Creation Stories of the Ancient World

by Joseph Lam

Length: 4 hours and 57 minutes

Creation stories, found within many ancient cultures, are traditional accounts of the origins of the universe, the earth, and humanity. Often embodied as epic poetry, and told through the acts of divine beings, creation stories illuminate the values, beliefs, and creeds of the earliest civilizations. As such, these stories show us how early cultures made sense of the human condition, in theological, philosophical, and political terms.

These 12 dynamic and thought-provoking lectures offer you a penetrating look at the origin stories of the great civilizations of the Mediterranean. With the richly layered commentary of Professor Lam, you’ll delve into the creation accounts of civilizations ranging from Mesopotamia across the breadth of the ancient Near East to Greece in the West, and encompassing traditions from Egypt, Syria, Anatolia, and ancient Israel. Within the course’s richly detailed inquiry, you’ll explore origin stories in traditions such as:

Creation Accounts of Ancient Mesopotamia—Take the measure of the Babylonian Creation Epic, Enuma Elish, which portrays the genesis of the world and humanity through a nucleus of deities.

The Egyptian Creation Traditions—Encounter the pantheon of Egyptian gods related to creation and explore the processes by which creation was said to be accomplished.

The Hurro-Hittite Kumarbi Cycle—In this important text, witness how universal cosmic order is established through the struggle of two entangled lineages of deities;

The Theogony of Hesiod—Delve into this great work of Greek epic poetry, portraying the development of the cosmos through generations of divine conflict; and

The Judeo-Christian Genesis—Chart the contours of the seven days of creation in the biblical Genesis 1 and grasp the contrast between this account and the portrayal of creation in the Garden of Eden story.

In Creation Stories of the Ancient World, you’ll look deeply into an elemental feature of early civilizations.

Genres: History, Audiobook, Nonfiction, Religion, Mythology, Ancient History

5 pages, Audiobook

First published January 27, 2023

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compact but interesting.



You're not going to get a deep dive into any of the ancient religions, but Lam does manage to hit some major ones and shows connecting threads that link them together. I think most people are aware of the similarities between the creation story in Genesis and the ancient Mesopotamian creation myths, but what I found really interesting were the similarities between all of these. Seeing how one culture influenced another was fun.



I wasn't as interested in the Greek and Egyptian to start with, mostly because the characters from those creation myths are more well known. But it was cool to look at them in relation to older stories and see how certain themes were passed down. It's one of those once-you-see-it things, except in a good way.
If you ever accidentally saw a grandparent naked, you know what I'm saying.



I think Lam does what he set out to do by providing a very short introduction to some of the oldest creation stories out there, what we know about them, and what they show us about ancient peoples.
While this isn't what I'd call a thorough lecture on any specific story, if you're interested in a well-done overview, I think this would be the ticket.
Recommended.

[Dennis Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creation Stories of the Ancient World by Joseph Lam is a course that takes itself seriously as a course. I really appreciate that Lam actually adopted a style designed to teach, rather than to entertain. I think the first two lectures were rather well done. His substantive lectures, however, were a bit more hit or miss. There were times where it was clear that an actual creation story was not present, so we needed to intuit one from scraps. That has its limits. Furthermore, Lam doesn't really engage with the ancient world, but the ancient Mediterranean. In that regard, there's a much larger course on Mediterranean ancient religion that is well worth a read. But you'll find nothing about ancient creation stories of nomadic peoples, of South or East Asia, or anywhere, really. Just the old middle east. That's not a bad thing, but the title can be a little deceptive if you didn't know that going in. Also, his pedagogy is linked to literary analysis and relating creation stories as a metaphor to unpack how old humans connected with their world. Its an interesting one, but there are times where it seemed to fray a little.

[Alexis Petty · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Yaaresse]

DNF @ 30%

It’s not often I don’t finish one of these courses, but I just cannot get into this one.

[Cyndi Mitas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biased review. I like this subject but will acknowledge that it read very dryly.

[Chandler Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Creation stories are as much about the present as they are about the past.”

This is a helpful overview of the key creation stories and traditions of the ancient world—from Mesopotamian accounts, to Greek traditions, to the biblical creation account, or, as the teacher would argue, the distinct and independent biblical creation stories. The lectures are kind of dull as the material is presented in a very dry manner. Some of these creation stories have some weird procreative themes in them. The lecturer shows, however, how themes of conflict and succession are evident in most all of the stories. His discussion on Egyptian creation traditions and the biblical creation account were the highlights for me. Though, the teacher does hold to a JEDP view of Old Testament composition. He views the Genesis creation account as a late text composed during the Babylonian exile to help the Israelites cope with the loss of their physical temple as they are taught that God’s temple or abode is the heavens and the earth. I disagree with his approach to OT composition, but this is a fascinating example of the JEDP theory in action. These lectures will fascinate those interested in ancient history. Just prepare for some dry material.

