The creation of life from clay can be seen as a
miraculous birththeme that appears throughout world religions and mythologies. It can also be seen as one of gods who craft humans out of earthly materials. As such, this class of story falls within a larger set of divine or cosmogonic origin stories about creation, whether through divine emergence or divine craft.
Religion, mythology, and folklore
Abrahamic religions
The
Book of Genesis 2:7 states, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul"[1] [King James Version translation]. In context, though, it is important to note that there are two creation stories in Genesis: the one just mentioned in 2:7, and the preceding one in 1:26-27, which simply states, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness...So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them[2]" [King James Version].
The word adam may refer to that this being was an "earthling" formed from the red-hued clay of the earth (in Hebrew, adom means "red", adamah means "earth").[3]
The
Qur'an (
Qur'an 23:12),[4] states, "Man We did create from a quintessence of clay" [A. Yusuf Ali translation].
In Jewish folklore, a
golem (Hebrew: גולם) is an animated anthropomorphic being that is created entirely from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud.[5]
Sumerian & Bablyonian
The
Epic of Gilgamesh states that the goddess Aruru created humans out of clay.[6][7] The epic goes on to narrate how
Aruru also creates
Enkidu out of clay[8] as an equal partner in strength for Gilgamesh, "mighty in strength".[7][8]
The Sumerian myth of
Enki and Ninmah (Ninhursag) states that humans were fashioned from clay to serve the gods (see
Enki and the Making of Man). Of note, the creation of humans is portrayed as a contest between
Enki and
Ninhursag, who take turns finding correct places in society for the newly created humans.[9][10] Note further that creation follows a period of gestation lasting nine days, the poet being careful to note that each day corresponds to a month in the human period of gestation.[11]
The Babylonian
Epic of Atrahasis states that humans were created by
Nintu (Ninhursag) from mixing clay with the blood of a sacrificed god.[12][13] In context, the elder gods forced the younger gods to do all the hard labor so the younger gods devised a plan to create humans to do their bidding instead. The sacrificed god
Ilawela (also written as Geshtu-(E), Geshtu, Gestu, or We-ila) is a minor god of intelligence (the text states this quite clearly: "Ilawela ...had intelligence").[14]
Contrary to what is commonly claimed, the Babylonian creation epic
Enuma Elish does not state that humans are created from clay nor are they created by Ninhursag in this particular version. Rather, they are created from blood and bone.[15] The first tablets uncovered suggested the blood was Marduk's[16] but later tablets state the blood comes from Tiamat's fallen consort, Kingu.[15] Similarly, it is oft claimed that
Enki (Ea) creates humans from this blood but it is only because he received instructions to do so from the supreme deity, Marduk[15] (in other words, this was Marudk's will or plan). Regardless, Tablet 6 of the Enuma Elish does not reference Ninhursag, Ninma or Aruru at all, and there is no reference in it to humans being created from clay.
Egyptian
The Egyptian god
Khnum is said to create human children from clay[17] before placing them into their mother's womb.[18] In context, though, Egyptians more generally believed in a cyclical view of time and rebirth. This meant humans were seen as part of a continuous cycle of creation and destruction, not necessarily originating from a single pair. Just as often, for example, the god
Ptah was said to have created the world, including humans, from an act of speech.[19]
Greek
In
Greek mythology, according to
Pseudo-Apollodorus,[20]Prometheus molded men out of water and earth. Near the town of
Panopeus, the remaining used clay was allegedly still present in historical times as two cart-sized rocks that smelled like a human body.[21][22] Myths about Prometheus were inspired by Near Eastern Myths about Enki.[23]
Also in Greek mythology,
Prometheus moulds a clay statue of
Athena, the goddess of wisdom to whom he is devoted, and gives it life from a stolen sunbeam.[24]
Pandora, from Greek mythology, was fashioned from clay and given the quality of "naïve grace combined with feeling".[25]
Ara and Irik, two bird spirits from
Bornean myth, created humans from clay and the sound of their own voices.
Central Asian
Central Asian mythology, including Altaic and Mongolian, have stories about how the god Ulgen created the first man, Erlik, from clay floating on the surface of water. [33][28]
Buryatian mythology has the god Sombov create humans from clay and wool.[28]
African
The
Yoruba culture holds that the god
Obatala, likewise, created the human race from clay.[34]
The
Efé people have a creation story in which the first man was made of clay and skin.[28]
The
Songye people have a creation myth involving two gods, Mwile and Kolombo, creating humans out of clay as part of a rivalry.[28]
Some of the
Dinka of
Sudan believe Nhialac, the creator, formed the humans Abuk and Garang from clay. The clay was put into pots to grow, and eventually came out as fully-grown adults. Other narratives attribute the creation of humanity to Nhialac blowing his nose or believe that humans came from the sky and were placed upon a river as full-grown adults. [35]
The
Dogon people believe the Earth goddess was made when Amma flung earth into the primordial void.[36]
In a Madagascar myth, two gods create human beings: the earth god forms them from wood and clay, the god of heaven gives them life. Human beings die so that they may return to the origins of their being.[37]
Woyengi, in
Ijaw tradition, created humans from earth that fell from the sky before granting them identities.
Polynesian
In
Hawaiian tradition, the first man was composed of muddy water and his female counterpart was taken from his side parts (story may be partially or entirely Christianized).[38]
The
Māori people believe that
Tāne Mahuta, god of the forest, created the first woman out of clay and breathed life into her.
Tane, in
Polynesian mythology, created the original woman from red clay.[28]
According to the beliefs of some
Indigenous Americans, the
Earth-maker formed the figure of many men and women, which he dried in the sun and into which he breathed life.[40]
In the
K'iche' creation story Popol Vuh, the first humans are made of clay, although they soak up water and disintegrate.
Iñupiat mythology has Raven create a human out of clay, who would later become Tornaq, the first demon.[28]
According to
Inca mythology, the creator god,
Viracocha, formed humans from clay on his second attempt at creating living creatures.[41]
The
Aymaran creation myth involves the making of humans from clay.[28]
Other
In science
The role of
clay minerals in
abiogenesis was suggested in a 2013 paper titled Clay Minerals and the Origin of Life.[42]
^Radcliffe-Brown, Alfred Reginald. The Andaman Islanders: A study in social anthropology . 2nd printing (enlarged). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1933 [1906]. p. 192
^Witzel, Michael E.J. (2012). The Origin of The World's Mythologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 309-312
Schach, Paul (1985). "Some Thoughts on Völuspá" as collected in Glendinning, R. J. Bessason, Heraldur (Editors). Edda: a Collection of Essays.University of Manitoba Press.
ISBN0-88755-616-7
The creation of life from clay can be seen as a
miraculous birththeme that appears throughout world religions and mythologies. It can also be seen as one of gods who craft humans out of earthly materials. As such, this class of story falls within a larger set of divine or cosmogonic origin stories about creation, whether through divine emergence or divine craft.
Religion, mythology, and folklore
Abrahamic religions
The
Book of Genesis 2:7 states, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul"[1] [King James Version translation]. In context, though, it is important to note that there are two creation stories in Genesis: the one just mentioned in 2:7, and the preceding one in 1:26-27, which simply states, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness...So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them[2]" [King James Version].
The word adam may refer to that this being was an "earthling" formed from the red-hued clay of the earth (in Hebrew, adom means "red", adamah means "earth").[3]
The
Qur'an (
Qur'an 23:12),[4] states, "Man We did create from a quintessence of clay" [A. Yusuf Ali translation].
In Jewish folklore, a
golem (Hebrew: גולם) is an animated anthropomorphic being that is created entirely from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud.[5]
Sumerian & Bablyonian
The
Epic of Gilgamesh states that the goddess Aruru created humans out of clay.[6][7] The epic goes on to narrate how
Aruru also creates
Enkidu out of clay[8] as an equal partner in strength for Gilgamesh, "mighty in strength".[7][8]
The Sumerian myth of
Enki and Ninmah (Ninhursag) states that humans were fashioned from clay to serve the gods (see
Enki and the Making of Man). Of note, the creation of humans is portrayed as a contest between
Enki and
Ninhursag, who take turns finding correct places in society for the newly created humans.[9][10] Note further that creation follows a period of gestation lasting nine days, the poet being careful to note that each day corresponds to a month in the human period of gestation.[11]
The Babylonian
Epic of Atrahasis states that humans were created by
Nintu (Ninhursag) from mixing clay with the blood of a sacrificed god.[12][13] In context, the elder gods forced the younger gods to do all the hard labor so the younger gods devised a plan to create humans to do their bidding instead. The sacrificed god
Ilawela (also written as Geshtu-(E), Geshtu, Gestu, or We-ila) is a minor god of intelligence (the text states this quite clearly: "Ilawela ...had intelligence").[14]
Contrary to what is commonly claimed, the Babylonian creation epic
Enuma Elish does not state that humans are created from clay nor are they created by Ninhursag in this particular version. Rather, they are created from blood and bone.[15] The first tablets uncovered suggested the blood was Marduk's[16] but later tablets state the blood comes from Tiamat's fallen consort, Kingu.[15] Similarly, it is oft claimed that
Enki (Ea) creates humans from this blood but it is only because he received instructions to do so from the supreme deity, Marduk[15] (in other words, this was Marudk's will or plan). Regardless, Tablet 6 of the Enuma Elish does not reference Ninhursag, Ninma or Aruru at all, and there is no reference in it to humans being created from clay.
