In ancient times, creation stories serve as a time capsule from different regions; they serve to teach the following generations, and often laid the foundation of religious beliefs. In ancient Egypt, King Amenhotep IV began a religious cult built around the idea that the sun god, was the sole creator of all. Atenism was a new theory based on monotheism, which was a new concept for ancient Egyptian religions. It places an emphasis on the life of the living in contrast to death and afterlife.

The theme in this writing that stood out to me the most was the idea that Aten was responsible for the creation of everything. “You made the seasons to foster all that you made, winter to cool them, heat that they taste you. You made the far sky to shine therein, to behold all that you made”(lines 97-100). This leads me to believe that the King did believe that the sun god is the world’s creator, but I wonder if he believes that there are any other gods. Like I previously stated, monotheism wasn’t the norm for Egyptian religions, so this religious cult of Atenism may have believed in the existence of other gods, but that Aten was the sole creator.

The hymn also reflects the value of the living. The sun god is a symbol of life and rebirth, every morning is celebrated as a new beginning. “Earth brightens when you dawn in lightland, when you shine as Aten of daytime; as you dispel the dark, as you cast your rays, The Two Lands are in festivity. Awake they stand on their feet, you have roused them” (lines 25-30). Daytime is describes as a type of rebirth, and a time for work and productivity. Whereas nighttime is described by the line, “Earth is in darkness as if in death”(14). The juxtaposition of day and night shows how there is a belief that evil comes out at night, so it is best to sleep through the night.

I enjoyed this particular text because it made a lot of sense to me. Many creation stories, like the Genesis, are about a human god who created the world and people and then was worshiped for it. The sun god is interesting to me because it does give life to all living creatures and seems to be something that should be praised for the good it does.

The creation story that most stood out to me was “The Song of Creation” from the Rig Veda. I think that this creation story is really different from the rest in the sense that it addresses and ponders the existence of nothingness before the existence of anything through the entire song. In my opinion, addressing this intrigues us with the universal dilemma of why we exist and how exactly did we come to be; something that has no definite answer. It raises questions and makes us wonder about our origins and the beginning of life as a whole which, in comparison to the mythic/ fantastical nature of the other stories, makes it feel much more real and historic. This, in conjunction with the the ambiguous nature of the whole song, make  “The Song of Creation” really interesting.

Particularly, it’s very interesting because there are no specific details or explanation given for the creation. For example, there is no specific god or creator mentioned, in contrast to some of the other stories, except for “The One”, who is only mentioned vaguely in a few lines, and who I believe managed to coexist with the nothingness (line 7) as probably the creator of the world and life—but it is never stated. It is also really interesting to me that I directly correlated the line “arose at last born of the power of heat” (line 12) to the Big Bang; possibly because of relating heat to an explosion. Even though I don’t think the allusion was intentional, it is still interesting how a line like this could be interpreted as a real event.

All in all, I think it’s very interesting how peculiar and different this song is in relation to other creation stories. There is a certain comfort in the ambiguity but also a slight frustration that arises from not knowing the answers. However, I think the vagueness of the text allows for more interpretation and helps the song avoid falling into any type of specific religion or culture, since it isn’t that specific in terms of beliefs or gods, making it very accessible.

The existence of nothingness in the Rig Veda is very intriguing and is what sets it apart from the other creation stories.  Genesis already starts with the earth existing albeit it “was welter and waste and darkness over the deep,” it still exists (158).  In the very beginning of the Yoruba proverbs “everything was water,” and that makes sense to hear as an early creation story (392).  Many early creation stories start with a great ocean or some sort of land and sky existing or even a giant floating turtle, like early Native Americans believed.  The point of this is that the land, the water, a turtle are all things that physically exist.  The early peoples could see these things they could imagine them in their heads.  Nothing however can’t be seen nor can it be imagined.  Seriously try right now to imagine nothing and then describe what you are imagining.  It makes tons of sense that these early people didn’t start their creation stories with “first there was nothing” because they have no idea what nothing looks like.  However the Rig Veda does exactly that.  In fact it’s the third word in the whole song.  Not only that but later down in the song nothing is mentioned again “That One which came to be, enclosed in nothing” (Rig Veda).  Now, maybe the people who wrote the Rig Veda meant The One was naked and was wearing nothing at all.  This would make a lot of sense because certainly the people who wrote the Rig Veda have seen someone not wearing clothes.  However why wouldn’t they, or the people who translated the text, use another word which would mean a similar thing such as, naked, or nude, or plainly not wearing anything at all?  Why would they willingly use a word they have already used in the text, to set the grand scene of creation, to now describe The Ones lack of clothing?  Maybe that analysis is going too far with the idea and maybe it really does mean The One wore nothing.  Nonetheless I am thoroughly impressed that a piece of writing that came out sometime between 1500-1200 BCE had the idea of nothing when other creation tales that came out before or after it did not.

