Creation of life from clay

File:Constantin Hansen Prometheus.jpg

"Prometheus Creating Man in Clay" by Constantin Hansen

The creation of life from clay is a miraculous birth theme that appears in mythologies across continents and in several world religions. Translations of these stories and similar creation stories involve the creation of life from other soil components, such as sand, earth and mud.

Creation of humans

Beliefs

Africa

• In Egyptian mythology, Khnum, creates human children from clay before placing them into their mother's womb.
• The Yoruba culture holds that the god Obatala created the human race from clay. The creation of humans in this culture is strongly based on the earth-diver creation myth, a belief in the creation of earth only, not the cosmos.
• Woyengi, in Ijaw tradition, created humans from earth that fell from the sky before granting them identities.
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  The Efé people have a creation story in which the first man was made of clay and skin. This Congolese Efé creator, Baatsi, made man out of clay as a strong and durable base. On top of this, he placed skin to cover the clay entirely and filled his structure with blood. Both, in an attempt to provide human-like characteristics to the clay figure.
• In Malagasy mythology, the sky deity Zanahary and the earth deity Ratovantany created the Malagasy people by breathing life into clay dolls. These dolls were something his daughter was playing with, and he got the idea to bring them to life based on how much he liked them. (cite)
• The Songye people have a creation myth involving two gods, Mwile and Kolombo, who created humans out of clay as part of a rivalry.
• Some of the Dinka of Sudan believe Nhialac, the creator, formed the humans Abuk and Garang from clay. The clay was put into pots to grow, and eventually came out as fully-grown adults. Other narratives attribute the creation of humanity to Nhialac blowing his nose, or believe that humans came from the sky and were placed upon a river as full-grown adults.
• The Dogon people believe the Earth goddess was made when Amma flung earth into the primordial void. The earth was moulded into the shape of a woman to represent divine femininity. Based on this, Amma became the goddess of earth and the maternal egg for earth’s creation.

Asia

Middle East

• In Sumerian mythology, Enki created humankind out of clay and blood (see Enki and the Making of Man).
• In another Sumerian story, both Enki and Ninmah create humans from the clay of the Abzu, the fresh water of the underground. They take turns in creating and decreeing the fate of the humans.
• In Zoroastrian mythology, first the primordial ox, Gavaevodata, and subsequently the primordial human, Gayomart are created from mud by the supreme deity Ahura Mazda. Gayomart was referred to by many Persian people as the King of Clay, and they believed him to be the beginning of creation. Cite. Additionally, Gayomart was believed to be the first being created without the mixing of a male and female.
• In the Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elish, the goddess, Ninhursag, created humans from clay.

East Asia

• In Chinese mythology, (see Chu Ci and Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era), Nüwa molded figures from the yellow earth. Once molded, they were given life and the ability to bear children.
• In the Korean Seng-gut narrative, humans are created from red clay.
• The Ainu historically believed that Kamui built the Ainu on the back of a giant fish using clay, sticks, and water.

North Asia

• Buryatian mythology has the god Sombov create humans from clay and wool. He created man and woman as two wool covered beings, but did not give them life until he could create souls for them.

Central Asia

• Central Asian mythologies, including Altaic and Mongolian, have stories about how the god Ulgen created the first man, Erlik, from clay floating on the surface of water. It is believed that Erlik was created using clay for his flesh and stone for his bones. Once man was made out of clay, there was a search to animate him but it was not clearly mentioned how it would be done.

South Asia

• According to Hindu mythology, Parvati, the mother of Ganesh, made Ganesh from clay and turned the clay into flesh and blood.
• The Birhor of India believe that a leech was responsible for bringing mud to the creator god, which would later be made into humans.
• The Gondi people believe that Nantu (the moon) was made of mud that Kumpara spat onto his son.
• The Garo people in India believe that a beetle gave clay to the creator god Tatara-Rabuga, who made humanity from it.
• In Andamanese Mythology, women were fashioned from clay, while the "humans," men, emerged from split bamboo.

Southeast Asia

• According to some Laotian folk religion, there are stories of humans created from mud or clay.
• Ara and Irik, two bird spirits from Bornean myth, created humans from clay and the sound of their own voices.
• In Vietnamese mythology, the Ngọc Hoàng and the Twelve Bà mụ created people from clean substances left after the creation of heaven and earth.

