A legend invented by a child about the origin of the world. Greek creation myth. Aztec "War of the Gods"

Everywhere, on all continents, people told stories that describe the deeds of the gods and help explain the secrets of the world. All the myths that have come down to us about the creation of the world and people, at first glance, can amaze with their contradictory diversity. The creators of the gods, people and the universe in them are either animals, or birds, or gods, or goddesses. The ways of creation and the creators are also different. Common to all legends is, perhaps, only the idea of ​​primitive chaos, from which certain gods gradually arose and created the world in different ways.

Unfortunately, almost none of the myths about the creation of the world has survived to this day in its entirety. Quite often it is not possible to restore even the plot of a particular legend. Such fragmentary information about some variants had to be supplemented with the help of other sources, and in some cases the legend had to be restored according to separate fragmentary data, on the basis of both written and material monuments. Nevertheless, despite the incompleteness of the material, upon closer examination of the whole variety of myths that have come down to us, so different and seemingly mutually unrelated, it still turns out to be possible to establish a number of common features. And, despite such contradictory, confusing and diverse views, people “believed in one supreme god, self-born, self-sufficient, omnipotent and eternal, who created other gods, the sun, moon and stars, the earth, and everything that is on it.

We, modern people, are interested in the myths of ancient peoples because they tell about how they lived, what they believed in, how our ancestors understood the world. Consider briefly the creation myths that existed in the ancient world, as well as in modern world religions.

ancient religions

In most mythologies, there are common plots about the origin of all things: the separation of elements of order from the primordial chaos, the separation of maternal and paternal gods, the emergence of land from the ocean, the infinite and timeless, etc. In cosmogonic (about the origin of the world) and anthropogonic (about the origin man) in myths, a group of plots is distinguished about the creation of the world as the earth or the universe, the creation of the animal and plant worlds, the creation of man, describing their origin as an arbitrary act of “creation” on the part of a higher being.

Myths of Ancient Egypt. God Ra appeared from the Water Abyss, and then all living beings came out of his mouth. First, Ra exhaled Shu - the first Air, after - the first moisture Tefnut (Water), from which a new couple was born, Geb Earth and Nut Sky, who became the parents of Osiris Birth, Isis Rebirth, Set Desert and Neptides, Horus and Hathor. From air and moisture, Ra created the Eye of Ra, the goddess Hathor, to see what he was doing. When Ra had an eye, he began to cry, and people appeared from his tears. Hathor was angry with Ra because she existed separately from his body. Then Ra found a place for Hathor on his forehead, after which he created snakes, from which all other creatures appeared.

Myths of Ancient Greece. In Greece, there was more than one myth about the creation of the world - there were patriarchal and matriarchal versions. First there was Chaos. The gods that emerged from Chaos are Gaia Earth, Eros Love, Tartarus the Abyss, Erebus Darkness, Nikta Night. The gods that appeared from Gaia are Uranus Sky and Pontus More. The first Gods gave birth to the Titans. One of the matriarchal versions sounded like this: Mother Earth Gaia arose from Chaos and gave birth to Uranus (“Sky”) in a dream. Uranus ascended to his assigned place in the sky and poured out his gratitude to his mother in the form of rain, which fertilized the earth, and the seeds that had fallen asleep in it were awakened to life.

Patriarchal version: in the beginning there was nothing but Gaia and Chaos. From Chaos came Erebus (darkness), from night - ether and day. The earth gave birth to the sea, and then the great Ocean and other children. The father of the children, Uranus, planned to destroy them, envious of the love that Gaia felt for them. But the youngest of the children - Kronos, in revenge, castrated his father and threw the cut-off parts into the sea - this is how Aphrodite appeared, and the blood of Uranus, which fell to the ground, gave birth to Furies. Kronos became the supreme deity and married Rhea. His children (Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon), Kronos, fearing to be overthrown, swallowed. Only the youngest, Zeus, managed to escape, who overthrew Kronos a few years later. Zeus freed his brothers and sisters and became the supreme deity. Zeus is one of the main gods of the ancient Greek pantheon.

Myths of Mesopotamia. According to the Sumerian-Akkadian cosmogonic epic Enuma Elish, Tiamat mixed her waters with Apsu, thereby giving rise to the world. The words Apsu and Tiamat have a dual meaning, in mythology they were understood as the names of the gods, but when writing these words in the Enuma Elish, there is no determiner DINGIR, meaning "deity", so, in this context, they should be considered rather natural elements or elements, than gods.

An interesting concept of the universe was created by the Zoroastrians. According to this concept, the world has existed for 12 thousand years. Its entire history is conditionally divided into four periods, each of 3 thousand years.

The first period is the preexistence of things and ideas. At this stage of celestial creation, there were already prototypes of everything that was later created on Earth. This state of the world is called Menok ("invisible" or "spiritual").

The second period is the creation of the created world, that is, the real, visible, inhabited by "creatures". Ahura Mazda creates the sky, the stars, the Moon, the Sun, the first man and the first bull. Beyond the sphere of the Sun is the abode of Ahura Mazda himself. At the same time, however, Ahriman begins to act. He invades the sky, creates planets and comets that are not subject to the uniform movement of the celestial spheres. Ahriman pollutes the water, sends death to the first man Gayomart and the primeval. But from the first man are born a man and a woman, from whom the human race descended, and all animals come from the first ox. From the collision of two opposing principles, the whole world comes into motion: waters become fluid, mountains arise, celestial bodies move. To neutralize the actions of "harmful" planets, Ahura Mazda assigns his spirits to each planet.

The third period of the existence of the universe covers the time before the appearance of the prophet Zoroaster. During this period, the mythological heroes of the Avesta act: the king of the golden age - Yima the Radiant, in whose kingdom there is no heat, no cold, no old age, no envy - the creation of the devas. This king saves people and livestock from the Flood by building a special shelter for them. Among the righteous of this time, the ruler of a certain region Vishtaspa, the patron of Zoroaster, is also mentioned.

During the last, fourth period (after Zoroaster), in each millennium, three Saviors should appear to people, appearing as the sons of Zoroaster. The last of them, the Savior Saoshyant, will decide the fate of the world and humanity. He will resurrect the dead, destroy evil and defeat Ahriman, after which the world will be cleansed by a “stream of molten metal”, and everything that remains after that will gain eternal life.

In China, the most important cosmic forces were not the elements, but the male and female principles, which are the main active forces in the world. The famous Chinese yin and yang sign is the most common symbol in China. One of the most famous creation myths was recorded in the 2nd century BC. e. It follows from it that in ancient times there was only gloomy chaos, in which two principles gradually formed by themselves - Yin (gloomy) and Yang (light), which established the eight main directions of world space. After the establishment of these directions, the spirit of Yang began to rule the heavens, and the spirit of Yin - the earth.

The earliest written texts in China were divinatory inscriptions. The concept of literature - wen (drawing, ornament) at the beginning was designated as an image of a person with a tattoo (hieroglyph). By the VI century. BC e. the concept of wen acquired the meaning - the word. The first books of the Confucian canon appeared: the Book of Changes - Yijing, the Book of History - Shu Jing, the Book of Songs - Shi Jing XI - VII centuries. BC e. Ritual books also appeared: The Book of Ritual - Li ji, Notes on Music - Yue ji; annals of the kingdom of Lu: Spring and Autumn - Chun qiu, Conversations and judgments - Lun yu. A list of these and many other books was compiled by Ban Gu (AD 32-92). In the book History of the Han Dynasty, he wrote down all the literature of the past and his time. In the I - II centuries. n. e. one of the brightest collections was Izbornik - Nineteen ancient poems. These poems are subject to one main idea - the transience of a brief moment of life. In ritual books, there is the following legend about the creation of the world: Heaven and earth lived in a mixture - chaos, like the contents of a chicken egg: Pan-gu lived in the middle (this can be compared with the Slavic representation of the beginning of the world, when Rod was in an egg).

Japan. In the beginning there was only the boundless oily sea of ​​Chaos, then the three spirits "kami" decided that the world should be created from this sea. The spirits gave birth to many gods and goddesses, including Izanaki, who was given a magical spear, and Izanami. Izanaki and Izanami descended from the sky, and Izanaki began to disturb the sea with his spear, and when he pulled out the spear, several drops gathered on its tip, which fell back into the sea and formed an island.

Then Izanaki and Izanami discovered differences in their anatomy, causing Izanami to conceive many miraculous things. The first creature they conceived turned out to be a leech. They put her in a reed basket and let her float on the water. After Izanami spawned Foam Island, which was useless.

The next thing that gave rise to Izanami - the islands of Japan, waterfalls, mountains and other natural wonders. Then Izanami gave birth to the Five Spirits, which severely burned her, and she fell ill. Her vomit turned into the prince and princess of the Metal Mountains, from which all mines originated. Her urine became the spirit of Fresh Water, and her stool became clay.

When Izanami descended into the Land of Night, Izanaki wept and decided to get his wife back. But when he went down after her, he was frightened by her appearance - Izanami had already begun to decompose. Frightened, Izanaki ran away, but Izanami sent the Night Spirit to bring him back. The fleeing Izanaki threw his combs, which turned into vines and thickets of bamboo, and the Spirit of the Night stopped to feast on grapes and young shoots. Then Izanami sent eight thunder spirits and all the warriors from the Land of Night for her husband, but Izanaki began to throw peaches at them, and they fled. Then Izanami promised her husband that she would take a thousand people every day if he avoided her. To this, Izanaki replied that he would give life to a thousand people every day. So death came into the world, but the human race did not perish. When Izanaki washed off the dirt of the Land of Night, gods and goddesses were born - Amaterasu - the sun goddess and progenitor of the emperor, Tsukiyomi-no-Mikoto - the Moon and Susano-o - the god of the storm.

