Creation myths in the context of "Historicism"

The cosmology of the ancient Near East refers to beliefs about where the universe came from, how it developed, and its physical layout, in the ancient Near East, an area that corresponds with the Middle East today (including Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, the Levant, Anatolia, and the Arabian Peninsula). The basic understanding of the world in this region from premodern times included a flat earth, a solid layer or barrier above the sky (the firmament), a cosmic ocean located above the firmament, a region above the cosmic ocean where the gods lived, and a netherworld located at the furthest region in the direction down. Creation myths explained where the universe came from, including which gods created it (and how), as well as how humanity was created. These beliefs are attested as early as the fourth millennium BC and dominated until the modern era, with the only major competing system being the Hellenistic cosmology that developed in Ancient Greece in the mid-1st millennium BC.

Geographically, these views are known from the Mesopotamian cosmologies from Babylonia, Sumer, and Akkad; the Levantine or West Semitic cosmologies from Ugarit and ancient Israel and Judah (the biblical cosmology); the Egyptian cosmology from Ancient Egypt; and the Anatolian cosmologies from the Hittites. This system of cosmology went on to have a profound influence on views in early Greek cosmology, later Jewish cosmology, patristic cosmology, and Islamic cosmology (including Quranic cosmology).

Purusha (Sanskrit: पुरुष, IAST: Puruṣa) is a complex concept whose meaning evolved in Vedic and Upanishadic times. Depending on source and historical timeline, it means the cosmic being or self, awareness, and universal principle.

In early Vedas, Purusha was a cosmic being whose sacrifice by the gods created all life. This was one of many creation myths discussed in the Vedas. In the Upanishads, the Purusha concept refers to the abstract essence of the Self, Spirit and the Universal Principle that is eternal, indestructible, without form, and all-pervasive.

Etiology (/ˌiːtiˈɒlədʒi/; alternatively spelled aetiology or ætiology) is the study of causation or origination. The word is derived from the Greek word αἰτιολογία (aitiología), meaning "giving a reason for" (from αἰτία (aitía) 'cause' and -λογία (-logía) 'study of'). More completely, etiology is the study of the causes, origins, or reasons behind the way that things are, or the way they function, or it can refer to the causes themselves. The word is commonly used in medicine (pertaining to causes of disease or illness) and in philosophy, but also in physics, biology, psychology, political science, geography, cosmology, spatial analysis and theology in reference to the causes or origins of various phenomena.

In the past, when many physical phenomena were not well understood or when histories were not recorded, myths often arose to provide etiologies. Thus, an etiological myth, or origin myth, is a myth that has arisen, been told over time or written to explain the origins of various social or natural phenomena. For example, Virgil's Aeneid is a national myth written to explain and glorify the origins of the Roman Empire. In theology, many religions have creation myths explaining the origins of the world or its relationship to believers.

Eridu Genesis, also called the Sumerian Creation Myth or Sumerian Flood Myth, offers a description of the story surrounding how humanity was created by the gods, the circumstances leading to the origins of the first cities in Mesopotamia, how the office of kingship entered this probably neolithical civilisation, and the global flood.

Other Sumerian creation myths include the Barton Cylinder, the Debate between sheep and grain, and that between Winter and Summer, also found at Nippur. Similar flood myths are described in the Atra-Hasis and Gilgamesh epics, where the former deals with the internal conflict of an organisation of Sumerian gods, which they try to pacify by creating the first couples of humans as labour slaves – followed by a mass reproduction of these creatures and a great flood triggered by Enlil (master of the universe). The narrative of biblical Genesis shows some striking parallels (however, excluding all references to a civilisation before Adam and Eve's creation), so that scientific research has long assumed prehistoric influences on the emergence of Mosaic religion.