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Myths of Destruction and (Re)Creation

Myths of Destruction and (Re)Creation. Cosmic Cycle. Creation and Recreation Not Armaggedon (the end of the world) But a refinement of creation Ages of Humankind. Themes. Destruction by Flood Bible Ovid’s Metamorphoses Gilgamesh Destruction by Fire Prose Edda Rebirth. Ragnarok.

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Myths of Destruction and (Re)Creation

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  1. Myths of Destruction and (Re)Creation

  2. Cosmic Cycle • Creation and Recreation • Not Armaggedon (the end of the world) • But a refinement of creation • Ages of Humankind

  3. Themes • Destruction by Flood • Bible • Ovid’s Metamorphoses • Gilgamesh • Destruction by Fire • Prose Edda • Rebirth

  4. Ragnarok Key terms: AesirAsgardBaldrBifrostEinherjarepithetGanglieriGarmGylfiFenrirFriggHeimdallHelHigh OneHoddmimir's Wood Hyrm Lif and LifthrasirLokiMidgard SerpentMimir's SpringMjollnirNaglfarOdinSurtThorTyrRagnarokVigridYggdrasil Add: Muspell Odin Fighting the Wolf Fenrir

  5. Ragnorok“Doom of the Gods” Signs and Portents Assembly of the Enemies of the Good The Gods Prepare The Battle between Good and Evil After the Battle—A Different Life The Survivors The New World and a New Order

  6. Sons of Muspell

  7. Odin and Fenrir

  8. Biblical Flood Key terms: aetiological function of mythcovenantElohist writer Genesisimmanent godIsraelitesLeviathanMesopotamiaNephilimNoahPriestly writerrainbowTiamattranscendent godYahwist or Jehovist writer Also: Tower of Babel Nuh (Koran)

  9. Biblical Flood • Key Elements • Human Sin/Offence Against the Gods • Divine Anger/Retribution • Ark • Covenant (rainbow) • Dietary Restrictions (eating meat)

  10. Tower of Babel Pieter Bruegel: The Tower of Babel 1563

  11. Tower of Babel (Genesis11:1-9) Futile Human Attempt to become gods hybris cp. Tantalus Aetiology of LANGUAGE

  12. Noah and the Flood COVENANT Influence of Babylonian Flood Story Recreation

  13. From the Nuremburg Chronicle at Beloit College, by Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514),

  14. Two by Two NOAH'S ARKby Edward Hicks (1780-1849 )

  15. The Dove and the Rainbow

  16. Noah in the Koran نوح Nūḥ (the Arabic form of Noah) is a prophet in the Qur'an. Because the Qur'an is more poem than prose, references to Noah are scattered throughout the Qur'an, but no historical account of the entire Deluge is given. Generally speaking, the references in the Qur'an are consistent with Genesis and Islamic tradition generally accepts the Genesis account as historical. However, the degree of detail varies between the two accounts. Generally, the Qur'anic account emphasizes Noah's preaching of the monotheism of God, and the ridicule heaped on him by idolators.

  17. The Koran(Surah Hud: 37) (Surat al-Mumenoon: 23-26) • We sent Nuh to his people: He said, “O my people! worship Allah! Ye have no other god but Him. Will ye not fear (Him)?” • The chiefs of the Unbelievers among his people said: “He is no more than a man like yourselves: his wish is to assert his superiority over you: if Allah had wished (to send messengers), He could have sent down angels; never did we hear such a thing (as he says), among our ancestors of old.” • (And some said): “He is only a man possessed: wait (and have patience) with him for a time.” • (Nuh) said: “O my Lord! help me: for that they accuse me of falsehood!” • God later instructed Nuh to build the ark: • But construct an Ark under Our eyes and Our inspiration, and address Me no (further) on behalf of those who are in sin: for they are about to be overwhelmed (in the Flood).

  18. Noah’s Other Son • The Qur'anic account contains a detail not included in the Biblical account: a reference to another son who chose not to enter the ark: • So the Ark floated with them on the waves (towering) like mountains, and Nuh called out to his son, who had separated himself (from the rest): “O my son! embark with us, and be not with the unbelievers!” The son replied: “I will betake myself to some mountain: it will save me from the water.” Nuh said: “This day nothing can save, from the command of Allah, any but those on whom He hath mercy!” And the waves came between them, and the son was among those overwhelmed in the Flood. (Surah Hud: 42-43)

  19. More on the Islamic Noah Also, the Qur'anic account lacks several details of the Genesis account, including the crime of disrespect by Noah's son Ham in mocking, rather than covering his father's nakedness (Genesis 9:22), and the resultant cursing of his grandson Canaan. Some Muslims assert that the flood during Noah's time was a local event, in contrast to the Biblical account which asserts that it was global. They infer this from several Qur'anic verses. Other Muslims, however, hold that the flood was indeed global. The Qur'an is not explicit on the point, allowing for some variety of interpretation.

