• Powell: go to his web site:  click here
• Leeming: what functions do myths serve in their societies?

• Powell: go to his web site: click here
• Leeming:
• basic questions (not applicable to all the creation myths):
• