Why did myths arise? Myth. Origin of the myth. Creation Myths: Egypt and the Cosmogony of the Ancient Egyptians

Since ancient times, people have thought about many things. How is the world that surrounds it arranged? When and from what was the earth created? Why do mountains and rivers, swamps and forests exist on it? Why does the sun shine, stars burn, rain falls, thunder rumbles? What is man and where did he come from? Why do people die and what happens to them after death?

Who could answer these questions? Probably the man himself, or rather the myths created by him. So, let's turn to the myths. Let's get acquainted with the Chinese myth "Birth of Pangu".

** « In China, they believed that when the earth had not yet separated from the sky, the entire universe was an egg filled with chaos. In this egg, Pangu was born and grew by itself. He curled up and fell asleep for eighteen thousand years, because he did not know what to do next. While Pangu was sleeping, a chisel and a large ax appeared by themselves next to him, which began to crush him in the side. Pangu woke up, but felt nothing but sticky darkness. His heart was filled with sadness. He took the ax and hit the chisel with all his might. There was a deafening roar, which happens when mountains crack, and ... the egg cracked! Everything light and clean - yang - immediately rose up and formed the sky, and heavy and dirty - yin - descended and became the earth. Thus heaven and earth were separated from each other by the blow of the axe. And Pangu's anguish was gone, because he did a good job.

But the place of anguish was immediately taken by fear: what if heaven and earth unite again! Pangu put his feet on the ground and rested his head on the sky. Every day he grew one zhang. A zhang is three meters. At the same distance the sky moved away from the earth. Near Pangu, a tree grew just as fast, its roots firmly planted in the ground, and its branches did not want to come off the sky.

Another eighteen thousand years passed. The sky has risen very high. The earth has become thick. Pangu's body also grew extraordinary. And the tree became as tall as a giant. This worried Pangu very much. After all, he did not want earth and sky to be connected. He began to beat with a chisel and an ax on the trunk until he cut the tree.

"So I've finished my work, now I'll rest," thought Pangu.

But his strength was completely exhausted. He fell to the ground and died, giving his whole life to work.

His last breath became wind and clouds, his cry became thunder, his left eye became the sun, and his right eye became the moon. Pangu's torso turned into five sacred mountains, arms and legs into four cardinal points, blood into rivers, veins into roads, skin and hair into forests and herbs, teeth and bones into precious stones and metals, and the spinal cord became sacred. jade stone. And even the sweat that appeared on his body, seemingly completely useless, turned into raindrops and dew.

This is how the Chinese explained the appearance of mountains, rivers, underground riches, heavenly bodies.

Thus, with the help of myths, a person unscientifically naively explained the picture of the world order. Every nation has its own system of myths. The ancient Greek myths about the Olympic gods, the Scandinavian myths about the aces, the ancient Indian mythology set forth in the Vedas, and the myths of other peoples have come down to us.

What is mythology? This word, if literally translated from Greek, means "exposition of traditions." From the point of view of scientists, mythology is, first of all, "an expression of a special form of social consciousness, a way of understanding the world around us, inherent in people at different stages of development." Myths are ancient stories in which people tried to explain various phenomena of life. The first and main reason for the emergence of myth is the belief that all objects in nature are endowed with a soul. Animation of nature scientists call animism. The sun and stars, trees and rivers, clouds and winds become animated beings that live like people, communicate with each other, perform certain functions, have their own character. There is a personification of nature, that is, endowing objects of nature with their face.

These ideas are based on the humanization of the surrounding world. The first beings accessible to the understanding of the child are human beings (mother, father, himself) with a personal will. Therefore, the child endows the objects surrounding him with this will. Thus, the child takes the first step along the path of myth-making, trying to imagine that "something is someone", all objects come to life and act independently. Remnants of primitive communal consciousness have survived to this day, for example, we can hit an object that hurt us; or in ancient Greece, objects (a stone or a bough of a tree) that caused death to a person were subject to judgment, if it was proved that the person did not participate in this. Condemned items were thrown out of the city.

The significance of mythology is great. Myths have become the cradle from which literature, art, religion, and science have grown. Your guys, peers, students of the fifth grade, also went along the path of myth-making. Check out some of the myths invented by fifth graders. Perhaps you also want to create a myth. Dare!

The most interesting and instructive stories, fascinating stories and adventures gave the world Greek mythology. The narrative immerses us in a fairy-tale world where you can meet heroes and gods, scary monsters and unusual animals. The myths of Ancient Greece, written many centuries ago, are currently the greatest cultural heritage of all mankind.

What are myths

Mythology is an amazing separate world in which people opposed the deities of Olympus, fought for honor and resisted evil and destruction.

However, it is worth remembering that myths are works created exclusively by people using fantasy and fiction. These are stories about gods, heroes and exploits, unusual natural phenomena and mysterious creatures.

The origin of legends is no different from the origin of folk tales and legends. The Greeks invented and retold unusual stories that mixed truth and fiction.

It is possible that there was some truth in the stories - a life case or an example could be taken as a basis.

Source of the myths of ancient Greece

How do modern people know the myths and their plots for certain? It turns out that Greek mythology was preserved on the tablets of the Aegean culture. They were written in Linear B, which was deciphered only in the 20th century.

The Crete-Mycenaean period, to which this type of writing belongs, knew most of the gods: Zeus, Athena, Dionysus, and so on. However, due to the decline of civilization and the emergence of ancient Greek mythology, mythology could have its gaps: we know it only from the latest sources.

Various plots of the myths of Ancient Greece were often used by writers of that time. And before the onset of the Hellenistic era, it became popular to create their own legends based on them.

The largest and most famous sources are:

1. Homer, Iliad, Odyssey
2. Hesiod "Theogony"
3. Pseudo-Apollodorus, "Library"
4. Gigin, "Myths"
5. Ovid, "Metamorphoses"
6. Nonnus, "Acts of Dionysus"

Karl Marx believed that the mythology of Greece was a vast repository of art, and also created the ground for it, thus fulfilling a dual function.

ancient greek mythology

Myths did not appear overnight: they took shape over several centuries, passed from mouth to mouth. Thanks to the poetry of Hesiod and Homer, the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, we can get acquainted with the stories at the present time.

Each story has value, keeping in itself the atmosphere of antiquity. Specially trained people - mythographers - began to appear in Greece in the 4th century BC.

These include the sophist Hippias, Herodotus of Heracles, Heraclitus of Pontus and others. Dionysius of Samoia, in particular, was engaged in compiling genealogical tables and studied tragic myths.

There are many myths, but the most popular are stories related to Olympus and its inhabitants.

However, the complex hierarchy and history of the emergence of the gods can confuse any reader, and therefore we propose to understand this in detail!

With the help of myths, it becomes possible to recreate the picture of the world in the view of the inhabitants of Ancient Greece: the world is inhabited by monsters and giants, among which are giants - one-eyed creatures and Titans.

Origin of the gods

Eternal, boundless Chaos enveloped the Earth. It contained the world source of life.

It was believed that it was Chaos that gave birth to everything around: the world, the immortal gods, the goddess of the Earth, Gaia, who gave life to everything growing and living, and the mighty force that animates everything - Love.

However, a birth also took place under the Earth: the gloomy Tartarus was born - an abyss of horror filled with eternal darkness.

In the process of creating the world, Chaos gave birth to the Eternal Darkness, called Erebus, and the dark Night, named Nikta. As a result of the union of Nikta and Erebus, Ether was born - the eternal Light and Hemera - the bright Day. Thanks to their appearance, the light filled the whole world, and day and night began to replace each other.

Gaia, a powerful and gracious goddess, created the immense blue Sky - Uranus. Spread over the Earth, he reigned throughout the world. High Mountains proudly stretched towards him, and the noisy Sea spread over the whole Earth.

Goddess Gaia and her Titan children

After Mother Earth created the Sky, Mountains and Sea, Uranus decided to take Gaia as his wife. From the divine union came 6 sons and 6 daughters.

Titan Ocean and the goddess Thetis created all the rivers that rolled their waters to the sea, and the goddesses of the seas, called oceanides. Titan Gipperion and Theia gave the world Helios - the Sun, Selena - the Moon and Eos - the Dawn. Astrea and Eos gave birth to all the stars and all the winds: Boreas - the north, Eurus - the east, Notus - the south, Zephyr - the west.

The overthrow of Uranus - the beginning of a new era

The goddess Gaia - the mighty Earth - gave birth to 6 more sons: 3 cyclops - giants with one eye in the forehead, and 3 fifty-headed hundred-armed monsters called Hekantocheirs. They possessed boundless power that knew no limits.

Struck by the ugliness of his giant children, Uranus renounced them and ordered them to be imprisoned in the bowels of the Earth. Gaia, being a Mother, suffered, weighed down by a terrible burden: after all, her own children were imprisoned in her bowels. Unable to stand it, Gaia called her children-titans, persuading them to rebel against their father - Uranus.

Battle of the gods with the titans

Being great and powerful, the titans were still afraid of their father. And only Kronos, the youngest and most treacherous, accepted his mother's offer. Having outwitted Uranus, he overthrew him, seizing power.

As a punishment for the deed of Kronos, the goddess Night gave birth to death (Tanat), discord (Eris), deceit (Apata),

Kronos devouring his child

destruction (Ker), nightmare (Hypnos) and vengeance (Nemesis) and other terrible gods. All of them brought horror, discord, deceit, struggle and misfortune to the world of Kronos.

Despite his cunning, Kronos was afraid. His fear was built on personal experience: after all, the children could overthrow him, as he once overthrew Uranus - his father.

Fearing for his life, Kronos ordered his wife Rhea to bring him born children. To Rhea's horror, 5 of them were eaten: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon.

Zeus and his reign

Heeding the advice of her father Uranus and her mother Gaia, Rhea fled to the island of Crete. There, in a deep cave, she gave birth to her youngest son, Zeus.

Hiding the newborn in it, Rhea tricked the hard Kronos into swallowing a long stone wrapped in swaddling clothes instead of her son.

As time went. Kronos did not figure out his wife's deceit. Zeus grew up while in Crete. His nannies were nymphs - Adrastea and Idea, instead of mother's milk, he was fed with the milk of the divine goat Amalthea, and industrious bees carried honey to baby Zeus from Mount Dikty.

If Zeus began to cry, the young Curetes, who stood at the entrance to the cave, struck their shields with their swords. Loud sounds drowned out the crying so that Kronos would not hear it.

The myth of the birth of Zeus: feeding the milk of the divine goat Amalthea

Zeus grew up. Having defeated Kronos in battle with the help of the Titans and the Cyclopes, he became the supreme deity of the Olympian Pantheon. The lord of heavenly forces commanded thunders, lightnings, clouds and showers. He dominated the universe, giving people laws and protecting order.

Views of the Ancient Greeks

The Greeks believed that the gods of Olympus are like people, and the relationship between them is comparable to human. Their lives were also filled with quarrels and reconciliations, envy and interference, resentment and forgiveness, joy, fun and love.

In the views of the ancient Greeks, each deity had its own occupation and sphere of influence:

• Zeus - lord of the sky, father of gods and people
• Hera - the wife of Zeus, the patroness of the family
• Poseidon - the sea
• Hestia - family hearth
• Demeter - agriculture
• Apollo - light and music
• Athena - wisdom
• Hermes - trade and messenger of the gods
• Hephaestus - fire
• Aphrodite - beauty
• Ares - war
• Artemis - hunting

From the earth, people each turned to their god, according to their destiny. Temples were built everywhere to propitiate them, and gifts were offered instead of sacrifices.

In Greek mythology, not only Chaos, the Titans and the Olympian Pantheon mattered, there were other gods.

• Nymphs Naiads who lived in streams and rivers
• Nereids - nymphs of the seas
• Dryads and Satyrs - nymphs of the forests
• Echo - nymph of mountains
• Goddesses of fate: Lachesis, Clotho and Atropos.

The rich world of myths was given to us by ancient Greece. It is filled with deep meaning and instructive stories. Thanks to them, people can learn ancient wisdom and knowledge.

How many different legends exist at the moment, do not count. But believe me, every person should get acquainted with them after spending time with Apollo, Hephaestus, Hercules, Narcissus, Poseidon and others. Welcome to the ancient world of the ancient Greeks!

Each nation has its own stories that tell about the origin of the Universe, about the appearance of the first man, about gods and glorious heroes who performed feats in the name of goodness and justice. Such legends arose in ancient times. They reflected the ideas of the ancient man about the world around him, where everything seemed to him mysterious and incomprehensible.

In everything around him - in the change of day and night, thunder, storms on the sea - a person saw manifestations of some unknown and terrible forces - good or evil, depending on what effect they had on his daily life and activities.

Gradually, vague ideas about natural phenomena took shape in a clear system of beliefs. Trying to explain what was incomprehensible, a person animated the nature around him, endowing it with specific human features. Thus was created the invisible world of the gods, where the relationship was the same as between people on earth. Each specific god was associated with one or another natural phenomenon, for example, thunder or a storm.

Human fantasy personified in the images of the gods not only the forces of nature, but also abstract concepts. This is how ideas about the gods of love, war, justice, discord and deceit arose.

The works invented in ancient Greece were distinguished by a special richness of artistic imagination. They were called myths (the Greek word "myth" means a story), and from them this name spread to the same works of other peoples.

In different countries, nameless folk singers composed stories about significant events, about the exploits and deeds of the leaders and the heroes invented by them. The works have been passed down by word of mouth for many generations. Centuries passed, memories of the past became more and more vague, and reality more and more gave way to fantasy.

For a long time it was believed that such works are fantastic fiction, but it turned out that this is not entirely true. As a result of archaeological excavations, Troy was found, and exactly in the place that was mentioned in the myths. Excavations have confirmed that the city was destroyed several times by enemies. A few years later, the ruins of a huge palace on the island of Crete, which was also told in myths, were excavated.

Thus, stories about natural phenomena and the gods that control these forces, and stories about real heroes who lived in ancient times, were combined together. Ancient legends have become myths. Their images continue to live today, in works of painting, literature and music. Although the images of mythical heroes came from the distant past, their stories continue to excite people in our time.

Mythological images are also found in the language. So, expressions came from Greek mythology: "tantalum flour", "Sisyphean labor", "Ariadne's thread" and many others. You can learn about their origin from reference books and dictionaries.

What are myths? In the ordinary sense, these are, first of all, ancient, biblical and other ancient "tales" about the creation of the world and man, stories about the deeds of the ancient gods and heroes - Zeus, Apollo, Dionysus, Hercules, the Argonauts who were looking for the "Golden Fleece", the Trojan War and misadventures Odyssey.

The very word "myth" is of ancient Greek origin and means precisely "tradition", "tale". European peoples until the XVI-XVII centuries. only the famous and still Greek and Roman myths were known, later they became aware of Arabic, Indian, Germanic, Slavic, Indian legends and their heroes. Over time, first to scientists, and then to the wider public, the myths of the peoples of Australia, Oceania, and Africa became available. It turned out that the sacred books of Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists are also based on various mythological legends that have undergone processing.

What is surprising: it turned out that at a certain stage of historical development, a more or less developed mythology existed among almost all peoples known to science, that some plots and stories are repeated to some extent in the mythological cycles of different peoples.

So the question arose about the origin of the myth. Today, most scientists are inclined to believe that the secret of the origin of the myth should be sought in the fact that mythological consciousness was the oldest form of understanding and understanding the world, understanding nature, society and man. The myth arose from the need of ancient people to realize the natural and social elements surrounding it, the essence of man.

The features of this way of understanding the world will be discussed below, after we consider the issue of the content of mythical tales.

Among the whole multitude of mythical legends and stories, it is customary to single out several most important cycles. Let's call them:

• - Cosmogonic myths - myths about the origin of the world and the universe;
• - anthropogonic myths - myths about the origin of man and human society;
• - myths about cultural heroes - myths about the origin and introduction of certain cultural goods;
• - eschatological myths - myths about the "end of the world", the end of time.

Let us dwell in more detail on the characteristics of these mythical cycles.

Cosmogonic myths are usually divided into two groups:

Development myths	Creation myths
In the myths of development, the origins of the world and the universe are explained by evolution, the transformation of some formless initial state, prior to the world and the universe. It can be chaos (ancient Greek mythology), non-existence (ancient Egyptian, Scandinavian and other mythology). "... everything was in a state of uncertainty, everything was cold, everything was silent: everything was motionless, quiet, and the expanse of the sky was empty of myths of Central America.	In creation myths, the emphasis is on the claim that the world was created. from some initial elements (fire, water, air, earth) by a supernatural being - a god, a sorcerer, a creator (the creator can have the appearance of a person or an animal - a loon, a crow, a coyote). The most famous example of creation myths is the biblical story about seven days creation: "And God said: let there be light ... And God separated the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness night.

Very often, these motifs are combined in one myth: a detailed description of the initial state ends with a detailed story about the circumstances of the creation of the Universe.

Anthropogonic myths are an integral part of cosmogonic myths. According to many myths, a person is created with a wide variety of materials: nuts, wood, dust, clay. Most often, the creator creates first a man, then a woman. The first person is usually endowed with the gift of immortality, but he loses it and becomes at the origins of mortal humanity (such is the biblical Adam, who ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil). Some peoples had a statement about the origin of man from an animal ancestor (monkey, bear, crow, swan).

Myths about cultural heroes tell how mankind mastered the secrets of crafts, agriculture, settled life, the use of fire - in other words, how certain cultural goods were introduced into its life. The most famous myth of this kind is the ancient Greek legend of Prometheus, the cousin of Zeus. Prometheus (literally translated - “thinking before”, “foreseeing”) endowed miserable people with minds, taught them to build houses, ships, engage in crafts, wear clothes, count, write and read, distinguish between seasons, make sacrifices to the gods, guess, introduced state principles and rules of joint life. Prometheus gave man fire, for which he was punished by Zeus: chained to the mountains of the Caucasus, he suffers terrible torment - an eagle pecks out his liver, which grows again every day.

Eschatological myths tell about the fate of mankind, about the coming of the "end of the world" and the onset of the "end of times". The greatest significance in the cultural and historical process was played by eschatological ideas formulated in the famous biblical "Apocalypse": the second coming of Christ is coming - He will come not as a victim, but as a Terrible Judge, judging the living and the dead. The "end of times" will come, and the righteous will be predestined to eternal life, and sinners to eternal torment.

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

What is a myth?

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

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

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

Anthropogonic myths

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

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

Chinese view of the creation of the world

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

Chinese mythology

As the Chinese myth about the origin of man says, a world was formed that was inhabited by animals, fish and birds, but people were still. The Chinese believed that the great female spirit, Nu Wa, became the creator of mankind. The ancient Chinese revered her as the organizer of the world, she was depicted as a woman with a human body, bird legs and a snake tail, holding a moon disk (Yin symbol) and a measuring square in her hand.

Nuwa began to sculpt human figures from clay, which came to life and turned into people. She worked for a long time and realized that her strength was not enough to create people who could populate the whole earth. Then Nuwa took the rope and passed it through the liquid clay, and then shook it. Where the lumps of wet clay fell, people appeared. But still they were not as good as those that were molded by hand. This is how the existence of the nobility, which Nuwa molded with her own hands, and people of the lower classes, created with the help of a rope, was substantiated. The goddess gave her creations the opportunity to reproduce on their own, and also introduced the concept of marriage, which was observed very strictly in ancient China. Therefore, Nu Wa can also be considered the patroness of marriage.

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

Greek mythology about the appearance of man

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

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

Features of mythology

What are the features of mythological thinking?

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

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

Common features and influence on world culture

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

Ancient Turkic mythology about how man appeared

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

What can be determined by reading this Turkic myth about the origin of man? One can see a general similarity with the legends of ancient Greece and China already known to us. Some divine power creates people, namely from an egg, which is very similar to the Chinese legend about Pangu. Thus, it is clear that initially people associated the creation of themselves by analogy with living beings that they could observe. There is also an incredible reverence for the maternal principle, a woman as a continuer of life.

What can a child learn for himself in these legends? What new things does he learn by reading the myths of the peoples about the origin of man?

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

The myth of the origin of people will give the child an answer to the exciting question - where did I come from? Of course, the answer will be wrong, but children take everything on faith, and therefore it will satisfy the interest of the child. By reading the Greek origin myth above, the child will also be able to understand why fire is so important to mankind and how it was discovered. This will be useful in the subsequent education of the child in elementary school.

Variety and benefits for the child

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