Europe

• In Greek mythology, according to Pseudo-Apollodorus, Prometheus molded men out of water and earth. Near the town of Panopeus, the remaining used clay was allegedly still present in historical times as two cart-sized rocks that smelled like a human body. Myths about Prometheus were inspired by Near Eastern Myths about Enki.
• Pandora, from Greek mythology, was fashioned from clay and given the quality of “naïve grace combined with feeling”. Pandora was created by Hephaestus, who was also the creator of Achilles’ shield. They were made out of different mediums though, Achilles’ shield out of metal, while pandora was moulded into a stature out of clay.
• In Norse culture, humans are made from sand in tree trunks. Askar and Embla were considered to be the first human couple on Earth. Askar has been associated with being created by the ash of a tree, while Embla's creation is less clear.

North America

• According to the beliefs of some Indigenous Americans, the Earth-maker formed the figure of many men and women out of soft clay, which he dried in the sun. After drying, he was able to breathe life into them.
• Iñupiat mythology has Raven create a human out of clay, who would later become Tornaq, the first demon. Raven’s wife created twins as she went to sleep one night, and that compelled Raven to create something too. The twins were seen as a duality, with one being good, and the other being the evil demon.

Oceania

• In Hawaiian tradition, the first man was composed of muddy water and his female counterpart was taken from his side parts (story may be partially or entirely christianized).
• The Māori people believe that Tāne Mahuta, god of the forest, created the first woman out of clay and breathed life into her.
• Tane, in Polynesian mythology, created the original woman from red clay. The creation of this woman was for her to become the mother of humanity. Based on this the first male, Tiki, was created.

South America

• According to Inca mythology, the creator god, Viracocha, formed humans from clay on his second attempt at creating living creatures. After they were formed, Viracocha pushed each of them into soil across the world so that they could reappear on different surfaces of the earth. These surfaces included lakes and hills. They built shrines on the spots where they emerged. His first attempt at the creation of living things were giants made from stone. However, after disobeying him, these giants were either turned back into stone or swept away in floods caused by Viracocha.
• In the K'iche' creation story Popol Vuh, the first humans are made of clay by the Creators. However, their mud bodies meant that they could not move their lopsided face and disintegrated in water, so they were all destroyed soon after they were made. Following this, wood and maize were used for human creation.
• The Aymaran creation myth involves the making of humans from clay. The original Tiahuanaco/Aymara creation myth also involves the god Viracocha’s creation of humans from clay, as seen in Inca mythology.

World religions

• According to Genesis 2:7 "And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” The creation of Adam through soil is indicated by his name, as the root of “Adam,” adama, means “earth” in Hebrew.
• In the Greek orthodox bible, Adam and Eve were made with soil, as their creation involved elements already formed by God.
• According to the Yahwist scripture, Adam was created from the earth’s dust and Eve was formed from his rib. 
  File:The Great Canterbury Psalter - Psalm 93.png

  Creation of Adam from a block of clay in the Great Canterbury Psalter
• In Judaism, a majority of classical rabbis believe that God created Adam and Eve from clay. Genesis 1:27 suggests “that a male and a female were created by God in His own image at the same time and from the same earth.” In Jewish folklore, God simultaneously made Lilith, Adam's first wife before Eve, from the same clay.
• According to the Qur'an (15:16), Adam was created from “sounding clay, from mud moulded into shape…” While Adam’s partner is not mentioned by name, she was created with the same natural materials (clay) as Adam, as indicated in the Qu’ran (7:189) where his mate was “made…of like nature.”

Stories

• In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu is created by the goddess Aruru out of clay to be a partner for Gilgamesh. The clay was dropped in the wilderness by Aruru, and the new creation produced contained a wild disposition and seemed opposite to Gilgamesh.

Creation of other creatures

• In Jewish folklore, a golem (Hebrew: גולם‎) is an animated anthropomorphic being that is created entirely from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud.
• The Dogon people believe the Earth goddess was made when Amma flung earth into the primordial void.
• In Greek mythology, Prometheus (who made men from clay) moulds a clay statue of Minerva, the goddess of wisdom to whom he is devoted, and gives it life from a stolen sunbeam.
• In an Apachi creation story, animals were made from clay. Supernatural beings called the “Hactcin” lived in the underworld, and the most powerful, “Black Hactcin,” made the first animal out of clay. This creature contained a tail and four limbs. Using clay from the first body, Black Hactcin was able to make diverse species of animals.
• In Navajo and Hopi beliefs, the goddess Spider Woman controlled the underworld while the sun god Tawa ruled the sky. After creating earth between the two worlds, Spider Woman molded animals from clay. A white blanket covered the creatures as magic words were whispered by the Spider Woman and Tawa, and this gave the clay molds life.