Egyptian
The Egyptian god
Khnum is said to create human children from clay[17] before placing them into their mother's womb.[18] In context, though, Egyptians more generally believed in a cyclical view of time and rebirth. This meant humans were seen as part of a continuous cycle of creation and destruction, not necessarily originating from a single pair. Just as often, for example, the god
Ptah was said to have created the world, including humans, from an act of speech.[19]
Greek
In
Greek mythology, according to
Pseudo-Apollodorus,[20]Prometheus molded men out of water and earth. Near the town of
Panopeus, the remaining used clay was allegedly still present in historical times as two cart-sized rocks that smelled like a human body.[21][22] Myths about Prometheus were inspired by Near Eastern Myths about Enki.[23]
Also in Greek mythology,
Prometheus moulds a clay statue of
Athena, the goddess of wisdom to whom he is devoted, and gives it life from a stolen sunbeam.[24]
Pandora, from Greek mythology, was fashioned from clay and given the quality of "naïve grace combined with feeling".[25]
Ara and Irik, two bird spirits from
Bornean myth, created humans from clay and the sound of their own voices.
Central Asian
Central Asian mythology, including Altaic and Mongolian, have stories about how the god Ulgen created the first man, Erlik, from clay floating on the surface of water. [33][28]
Buryatian mythology has the god Sombov create humans from clay and wool.[28]
African
The
Yoruba culture holds that the god
Obatala, likewise, created the human race from clay.[34]
The
Efé people have a creation story in which the first man was made of clay and skin.[28]
The
Songye people have a creation myth involving two gods, Mwile and Kolombo, creating humans out of clay as part of a rivalry.[28]
Some of the
Dinka of
Sudan believe Nhialac, the creator, formed the humans Abuk and Garang from clay. The clay was put into pots to grow, and eventually came out as fully-grown adults. Other narratives attribute the creation of humanity to Nhialac blowing his nose or believe that humans came from the sky and were placed upon a river as full-grown adults. [35]
The
Dogon people believe the Earth goddess was made when Amma flung earth into the primordial void.[36]
In a Madagascar myth, two gods create human beings: the earth god forms them from wood and clay, the god of heaven gives them life. Human beings die so that they may return to the origins of their being.[37]
Woyengi, in
Ijaw tradition, created humans from earth that fell from the sky before granting them identities.
Polynesian
In
Hawaiian tradition, the first man was composed of muddy water and his female counterpart was taken from his side parts (story may be partially or entirely Christianized).[38]
The
Māori people believe that
Tāne Mahuta, god of the forest, created the first woman out of clay and breathed life into her.
Tane, in
Polynesian mythology, created the original woman from red clay.[28]
According to the beliefs of some
Indigenous Americans, the
Earth-maker formed the figure of many men and women, which he dried in the sun and into which he breathed life.[40]
In the
K'iche' creation story Popol Vuh, the first humans are made of clay, although they soak up water and disintegrate.
Iñupiat mythology has Raven create a human out of clay, who would later become Tornaq, the first demon.[28]
According to
Inca mythology, the creator god,
Viracocha, formed humans from clay on his second attempt at creating living creatures.[41]
The
Aymaran creation myth involves the making of humans from clay.[28]
Other
In science
The role of
clay minerals in
abiogenesis was suggested in a 2013 paper titled Clay Minerals and the Origin of Life.[42]
^Radcliffe-Brown, Alfred Reginald. The Andaman Islanders: A study in social anthropology . 2nd printing (enlarged). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1933 [1906]. p. 192
^Witzel, Michael E.J. (2012). The Origin of The World's Mythologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 309-312
Schach, Paul (1985). "Some Thoughts on Völuspá" as collected in Glendinning, R. J. Bessason, Heraldur (Editors). Edda: a Collection of Essays.University of Manitoba Press.
ISBN0-88755-616-7