna i, 1 (which is of considerably later date than Yasna, xxx): "I confess and I proclaim , the creator, the radiant, the glorious, who sends his joy-creating grace afar, who made us and who fashioned us, who nourished us and protected us, who is the Spento Mainyu." But whenever , the source of all good, produces what is good, the
produces its opposite, therewith to destroy
creation. , therefore, became only a secondary, or counter-creator. This is thus expressed in Fargardi of the Vendidad: "The first of good lands which I,
created was Iran-Veg, thereupon came Anro Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created the serpent in the river, and the winter, the work of . The second of good lands which I created was the plain of Sogdiana. Thereupon came Anro Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created the locust, bringing death unto cattle and plants." No less than sixteen such creations and counter-creations are thus enumerated:
counter-creates plunder, , ants and ant-hills, unbelief, tears and wailing, , , impurity, burial of the dead, the cooking of corpses, abnormal issues, excessive heat, and bitter cold. From this enumeration of
work one gathers that he and his good adversary were originally personified principles, and this personification led to their being accounted real spiritual beings. Sometimes this personification was so materialized as to lead to the ascription of a body to , but this was of some aerial substance invisible even to the celestials. Besides these two world-creators we meet in the
four elementary beings, or rather attributes of , called Thwasha, or Infinite Space, Zrvan Akarana or Endless Time, Anaghra raocao and Temao, or Beginningless Light and Darkness. These personified abstractions & Space, Time, Light and Darkness & are co-eternal with . they do not create, but the constitute the receptacle, the source, and the twofold material of creation.
Later Parthian speculations on the origins of the
are found in the Bumdahis, a Pahlavi commentary on the , which may date from the Sassanids, but in its present form cannot be earlier than the seventh century of the .
is here described as in endless light and all- but
in endless darkness and lacking in . Light and darkness seem to have been identified with
in an earlier period, according to Porphyrius and Plutarch.
both produced their own creatures, which remain apart in a spiritual or ideal state for 3000 for
is unaware of the existence of
and his good creation. After this begins
opposition to the work of , with the understanding, however, that the period of the
influence would not exceed 9000 years, and only the middle 3000 years would see
successful. By pronouncing a mysterious spell,
into a state of confusion for second 3000 years. Meanwhile,
creates the archangels and the material
with sun, moon,
produces the devas, or , and helped by them, he throws himself upon the good creation to destroy it. The six divisions of creation & the sky, water, earth, plants, and animals, and men & suffer the attacks of the devas. The primeval ox, symbolizing the later animal world, is slain, and so is Gayomard, representing humanity. Yet, though Gayomard dies, his offspring lives. After many purifications by archangels, the Rivas plant, begotten of him, grows up. This plant contains both man when their bodies have sufficiently developed they receive "the breath spiritually into them, which is the ": for
said that "the
is created before, and the body after, for him who was created". And
said to them, you are man, you are the ancestry of the world". A story is told of that first pair, whether Mashya and Mashyana, or, as elsewhere given, Yima and his wife, sim a similarity can also be found in
creating the world in six stages, but there is nothing to show that the
is the borrower, in fact the contrary is most probable. In the Mainochired a further stage in Persian cosmogonies is reached. There the light is distinctly named as the matter out of which the
is created, and zrvan, or endless time, is no longer considered an attribute of , but is an independent fundamental being, which pronounces its
over the creation which
produces. So chapter vii: "The creator
produced these creatures and creation, the archangels and the spirit of wisdom from that which is his own splendour and with the
of endless time. For this reason unlimited time is undecaying and , painless and hungerless, thirst for ever and ever no one will be able to overpower it or make it not all-over-ruling in his own affairs. And , the wicked, counter-created the devas and drugs [] and the rest of the things of corruption." He made a treaty with
for 9000 years, during which things must remain as they are. But after 9000 years
will be utterly impotent. Srosh, the
of obedience, will smite Aeshun, the attacking . , the
of sunlight, and Zrvan Akarana, Time-without-end, and the
and providence, will smite the creation of , and
will again become undisturbed as in the beginning. Cosmology perhaps, rather than cosmogony, is contained in chapter xliv: Sky, and earth, and water, and what are contained therein are like the egg of a bird. By , the creator, the sky is arranged above the earth like an egg, and the semblance of the earth in the midst of the sky is just like the yolk the water within the earth and the sky is such as the white of the egg." This of course must not be understood as a sort of early evolutionary it merely indicates the shape of the
as conceived by the .
then was never quite consistent, not even in the . In the Mainochired it makes indeed an attempt at monism in personifying Zrvan, out of which creation comes, and by which creation is blessed, but the inconsistencies of the system finally brought forth a number of unorthodox . Each of these
solved the problem of unity versus plurality in its own way. Some, as the Gayomarthiya, those indicated in Firdosi's book of kings, and the author of the Vajarkart, practically believed in an eternal
creator of
and earth, much in the same sense as
do. , at first a primeval being coeval with , is transformed into the Parsee equivalent for . Other reached a sort of monism by making either Thwasha (Space) or Zrvan (Time) the origin of all things, even of . That Thwasha was once the head of the Iranian pantheon is perhaps indicated by so early a witness as Herodotus (I, cxxxi), and much later by Damascius. Zrvan, as the source of all things amongst the , is attested by many of the Fathers (, ), by Elznik and Elisius. At this point the origin of all things was conceived in various fantastical ways. According to some (Rivajets, Cod. XII), Time created Water and Fire, and when these came together,
arose. According to others, Time for 1000 years yearned to bring forth a son, and offered sacrifice for that purpose,
was conceived as fruit of the sacrifice,
as fruit of the
& and similar fancies which strongly suggest Indian influence. It is remarkable, however, that
remains throughout the foremost and immediate creator of the cosmos or world as it now is, and as far as it is good. It is remarkable also that Iranian cosmogonies are not devoid of a noble
strain, however much they may have changed during the course of ages.
These cosmogonies are so manifold and so bewildering in their fantastic variety that only the oldest and most purely Indian can be referred to, and the main outlines indicated. As
is the characteristic of Iranian thought, so is idealistic
of the thought of . In Indian cosmogonies more than elsewhere we have to distinguish between philosophic speculation and popular religion, which each in its way influenced their conception of the origin of the world. The oldest cosmogonies must naturally be sought in the Rig-Veda. The age of these sacred books is largely a matter of controversy, but their origin can be roughly assigned to a date earlier than 1000 B.C. Among the 1028
of the Rig-Veda, none is so famous as cxxix of Book X, of which a translation was given by Max M&ller forty years ago. This translation, though metrical, is remarkably literal, and contains the best exposition of ancient Indian thought on this subject. It runs as follows:
Nor Aught nor Naught existed; yon bright sky Was not, nor
broad woof outstretched above. What covered all? what sheltered? what concealed? Was it the water's fathomless abyss? There was not death & yet there was naught . There was no confine b The Only One breathed breathless by itself, Other than it there nothing since has been. Darkness there was and all at first was veiled In gloom profound & an ocean without light & The Germ that still laid covered in the husk Burst forth, one nature, from the fervent heat. Then first came Love upon it, the new Spring Of mind & yea, poets in their hearts discerned, Pondering, this bond between created things And uncreated. Comes this spark from the earth Piercing and all pervading, or from ? Then seeds were sown and mighty powers arose & Nature below and power and Will above & Who knows the secret? Who proclaimed it here? Whence, whence this manifold creation sprang? The gods themselves came later into being & Who knows from whence this great creation sprang? He from whom all this great creation came, Whether his will created or was mute, The Most-High Seer that is in highest
He knows it & or perchance even he knows not."
If, however, we divest this and similar Indian effusions (Rig-V. X, cxc, lxxii) of their poetical garb and set aside the
touch in the last line their cosmogony is philosophically conceived as follows: The first principle of all being is Tad (i.e., the absolutely indefinite That), this unites in itself all spiritual and material elements of the world. Tad is an
obtained only by absolute abstraction, for it possesses only one quality, viz. that of vitality. From Tad the
proceeds by evolution. This evolution is introduced by Tapas, i.e., the intensity of self-contemplation or introspection & self-love, one would almost translate. This is the spiritual progress by which Tad for the first time leaves his inaction. Then there arises in Tad, kama, or the desire, the will, the purpose to create. Tad has therefore evolved into a conscious act of the will, that is Manas has begun, thereby Tad has ceased to be unconscious and has completely left his state of inactivity. There further arises, in consequence of Tapas, Ritam, i.e., the highest law or . The production of the world through the intelligent will of a personal creator is, at least with regard to the first stages of evolution, unknown to these . Yet a
without any regular connection of phenomena seemed unthinkable, hence this principle of
was postulated previous to all cosmic evolution, and in this sense Ritam was the first thing to arise out of Tad previous to the . But all Ritam must have its Satyam, or counterpart in actuality. In theistic phraseology this would mean that all creation must have its archetype in the Divine Mind, and that to create is nothing but the realization of this archetype as distinct from . According to Indian thought the force of their ground principle, will or kama, was not blind activity, but bound by Ritam, or Supreme Law. The world therefore was not the result of chance and thus their
could establish connection between their speculation and popular religion. Now there arose out of Tad the elements of the material world: the moist primeval matter, the space to surround it, and darkness to fill the space. Time was not reckoned among the elements, as in some Iranian it was but the measure of changing phenomena. material evolutions having so far proceeded, the first cosmic cycle of gods makes its appearance: Aditi and his Adityas. From Aditi, or Infinity, united to Daksha, or Spirit Force, the Adityas take their origin. The highest among them is Varuna (ouranos), the world-creator in popular religion. These work together to bring about the present cosmos. The first things produced by separating the primeval waters is light, then follow darkness, and thus time begins. By differentiation of the primeval matter, sun, moon, by differentiation of space, the realms of , earth, and ether. Thus:&
Tad (intellectual process) = Protoplasm (material process) Tapas = Darkness Kama = Place Manas = Alternation of Time Ritam = Division of Space Satyam = Great World Bodies
Another development, or rather another nomenclature for the same
principles, makes Brahma the source of all things. Brahma is Tad, or the impersonal, unconscious All-Soul. This word Brahma, from meaning originally sacred sacrificial food, came to be used for the Supreme being out of which the
comes and unto which it returns. In later days Atman, or Highest Self, becomes the starting point of Indian cosmogonies.
A curious feature, especially in later cosmogonic , is the power of sacrifice, to which even the evolution in fact sacrificial food is the very material out of which the world is made. This is brought out in one of the latest
of the Rig-Veda (Book X, xc, the so-called Song of Purusha) and often in the Upanishads. Purusha is one more designation of the Supreme Being. On his spiritual side he is often identified with Brahma and Atman, on his material side he is the proto-matter out of which the world is made. Out of Parusha's mouth proceed Indra and Agni. Indra in popular religion becomes the world-creator, as also Varuna the king. Some references to King Varuna are of singular sublimity (Artharva-Veda, IV, xvi): "If two
sit together and scheme, King Varuna is there as a third, and knows it. Both this earth here belong to King Varuna and also yonder broad sky, whose boundaries are far away. The oceans are the loins of Varuna, yet he is hidden in a small drop of water. He that should flee beyond the heavens would not be free from King Varuna. King Varuna sees through all that is between
and earth and all that is beyond. He has counted the winkings of man's the world is in his hands as the dice in the hands of a player." In the mind of the people, the impersonal abstractions of
became individual and conceived as an intensely personal creator. On the other hand, the most grotesque, and often coarse conceptions arose as to the physical process of the world's production. As intermediary being, or stages, were mentioned seed, or an egg, or a tree, or the lotus-bud; different animals such as a boar, a fish, or sexual intercourse. The most common theory is that of the egg (Chand, br., V, xix): "This all was in the beginning non-existent, only Tad existed, Tad became transformed, it became an egg, this lay then it divided itself in two, the two halves of the shell were silver and gold. The Gold is the , the Silver, the Earth, and what was born is the Sun. "Not infrequent are the incarnations of the deity in animals. Brahmanspati, the personification of the creative power of Brahma, or Prajapati, or Vishnu, became incarnate i and similar fancies. In the Artharva-Veda, especially XIX, 53, 54, another fundamental cosmogonic being or personification enters, which is unknown to the earliest Indian speculations, viz.: Time; it occurs here and there in the Rig-Veda, but in Ath.-Veda, xix, Kala has risen to the first place of all, and even Brahma and Tapas proceed from it. The rise in Kala's dignity was prepared already in the Upanishads (Maitri-Up., VI, xiv), where Kala and Akala, time and not-time, are two forms of Brahma, after he had produced the world or rather the sun as the first thing in the .
Phoenician
Almost all we know of
cosmogonies is derived from a late source, Philo Byblios (born A.D. 42), transmitted to us by
in his "Praeparatio Evangelica". Philo, however, only claimed to have translated a late copy of an ancient
author called Sanchoniathon. This statement, though believed by
and by Porphyrius before him (De abst., II, 56) is rejected as a literary
by many modern, especially German, scholars. Philo is supposed to have pretended to use an extremely ancient source merely to bolster up his theory that all mythology was deified ancient history. The great controversy that has raged round the name of Sanchoniathon cannot be gone into, but in reading this cosmogony it must throughout be borne in mind that, instead of being the exposition of very early Canaanitish , it may possibly be a manipulated account of that cosmopolitan mixture of
which was current in
about A.D. 100. The beginning of all things, according to this account, was air moved by a breath of wind and dark chaos black as Erebus. This windy chaos was eternal, . But when this breath yearned over its own elements, and confusion arose, this was called Desire. This Desire was the origin of all creation, and though it
not its own creation, out of its self-embrace arose Mot, a slimy or watery substance out of which all created germs were produced. Animal life without
out of this came being endowed with intelligence which were called Zophesamin, "overseers of ". Mot had a shape like that of an egg, out of which came forth sun, moon, and stars. The air being thus illumined, owing to the glow of the sea and land, winds were formed, and clouds and an vast downpour of the heavenly waters took place. By the heat of the sun, things were made to split off from one another and, being projected on high, clashed with one another, caused thunder and lightning, and thus awoke the above-mentioned intelligent beings, who took fright and began to stir on the earth, and in the sea as males and . Not unlike this is the cosmogony given by Damscius on the authority of Eudemos. Before all things was Time, then Desire, then Darkness. Out of the union of Desire and Darkness was born Air (masc.) and Breath (fem.), Air representing pure thought, and Breath the prototype of life proceeding therefrom by motion. Out of Air and Breath came forth the cosmic egg. According to the cosmogony given by the same writer on the authority of Mochos, Ether and Air generated Oulomos (world-time, s&culum), Chousoros (artificer, creative energy), and Damscius expressly states that, according to the , world-time is the first principle containing all in itself. The origin of
is described as the birth of
and Protogonos from the wind Colpias and the
Baau, (said to mean "night").
The cosmogonies are far too numerous and divergent to allow one simple description embracing all. Only some prominent cosmogonies can be indicated, and some of the points common to all. Homer seems to have taken the
as he found it without inquiring further, but from Iliad XIV, verse 201, one gathers that Oceanus is origin, and Thetys from verse 244 that Nyx (Night) has power even over Oceanus; hence Darkness, Water, and Motherhood seem the three stages of his cosmogony. The fragments of Orphic cosmogonies given by Eudemos, and , and Lydus do not quite agree, but at least Night, Oceanus, and Thetys are elementary beings, and the first of them in order of existence was probably Night. A more detailed cosmogony of great antiquity is to be found in Hesiod's "Theogony" (about 800 B.C.) in verses 160 sqq., which C. A. Elton translated as follows:&
"First Chaos was, then ample-bosomed Earth, The sea immovable for evermore Of those immortals who the snow-topped heights Inhabit of , or the gloom Of Tartarus, in the broad-tracked ground's abyss. Love then arose, most beautiful amongst The deathless ; restless, he Of every god and every mortal man U dissolves the wiser breast By reason steeled and quells the very . From Chaos, Erebos, and ebon N From Night the Day sprang forth and shining air Whom to the
of Erebos she gave. Earth first produced the
and all the stars, She brought the lofty mountains forth, And next the sea. . . Then, with
Consorting, Ocean from her bosom burst With its deep eddying waters."