Scientific basis

• Clay minerals are thought to have played a major role during the process of abiogenesis, the initial abiotic start to life on early earth. Clay mineral surfaces are compact with simple organic molecules, making them possible active origin sites for larger carbon compounds. For example, the amino acid isovaline was discovered on the clay surface of carbon-based chondrites. Additionally, smaller unit carbon molecules, such as amino acids and nucleotides, polymerize on clay surfaces, which may have catalyzed the process of abiogenesis by forming early proteins found in protocells, and further forming RNA in pre-cells.

Modern popular culture

Wonder Woman, a superhero that appears in DC comics, was molded by her mother Hippolyta using clay. The Greek gods then gave this clay sculpture life.

Art

• 

  From Zoroastrian mythology: Ahura Mazda (figure on the left) at the archeological site Naqsh-e Rostam

• Shanhaijing Nüwa Mends the Heavens.svg

  From Chinese mythology: The goddess Nüwa

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  From Greek mythology: Prometheus creating humankind, marble relief, 3rd century CE (Louvre Museum, Paris)

• J.D.Batten Pandora 1913.jpg

  From Greek mythology: The creation of Pandora from clay

See also

• Creation myth
• Miraculous Births
• Flood Myth
• Tree of Life
• Theft of Fire
• Pygmalion

Further reading

• Bellows, Henry Adams (Trans.) (1936). The Poetic Edda. Princeton University Press. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation.
• Leeming, D. A. (2008). The Oxford illustrated companion to world mythology. New York: Tess Press.
• Byock, Jesse (Trans.) (2006). The Prose Edda. Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-14-044755-5
• Davidson, H. R. Ellis (1975). Scandinavian Mythology. Paul Hamlyn. ISBN 0-600-03637-5
• Dronke, Ursula (Trans.) (1997). The Poetic Edda: Volume II: Mythological Poems. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-811181-9
• Larrington, Carolyne (Trans.) (1999). The Poetic Edda. Oxford World's Classics. ISBN 0-19-283946-2
• Lindow, John (2001). Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515382-0
• Orchard, Andy (1997). Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. Cassell. ISBN 0-304-34520-2
• Puhvel, Jaan (1989 [1987]). Comparative Mythology. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-3938-6
• Schach, Paul (1985). "Some Thoughts on Völuspá" as collected in Glendinning, R. J. Bessason, Heraldur (Editors). Edda: a Collection of Essays. University of Manitoba Press. ISBN 0-88755-616-7
• Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. D.S. Brewer. ISBN 0-85991-513-1
• Thorpe, Benjamin (Trans.) (1907). The Elder Edda of Saemund Sigfusson. Norrœna Society.
• Thorpe, Benjamin (Trans.) (1866). Edda Sæmundar Hinns Frôða: The Edda of Sæmund the Learned. Part I. London: Trübner & Co.
• Steele, P. R., & Allen, C. J. (2004). Handbook of Inca mythology. In Handbook of Inca mythology (pp. 53–54). Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.

• Encyclopedia Britannica
• Leeming, D. A. (2008). The Oxford illustrated companion to world mythology. New York: Tess Press.
• Leeming, David Adams. Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2010. External link p. 95-96
• Leeming, David Adams. Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2010. External link
• Leeming, David Adams. Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2010. External link
• Leeming, David Adams. Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2010. External link
• The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature
• Handbook of Chinese Mythology, by Lihui Yang et al., Oxford University Press, 2008, pp. 170–172.
• Leeming, David Adams. Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2010. External link p. 10-11
• Leeming, David Adams. Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2010. External link
• Leeming, David Adams. Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2010. External link
• Leeming, David Adams. Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2010. External link
• Leeming, David Adams. Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2010. External link
• Leeming, David Adams. Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2010. External link
• Radcliffe-Brown, Alfred Reginald. The Andaman Islanders: A study in social anthropology . 2nd printing (enlarged). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1933 [1906]. p. 192
• Witzel, Michael E.J. (2012). The Origin of The World's Mythologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 309-312
• Bibliotheca 1.7.1
• Pausanias, Description of Greece 10. 4. 4
• Dougherty, C. (2006). Prometheus. Abingdon: Routledge.
• West, S. (1994). Prometheus Orientalized. Museum Helveticum, 51(3), 129-149.
• Hultgård, Anders (2006). "The Askr and Embla Myth in a Comparative Perspective". In Andrén, Anders; Jennbert, Kristina; Raudvere, Catharina (editors).Old Norse Religion in Long-term Perspectives. Nordic Academic Press. ISBN 91-89116-81-X
• Almost Ancestors: The First Californians by Theodora Kroeber and Robert F. Heizer
• Leeming, David Adams. Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2010. External link
• Leeming, David Adams. Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2010. External link
• Leeming, David Adams. Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2010. External link p. 312
• David Jonathan Hildner, Reason and the Passions in the Comedias of Calderón, John Benjamin’s Publishing Co. 1982, pp.67-71