Creation Stories: Landscapes and the Human Imagination

by Anthony Aveni

Overview

An accessible exploration of how diverse cultures have explained humanity’s origins through narratives about the natural environment

Drawing from a vast array of creation myths—Babylonian, Greek, Aztec, Maya, Inca, Chinese, Hindu, Navajo, Polynesian, African, Norse, Inuit, and more—this concise illustrated book uncovers both the similarities and differences in our attempts to explain the universe.
 
Anthony Aveni, an award-winning author and professor of astronomy and anthropology, examines the ways various cultures around the world have attempted to explain our origins, and what roles the natural environment plays in shaping these narratives. The book also celebrates the audacity of the human imagination.
 
Whether the first humans emerged from a cave, as in the Inca myths, or from bamboo stems, as the Bantu people of Africa believed, or whether the universe is simply the result of Vishnu’s cyclical inhales and exhales, each of these fascinating stories reflects a deeper understanding of the culture it arose from as well as its place in the larger human narrative.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300251241
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	04/20/2021
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	317,849
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Anthony Aveni, the Russell Colgate Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and Anthropology and Native American Studies at Colgate University, helped develop the field of archaeoastronomy and is widely considered one of the founders of Mesoamerican archaeoastronomy. He is the author of Star Stories: Constellations and People and In the Shadow of the Moon: The Science, Magic, and Mystery of Solar Eclipses.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Prologue About Storytelling 1

Introduction Creation Landscapes 12

Part 1 Mountains

1 Power Politics on Mount Olympus 29

2 How China Got Its Tilted Landscape 37

3 The Four Sides of the Navajo Universe 42

4 Five Aztec Creations 53

5 Creation Battles in the Andean Highlands 60

6 Salt of the Earth: Amazonian Beginnings 67

Part 2 Waterways

7 Enuma Elish: Controlling the Waters 75

8 The Nile from Benben to Pyramid 82

9 The Mande and the River Niger 88

10 Tlingit Origins 95

Part 3 Caves

11 A Dreamtime Creation from Southwest Australia 105

12 An Underworld Battle and the Maya Dawn of Life 109

13 Inca Ancestors Emerge 118

Part 4 Islands

14 A Creation Story from Polynesia 125

15 How Maui Dredged Up the Hawaiian Islands 131

16 Dobu Islanders and Palolo Worms 135

17 How Our Islands Were Made: A Shinto Story 140

18 Haudenosaunee Island Making 147

19 Diving in the Mud: A Cherokee Creation Story 152

Part 5 Extremes

20 Norse Creation: Murder on Ice 159

21 Arctic Inuit Creation 165

22 Tierra Del Fuego: Where the Seas Clash 171

Epilogue From the Ancient Greeks to the Big Bang 177

Notes 187

Acknowledgments 211

Index 213

Editorial Reviews

Anthony Aveni has produced an absolutely amazing survey that fully documents Creation stories from multiple civilizations. His achievement is staggering, the fruit of decades of research.”—Simon Mitton, University of Cambridge
 

"Tony Aveni has given us a unique survey of origin stories in many ancient societies written with eloquent skill. This important book will appeal to experts and general readers alike."—Brian Fagan, author of Fishing: How the Sea Fed Civilization

“TonyAveni shares imaginative stories of violent struggles to create an orderly universe, of our landscapes' emerging, transforming and metamorphosing, in humanity’s timeless search for meaning and purpose: an anthological gem!”—Ian Mursell, co-founder and director of Mexicolore
 

“Whether there was first darkness on the face of the deep, a void of nothing between fire and ice, or an optically opaque primordial chaos, Anthony Aveni takes us on a worldwide expedition illuminating the mysteries of Creation.”—Dr. E.C. Krupp, Director, Griffith Observatory
 

“In this fascinating book Anthony Aveni turns his forensic gaze to the ultimate question of existence: where do we come from? Exploring creation stories from across the world, this book opens new perspectives on our relationship with time and space.”—Nicholas Campion, author of Astrology and Cosmology in the World’s Religions
 

From the Publisher

Narrator L.J. Ganser helps listeners understand the complex, well-researched creation stories that are presented in the five sections of this title. He brings an easy, rolling style to the scientific explanations for the origins of life that are grouped with the cultural ones. Ganser makes sense of a range of answers to our search for meaning. His delivery brings a personal storytelling style to big-picture issues. He is like a down-to-earth professor sitting in our living rooms or cars who explains the common themes that emerge across universal questions and their answers. Who are we? Where did we come from? These are a few of the big topics that listeners can explore with Ganser's gentle lead. M.R. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

MAY 2021 - AudioFile