Chaos, then, is the starting-point of Hesiod's cosmogony. Chaos, however, must probably not be understood as "primeval matter" without harmony and order, but rather as the "empty void" or "place in the abstract". To Hesiod chaos cannot have lost its original meaning (from cha in
chasma "chasm", etc). Hesiod, then, starts at
space; other Greeks take time, or chronos as a starting point. The cosmogony of Pherecydes (544 B.C.) claims a high place among Greek theories as to the origin of the world, because of the prominence given to Zeus, a personal spiritual being, as the origin of all things. Zeus and Chronos and Chthonia have always been and are the th but the One I would consider before the Two, and the Two after the One. Then Chronos produced himself out of fire, air, and water, these I take to be the Three Logical Elements and out of them arose a numerous progeny of gods divided into five parts or a pentecosmos. Pherecydes' cosmogony has come down to us in some other slightly modified forms but Zeus is ever at the head. He seems also to have known of a primeval battle between Chronos and Ophioneus, but how it fills in with his cosmogony we
not. Chthonia seems to be the moist Proto-matter, neither dry earth nor sea, out of which Ge, or the earth, is created. The stages of his cosmogony are therefore , Time, Matter & all three first principles, yet
is , when feeling a desire to create, changes himself into
so that he can bring forth a Cosmos, i. e, a well-ordered world, out of contraries, bringing its elements into agreement and friendship. A noble , truly, only falling short of the
in conceiving time and matter as eternal, Zeus thus being maker or fashioner, not creator, of
and earth.
A cosmogony of almost the same
is that of Epimenides, which seems in flat contradiction to that of Pherecydes, for it postulates two first principles not originating from Unity: Air and Night. Out of these arise Tartarus etc. Later Orphic chronologies begin some with Chronos, others with Water and Earth, some with Apeiros Hyle. In the last stage of the Greek cosmogony the egg plays an important part, either as evolutionary stage, as embryonic state of the earth, or merely to indicate the shape of the Cosmos.
We possess no ancient Etruscan or Latin cosmogonies, but it is
that the god Janus was a cosmogonic deity; though Jupiter was summus, the highest god, Janus was primus, the first of the gods, and as such he received sacrifice before even Jupiter. This ancient reminiscence of Janus as creator is made use of in Ovid's "Metamorphoses", but in how far so late a writer represents early speculations we
not. Janus is perhaps the Latin equivalent of the Greek Chaos as the origin of all things. Janus is said to be not only initium mundi, but mundus itself, the all-embracing.
Summary of ancient cosmogonies
Common to all is the effort to explain the origin of the world by as few elementary beings as possible. In order to arrive at the origin of all things, man began by abstraction from the actual differentiation of being which he saw around him to obtain some simple element underlying all. Mere abstractions, however, or reduction from the compound to the simple, did not suffice, but some intelligent
was demanded by the
of man. Hence personification plays a great r&le in every cosmogony, and the actual function of creating, or rather forming and arranging the world as it now is, is ascribed to one intelligent ; every people worshipped some deity, be he then Marduk or Varuna, or Bel or Ahura-Mazda, or Zeus or Janus. No ancient cosmogony, however, rose to the pure concept of creation out of nothing by an
spirit; for none succeeded in eliminating matter or its phenomena all together, and conceiving a subsistent Intelligence which could create both matter and spirit. The first steps in this process of abstraction are simple enough and common once upon a time there were no men or beasts, no stars nor sky, no mountains or valleys, and neither dry land nor sea. Then only proto-matter remained. Some cosmogonies stopped here and were frankly materialistic; it probably depended on climate surroundings what they conceived the proto-matter to be, whether clay or water, or air, or fire, or light (conceived as substances). Other cosmogonies carried the process of abstraction farther. The variations between light and darkness, day and night, season and season cannot always have been, hence these also