For centuries, multiple stories have been created by different religions explaining how the world was created. Some religions and cultures believe in multiple gods (polytheism) while other religions believe in only one superior being (monotheism). Religions such as Catholicism are monotheistic and believe that the story of   “Genesis”, (that’s comes from the sacred book: The Bible) explains the origin of our world.

In “Genesis” chapter 1, God created the world and everything in it. He created the seas, land, heaven and earth, light and darkness, living creatures and humans, the male and female in his image. In chapter 2 and 3, God rested and ceased on the seventh day from creating the world. He also gave humans life and created woman from the ribs of the first man created. This represented the bond between husband and wife. God also commanded that humans should not eat from the “tree of knowledge” or they would die. Then the serpent “ … most cunning of all beasts of the field that the Lord God had made.”(Genisis:3), tricked the humans into eating the fruit from the tree by granting them wisdom and power of a God. Then God punished the serpent by permanently making it travel on its belly, the woman had to go through pain when giving birth and man’s punishment was labor.

I found the story of “Genesis”, very interesting but it left me questioning the symbolic importance of certain characters and their actions. Why was the serpent considered the “… most cunning of all beasts of the field…”(Genesis: 3)? Are there other religions and cultures that share the same point of view on these creatures?

I also found it interesting that both humans realized that they were both naked after they ate the fruit off the tree of knowledge and instantly clothed themselves with leaves. Was this action a form of embarrassment? Why did God keep them from seeing the truth? I believe this symbolizes our world today and human behavior. Humans are constantly judging each other consciously and subconsciously, which sometimes effects our perception on things. This behavior of ours, sometimes prevents us from seeing the actual truth.

I also saw a change in God and his behavior from “Genesis: 1”to “Genesis: 2 and 3”. In “ Genesis: 1” I saw a more superior powerful being that had control over everything and himself. Then in “Genesis: 3 and 4” I saw a God with more human like characteristics. I saw a God that was angry and filled with emotions. God used words such as “Cursed be you”(Genesis: 3) and “I will terribly Sharpen your birth pangs, in pain shall you bear children” (Genesis: 3) showing his emotions toward the situation. Overall, this story was very interesting but had many gaps that left me confused and wanting more details.

One of the most unique aspects of history is that pieces of various civilizations can live on to the modern day through what they choose to leave behind. This is evident, in the fact that we have a large understanding of many cultures and their beliefs based on what they have left behind for us to learn from. One culture that has been able to be studied to great lengths because of the pieces of history they have left behind is the Egyptian culture and one of the oldest pieces of literature left behind was The Great Hymn to Aten.

The Great Hymn to the Aten is the longest form of one of a number of hymn-poems dedicated to the Egyptian god Aten. The hymn itself was written by the king of Egypt, Amenhotep IV, and its content not only praises the god Aten but emphasizes the close connection between Aten and Amenhotep IV. The hymn specifically extolls Aten for the blessings Egypt receives and describes the good provisions made possible for the human world because of Aten.

What interests me about this piece is the historical circumstance that surrounds the religion and the great insight into Egyptian culture that is given. In this piece, we receive a slight glimpse into Egyptian culture and their views on God, the universe and the world around them. Based on the summary given before the actual piece, we learn that this religion was created through political and religious revolutions. So when Amenhotep IV died, his successor quickly abolished the religion in favor of the more traditional and conservative religion. But during Amenhotep’s rein we can make the argument that the Egyptian people believed in what seems to be a monotheistic religion. In this religion, Aten the sun god, is intertwined into all of the Egyptians lives. This is demonstrated in the hymn when it states, “ Those on earth come from your hand as you made them, When you have dawned they live, When you set they die”(Lines 111-113). Not only does this piece emphasize their views on how the world works, but it demonstrates how people viewed the king in relationship to Aten. This piece strongly indicates that the king has a close connection to Aten. In the final lines of the hymn it states, “There is no one other who knows you,Only your son, Neferkheprure, Sole-one-of-Re, Whom you have taught your ways and your might” (Lines 108-110). The lines from 108-110 strongly indicate a social hierarchy in which the pharaoh remains closest to the Gods.