Dear readers!
In November 2012, I published an essay "Hercules - Classics of Mythology or Mythology of Classics?", which aroused great interest from readers and a sharp reaction from the authorities, represented by TV 3. And this is not surprising, since "my Hercules" turned from a legendary hero into Antihero. But I affirm that Hercules is an Anti-Hero, a cold-blooded, maniacal killer of not only warriors, but also women and children, a thief, a robber and a robber. Who needed to make a Hero out of Hercules? The answer to this question can be found in the history of ancient Greece. Hercules was turned into a Hero and mythologized by the Dorians - the conquerors of ancient Greece. Their new Hero, Hercules, had to "justify" the countless brutal crimes of the Dorians. And for the defeated Achaeans (one of the main ancient Greek tribes), Hercules was a cruel conqueror who ruined dozens of cities and killed many warriors, kings, women, children and the elderly.
These are the anti-heroes-Hercules in our days appeared in Ukraine, on the Maidan. And it's scary that the US and Europe are doing everything to turn these killers into new "Hercules-Hercules ..."
That's why, I decided to remind everyone about Hercules the Anti-Hero, in a new, edited version of my essay. (Published in the anthology "Swan" No. 704 of March 23, 2014, USA, Boston)

HERCULES ANTI-HERO

Is there any other mythological hero as fundamental, as majestic, as revered, as authoritative and as indisputable as Hercules? Probably not. Hercules is a classic of ancient Greek mythology. Hercules is a modern classic, since the “glorious deeds” of Hercules have survived to this day, they are studied in literature classes in the sixth grade of all Russian schools. Teachers of the "highest category" develop manuals and lesson plans for the study of the exploits of Hercules, so that our children absorb the spirit of the hero, learn life from his actions.
But heroes, just like anti-heroes, are created by people. People put heroes on a pedestal, people, on the other hand, overthrow heroes from a pedestal. And this is the same classic of the genre.
The author is not going to rewrite classical mythology, and even more so, to overthrow Hercules from his pedestal. Today, this is (unfortunately) impossible. Hercules - Hero for the Ages (?) But no one deprived the author of the possibility of a creative approach to established views on classical historical mythology. Having carefully studied the life path of Hercules, the author realized that irony, sarcasm and even disrespect towards the legendary “hero” are acceptable and justified. Moreover, the author takes the liberty of asserting that Heracles, the Hero, erected on a pedestal, is in fact an Anti-Hero. Are you ready for this take on the classic Hero? By the way, Hercules simply means "hero". Our "hero" from birth had the name Alkid, which he later abandoned (more on that below), becoming simply Hercules.
If you carefully (as a researcher) study the life path and description of the exploits of Hercules, known to us from the legends and myths of ancient Greece, according to Homer and Ovid, you can find amazing things. The three main virtues of Hercules are clearly revealed.
First virtue. Resigned servility to King Ephristheus, who hired Alkid-Hercules for the service, giving him the nickname "Hercules". But why did the son of Zeus begin to serve the cowardly and insignificant king Ephrystheus? He had a very good reason for this. After the murder of his wife and children (three sons) in Fifa, and, at the same time, his nephews (mythology explains this by an attack of madness sent down on him by the Goddess Hero), Hercules fled from justice to Mycenae, where his cousin Efristheus ruled. The king of Mycenae knew what a terrible crime Hercules had committed and, having taken him into service, openly and with impunity mocked him. As soon as King Eurystheus did not mock Hercules, he did not give him any absurd instructions. Hercules endured everything humbly and meekly performed, if only to avoid justice. What is the 11th feat of Hercules worth when Eurystheus sent him to the underworld of Hades, for the terrible dog Kerberos (Cerberus), and only to order Hercules to take Cerberus back to hell. And the eighth feat? Was it worth sailing to distant lands for the horses of Diomedes, stealing horses, killing a bunch of people there, including King Diomedes, so that King Eurystheus would immediately release the horses to freedom? Well, would a self-respecting hero endure such bullying? But Hercules endured, and it is understandable why - to avoid justice for the murder of his family. And remember the story of the slavery of Hercules to Queen Lydia Omphala, to whom he was profitably sold by Ephrystheus for three whole years. And all three years the queen openly mocked Hercules. All three years, the hero Hercules walked in a woman's dress and sat at the loom! But Hercules, like a slave, meekly endured these humiliations.
Second virtue. Tendency to theft and robbery. Hercules stole the horses of Diomedes. He stole the cows of the giant Gerion (the 10th feat of Hercules, in which Helios the Sun helped him!). It should be noted that if any of the Greek kings lost their cattle, then everyone immediately accused Hercules of stealing. Such was the glorious reputation of Hercules! And the story of Hippolyta's belt (9th feat)? In fact, Hercules went to the country of the Amazons in order to either steal the belt or kill all the Amazons and take possession of the belt. From mythology it is clear that Hercules killed the Amazons. Is it heroism to fight women? But in ancient Greece, such deeds were considered "exploits", since then all of Greece lived by robberies, robberies and wars.
Third virtue. Manic vindictiveness and cruelty, developed into a manic passion for murder. This is perhaps the main feature of the nature of Hercules. This "virtue" manifested itself in Hercules from childhood. Remember how the boy Hercules hit his music teacher with a cithara (something like a lyre) on the head and killed him. Why did he kill? And for the fact that the teacher dared to punish the capricious student. Well, how do you like this "innocent" childish prank that went unpunished?
We already know that as a young man, in his first marriage to Megara, Hercules, in a fit of rage, killed his children - three sons, and then, at the same time, killed the children of his brother Iphicles. This sick propensity to kill children manifested itself in Hercules and in his third marriage with Deinira. A little boy poured water on Hercules' hands to wash his feet. The retribution for the mistake was cruel. Hercules hit the boy so hard that the baby fell dead. And this cold-blooded murder went unpunished.
Remember why Hercules killed King Augeas? Only for not receiving the promised payment from him for cleaning the stables. Carefully reread the sixth feat of Hercules, and you will see that the waters of the rivers, which cleansed the stables, at the same time destroyed them. And do you have to pay for this kind of work? And for refusing to pay - it is necessary to kill? Do you remember how you killed? In a "fair" battle - with a poisoned deadly arrow! Hercules at the same time dealt with all the allies of Avgiy. He killed King Neleus of Pylos and eleven of his sons. The most amazing thing is that in honor of his "glorious victories" Hercules established the Olympic Games! Those same Olympic Games that are held on our planet every four years.
What about the assassination of King Diomedes? King Ephestheus ordered Hercules to steal from King Diomedes the famous horses that devour people. Stealing, robbing, killing - this was to the liking of the "hero" Hercules. The horses are stolen, and Poor Diomedes fell under the sword of Hercules, just because he tried to recapture his wonderful horses, which Hercules stole from him. What about the fate of King Leomedont? The king did not want to give the horses to Hercules, which he liked so much, and the hero harbored a terrible anger at the king. After some time, Hercules specifically attacked Troy to kill King Leomedont - and killed! And the poor Sicilian king Eriks? Why did he die at the hands of Hercules? And because he did not want to return to the hero one cow, which had strayed from the herd of cows stolen by Hercules from the giant Gerion! And the twelfth feat of the hero? When Hercules went to the gardens of the Hesperides to steal the golden apples belonging to Hera herself, the wife of Zeus (!), On his way he met the prophetic old man Nereus. Only Nereus knew the way to the gardens of the Hesperides, but he did not want to reveal this secret to Hercules. Well, in vain. He made it worse for himself. Hercules so wrung the old man, tormented and tortured him so much that the poor old man split. Truly a heroic deed! Once, in a fit of rage, Hercules killed his best friend Ifit. How Hercules killed the good old centaur Chiron, you remember - with a poisoned arrow, drunk with wine. In fact, poisoned arrows were Hercules' favorite "tool". You can kill anyone and without problems. The main thing is to become a winner! Even mythological plots do not whitewash the "cowardice" of Hercules. So, the king of Lydia, Lik, argued that Hercules was a coward, avoiding a fair fight and preferring to kill rivals with his poisoned arrows.
But modern ideologists from history and mythology have their own view on the murders committed by Hercules, and this view, which should be “the only true one”, they convey to the people through the TV 3 channel (12/26/2012 “Battles of the Gods. Hercules”) . What is worth only their statement that the first (and almost the only) person whom Hercules killed was King Diomedes, from whom Hercules stole horses. At the same time, it was especially emphasized that the “FIRST MAN” whom Hercules killed was Diomedes. "Smart and honest" ideologists completely forgot about the early murders of Hercules: King Avgiy; King Neleus and his eleven sons; kings Leomedont and Eryx; a little boy who poured water on the hands of Hercules, intended for washing his feet, and several dozen more soldiers who defended their kings ... Not a word about this!
What confuses me the most is that Hercules killed his compatriots right and left. He did not defend Greece from enemies, like the Russian Hero Ilya Muromets, he terrorized Greece, but entered History as the greatest ancient Greek hero. Why is that? There is a historical explanation for this. Such a great hero was needed by the Dorians, one of the main ancient Greek tribes. At the turn of the XIII-XII centuries BC, the Dorians invaded the territory of Central Greece ("Dorian invasion"), which was the beginning of the colonization of Greece. At this time, the mythologization of Hercules by the Dorians took place, as a glorious and invincible hero. And for the defeated Achaeans (one of the main ancient Greek tribes), Hercules was a cruel conqueror who ruined dozens of cities and killed many warriors, kings, women, children and the elderly.
I'm already tired of listing all the murders of Hercules. Yes, to be honest, I just don't like it. The fact that Hercules had a seriously disturbed psyche is beyond doubt. medical fact. Even Hercules himself was aware that he was being attacked by fits of madness. It would be naive to believe that the mind of Hercules was overshadowed by the wrath of the Goddess Hera. This was the “normal”, natural behavior of a warrior, a “hero” in the conditions of continuous wars and robberies. Today, Hercules would be recognized as a maniac murderer, extremely dangerous to society, but by no means a hero worthy of imitation.
And now, let's briefly analyze the exploits of Hercules and try to objectively assess his heroism. The first feat - strangled the Nemean lion. Credited. Hero.
The second feat is the Lernaean Hydra. In place of each severed head, the hydra immediately grew two new ones. Hercules was exhausted to fight the hydra. In addition, he was grabbed by the leg by a monstrous cancer. And Hercules could not stand it, and called for help from his friend Iolaus. Iolaus killed cancer. And then he began to burn the hydra's necks, from which Hercules knocked their heads off. This is how the hydra was defeated. I think that Iolaus showed real heroism and ingenuity, and the glory went to Hercules. Any objective judge would not have attributed this victory to Hercules.
The third feat is the Stymphalian birds. Monstrous birds of copper and bronze that shoot deadly feathered arrows. Remember how Pallas Athena helped Hercules? She gave Hercules two copper tympanums. Their roar frightened the birds so much that they flew away somewhere forever. (There is a version that they flew to Georgia. That is why Zurab Tsereteli loves working with bronze so much). Well, who is the hero: Hercules or Pallas Athena?
The fourth feat is the Kerinean doe. An amazing animal with golden horns. Probably the only copy in the Red Book. Hercules did not regret, neither an arrow, nor a doe, for the sake of another "feat".
The fifth feat is the Erymanthian boar and the centaurs. Well, Hercules killed the boar. At the same time, he killed his friend the centaur Chiron with a poisoned arrow. Feat? The sixth feat is the barnyard of King Avgiy. With this "feat" we have already figured out. Lots of shit...dung, lots of blood, brutal murders by Hercules, plus the Olympics. And thanks for that.
The seventh feat is the Cretan bull. Hercules sailed from Crete to Greece on a rabid bull. His king, Eurystheus, released the bull to freedom, and the mad bull began to rush throughout Greece! I really don’t know, maybe in Greece swimming on a rabid bull is really considered a feat?
The eighth feat is the horses of Diomedes. Already sorted out. One can only add that the cannibal horses ate Hercules' beloved friend Abdera, the son of Hermes. Horse theft. The murder of Diomedes. The death of a friend. Feat? A crime! But mythology is trying to whitewash Hercules: he supposedly "was forced to kill the villain Diomedes, who feeds people to his terrible horses." So Hercules delivered people from two evils at once. You have to be very naive to perceive this act of Hercules as a heroic feat.
The ninth feat is the belt of Hippolyta. If anyone believes that killing women is a feat, then count this "feat" to Hercules.
The tenth feat is the cows of Geryon. Hercules stole a herd of cows from the giant Gerion, and “courageously” killed the giant himself with a poisoned deadly arrow. A little later, Hercules killed the Sicilian king Eriks, for having appropriated one cow. Remarkable "feat". Theft and murder went unpunished.
The eleventh feat is Cerberus. This has already been mentioned. Hercules pulled Cerberus out of Hell and then brought him back to Hell. A dubious feat for the sane, but "unparalleled heroism and fearlessness" for those who cultivated the image of the hero Hercules.
The twelfth feat is the theft of the apples of the Hesperides. All that impresses in this "feat" of Hercules is his torture of the old man Nereus, from whom he beat out the road to the Hesperides.
I wonder how many exploits of Hercules you counted? More than one?
What do you now think of the classics of the mythology genre? Do you still see Hercules as an indisputable hero? Do you want to be like Hercules? But our children at literature lessons in schools are presented with Hercules as a hero from whom we must take an example ...
In conclusion, it is absolutely necessary to dwell on the last minutes of the life of Hercules. How did he die? This question was answered 2500 years ago by the Athenian playwright and tragedian Sophocles (496-406 BC) in his tragedy The Trachian Women. Let me remind you the plot of this Sophocles tragedy in my brief verse presentation:

"THRACHYANKS"
Tragedy of Sophocles, Athenian playwright and tragedian (496-406 BC)

Who are the "trachians"? So the girls from the city of Fuck "in were called,
that lived in this small, remote place.
Here the hero Hercules ended his life,
It all happened, as Sophocles says, something like this:
When, in the service of Ephrystheus, the insignificant king,
Hercules did his exploits (only wasting his strength in vain),
he met the powerful agra in the kingdom of the dead Mele,
who celebrated the exploits of our hero with dignity
and Dejan "Ira, his sister, offered Heracles as a wife.
Hercules went to Dejan "Ira to take her as his wife,
but the river god of Ahela decided to take away the “daughter-in-law”.
Between them the battle took place, in which Hercules won
and without much difficulty he got Dejanira as his wife.
When Hercules and his wife were already returning home,
a mighty centaur met him at the crossing.
The centaur liked Dejanira very much,
and he decided that he would get her by force.
But Hercules had arrows with deadly poison.
The centaur was unlucky to be nearby.
Hercules hit the centaur with a poisoned arrow.
(I didn’t want to fight him, I was afraid that I wouldn’t have enough strength.
How can one not remember what King Lik said about Hercules:
“Hercules is not a hero, but a coward. Will see only the danger, in a moment
slays the enemy with a poisoned arrow,
but he does not know the fair rules of the duel).
The centaur, dying, gave his blood to Dejanira
and thus he said to her:
“If Hercules suddenly loves another,
smear his clothes with my blood, and he will forget the other.
Once, Hercules was visiting Echalia and spent time there not in vain.
The young girl Iola Hercules liked - the daughter of the king.
Hercules demanded to give his daughter as a concubine,
but the son of the king did not allow his sister to be taken away:
“You, miserable slave, who so meekly served the tsar for 12 years,
you are the daughter of the king, my sister, you did not deserve!
Hercules was offended and he threw the king's son off the wall.
Killed of course. How not to admit your guilt.
And again he fell into slavery for three years
(for some reason, no one in Trakhin found out about this).
And a faithful wife waits for her husband patiently, doomed,
embroidering her husband's clothes with enthusiasm.
Three years have passed. Hercules became free.
Revenge! Revenge! And he killed everyone in Echalia. Like this!
And he captivated young women (they will fit into concubines
and as slaves, of course, come in handy!).
He sent concubines to Trakhina,
and he told the wife with the messenger,
that he will return very soon,
that's just the sacrifice will celebrate the heavens.
And one of the newly sent slaves told his wife,
that among the captives there is Iola, which Hercules has already tasted.
Then in the heart of Dejanira jealousy flared up,
she sent a messenger with a cloak to Hercules,
and the cloak of the slain centaur was irrigated with blood,
and so that Hercules did not stop loving her, she asked Heaven.
I did not know that the blood was poisoned with a deadly poison,
but only thought about Hercules being there.

Hercules kindled a fire for sacrifices,
when a messenger with a cloak from the house rode to him.
Our hero threw a cloak over his naked torso,
the poison came to life from the fire of the fire, penetrated the hero and knocked him to the ground.
And then Hercules realized that the poison of his arrow had returned to him,
turned into a cruel, unbearable pain.
A monstrous pain burns him,
in cruel agony our hero suffers,
can't take the pain anymore,
and he ordered his friends on the sacrificial fire to burn himself.

This is how our hero died.
Upon learning of this, the wife committed suicide.
And the son of Hercules took the young Iola as his wife,
so before his death, Hercules ordered his son ....

Here is such a completely non-heroic death, "left us" Hercules. This episode is also reflected in the mythology of Hercules ("The Death of Hercules", "The Poisoned Cloak of Hercules" and captured in the paintings of great artists (for example, the painting by Francisco de Subaran "The Death of Hercules", Museo del Prado)

We open N.A. Kun’s book “Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece” (1957 edition) on page 167 and read: “Hercules, having erected an altar, was already preparing to make sacrifices to the gods and, above all, to his father Zeus, when Lichas came with a cloak. The son of Zeus put on a cloak and proceeded to the sacrifice. .. The fire, burning hot on the altars, warmed the body of Hercules ... and a poisoned cloak stuck to the body of Hercules. Convulsions ran through the body of Hercules, and he felt terrible pain ... ". The cloak was poisoned with a deadly poison. Hercules experienced inhuman torment, and begged his friends to kill him. It is better to die quickly than to suffer endlessly painfully. Friends fulfilled the will of Hercules and burned him at the stake. Here's what really happened. Hercules was not going to die and perform the ritual of self-immolation. He was going to live and live forever! The brutal poisoning of Hercules is an accident.
But modern ideologists from history are trying to present the death of Hercules as the greatest, courageous act of Hercules, as a conscious act of self-immolation. Like, Hercules could no longer carry his cross of the murderer of the family, children, innocent people, and therefore he made a courageous decision to commit an act of self-immolation in order to cleanse himself of filth, of his sins. And this frank ideological concoction was devoted to a special program on TV 3 (12/26/2012 at 20:45 documentary "Battle of the Gods. Hercules"). Who really needs, for educational, ideological purposes, of course, that Hercules looked like a vivid example to follow, like a "Hero of the Soviet Union." When mythology becomes an instrument of ideology, it begins to be rewritten. Perhaps, the book by N.A. is already being prepared for reprinting. Kuhn's "Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece", in which the necessary ideological adjustments will be made?
P.S. Don't you think that today in Ukraine, on the Maidan, new "heroes" like Hercules are being born?

19.11.2012 - 05.11.2014

And now, when the reader has seen the new Hercules, I offer nine funny tales about the exploits of the hero Hercules. I think that the author (I) has every reason and, of course, the creative right to treat the exploits of Hercules with humor and irony.