naught therefore remained except Darkness, Night, and . By thinking away all special localities in the , only Place remained in the abstract, or the Void. By thinking away all differences in the
and spiritual sphere naught remained but force in general. Force, Place, Time, and Darkness became personified cosmogonic elements. Some were able to abstract even from F to them, only Place, Time, and Darkness remained. Some rightly argued that Time was but the measure of phenomena, and that by abstracting from phenomena, Time ceased to be. To them only Space and D but then Darkness was conceived as the fluid filling the vessel of Space, and therefore could be extracted from, and only the Void remained. All these
actually occur in different cosmogonies. Chaos is empty space; Chronos, Zrvan, Heh, abstract time; Nux, the unchangeable quintessence of time; Zeus, Tad, , Thot are spirit forces. Those cosmogonies which do not go so far as to personify space or time or darkness, but stopped short at the
of some proto-substance, were faced by the problem whether this primeval substance was spirit, or matter, or both. Some answered, both, as the Egyptians (Nun) and later Indians (Purusha); some answered that spirit was first, as some
thinkers (Anu) most Indian thinkers (Tad, Brahma, Atman), and the Iranians (); some answered that matter was first, as Babylonians (Apsu Tiamat), , and Egyptians (Light, R&),
(Air), Etruscans (&AEther). Thus ancient thought wandered through the whole range of possible theories, not, however, guided by mere caprice, but forced to some conclusion which seemed to them inevitable. With regard to the immediate process according to which this world was produced, freer scope was given to unbridled fancy. Yet even here the analogy with the production of life in nature was the guiding principle, the world was produced as life comes from life by animal generation, or as the tree comes out of the seed, or as the egg is laid by the bird. These imaginations are often combined in a grotesque ensemble, against the complexity of which appear in greater relief the majesty and simplicity of the words: In the beginning
created the heavens and the earth.
Cosmogonies of more modern races
Amongst more modern myths of the world's origin the Norse and the American cosmogonies call for comment.
The Norse cosmogonies
The Norse Cosmogonies are the only remnant of ancient German
on this subject, for the so-called "Prayer of Wessobrunn", a fragment ascribed to the eighth or ninth century, is too short to give us any information beyond the
in the existence of one
god, and with him a multitude of divine spirits, before the world was. It is, moreover, uncertain whether the Wessobrunner fragment represents pure Germanic thought uninfluenced by . The Norse cosmogonies are contained in the Edda; the more ancient one in the Volupsa of the Poetic Edda, the younger one in the Gylfaginning of the Prose Edda. It is sometimes said that these cosmogonies so clearly betray the influence of arctic climate that they can in no sense belong to the Southern Germans. This, however, is unconvincing, as it is unknown where precisely the
lived previous to their immigration into , and what was the climate of Northern
when these sagas first grew up. In the third verse of "The Sybil's Song", of Volupsa, the cosmogony begins:&
There was a time when only Ymir was, Nor sand, nor sea, nor briny waves, Nay earth existed not, nor heavens above. A yawning space without a spot of green Until the vaults were raised of all By Buri's sons creating noble Midgard. Then shone the Southern Sun on stony mountains, And from the very soil the herbs were sprouting. And yet the Southern Sun, the helpmate of the Moon, Bridled
steeds with her right hand, For it was unknown as yet where she should dwell, Nor
the moon the power he possessed, The Stars were
of their abode. Then went the Powers all to sit in Judgment The all-holy gods held thereupon their council, To Night and to the waning moon gave names. They gave to Morn and Noon their calling To Afternoon and Eve, whereby to reckon years.