As indicated by the summary provided before the actual reading, when Amenhotep IV died his successor abandoned the new religion in favor of a more traditional and conservative one. Not only did the Egyptian society abandon the new religion, they dismantled the new capital city created by Amenhotep IV and attempted to destroy any evidence of his kingship. This only reinforces the idea, that history keeps things once forgotten alive.

Questions
1.) Where did this belief of monotheism come from?
2.) Is this new religion monotheistic?
**In Egypts polytheistic religion, there was a sole God responsible for the underworld that was mentioned in the hymn**
3.) Does the Queen share an equal relationship to Aten when compared to Amenhotep IV?

In the Genesis creation story, I noticed how the writing portrayed God as an almighty being who brought life and prosperity to a place where there was “welter and waste and darkness over the deep”. God brought life and order to a blank space, such as dividing the light from the darkness. Every day for 6 days, God would add more to this “darkness over the deep” to make it a better life for all living things. He provided “grass, plants yielding seed…fruit of each kind.” He provided plants that would bear fruits and seeds so humans could harvest the seeds, and then humans and animals could eat the fruits that grew from the plants. This text portrays God as loving and caring toward his creation, especially toward humans. God says, “’Let us make a human in our image, by our likeness, to hold sway over the fish of the sea and fowl of the heavens and the cattle and the wild beasts and all the crawling things that crawl upon the earth.’” He states that created humans using the same physical features as him, and humans will be rulers of all the animals. This shows God’s love and compassion to humans, who seem to be his greatest creation.

Chapter 2 talks about how God created man and gives him directions about what to do in the Garden of Eden, he may eat from any fruit in the garden, except the tree of knowledge. God gives the man instructions that if he eats from it, “[he] is doomed to die”. In chapter 2, it states “And the two of them were naked, the human and his woman, and they were not ashamed.” This states that God gave them the power to not be ashamed of their nudity. Then, in Chapter 3, directly after they ate from the tree, they realized they were naked, which was a consequence for listening to the serpent. God became angered at both Adam and Eve and punished them and their future generations. For women, God created pain for them during childbirth, and “your man shall be your longing, and he shall rule over you.” For men, God said that they will have to work and sweat for their food. This is why the world is set up where everyone has to work in some fashion. As a result of disobeying God, death and sin enters the world. Adam and Eve, and all other humans that follow them must undergo aging and eventually endure death of their physical bodies.

Why did God create the serpent if he knew it would trick the man and the woman?

The reason this passage about Aten stands out to me because it celebrates one of the first monotheistic views in history. It was interesting that the king, Akhenaten, decided to stray from the regular polytheistic ways and starts worshipping one god who is in charge of the sun.

Based on the history from before the passage, it seems that a very small portion of society believed in the one god, Aten. It appears that only Akhenaten, the queen, and Aten’s sons are the main believers of this monotheistic view. The rest of Egypt chose to believe in many different gods and not just the sun god. It is also intriguing that after Akhenaten dies, the god Aten is rejected within a few years and the kings monuments are destroyed. They try to erase Akhenaten’s name from the society and go back to the ways of polytheism.

This story focuses on Aten being the sun God. Throughout the prayer, the sun and rays are mentioned many times, the first line of the passage “splended you rise in heaven’s lightland” (Line 1) refers to the sun rising in the sky. It then speaks about how when the sun(Aten) sets “earth is in darkness as if in death” that without Aten there is death and treachery at night, praising Aten for bringing light during the day. This is interesting because if Aten is the god of everything why is the darkness referred to as a separate entity? The prayer speaks about  “their maker rests in lightland” which I assume means anything that happens in the dark has nothing to do with Aten, the sun god. If Aten is the one and only god, I think he should also be praised for the dark he “created”?  

Another thing that was engaging in this prayers was the mention of “dat” which means the underworld. The prayers says “you made Hapy in dat,” which is referring to the flooding of the nile in the underworld. The mention of the underworld is confusing because of Aten being constantly referred to as exclusively the sun god. The underworld seems like something that should be mentioned when referring to whoever controls the night and the darkness, not the positive view of the sun god.

The “Song of Creation” emphasizes the fact that there is no one absolute answer as to how the universe is created, “…he knows–or maybe even he does not know” (line 29). This is particularly interesting because in a variety of religions and even in science, there is always a definite answer to the creation of the universe.