Yours Alexey Leonidovich Gorshkov

TALES ABOUT THE FEATS OF THE HERCULES HERCULES

Childhood of Hercules

A long time ago, so long ago that one can hardly remember, in one small country called Greece, there lived a Bogatyr named Hercules. He was so strong from childhood that his peers were afraid to even approach him. Yes, try it, come on. You’ll get it right on the head, so, just in case, so that everyone knows how strong Hercules is. Hercules didn't go to school. What for? The power is there - the mind is not needed. Here he showed his strength to everyone. As a child, they tried to teach him to write, read, sing and play the cithara, but little Hercules preferred to master the bow and sword. Once, during a music lesson, his music teacher Lin, the brother of the famous Orpheus, punished Hercules, irritated by his unwillingness to learn. Little Hercules flew into a rage, grabbed a kithara and hit Lin on the head with it. The blow was so strong that poor Lin fell down dead. The court acquitted Heracles because he was the underage illegitimate son of Zeus.
For days on end, the boy disappeared somewhere, and returned home hungry, like a wolf, and ate so much of everything that ten adults would not have been able to do. Very soon, his poor parents were no longer able to feed the hero. And then Hercules thought, how to continue to live with an empty stomach?
And that very night, as he thought about it, he had a dream. He dreams that he lies on the green grass in the forest, enjoys strawberries. Suddenly, a beautiful young girl in translucent clothes comes up to him and says: “Hercules! Life is a holiday! Live like a guest at a feast. Eat well, sleep well, have fun with friends and girlfriends. Come with me and I will turn your life into sweet bliss! By the way, my name is Nega. But then another young woman comes up to Hercules, on whom the armor of a warrior sparkled, and says: “Rest can be appreciated only after hard work. Sad is the fate of a man who lives as a guest at someone else's feast. Nobody likes overstayed guests and loafers. People love heroes! I am the invincible Athena. If you want to be a hero, follow my path."
After this dream, Hercules left his parental home and went for a walk around Greece. For days on end he ran around his little Greece, and gave such cuffs to everyone who came to hand that the poor fellows scattered across the numerous islands neighboring Greece. It is said that the Greeks settled in this way on the islets, which, subsequently, were annexed to Greece. Maybe this was the first feat of Hercules?
Well, so the glorious hero Hercules lived and grew up until he was sixteen years old. By this time, he had already traveled all over Greece, slapped everyone on the back of the head, and reached Mycenae, where there was the residence of the Greek king Eurystheus, who was a relative of Hercules. And the king, of course, had heard a lot about the heroic strength of Hercules and about his exploits. The king was frightened - as if he did not have to move to some small island. The king did not want this at all. He and on the royal throne was nowhere better. And, since the king went to school as a child and gained a little mind, he decided to outwit the hero Hercules. King Eurystheus called the hero Hercules to his throne and said to him:
- I heard about your heroic strength, but I just don’t believe that you are the strongest in the world.
Hercules was offended, clenched his fists and shouted:
- Yes, right now, as soon as I give you a slap, you will fly first class all the way to Rhodes!
King Eurystheus did not want to fly anywhere at all, so he hastened to reassure the hero.
- Well, hush, hush, hush ... do not boil! But whether you are stronger than everyone in the world, this still needs to be checked.
- So check it out! Yes, hurry up! And then eat hunting!
Then the king said to him:
- To test your strength, I will give you the first task. An unseen monster appeared in the mountains of Nemea. Huge lion. This lion is the size of an elephant. And evil and strong, like a thousand lions. No one has been able to handle it so far. Go ahead and kill this lion. And if you kill, you will receive a royal reward. If you fail, you will become my slave.
- Yes, I will beat this mangy cat with one left! - Hercules said arrogantly, and went to the mountains of Nemea, to look for a mangy cat.

THE FIRST LABOR OF HERCULES

nemean lion

Hercules approached the Nemean mountains and began to look for the Lion. I searched all day, and only in the evening I found a huge cave where Lev lived. Here we should remember that in those distant times people did not have such weapons as they have now. There were no rifles. There were no pistols. There were no grenades. Well, there was nothing that could kill such a monster. All that Hercules had was a bow with arrows, a spear and a club.
Hercules approached the cave and shouted loudly:
- Well, come out, Lyova from Mogilev! Right now, I'll tear your head off!
A huge lion reluctantly emerged from the cave and roared so that the trees bent, and all the leaves crumbled from them.
Who dares to wake me up? Is that you, you wretched little man?
- Now you will understand who woke you up, fat hippopotamus! exclaimed Hercules.
He took his bow and fired three arrows at the Lion, one after the other. But the arrows bounced off the skin of the Lion. Hercules threw his spear. But the spear broke on the skin of the Lion. Then Hercules launched his mighty club at the Lion. But the Lion opened his huge mouth and swallowed the club like a fly.
And then a huge lion rushed at Hercules, and, of course, would have crushed him like a cockroach, if the hero had not had time to jump aside. And as he jumped away, he rushed to run away with all his legs. The lion is behind him. Hercules from him. The monster attacks - the hero retreats. And so the lion managed to drive Hercules to the edge of the abyss. Hercules at the very time to read some prayer, but he does not know a single one. Hercules looked around, he sees a huge bird flying in the sky. The hero took out a grilled chicken from the bag, which he was going to have a bite to eat after he dealt with the Lion, and threw it up. A huge bird saw a small bird, albeit fried, and swooped down. And a huge lion, with huge leaps, is approaching Hercules. Yes, the hero managed to jump and grab onto the tail of a huge bird. Well, this mighty bird carried Hercules right out of the mouth of the Lion. And the huge lion ran so far that its braking distance was insufficient to stop at the edge of the abyss, and it crashed down from the cliff into the abyss.
And Hercules ordered the huge Eagle to land if he did not want something torn off from him. The eagle, of course, immediately landed, and Hercules let him go, and even left him a roast bird - as a bonus. Hercules found the dead Lion, cut off his head, chopped off all four paws and tore off his skin. From the lion's paws, the shoemaker sewed two pairs of strong sandals - Hercules ran in them for a hundred years, they didn’t have any demolition. From the skin of a lion, a furrier sewed a pair of capes for Hercules, which no arrow could pierce. Why not body armor?! And Hercules brought the head of a lion to King Eurystheus. The cunning king then put this head up for auction at Sotheby's. They say that the head of the Nemean lion was bought for a huge amount of money by some anonymous buyer from Russia.
So Hercules accomplished his first feat. I'm not sure that it was a feat, but the Greeks insist on it. I won't argue.

THE SECOND LABOR OF HERCULES

Lernaean Hydra

When Hercules brought King Eurystheus his first combat trophy - the head of a huge lion, the king questioned the feat of the hero. Were there any witnesses? Oh, they weren't! So you can't prove it was you who killed the lion? No, brother. Will not work. If you want to get into the Guinness Book of Records, you must provide documentary evidence of your feat, and even a bunch of witnesses. So, my friend, I'm giving you one more chance. Go and kill the Lernaean Hydra that lives three kilometers from the city of Lerna. Ask my secretary for the exact address.
And the cunning Eurystheus sent Hydra to kill Hercules because he was very fond of cranberries in sugar. And cranberries grew only in that swamp and nowhere else. And as the terrible Hydra started up in that swamp, they stopped collecting cranberries. Who wants to die for the royal whim?
Hercules had to go to fight the Hydra. He found her in a huge swamp two and a half kilometers from Lerna. Hercules approached the paradise of the swamp and shouted loudly:
- Hey, Hydra-Mydra! Get out! Let's measure strength!
At his cry, a huge snake head, the size of a barrel, poked out of the swamp. Behind her is the second. Next is the third. Fourth. Fifth. Sixth. Seventh. Eighth. Ninth! Although Hercules did not know how to count, because he did not study at school, he realized that the Hydra had many heads. So, it's going to be a tough job.
And all the nine heads of the Hydra, as they saw Hercules, hissed with a terrible hiss, from one sound of which one can die with fear:
"So it's you, you little man!" It's you, Hercules, the killer of my own brother, the Nemean lion! Now I will tear you to pieces!
- Let's see who will defeat whom, swamp creature! - exclaimed the hero.
Hercules grabbed the club and, well, let's hit the hydra on the heads. Bach! Bach! Bach! Bach! Bach! Bach! Bach! Bach! Bach! He knocked off all the heads, but only sees that in place of the cut heads, new ones immediately grew. Hercules began waving his club again. And again all the heads of the Hydra grew back. Hercules fought for three hours without a break, but he just couldn’t defeat the Hydra. Yes, his friend Iolaus helped him here, whom Hercules took with him as a witness, so that he could apply for a feat in the Guinness book. While Hercules brandished his club, Iolaus dragged a barrel of gunpowder to the swamp, which he took with him - just in case. Iolaus inserted a wick into the barrel, set fire to it, and threw the barrel into the swamp. And he shouts to a friend: “Take off your feet, Hercules! Now, how fucking!” Hercules barely managed to get out of the swamp.
This is where it exploded. Tore the hydra into a thousand pieces, and scattered these pieces all over Greece. Since then, in every swamp in Greece, the hydra has been sitting. Now you understand why there are no cranberries in Greece? Now the Greeks buy cranberries in Russia.
Hercules found a pair of severed Hydra heads in a swampy swamp, and, as a trophy, brought them to King Eurystheus. And Tsar Eurystheus again does not believe him. Did you only bring two heads? Hydra had nine of them. Yes, and you have only one witness, I told you that there should be a whole bunch of witnesses. So, my friend, here's another challenge for you. Go and kill all the Stymphalian birds. They do not give life to people and animals. And no one can deal with them. So you prove that you are the strongest of all!
And you ask: where did the two heads of the hydrina go? That's right - right there. At Sotheby's auction.