The Sybil further chants how Aesir met on Ida's plane, built altars and , lit the blazing furnace, and forged their tools. The creation of dwarves is then related in detail, and finally the creation of man. Three Aesir, great and kind, went to the world and found in utter weakness Ask and Embla, the first human pair. Spirits they possessed, No blood, nor strength to move, not goodly colour.Life gave Oden, Sense gave Hoenir, Blood gave Lodur and goodly colour. This cosmogony is explained, enlarged, and slightly modified in the Gylfaginning, of Gylfa's deception. The lengthy account can be summed up as follows:
There are three stages of development: (a) the rise of the three fundamental beings in times primeval, Muspelheim or the southern realm of L Niflheim or the northern realm of Darkness, and between them the Ginnunga Gap, or yawning cleft. Muspelheim existed first, and Niflheim is secondary in the order of being, but how either arose the cosmogony does not explain. In the northern realm there existed a well, called Hwergelmir, from which proceeded twelve torments, called together Elivagar, or ice stream. This stream, flowing into the Ginnunga Gap formed the cosmogonic being Ymir. At first this was a lifeless mass, but this mass develops under the influence of Adhumla, represented as a cow licking the ice, being a figure for the Thawing Warmth.(b) Out of Ymir, the Frost Giants, or Hrimturses, arise, and
out of Adhumka arose Odin, Vili, and Ve; or Odin, Vili, and Ve were the sons of B&r, who married Bestla, daughter of the Frost Giant B&lthorn. (c) Odin, Vili, and Ve slay the monster Ymir, throw his body into the Ginnunga Gap, and out of his limbs form the visible , or the Midgard, out of his skull the vault of , out of his brains, the clouds, out of his blood, the seas, and so on. Then they build the Burgh of the gods, ; they order the course of the stars and create the Dwarfs. Lastly, the first man and
are created, Ask and Embla, whom Odin found as weak and miserable being on the seashore.
These Norse cosmogonies differ from the more ancient cosmogonies in this: that they do not really go back to the first beginning of all things, but presuppose the existence of a twofold world & one South the other North & and only account for the formation of this present world in the space between both. They agree with most other cosmogonies in ascribing the actual formation of this cosmos to one (Odin) or more (Odin, with Vili and Ve as destroyers of Chaos) intelligent personal beings or gods.
American cosmogonies
American Cosmogonies have been preserved in fair number. The early missionaries to America, especially those to Mexico, Central America, and South America were strongly impressed by the
character of Indian speculations, ascribing this world and its phenomena to one omnipresent spiritual being, called in one place the "Great Spirit", in another place Viracocha, in another Hunabku, elsewhere Quetzacoatl, etc. Yet, concurrently with these
and philosophic , there existed a number of apparently puerile traditions concerning the beginning of things. But again these childish fancies were but the clothing of general cosmogonic . According to the Ottawas and other northern , a raft was floating on the shoreless waters. Upon this raft were a number of animals with Michabo, the Giant Rabbit, as their chief. As they were without land to live on, Michabo, the Giant Rabbit, made first the beaver, and then the otter, that they should dive and bring up a piece of mud. As they failed, Wajashk, the
muskrat, at her own request is allowed to dive. When she had remained below for a day and a night, she floated to the surface as dead, but they found in one of her claws a little clod of mud. Michabo, endowed with creative power, kneads this little bit of soil until he makes it grow into an island, a mountain, a country, nay this world in which we live. He shoots his arrows in the ground and transfixes them with other arrows, thus creating trees with stems and branches. Some say he created man from the dead bodies of certain animals, others that he married the muskrat and thus begat the ancestors of the . It has been suggested that in the name "Michabo", there lies concealed another word, viz. "Michi Waban", the great Dawn, or the great East. The word, Wajashk, likewise, probably contains the word "Ajishki", or mud. The story would then mean: When the great light in the east shone upon the primeval waters, dry land in ever-increasing extent appeared above the surface, and the rays of the sun, piercing the soil, brought forth the trees, and the action of the light on the slime brought forth man.
Closely similar to this cosmogony is that of the . In the beginning the heavens above were peopled with celestial beings, and the wide ocean below with monsters of the deep. Then Ataensic, a divine being, fell through a rift in the sky into the primeval waters. The turtle offered her his back as a resting place. Then some animal brought her a little clay, out of which she produced dry land. Ataensic gave birth to a daughter who, though a virgin, gave birth to twins, Tawiscara and Joskeha. This daughter having died in childbirth, the daughter, being buried, imparts fertility to the soil. A mortal battle is raged between the two brothers, Joskeha, the good, and Tawiscara, the
one. The latter is overcome, flies to the West, and becomes the god of the dead. Joskeha creates first the animals and then man. Ataensic is said to mean "She-who-is-in-the-water", i.e., the dry land in th Joskeha is the growing light or dawn, Tawiscara, the growing twilight, or darkness. The Quiche of
have left us in their sacred book, "Popol Vuh" the most detailed cosmogony of central America. The
consisted of the endless ocean and the twilight brooding over it. Then the creator took counsel with his helpmate to produce the world. Though described as pair of gods, male and , this pair is conceived of as a unity of being, male and
being but different aspects of the Deity. This creator is called by every conceivable name, even with names proper to other . Thus he is called Heart of the Universe, which is a special title of the god Hurakan, or of Gukumatz, the feathered serpent. He is evidently conceived of as the All-in-one, as Hunabku, from whom men and gods descend. This Creator uttered the word Earth, and the land began to rise out of the waters. As often as
called a thing so often it entered into reality. Then
takes counsel with the lesser gods who, apparently, he has meanwhile created, how to fashion man. They first created him out of clay, then of wood, and finally out of maize. The first two attempts failed, the third succeeded. The monkeys are the surviving remnants of the second unsuccessful endeavor.
