Cosmogonic myths - a category of myths that tell about the transformation of chaos into space. The word "cosmogony" is formed from two Greek words: peace (or cosmos) and arise. Chaos (emptiness; from the Greek root “hao”, yawn) in myths means first potentiality, formless matter from which the world will be created. The personification of an infinite and empty world space without dimensions. In ancient Greek myths, the embodiment of Chaos is the Ocean or the original waters.
Cosmogonic myths are common in the cultures of many nations, and the image of the Ocean in the cosmogony of Ancient Greece, most likely, developed under the influence of the ancient Sumerian culture. The act of creation represents the creation of order from disorder. As long as order is maintained, there is peace. But it may happen that at some point there will be a threat of its destruction, then he may return to a state of chaos. Almost everywhere, myths describe the battle of a deity or cultural hero with a monster (sea serpent or dragon), representing the forces of chaos.
The cosmogonic myths of ancient Greece are well known in Hesiod's Theogony poem. Chaos, according to Theogony, is the original deity who gave birth to Erebus and Nyuktu (Darkness and Night). Other cosmic principles originated from it: Gaia (Earth), Tartarus (underground kingdom) and Eros (Love or the power of attraction). At Hesiod, Chaos is located below the Earth, but above Tartarus, the first mention of which can be found at Homer. Modern science has established that the formation of ancient Greek myths was significantly influenced by the religious systems of the Eastern Ancient World (Sumerian, Babylonian, Hittite). Of course, cosmogonic myths in the presentation of Hesiod in ancient Greece were not the only ones. Many theorists have developed their theories. So, among the lower strata of the population, the Orphic cosmogony, in which the world egg is present, was more popular. According to Epimenides, in the beginning there were Air and Night, from which Tartarus and a pair of gods arose, who gave rise to the world egg. The central roles of the Orphics are assigned to Dionysus and Demeter. Their fate is connected with the beginning of the history of mankind.
In the Roman tradition, in particular among Ovid, cosmogonic myths describe the originally existent gross and undeveloped mass into which all elements of the cosmos were immersed in a shapeless heap.
A full review of Greek myths and tales, known as the Mythological Library, an unknown writer called Pseudo-Apollodorus, tells us that Gaia (Earth) and her born Uranus (Sky) ruled the world first. The sky covered the Earth (a symbol of the union of Men and Women), and twelve gods of the first generation appeared (six brothers and six sisters).
In the philosophical concept of Prima Matter (the first matter), developed around the 5-6th centuries, biblical concepts and various cosmogonic myths were combined. Examples of its application can be found among the alchemists of the Renaissance, who compared the “first matter” with literally everything: Chaos, Man and Woman, androgynous creature, Heaven and Earth, Body and Spirit. They used similar comparisons to describe the universal nature of Prima Matter, which possesses the qualities and properties of all things.
