The Beginning of the Universe in the Myths of the World: A Comparative Study The Beginning of the Universe in the Myths of the World: A Comparative Study

Commenting on the universe and its beginning are the most important issues in myths. Myths of creation reflect the mentality of primitive man, they often have a purposeful structure and their goal is to remove ambiguity from the pre-creation stage. By eliminating ambiguity from unknowns and expressing the process of creation, myths attempt to convey man to the infinite time. The aim of present article is to identify the similarities and differences among myths and the influence of geographic environment on myths. To achieve this aim, myths were chosen from all continents. By examining the status of pre-creation in myths, the similarities and differences among myths were identified. Despite geographical diversities, the study shows that myths are very similar to each other. These similarities show that humans have common concerns. The most important common features of myths are as follows: the beginning darkness, the existence of water and its significance in all parts of the world, the infinity of time and the existence of the beginning chaos. Although myths are influenced by their environment, the impact of the environment on the beginning stage of myths is less than that of other parts.