Origin Myths by Harrison Timperley

Throughout history Civilizations have created stories explaining the origin of the world and themselves. Currently we only know of the ancient world through writing and physical evidence. An other myth has been past down through oral tradition. These types of stories are quite inconsistent and like a huge telephone game are distorted the original. Most cultures have no idea where their people came from since the only way they remembered their history was through their elders which eventually died along with their history unless of course if it is written down. The origin of the world and its people has always been a question among humans and such is the nature of people to explain away the mysteries of the world rather than leave them as holes in their knowledge. These explanations are almost always fantastical, full of intercourse and connected with the most powerful beings in the world.

Greek origin myth is interesting. In it the creators of the world do not rule the world. The sons and the daughters of the creators do not rule either. It is the sons and daughters of one Titan, Cronus, that rule the world. This myth seems to run parallel with Greek history. The Greeks as we know it originated from the Mycenaeans just like the current gods originate from the Titans. This myth also coincidentally runs parallel with Romulus and Remus in which the current rulers had to defeat their own rulers to become king. Sons rising up against their father is a common trope in greek/roman myth.

Roman origin myth is the same to the greek myth in terms of the gods. Romans however have an origin story of their own city. This story of Romulus and Remus is probably as accurate as an myth can get since it separates itself from the fantastical and hugs tightly to the grim reality of conflict. Unlike the U.S.A’s founder George Washington, Romulus was not benevolent and the only pride a Roman can claim to their origin is that Romulus was a stronger leader than anyone else. The Romans know that they originated from a people before themselves which is a more humble viewpoint as opposed to themselves being the original humans.

I additionally looked at Celtic, Hindu and Japanese origin myths and found many similar tropes. The very beginning of almost every myth starts with a place of chaos or nothingness. From the nothingness a god appears and this god creates earth and other gods. Some cultures have a hard time imagining a nothingness so they replace the void with an endless sea and the first god usually creates land. Usually the gods create more gods through either intercourse or with illogical means such as with a spear dipped in water or through vomit or cut off gentals. Usually there is conflict since not all gods are benevolent. The not benevolent gods are usually defeated and either sent to a hell or cast away but always present. Humans are not always created by the one major god and usually are made by more minor gods. Compared to the gods, humans are quite unimportant and inconsequential. This may attest to the fact that nature which humans often correlate with the gods is often uncaring and it acts in random.  

Humans often attribute their gods to human ways of thinking. Actually ancient gods are basically humans with extraordinary abilities. Explaining the mysteries of the world with such common human viewpoints seems like it would stifle any creative thinking since if the mysteries were already explained there would be no reason to think of them. Strangely enough this is not the case. There were many ancient Greek philosophers that tried to explain the world without myth and these pursuits allowed us to take control of the world as opposed to letting these myths to take control of us. Honestly, until we ourselves become all knowing, all powerful, immortal beings, we will never be able to explain how a god will behave.

For my artifact I created a poem on the Roman origin story of Romulus and Remus. 

"History Archive - Celtic Creation Story." History Archive - Celtic Creation Story. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Dec. 2014.

"The Hindu Creation Myth." The Hindu Creation Myth. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Dec. 2014.

"Romulus and Remus." Ancient History Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Dec. 2014.

"Japanese Creation Myth (712 CE)." Japanese Creation Myth. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Dec. 2014.