Very weird are the cosmogonies of the ancient Mexicans. They are characterized by the strong influence of , the
being in the throes of a perpetual contest of
deity has four sons, the black and the red Tezcatlipoca, and Quetzalcoatl, and Huitzilopochtli. These four brothers consulted together about the creation of things. The actual work fell to the lot of Quetzalcoatl and Huitzilopochtli. They made fire, then half the sun, the heavens, and the waters, and a certain great fish therein with the name Cipactli. From its flesh was formed the solid earth and the first man and , Cipactonal and Oxomuco. The half-sun created by Quetzalcoatl lighted the world but poorly, and the four gods consulted once more to add another half to it. Tezcatlipoca did not wait for their decision, but transformed himself into the sun. But after thirteen times fifty-two years, Quetzalcoatl seized a great stick, and with a blow knocked Tezcatlipoca from the sky into the waters, and became the sun himself. Four times the earth was destroyed in this struggle. Quetzalcoatl is at present triumphant, but Tezcatlipoca is only biding his time. This cosmogonic episode of
between brothers runs through other North American accounts as, e.g., Tawiscara and Joskeha amongst the , and is prominent in the
cosmogony.
The noblest account of the world's origin was found amongst the Maya of , who ascribed all to an immaterial, invisible god, Hunabku, father of Itzamna, the personification of the heavenly fire. Similarly, the ancient Aymara ascribed all to Viracocha (Foam-of-the-sea & the colour white, the , as white-skins, being called viracochas). This Viracocha, or white one, was the creator and possessor of all things. All things were his, and he was everywhere, the Incas built him no . Ere son or moon was made, he rose from the bosom of the lake Titicaca and presided over the building of the ancient cities. He created the luminaries and placed them in the sky, and peopled the earth with inhabitants. But, journeying from the lake westward, he was attacked by the creatures he had made. Scorning the contest with the work of his own hands, he only hurled lightning over hillside and forest, and when his creatures repented he became reconciled and taught them all things. Viracocha was the divine light, symbolized by, but not identical with, the sun. One can hardly refrain from a comparison with Khu-n-Aten, the solar disk of Amenhotep's foreign worship introduced into
some three thousand years before the religious revival of the Incas of .
SourcesLukas, Die grundideen in den Kosmogonien der alten V&lker (1893); Lagrange, Etudes sur les religions s&mitiques (2d ed., Paris, 1905), 366-441; Von Orelli, Algem. Religionsgeschichte (Bonn, 1899); Jensen, Die Kosmologie der Babylonier (Leipzig, 1891); Darmestetter, Ormuzd et Ahriman (Paris, 1877); Hopkins, The Religions of India, (Boston, 1895); Windelband, History of Ancient Philosophy, (tr. London, 1900); Meyer, Die eddische Kosmogonie (Freiburg im Br., 1891); Idem, Mythologie der Germanen (Strasburg, 1903); H&bler, Religion d. mittl. Amerika (M&nster, 1899); Brinton, Religions of Prim. Peoples (Philadelphia, 1897); Idem, American Hero Myths, (Philadelphia, 1892); Idem, Myths of the New World, 1868).
About this page
APA citation. Arendzen, J. (1908). Cosmogony. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04405c.htm
MLA citation. Arendzen, John. "Cosmogony." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908.
&http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04405c.htm&.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by M. Donahue.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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