THE THIRD LABOR OF HERCULES

Stymphalian birds

For two days and two nights, Hercules walked to the city of Stimfal, in the vicinity of which terrible birds ruled. Their beaks and claws were of copper and bronze. Their huge carcasses were covered with copper and bronze feathers. It was these feathers that flew like swift arrows, killing all living things. A huge flock of these birds settled in a dense forest at the foot of a high hill. Moreover, one half of the flock was copper, and the other was bronze.
Hercules thought about how to deal with these birds? There are thousands of them, and he only has fifty arrows. And then Athena-Palada appeared to him and said: “Take this iron mouthpiece and go to the top of the hill. At night, when the birds are sleeping, take the mouthpiece and yell at it with all your might! The birds will get scared and start fighting each other.”
Hercules took an iron mouthpiece and went to the hill. He approached the hill and saw that the whole hill was surrounded by a high fence, and at the closed iron gate, there was a watchman's booth, and a sign on it: “Private territory. No entry!" And a little lower, in clumsy handwriting, it says: "Entrance - 1000 drachmas." Well, since Hercules was illiterate (he didn’t go to school), he couldn’t read the inscription, but simply knocked out the iron gate with a kick of his left foot and climbed to the top of the hill. The hero hid behind a huge boulder, and sat in the shelter until the night, satisfying his hunger with his favorite grilled chicken. And when night came, Hercules began to yell into an iron mouthpiece with all his might: “I'll kill you! I'll kill everyone! I’m tearing off everyone’s heads!” Here in the forest such a din rose! You can't see anything, but you can only hear the ringing of copper and bronze. Here and in the direction of Hercules, bird arrows flew. He managed to hide behind a boulder, but several arrows hit him, but the skin of the Nemean lion saved him.
In the morning, Hercules sees that the whole huge flock of birds has gathered at the watering hole - a small lake on the edge of the forest. “Here you are! thought Hercules. “I can’t handle these birds.” He went down the hill, went to the watchman's booth, and in it the watchman was fast asleep. Doesn't look like a Greek. It looks not like a Kyrgyz, not like an Uzbek, not like an African. Hercules woke him up and asked:
- And you, how are you not in our way, why are you sleeping so calmly? Are you afraid of birds?
- Not afraid. They are afraid of me, - the watchman answers.
- And why are they afraid of you, such a shibzika? Hercules was surprised.
“They are afraid because they know that I can kill them all,” the watchman answers calmly.
- Kill??? Hercules did not believe.
- Very simple. I'll cast a spell on a dead rat, and they'll kill each other.
- Well, so conjure, come on! Hercules ordered.
- I can not. I need their feathers, - the watchman answers.
Hercules pulled out of the lion's skin two feathers stuck in it - copper and bronze - and handed them to the watchman.
- Here you are. Witch, come on!
The watchman - either a Kirghiz, or an Uzbek, or an African - thought a little and said:
- It is better not to conjure on a rat, but on dead birds. Bring me a couple. Red and bronze.
And on the lawn, after a night fight of birds, there were about a dozen dead birds. Hercules brought copper and bronze birds and gave them to the watchman. Well, then proceeded to the rite of witchcraft. He took the carcass of a bronze bird and stuck a copper feather into it. He stuck a bronze feather into a copper bird. And he began to mutter something, do not understand what. And then, as he waved his hands, as he cried out, - then it all began.
The whole flock of birds rose into the air and immediately split in half. On one side are copper birds, and on the other, bronze ones. And a deadly battle began between them. Birds fought all day, and by evening the bronze ones began to overcome the red ones. The Reds could not stand it and flew away from the battlefield. And the bronze ones also flew somewhere from these parts, and never returned.
Hercules was surprised at the witchcraft of the watchman, and as a token of gratitude he put in place the iron gate, which he demolished the other day. Then the hero picked up a couple of dead birds and headed to the palace of Eurystheus. And the king again did not credit Hercules with his feat, citing the fact that half of the birds had scattered somewhere. And there was an order - to kill everyone!
They say that a flock of bronze birds has found a haven somewhere in the mountains of the Caucasus. And so many of them divorced there that Zurab Tsereteli still has no problems with bronze. And the red birds reached distant Russia, where, after many centuries, they caused such riots that the whole great country turned red for as much as 74 years.
Here is such a story.

THE FOURTH LABOR OF HERCULES

kerinean fallow deer

After a six-month vacation, which King Eurystheus presented to Hercules, the king summoned the hero to his place and ordered to get ready for a new campaign. He ordered Hercules to catch a doe with golden horns and deliver it alive to his palace. The king knew that this doe was listed in the Red Book, and therefore ordered not to kill her, but to bring her alive. Seeing Hercules on the road, the king joked: they say, for you, hero, the winner of the Nemean lion, the Lernean hydra and bronze birds, this task of mine will be simple fun.
Hercules went to the mountains of Arcadia, where this wonderful doe lived. After many days of searching, he finally saw a doe. Hercules chased her, but the doe ran faster than the wind, and it was impossible to catch up with her. It's much easier these days. He got into a helicopter with some governor and prosecutor, and in no time caught up with any doe and any other goat from any Red Book. And Hercules had to run after the doe on his own two feet. Good - the sturdy sandals saved his feet from the sharp rocks. Hercules chased a doe for a whole year. Completely out of strength. Lost ten kilos. And the deer seems to be playing with him. Lets go and quickly disappears. Stop and wait again. Hercules could not stand such mockery, and one day he shot an arrow into this nasty doe. The arrow hit the doe's leg. The poor animal was lame and could no longer run. Here Hercules caught a doe. He put her on his shoulders and headed back.
Suddenly he sees a beautiful maiden in the form of a ranger walking towards him. She approached Hercules and introduced herself:
- Artemis. Reserve security service.
And Hercules says to her:
- I have no time to talk, beauty. I hasten to King Eurystheus with a trophy. If you want, leave an address. When I'm free, we'll chat.
And Artemis says to him in a stern, stern voice:
- You are a young man, wounded the rarest animal, which is listed in the Red Book. There is no other such doe on earth - this is the only one. You have committed a crime and now you are in prison."
Hercules did not want to sit in prison at all, especially since he had heard a lot about the inclinations of the prisoners. And he began to beg Artemis to let him go. Artemis took pity on him and forgave him. And Hercules, before saying goodbye, says to her:
- Listen, Artemis. Do me a favor. Give me a document confirming that I caught a golden doe.
“No problem,” Artemis replied and handed him a piece of paper with a seal.
Hercules was delighted that now he has documentary evidence of his feat. So, soon his name will be recorded in the Guinness book forever.
When Hercules returned to the palace of Eurystheus, the first thing he did was to hand the king a document with a seal.
- What is it? Was the king surprised? - Where is the doe?
- I caught the doe, but the ranger Artemis took it from me. And instead of a doe, I gave this document with a seal, confirming my feat, ”Hercules proudly declared.
The king read the document and angrily exclaimed:
- Idiot! It's a penalty ticket! I have to pay a fine of one hundred thousand drachmas or I'm going to jail!
Hercules immediately backed up to the door, and the king shouted after him:
- Such idiots will ruin my Greece, in the end! Get out of my sight!
For three whole months, Hercules hid in some kind of wilderness, fearing the wrath of the king. And for the first time the hero regretted that he did not go to school.

22.10.2012
THE FIFTH LABOR OF HERCULES
Erymanthian boar
While Hercules was hiding from the royal wrath, his peasants living near Mount Erimanf came to King Eurystheus with a request to save them from the wild boar, which destroyed all their crops. The king summoned the minister of the interior grandfather to him and ordered him to find Hercules and hand him the royal order - to find and kill the wild boar. The detectives of the minister quickly found Hercules and handed him the royal order. Hercules began to gather on the road. And his friend Iolaus says to him: take me with you - I will come in handy.
While Hercules and Iolaus were walking to Mount Erimanf, Iolaus told that the rookery of a wild boar was guarded by evil and ruthless centaurs - horses with human bodies and heads. And among all these centaurs, only two - Phol and Chiron - are friendly to people.
On the way of Hercules and Iolaus, they met a large cave in which the kind, old centaur Foul lived. Foul sat all day alone and was terribly bored. And when he saw two travelers, he was very happy and invited them to visit. Phol began to treat Hercules and Iolaus with the best wine, the aroma of which spread throughout the district. The smell of wine reached the centaurs as well, and enraged them. “With whom is Foul for three drinking our wine?” After all, this wine belonged not only to Fall, but to all of them. And the centaurs galloped to the cave of Fola. And when they rode, they saw Hercules and Iolaus and offered them to surrender without a fight.
The Greeks don't give up! - exclaimed Hercules and began to throw arrows at the centaurs from his bow. The centaurs were frightened by the poisoned arrows and rushed to run in all directions. Yes, that's the trouble. Drunk, Hercules fired one arrow at the old, gray-haired, wise, kind centaur Chiron, and mortally wounded him. The arrow was poisoned from which there was no escape. Foul ran up to his friend Chiron, pulled the arrow out of his wound, and dropped it by negligence. An arrow pierced Fall's leg and he died instantly.
Hercules carried the bodies of Chiron and Foul into a cave, blocked the entrance to it with stones, and went to the forest where the boar lived. And the centaur Fall managed to open the way to the boar when they drank wine. Hercules found the boar's lair. A boar jumped out of his lair and swiftly rushed at Hercules. Hercules barely had time to jump aside, otherwise the boar would have torn his stomach open with his huge fangs. And the boar ran so hard into a pine tree that it broke the tree, and died from a terrible blow. Hercules brought a dead boar to King Eurystheus, but he again did not count his feat. Drunken "exploits" are not considered feats. 22.10.2012
THE SIXTH LABOR OF HERCULES
Augean stables

The king of Elis Avgiy had huge herds of horses, and since no one wanted, even for good money, to clean the stables from manure, then over time, the stables were crammed with horse goodness nowhere further. Even the horses themselves refused to enter their stables, and even more so, to sleep in them. Here you go. Since Avgiy did not have his own regular sewer, he turned to the neighboring king, Eurystheus, with a request to help in this dirty business. Eurystheus immediately remembered how Hercules framed him for a hundred thousand drachmas, and ordered him to go to Avgius and clean out his stables. Hercules got to Avgii, saw his countless herds of horses and filthy stables, and says:
- That's it, King Avgiy. I will clean your stables in one day, but on condition that I get one tenth of your horses for the work.
Augius understood that it was impossible to clear all the stables of manure in one day, and therefore willingly agreed to this condition.
“Give me a shovel,” Hercules demanded.
- Bring the shovel to the hero! - ordered Avgiy.
Hercules set to work. First of all, he broke the walls of the stables from the spirit of the sides. Then he began to work diligently with a shovel. He began to destroy a large dam that protected the city from the destructive floods of two rivers - Alfea and Peneya. The hero worked hard for half a day until he destroyed the dam. A swift stream instantly cleared the stables of manure, demolished all the stables and half the city at the same time. When Hercules demanded a well-deserved reward from King Augius, the greedy Augius refused to pay. “They say, you, Hercules, destroyed half the city for me. So - you have to pay me, not I you. The hero Hercules terribly took revenge on the king of Elis for such an insult. He killed him in a fair duel with a poisoned arrow from a bow. And after that, he made sacrifices to the Olympic gods and established the Olympic Games, which have been held since then every four years.
This was probably the first work of Hercules, which he completed on his own - without anyone's help. Who would have thought that Hercules had such a talent as a sewer! Maybe that was his calling?
We should be grateful to Hercules for establishing the Olympic Games. True, I must admit, I could not even think that, in order to establish the Olympic Games, it was necessary to get rid of a heap of manure and from the king.
22.10.2012
THE SEVENTH LABOR OF HERCULES
Cretan bull

Once a snow-white bull with golden horns sailed to the coast of Crete. The king of Crete, Minos, was so amazed by this event that he promised to sacrifice this bull to the god of the seas, Poseidon. But then Minos felt sorry for this unusually beautiful bull, and he sacrificed another bull to Poseidon. But the gods, that's what the gods are for, that they see everything and know everything. Poseidon was angry with Minos and sent rabies on the white bull. The mad bull rushed all over the island and destroyed everything in its path.
It was then that King Minos turned to King Eurystheus with a request to catch a mad bull. You have already guessed that Eurystheus entrusted this action to Hercules. Hercules arrived in Cyprus on the next line flight of the Onassis ship company, and as soon as he landed on the coast of Cyprus, he immediately asked: “Well, where is the rabid bull?” When he learned that a rabid bull was running all over the island, the first thing he did was vaccinate himself against rabies, have a snack, and he himself began to run all over the island. Do not get used! Finally, he came face to face with a rabid bull. Without hesitation, Hercules punched the bull in the nose with his fist, and while he was shaking his head in pain, he jumped on his back and shouted menacingly: “Come on, go ahead! Otherwise, yay ... I'll tear it off! Although the bull was rabid, he understood what was threatening him - if you lose your eggs ... then the cows will no longer be interesting. Therefore, the bull did not resist. He ran to the sea, threw himself into the water and swam towards Greece. And when the bull swam to Greece, he ran away again, and now began to rush all over Greece. But what was the fault of Hercules? He did his job. The bull was delivered to Greece. But the feat was again not counted. What a feat is it - to swim on a rabid bull in the sea?