[Gavin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mind blowing. I (perhaps taking a liberty) interpreted the ancient myths as political devices with cultural and historical antecedents. For instance, the lower gods represent people in lower socioeconomic positions who were forced to create the irrigation channels of the two rivers, then farm and provide for the real world needs of the higher gods, the temple elites. There was a rebellion among the workers, and the leader was captured and killed. During this time, perhaps, social unrest had led to the neglect of the irrigation system and a flood insued. This flood threatened even the ruling elites, whether the water's themselves or the threat of starvation. Eventually, the public are taught to internalize the sense of original sin, which obligates them to serve the religious elite of a God with ever more centralized (state) power.

[Adam K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting account of some of the main creation myths of the ancient Near East.

Key takeaways:
- Civilisations influence each other, hence the common themes and motifs such as the flood or creation through separation of elements

- Myths capture the framework of a given culture’s understanding and reflect what is important to its members

- Metaphors create meaning and insight. Symbols map the meaning of things based on connections other than direct resemblance. For example, symbols can have a historical or logical basis

- The earliest known written creation myth is from Mesopotamia. We can find it in Enuma Elish. Many bands took their name from the text, such as Marduk, Tiamat, or Absu
-The act of naming is seen as the foundation of existence
-Gods are expression of the powers of the world
-Conflict between the Gods is a major mechanism of creation
-Order emerges from chaos
-Human kind is created to alleviate the Gods in their burden, and God worship was seen as a way to serve the Gods

- As for ancient Egypt, we can infer their notions of creation from the Coffin Texts, Pyramid texts, and the books the dead
-At the very beginning, there were eight primordial deities representing the state of things before creation: hiddenness, water, male, female, and more
-The ancient Egyptian conception of time was more cyclical as opposed to linear as we know it today

- During the late bronze age, the culture of the city of Ugarit of the modern day Syria also had some notable creation myths
-There was a poem about the storm God Baal
-It could be that the Ugaritic literary culture formed in some sense the foundation from which the Hebrew bible emerged
-Like in Enuma Elish, the pantheon is established through the conflict between the Gods

- Of course, Greece also has a contribution in terms of Hesiod’s theogony
- For them, it all started with 4 primaeval elements: abyss, substance, realm beneath the earth, and desire
-All other Gods seem to emerge from these 4 elements

- Finally, some notes from the best chapter in the book about the 7 days of creation from the Hebrew bible
-Temples were originally seen as the house of God
-But, because of the destruction of the temple and the exile that followed it, they had to rethink their theology, and the temple of God became the skies and earth
-Genesis is the newest part of the Hebrew Bible

Although I am genuinely interested in the subject and I enjoyed the lectures, I am not sure how much of it is going to stay with me in the long term. There was something about the narrative and the relative shortness of the format that made the retention of the material difficult. Also, I did not always find it very engaging. After a while, it was a bit hard to follow who did what in the stories. Nevertheless, I got a general picture of several distinct traditions, and I was no doubt amazed by the sheer power of human curiosity and imagination reflected in those myths.

[Shauna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this little "side quest" in my broader adventure of history studies. I'm working my way through the ancient world, and there was some important juicy information here. A must for history, mythology, and religion fans.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting topic, but very cursory presentation -- the creation stories of multiple ancient religions, and comparing some of the common elements (either convergent evolution or elements directly being shared). Interesting and well presented, but really could use more depth.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty narrow focus of the "ancient world," but interesting in what it does cover.

[Mary Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting history of different creation stories. Author did well in comparing the various stories from different cultures.

[Bennett Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

[ian t · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of various creation myths, and a great start for deep diving into the origins of, well, everything!

[Christopher Hunt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best thing this course did for me is to give me an outline of study. It was good, but not extraordinary. Worth the listen if you are going to go through the primary source materials as you do so.

[Pierre Parent · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this lecture series and I would like to give it 4 or 5 stars, but it was too short in my view. It focused solely on the creation stories of the ancient Mediterranean and it would have been interesting to hear myths from other parts of the world. The focus on this one part of the world did allow him to explore the commonality and differences between the creation stories which was interesting. The other part that I thought was lacking was a discussion about why the myths were as they are. He does delve into this during the two lectures on Genesis which provided more depth and understanding to them, in particular why chapter 1 and chapter 2 of Genesis, which are both creation stories, are somewhat contradictory. This gives a better sense of who the people were and why their creation stories fit who they were. I would have liked to see this aspect for the other creation myths, though perhaps our understanding of those people, e.g., the Babylonians and Hittites, is not detailed enough to make those conjectures.

[Brian Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent overview and even if you have heard all this before, well worth the read/listen.