The fact that the people are able to live with the knowledge of not knowing is also fascinating. As humans we ask questions and hope to hear an answer, and when we don’t we stop at nothing to find the answer regardless if the answer is right or wrong. This is the majority of the reason why people turn to religion and science for the answer.

In the both “Genesis” and “The Great Hymn of Aten” there is only creator. In contrast to the “Genesis” and “The Great Hymn of Aten,” “Song of Creation” raises many questions that can’t really be answered.

Despite the society doesn’t know exactly how or who created the universe, they truly believe that every creation has it’s origin (25).  However, the one thing that I can’t seem to grasp the concept of is who or what “The One” (7) is. If “even nothingness, nor existence,” (1) then how did The One come to be? It first seems as if The One is a divine being or a god, but it doesn’t seem to fit the context “the gods themselves are later than creation, so who knows whence it truly arisen?” (23-24).

Through this text, we can see that not knowing is okay even though it goes against our natural instincts. It’s literature like this that help our minds grow and think of possibilities beyond our horizons.

If there were a poetic way to describe the beginning of the universe, i.e. the well supported and popular Big Bang theory, I believe “The Song of Creation” from Rig Veda would be it.

From the first few lines  to the very last ones, the whole song suggested the same thing to me, i.e. the birth of the universe as we know it today. Every part of the song hints, to me,  that the writers of the Rig Veda were advanced beyond their times. They seem to accept the idea of not knowing how the universe came to be or where it started from. The song seems logical and not just provide possible fictional answers to the conceiving of the world and mankind. This poem sounds more scientific than an art work. It raises curiosity through the questions, like:The general idea of futuristic and wise acceptance of “nothingness” in The Song of Creation is suggested by the vocabulary. The vocabulary helps provide to the reader a clue that the author seems to know more than he lets on. His theory of the creation of the universe doesn’t just sound poetic, but also logical.

Like I mentioned before, the author likes to hint of his knowing beyond his poetic arrangement of words. I picked this up from some of the phrases that he used. Some examples I’ve underlined are as follows:

Throughout the captivating opening lines of Enuma Elish, a perspective was painted in which the origins of life were explained according to Babylonian tradition. Before any “name was given to heaven, nor below was the netherworld called by name”, there was but one vast space of water that was ruled and defined by two gods, Apsu and Tiamat. (Pg. 34) Together, Apsu and Tiamat’s physical bodies made up what we know as the ocean today. These immense bodies of power created other gods such as Ea and his brothers.

After the creation of new celestial powers, major conflict developed between disagreeing gods and through the chaos and tumult that were to follow, Ea rises to power over Apsu. Ea’s son, Murduk, suggested to his father that they create mankind to “bear the gods’ burden.”(Pg. 36) After much debate and controversy over the manufacturing of man, Murduk challenges the grandiose Tiamat to battle to settle the destructive divergence. Murduk, rising as victor, rips her body and splits it into two, yielding the land and sky. Tiamat’s husband, Qingu is brought forth to Ea and killed. From Qingu’s blood, Ea fashioned the first forms of mankind to “serve the gods’ many needs.” (Pg.34) In the interest of time Murduk rises to power as “supreme god” and originator of all human kind. (Pg. 37)

After analyzing the story, one can infer how the Babylonian society viewed the cosmos and world. The beginnings of man, according to the Babylonian myth, were spawned by multiple events of disarray and bloodshed. To draw a parallel to such violence, one can look briefly at the cultural norms and aspects of ancient Babylonian communities, such as the widely studied, Hammurabi’s code. Hammurabi’s code was, in reality, a very literal and brutal law, which was not only abused, but also used to further existing stratification of Babylonian society. This stratification and brutality was seen throughout the creation myth amidst the constant struggle for power. Some gods were greater than others and only one ruled at a given time. The god who ruled then attempted to control and maintain order amongst the others. The similarities between culture and creation myth instantaneously jumped out at me when I was reading through the story and perhaps helped me perceive similarities to gain a greater understanding for Babylonian culture and behavior.

Amongst reading this creation myth, I found myself constantly trying to fill holes within the story, for the whole myth is not present within the Norton Anthology.  There are in fact seven tablets of Enuma Elish, whereas the Norton Anthology only contains four. It was rather distracting sifting through alternate sources when struggling to understand the story as a whole. “Why did the people responsible with composing the Norton Anthology choose to omit certain tablets from the passage?”