22.10.2012
THE EIGHTH LABOR OF HERCULES
Horses of Diomedes

The king of Thrace, Diomedes, had horses of marvelous beauty and incredible strength. Since childhood, they have been chained to the stalls with triple chains. Because all the time they were eager for freedom, not wanting to serve anyone. And these marvelous horses never ate the usual horse food: grass, hay, oats. They ate only human flesh.
King Eurystheus ordered Hercules to get to Thrace, steal the horses of Diomedes and bring them to Mycenae. Hercules sailed to Thrace on a ship, along with his beloved friend Abderu. Hercules came to King Diomedes and said to him:
- Sell, king, your horses. I will pay you thirty thousand drachmas for them.
- Yes, my horses are not worth a million drachmas! Diomedes laughs.
- Well, since they are worth nothing, give it away just like that, - says Hercules.
- You're out of your mind, my friend! Where is it seen that priceless horses were given to some stranger at his first request? Maybe you're drunk? So go and sleep!
Hercules was terribly offended at the words of King Diomedes, and harbored a deadly rage at him. At night, Hercules and his companions crept into the stables of Diomedes and took his horses to his ship. Diomedes with his soldiers rushed in pursuit of Hercules. A battle began, in which Hercules emerged victorious, killing King Diomedes and his soldiers. When Hercules boarded the ship, he was horrified to see how the horses of Diomedes devour his beloved friend Abdera.
Hercules arranged a magnificent funeral for his beloved friend. Near his grave he founded a city which he named Abdera. When Hercules brought the horses to Eurystheus, he ordered them to be released into the wild. The horses fled to the mountains, covered with dense forest, where they were torn to pieces by wild animals with pleasure.
Such is the story of the eighth labor of Hercules. Although, to be honest, I don’t understand in any way - what was the feat? Hercules stole horses and lost a beloved friend. He killed King Diomedes, who was protecting his horses. Somehow the language does not turn to call it a feat. But the Greeks insist on it. Well, okay, the Greeks know better.

THE NINTH LABOR OF HERCULES

Belt of Hippolyta

Where the river Fermodont flows into the waters of the Eucine Sea, there is the city of Themiscyra - the main city of the country of the Amazons. This country is dominated by warlike Amazon women. They despise men and pride themselves on their invincibility. And the Amazons are ruled by the mighty Hippolyta. The god of war Ares gave Hippolyta a leather belt, and as long as she wears this belt, no one can defeat her and the Amazons.
The young, but wayward and capricious daughter of Tsar Eurystheus Admet found out about this. She came to her father and demanded that he take out Hippolyta's leather belt and give it to her for her birthday. Eurystheus immediately ordered Hercules to bring him Hippolyta's belt.
Hercules gathered a small detachment of warriors and set off on a long journey on one ship. On the path of Hercules was the island of Paros, where the hero was going to replenish food and water. Unexpectedly, the sons of the ruler of the island of Minos killed two companions of Hercules. Enraged, Hercules killed half the inhabitants of Paros, and drove the survivors into the city, and threatened to starve everyone to death. The inhabitants of Paros were frightened and gave Hercules, instead of two of his soldiers killed, the grandchildren of Miros - Alkey and Sthenelus.
Hercules sailed on, not forgetting to shed the blood of those he did not like along the way. At last he sailed to Themiscyra. Hercules went ashore with his detachment, and on the shore he was met by Hippolyta herself and many Amazons. At first, the Amazons wanted to kill the detachment of Hercules, but the queen stopped them. She was attracted by the mighty hero Hercules, and she invited him and his warriors to a feast. The Amazons and their guests feasted all day, and at night the Amazons led the guests to their bedrooms. And for one warrior from the detachment of Hercules, there were ten Amazons. And Hercules spent this night and many subsequent nights with fifty Amazons and with their queen Hippolyta. Hercules and his warriors stayed for almost a whole year in the hospitable land of the Amazons. And when it was time to return home, Queen Hippolyta presented Hercules with her leather belt.
It is said that shortly after the departure of Hercules, children were born to the Amazons. And fifty boys, when they began to talk, said - we will not go to school!
Hercules returned to Mycenae and gave Hippolyta's belt to King Eurystheus. The king presented the belt to his beloved daughter Admeta. But Admeta was afraid to own this belt and transferred it to the temple of the goddess Hera.
Well, was it worth Hercules to embark on such dangerous adventures? Although it was probably worth it. Perhaps this is the greatest feat of Hercules. How do you think?
22.10.2012

May 30, 2018

Disputes between supporters of the theory of creationism and evolutionary theory do not subside to this day. However, unlike the theory of evolution, creationism includes not one, but hundreds of different theories (if not more). In this article we will talk about the ten most unusual myths of antiquity.

10. The myth of Pan-gu

The Chinese have their own ideas about how the world came into being. The most popular myth can be called the myth of Pan-gu, a giant man. The plot is as follows: at the dawn of time, Heaven and Earth were so close to each other that they merged into a single black mass.

According to legend, this mass was an egg, and Pan-gu lived inside it, and he lived for a long time - many millions of years. But one day he got tired of such a life, and, waving a heavy ax, Pan-gu got out of his egg, splitting it into two parts. These parts subsequently became Heaven and Earth. He was unimaginably tall - about fifty kilometers long, which, by the standards of the ancient Chinese, was the distance between Heaven and Earth.

Unfortunately for Pan-gu, and fortunately for us, the colossus was mortal and, like all mortals, died. And then Pan-gu decomposed. But not the way we do it - Pan-gu decayed really cool: his voice turned into thunder, his skin and bones became the firmament of the earth, and his head became Cosmos. So, his death gave life to our world.

9. Chernobog and Belobog

This is one of the most significant myths of the Slavs. He tells about the confrontation between Good and Evil - the White and Black gods. It all started like this: when there was only one solid sea around, Belobog decided to create land, sending his shadow - Chernobog - to do all the dirty work. Chernobog did everything as expected, however, having a selfish and proud nature, he did not want to share power over the firmament with Belobog, deciding to drown the latter.

Belobog got out of this situation, did not allow himself to be killed, and even blessed the land erected by Chernobog. However, with the advent of land, there was one small problem: its area grew exponentially, threatening to swallow everything around.

Then Belobog sent his delegation to Earth in order to find out from Chernobog how to stop this business. Well, Chernobog sat on a goat and went to negotiate. The delegates, seeing Chernobog galloping towards them on a goat, were imbued with the comedy of this spectacle and burst into wild laughter. Chernobog did not understand humor, was very offended and flatly refused to talk to them.

Meanwhile, Belobog, still wanting to save the Earth from dehydration, decided to spy on Chernobog, making a bee for this purpose. The insect coped with the task successfully and found out the secret, which was as follows: in order to stop the growth of land, it is necessary to draw a cross on it and say the cherished word - “enough”. What Belobog did.

To say that Chernobog was not happy is to say nothing. Wanting to take revenge, he cursed Belobog, and cursed him in a very original way - for his meanness, Belobog was now supposed to eat bee feces all his life. However, Belobog did not lose his head, and made bee feces sweet like sugar - this is how honey appeared. For some reason, the Slavs did not think about how people appeared ... The main thing is that there is honey.

8. Armenian duality

Armenian myths are reminiscent of Slavic ones, and also tell us about the existence of two opposite principles - this time male and female. Unfortunately, the myth does not answer the question of how our world was created, it only explains how everything around is arranged. But that doesn't make it any less interesting.

So, here is a brief gist: Heaven and Earth are husband and wife separated by the ocean; The sky is a city, and the Earth is a piece of rock, which is held on its huge horns by an equally huge bull - when he shakes his horns, the earth bursts at the seams from earthquakes. That, in fact, is all - this is how the Armenians imagined the Earth.

There is also an alternative myth where the Earth is in the middle of the sea, and Leviathan swims around it, trying to grab onto its own tail, and constant earthquakes were also explained by its flopping. When Leviathan finally bites his own tail, life on Earth will end and the apocalypse will come. Have a nice day.

7 Norse Myth Of The Ice Giant

It would seem that there is nothing in common between the Chinese and the Scandinavians - but no, the Vikings also had their own giant - the origin of everything, only his name was Ymir, and he was icy and with a club. Before his appearance, the world was divided into Muspelheim and Niflheim - the realms of fire and ice, respectively. And between them stretched Ginnungagap, symbolizing absolute chaos, and there, from the merging of two opposite elements, Ymir was born.

And now closer to us, to the people. When Ymir began to sweat, a man and a woman emerged from his right armpit along with the sweat. It's strange, yes, we understand this - well, that's how they are, harsh Vikings, there's nothing to be done. But back to the point. The man's name was Buri, he had a son Bor, and Bor had three sons - Odin, Vili and Ve. The three brothers were gods and ruled Asgard. This seemed not enough to them, and they decided to kill Ymir's great-grandfather, making the world out of him.