  20. Greco-Roman Flood Key terms: Aeolusaetiological function of myth ArcadiaBoreascouncil of the godsDelphic oracleEmpedoclesEpimetheusGiantsIrisJove/JupiterJunoMount LycaeonNeptuneNereidsNotusPrometheusPyrrha and DeucalionStoics Add: Lycaeon

  21. Greco-Roman Flood • No Flood in Hesiod • Only in Ovid’s Metamorphoses • Key Elements • Human Sin/Offence Against the Gods • Divine Anger/Retribution • Ark • “Adam and Eve” (Deucalion and Pyrrha) • Oracles • Metamorphoses

  22. Human Offences in Ovid: Lycaeon Lycaon Lycaeon tries to trick Juppiter into eating human flesh) Compare TANTALUS! Juppiter destroys Lycaeon’s Palace

  23. Lycaeon’s Punishment:Lycanthropy

  24. Hendrik Goltzius (1558-1617)

  25. Divine Assembly Johann Wilhelm Baur, Edition 1703) Ovid, Met. I, 167

  26. Political Dimensions Compare the Assembly of the Gods to the Roman Senate

  27. Deucalion, the Greek Noah

  28. Religious Dimensions: Piety Deucalion and Pyrrha ask Themis for help. (Johann Postumus, 1542) Ovid, Met. I, 375-380

  29. The Recreation of Humankind What is Ovid suggesting by having humans created from stones?

  30. Heroes and Tricksters Key terms: Actaeon and Dianaapotheosisarchetypical figureBuddha (Gautama Sakayamuni)Daphne and Apollo"family romance"Sigmund FreudCarl JungKaliMephistophelesmonomythThe Myth of the Birth of the HeroNavajo Twin WarriorsOdysseusOedipusOsirisPersephonePhaetonpsychological insights into mythOtto Rank rites of passageRomulus and Remustesting the hero"ultimate boon" Add: Joseph Campbell Lord Raglan Hero Pattern Claude-Levi Strauss mediating contradictions

  31. Otto Rank 1884-1939 Student of Sigmund Freud Psychological Insights into the hero The Hero Pattern Universal Models

  32. Joseph Campbell1904-1987 Hero's rite of passage journey of maturation Growth into true selfhood (Jung's individuation) More on Campbell: http://www.jcf.org/about_jc.php

  33. The Hero Quest:Campbell’s Monomyth HERO QUESThttp://department.monm.edu/classics/Courses/CLAS230/MythDocuments/HEROQUEST.htm Stages of the Quest http://department.monm.edu/classics/Courses/CLAS230/MythDocuments/FiveStagesofHeroQuest.htm

  34. Lord Raglan’s Hero Pattern Major General Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, Lord Raglan,commander of the combined expedition to the Crimea.Library of Congress

  35. Zeus as “Hero” Cronus, the Father of Zeus. [Known as Saturn to the Romans.] Cronus, knowing that one of his children would grow greater than he, swallowed all of them at birth. His queen, the Goddess Rhea, tricked him, by handing him a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow. The infant Zeus she secreted. Zeus grew to manhood and, as prophesied, made war on his father and overthrew him, casting him down into the depths of Tartarus. Zeus and Raglan’s Hero Pattern

  36. Variations of the Hero PatternLevi Strauss The Hero as Mediator of Contradictions

  37. Epic of Gilgamesh Key terms: AdadAkkadiansAnnunakianthropormophic godsAnuAssurbanipalAyaBelit-SheriBull of HeavencuneiformDilmundreamsEaEannaEnkiduEnlilepithetEreshkigal/Irkalla gift-givingHumbaba/HuwawaIshtarLugulbandaMashuMesopotamiametaphysical insights into mythNamtarNinsunNinurtaoral myth, characteristicsparataxisrepetition as a rhetorical deviceritualScorpionsShamashSiduriSumerianssyncretismUrshanabiUrukUtnapishtim

  38. Huwawa [Humbaba], the Mesopotamian Forest God,who originated in a time when there were still forests to be protected.He was later betrayed and slain by his one-time friend Enkiduand Enkidu's new ally, the warrior-king Gilgamesh (Terracotta relief, c. 2000 BCE)[From Time/Life's series, MYTH AND MANKIND:Epics of Early Civilization: Middle Eastern Myth, 1998:80]

  39. Ea/Enki Clylinder seal impression showing the Mesopotamian "god of Wisdom," called Ea (Aya, Ayya or Enki) with two streams of water pouring forth from his shoulders. Ea warned the Mesopotamian Noah, Utnapishtim of Shuruppak of the coming Flood advising him to build himself an ark for his family and animals. On the 7th day of the Flood, the SEBITTU DAY, Ea rested with ALL the other gods, the Flood having destroyed mankind who's noise and clamor had earlier prevented the gods from resting by day or sleeping by night.

  40. Comparative Mythology Compare Biblical, Greco-Roman, and Babylonian Flood Myths Cause Taking Action Exceptions Warning Survivors Provisions The Storm Gods’ Fear of Total Destruction Gods’ Regret Landfall Thanksgiving Rewards

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