Ymir was not happy, but no one asked him. In the process, he shed a lot of blood - enough to fill the seas and oceans; from the skull of the unfortunate brothers they created the vault of heaven, they broke his bones, making mountains and cobblestones out of them, and they made clouds out of the torn brains of poor Ymir.

This new world Odin and the company immediately decided to populate: so they found two beautiful trees on the seashore - ash and alder, making a man out of ash, and a woman out of alder, thereby giving rise to the human race.

6. Greek myth about balls

Like many other peoples, the ancient Greeks believed that before our world appeared, there was only continuous Chaos around. There was no sun, no moon - everything was dumped into one big heap, where things were inseparable from each other.

But then a certain god came, looked at the chaos reigning around, thought and decided that all this was not good, and set to work: he separated the cold from the heat, the foggy morning from the clear day, and all that sort of thing.

Then he set about the Earth, rolling it into a ball and dividing this ball into five parts: it was very hot at the equator, extremely cold at the poles, but between the poles and the equator - just right, you can’t imagine more comfortable. Further, from the seed of an unknown god, most likely Zeus, known to the Romans as Jupiter, the first man was created - two-faced and also in the shape of a ball.

And then they tore it in two, making a man and a woman out of it - the future of us.

SourcePhoto 5The Egyptian God Who Loved His Shadow Very Much

In the beginning there was a great ocean whose name was "Nu", and this ocean was Chaos, and there was nothing else besides it. It was not until Atum, by an effort of will and thought, created himself from this Chaos. Yes, the man had balls. But further - more and more interesting. So, he created himself, now it was necessary to create the earth in the ocean. Which he did. Having wandered around the earth and realizing his total loneliness, Atum became unbearably bored, and he decided to plan more gods. How? And so, with an ardent, passionate feeling for his own shadow.

Thus fertilized, Atum gave birth to Shu and Tefnut, spitting them out of his mouth. But, apparently, he overdid it, and the newborn gods were lost in the ocean of Chaos. Atum grieved, but soon, to his relief, he nevertheless found and regained his children. He was so happy about the reunion that he wept for a long, long time, and his tears, touching the earth, fertilized it - and people grew out of the earth, many people! Then, while people were fertilizing each other, Shu and Tefnut also had coitus, and they gave birth to other gods - more gods to the god of gods! - Gebu and Nutu, who became the personification of the Earth and the sky.

There is another myth in which Atum replaces Ra, but this does not change the main essence - there, too, everyone fertilizes each other en masse.

4. The myth of the Yoruba people - about the Sands of Life and the chicken

There is such an African people - the Yoruba. So, they also have their own myth about the origin of all things.

In general, it was like this: there was one God, his name was Olorun, and one fine day the thought came to his mind - that the Earth should be arranged somehow (then the Earth was one continuous wasteland).

Olorun did not really want to do this himself, so he sent his son, Obotalu, to Earth. However, at that time, Obotala had more important things to do (in fact, a chic party was planned in heaven then, and Obotala simply could not miss it).

While Obotala was having fun, all the responsibility was thrown on Odudawa. With nothing at hand but chicken and sand, Odudawa nevertheless set to work. His principle was as follows: he took sand from a cup, poured it on the Earth, and then let the chicken run along the sand and trample it well.

Having carried out several such simple manipulations, Odudava created the land of Lfe or Lle-lfe. This is where the story of Odudava ends, and Obotala reappears on the stage, this time drunk as hell - the party was a success.

And so, being in a state of divine alcoholic intoxication, the son of Olorun set about creating us humans. It went out of his hands badly, and he made invalids, dwarfs and freaks. Having sobered up, Obotala was horrified and quickly corrected everything, creating normal people.

According to another version, Obotala never recovered, and Odudava also made people, simply lowering us from the sky and at the same time assigning himself the status of the ruler of mankind.

3. Aztec "War of the Gods"

According to the Aztec myth, no original Chaos existed. But there was a primary order - an absolute vacuum, impenetrably black and endless, in which, in some strange way, the Supreme God - Ometeotl lived. He had a dual nature, having both a feminine and a masculine beginning, was kind and at the same time evil, was both warm and cold, truth and falsehood, white and black.

He gave birth to the rest of the gods: Huitzilopochtli, Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca and Xipe-Totec, who, in turn, created giants, water, fish and other gods.

Tezcatlipoca ascended to heaven, sacrificing himself and becoming the Sun. However, there he encountered Quetzalcoatl, entered into battle with him and lost to him. Quetzalcoatl threw Tezcatlipoc from the sky and became the Sun himself. Then, Quetzalcoatl gave birth to humans and gave them nuts to eat.

Tezcatlipoka, still holding a grudge against Quetzalcoatl, decided to take revenge on his creations by turning people into monkeys. Seeing what happened to his first people, Quetzalcoatl fell into a rage and caused a powerful hurricane that scattered vile monkeys around the world.

While Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoc were at enmity with each other, Tialoc and Chalchiuhtlicue also turned into suns in order to continue the cycle of day and night. However, the fierce battle of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoc also affected them - then they, too, were thrown from heaven.

In the end, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoc ended the enmity, forgetting past grievances and creating new people, the Aztecs, from the dead bones and blood of Quetzalcoatl.

2. Japanese "World Cauldron"

Japan. Chaos again, again in the form of an ocean, this time as dirty as a swamp. Magical reeds (or reeds) grew in this ocean swamp, and from this reeds (or reeds), like our children from cabbage, the gods were born, there are a great many of them. All together they were called Kotoamatsukami - and this is all that is known about them, for, as soon as they were born, they immediately hurried to hide in the reeds. Or in reeds.

While they were hiding, new gods appeared, including Ijinami and Ijinaga. They began to stir the ocean until it thickened and formed the land - Japan. Ijinami and Ijinaga had a son, Ebisu, who became the god of all fishermen, a daughter, Amaterasu, who became the Sun, and another daughter, Tsukiyomi, who turned into the Moon. They also had one more son, the last - Susanoo, who, for his violent temper, received the status of the god of wind and storms.

1. Lotus flower and "Om-m"

Like many other religions, Hinduism also features the concept of the emergence of the world from the void. Well, as from the void - there was an endless ocean in which a giant cobra swam, and there was Vishnu, who slept on the cobra's tail. And nothing more.

Time passed, days succeeded each other one after another, and it seemed that it would always be like this. But one day, a sound that had never been heard before - the sound of "Om-m" - sounded all around, and the previously empty world was overwhelmed with energy. Vishnu awakened from his sleep, and Brahma appeared from the lotus flower at his navel. Vishnu ordered Brahma to create the world, and in the meantime he disappeared, taking with him a snake.

Brahma, sitting in a lotus position on a lotus flower, set to work: he divided the flower into three parts, using one to create Heaven and Hell, another to create the Earth, and a third to create the sky. Then Brahma created animals, birds, people and trees, thus creating all living things.

Evens (one of the northern peoples) created such a myth. Two brothers lived, and there was only one water around them. Once the younger brother dived very deep, took out some earth from the bottom and put it on the surface of the water. Then he lay down on the ground and fell asleep.

Then the older brother began to pull the earth out from under the younger one and stretched it out so much that it covered most of the water. A similar creation myth exists in the American Indians.

They believed that the loon bird (a very beautiful shiny black bird with white longitudinal spots) caught the earth from the oceans. The Indians of another tribe had such a myth about the appearance of dry land: a beaver, a muskrat, an otter and a turtle lived on the surface of the oceans. Once a muskrat dived, took out a handful of earth and put it on the tortoise's shell. Gradually, this handful grew and formed the earth.

In Chinese and Scandinavian myths, it is said that the earth arose from the egg of the oceans. The egg split open, and one half of it became the earth, and the other half became the sky.

Hindus have long revered Brahma - the creator of the universe.

Bible (from the Greek. "Books") - a collection of works of the VIII century. BC e. - II centuries. n. e., containing myths about the creation of the world, historical narratives, a record of ethical standards.

The peoples of the Caucasus believed that the earth and all life on it appeared after a huge white bird flew in.

The Bible says that on the first day God separated the light from the darkness, on the second day he created the heavens, on the third day he created the earth.

“And God said, Let the waters that are under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it became so... And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of waters he called the seas... And God said: let the earth bring forth grass, grass... tree... And it was so.

In Armenian mythology, one can find a legend about where the mountains Ararat and Taurus came from. Lived on earth to take gigantic sizes. Every morning, as soon as they woke up, the brothers tightened their belts and greeted each other. They did this all their lives, but in old age they calmed down with strength, it became difficult for them to get up early and tighten their belts. Then they decided to just say hello to each other. God was angry when he saw this and turned the brothers into mountains, their belts into green valleys, and their tears into crystal clear springs.

In any mythology, myths about the creation of the world and people form the basis. It is difficult to single out any particular trend in all this. The creators of the world are somewhere gods, somewhere animals, and even plants. How the primordial creature arose from the primordial Chaos and how the world created - each myth has its own story for this. This article presents several myths about the creation of the world of the Slavs, Greeks, Sumerians, Egyptians, Indians, Chinese, Scandinavians, Zoroastrians, Arikara, Huron, Maya Indians.

Slavs.

The Slavs had several legends about where the world and its inhabitants came from. Many peoples (ancient Greeks, Iranians, Chinese) had myths that the world arose from an egg. Similar legends and tales can be found among the Slavs. In the tale of the three kingdoms, the hero goes in search of the three princesses to the underworld. First, he falls into the copper kingdom, then into silver and gold. Each princess gives the hero an egg, into which he turns in turn, enclosing each kingdom. Having got out into the world, he throws eggs on the ground and unfolds all three kingdoms.

One of the old legends says: “In the beginning, when there was nothing in the world but a boundless sea, a duck, flying over it, dropped an egg into the abyss of water. The egg split open, and from its lower part came out mother-cheese earth, and from the upper rose a high vault of heaven.

Another legend connects the appearance of the world with the duel of the hero with the serpent, which was guarding the golden egg. The hero killed the snake, split the egg - three kingdoms came out of it: heavenly, earthly and underground.

And here is how the Carpathian Slavs told about the birth of the world:
When was the beginning of the world
Then there was no sky, no earth, only the blue sea,
And in the middle of the sea - a tall oak,
Two marvelous doves sat on an oak tree,
Began to think how to establish the world?
We'll go down to the bottom of the sea
Let's take out the fine sand
Fine sand, golden stone.
We sow fine sand
We will lift the golden stone.
From fine sand - black earth,
Studena water, green grass.
From the golden stone - blue sky, Blue sky, bright sun,
The moon is clear and all the stars.

Here is another myth. At the beginning of time, the world was in darkness. But the Almighty revealed the Golden Egg, in which the Family was enclosed - the Parent of all things.
Rod gave birth to Love - Mother Lada and, by the power of Love, destroying its dungeon, gave birth to the Universe - countless star worlds, as well as our earthly world.
The sun then went out of His face.
A bright moon - from His chest.
Frequent stars - from His eyes.
Clear dawns - from His eyebrows.
Dark nights - yes from His thoughts.
Violent winds - out of breath)..
"The Book of Kolyada", 1 a
So Rod gave birth to everything that we see around - everything that is with Rod - everything that we call Nature. The clan separated the visible, manifested world, that is, Reality, from the invisible world, the spiritual from Novi. Rod separated Pravda from Krivda.
In the fiery chariot Rod was approved by thundering Thunder. The Sun God Ra, who emerged from the face of the Family, was approved in a golden boat, and the Month in a silver one. Rod emitted from his mouth the Spirit of God - the bird Mother Swa. By the Spirit of God, Rod gave birth to Svarog - the Heavenly Father.
Svarog finished peacemaking. He became the owner of the earthly World, the lord of the Kingdom of God. Svarog approved twelve pillars supporting the firmament.
From the Word of the Most High, Rod created the god Barma, who began to mutter prayers, glorifications, and recite the Vedas. He also gave birth to the Spirit of Barma, his wife Tarusa.
Rod became the Heavenly Spring and gave birth to the waters of the Great Ocean. From the foam of the waters of the Ocean, the World Duck appeared, giving birth to many gods - yasuns and demons-dasuns. The clan gave birth to the Cow Zemun and the Goat Sedun, milk spilled from their nipples and became the Milky Way. Then he created the Alatyr stone, with which he began to churn this Milk. Mother Earth Cheese was created from the butter obtained after churning.

Sumerians.

The Sumerians explained the origin of the universe in the following way.
In Sumerian mythology, heaven and earth were originally thought of as a mountain, the basis of which was the earth, personified in the goddess Ki, and the top was the sky, the god An. From their union, the god of air and wind, Enlil, was born, himself called the “Great Mountain”, and his temple in the city of Nippur was called the “House of the Mountain”: he separated the sky from the earth and arranged the cosmos-universe. Thanks to Enlil, the luminaries also appear. Enlil falls in love with the goddess Ninlil and possesses her by force as she sails down the river in her barge. For this, the elder gods banish him to the underworld, but Ninlil, who has already conceived a son, the moon god Nanna, follows him, and Nanna is born in the underworld. In the underworld, Enlil takes the form of guardians of the underworld three times, gives birth to three underground gods with Ninlil. They return to the heavenly world. From now on, Nanna in a barque, accompanied by stars and planets, travels through the sky at night, and through the underworld during the day. He gives birth to a son, the solar god Utu, who travels through the sky during the day, while at night he travels through the underworld, bringing light, drink and food to the dead. Then Enlil equips the earth: he grew the "seed of the fields" from the earth, produced "everything useful", invented the hoe.
There is another version of the myth about the creation of the world.
The beginning of this story is quite beautiful. Long ago, when there was neither heaven nor earth, there lived Tiamat, the goddess of sweet waters, Apsu, the god of salty waters, and their son, the fog rising above the water.
Then Tiamat and Apsu gave birth to two pairs of twins: Lahma and Lahama (demons), and then Anshar and Kishar, who were smarter and stronger than the elders. Anshar and Kishar had a child named Annu. Annu became the god of the sky. Ea was born to Annu. This is the god of underground waters, magic.
The younger gods - Lahma, Lahama, Anshar, Kishar, Anna and Ea - gathered every evening for a noisy feast. They prevented Apsu and Tiamat from getting enough sleep. Only Mummu, the eldest son of Apsu and Tiamat, did not take part in these amusements. Apsu and Mummu appealed to the younger gods with a request to stop the festivities, but they were not listened to. The elders decided to kill everyone who interfered with sleep.
Ea decided to kill Apsu, who plotted against the younger ones.
Tiamat decided to avenge her husband's death. Her new husband, the god Kingu, strongly supported this idea.
So Tiamat and Kingu devised a plan for revenge. Upon learning of Tiamat's plan, Ea turned to Anshar's grandfather for advice. Anshar offered to strike Tiamat with the help of magic, because her husband was dealt with in this way. But Ea's magical powers do not affect Tiamat.
Anu, Ea's father, tried to reason with the angry goddess, but nothing came of it. Since magic and negotiation led to nothing, it remained to turn to physical strength.
Whom to send to battle? Everyone decided that only Marduk could do it. Anshar, Anu and Ea initiated young Marduk into the secrets of divine magic. Marduk is ready to fight Tiamat, as a reward for victory, he demands the undivided power of the supreme god.
Young Marduk gathered all the Anunnaki (as the gods called themselves) so that they approved the war with the supreme goddess and recognized him as their king. Anshar sent his secretary Kaku to call Lahma, Lahama, Kishara and Damkina. Upon learning of the upcoming war, the gods were horrified, but a good meal with plenty of wine reassured them.
In addition, Marduk demonstrated his magical power, and the gods recognized him as king.
The merciless battle lasted for a long time. Tiamat fought desperately. But Marduk defeated the goddess.
Marduk removed the “tables of fate” from Kingu (they determined the movement of the world and the course of all events) and put it on his neck. He cut the body of the slain Tiamat into two parts: from one he made the sky, from the other - the earth. Humans were created from the blood of the murdered Kingu.

Egyptians.

In the Egyptian city of Heliopolis, the “proud of the Sun,” as the Greeks called it, Atum was considered the creator and primary being. It arose from Nun, the primary ocean, which Atum called his father, when there was still nothing - no sky, no earth, no soil.
Atum rose like a hill among the waters of the oceans.
The prototypes of such hills were real hills that stood out on the water surface of the flooded Nile. Appropriately fortified, they became the platform for the first temples, the erection of which seemed to perpetuate the act of creation of the world. The shape of the pyramid is apparently connected with the concept of the primary hill.
- I exist! I will create the world! I have no father and no mother; I am the first god in the universe, and I will create other gods! With an incredible effort, Atum broke away from the water, soared over the abyss and, raising his hands, cast a magic spell. At the same moment, there was a deafening roar, and Ben-Ben Hill grew out of the abyss among the foamy splashes. Atum sank down on the hill and began to think about what to do next.
But the lone creator had nothing to create from, and he copulated with his own hand and swallowed his own seed, and then vomited out of the mouth of the god of air Shu and the goddess of moisture Tefnut, the first divine couple. Ocean Nun blessed creation, commanding it to grow. As soon as they were born, the children disappeared somewhere. Atum could not find them in any way and sent his daughter, the Divine Eye of Atum, to look for them. The goddess returned the fugitives, and the overjoyed father shed a tear. His tears turned into the first people.
From the first couple born by Atum, the god Geb and Nut, the goddess and incarnation of Heaven, descended. The air god Shu and his wife divided the earth and the sky: Nut rose in the form of a firmament above Geb, leaning on him with her hands and feet, Shu began to support the firmament in this position with his own hands.
It was necessary to separate heaven and earth, because while they are together, in an embrace, there is no place on earth for other creatures.
But Geb and Nut managed to give birth to the twins Osiris and Isis, as well as Set and Nephthys. Osiris was destined to be the first to be killed and resurrected for an eternal afterlife.
Earth and sky are surrounded on all sides by water. Every night Nut swallows the sun, and in the morning again
gives birth to him.

Memphis had its own version of the creation myth. The creator god Ptah creates everything that exists by the power of thought and the word: “Ptah was pacified, having created all things and divine words. He gave birth to the gods, created cities, placed the gods in their sanctuaries. conceived by the heart and expressed by the tongue that created the essence of all things."
The main gods of ancient Egypt, created by Ptah, were his own incarnations. In Egyptian mythology, there is another version of the creation of the world that arose in the city of Shmunu - the "City of Eight". According to her, the progenitors of all things were eight gods and goddesses - Nun and Nuanet, Huh and Huakhet, Kuk and Kuaket, Amon and Amaunet. The male deities had the heads of frogs, the female deities had snakes. They dwelt in the waters of primeval chaos and created the primordial egg there. From this egg emerged a solar deity in the form of a bird, and the world was filled with light. "I am a soul born from chaos, my nest is invisible, my egg is not broken."
During the period of the New Kingdom (XVI-XI centuries BC), the city of Thebes became the political capital of Egypt. The main Theban deity is the sun god Amon. The Great Hymn to Amon says:
Father of fathers and all gods,
He lifted up the sky and established the earth,
People came out of his eyes, gods came out of his mouth
King, long live he, long live,
May it be prosperous, head of all gods
In the myth of Amon, pre-existing versions of the myth of the creation of the world were combined. It tells that in the beginning there was the god Amun in the form of a snake. He created eight great gods, who gave birth to Ra and Atum in June, and Ptah in Memphis. Then they returned to Thebes and died there.
There is almost no mention of the creation of man by the gods in Egyptian mythology. According to one version, people arose from the tears of the god Ra (this is explained by the similar sound of the Egyptian words "tears" and "people", according to another, the god Khnum blinded people from clay.
Nevertheless, the Egyptians believed that humans were "God's flock" and that God created the world for humans. "He created heaven and earth for them. He destroyed the impenetrable darkness of water and created air so that they could breathe. He created plants, livestock, birds and fish for them in order to feed them." It should be noted that in almost all traditions, legends and myths - this is a common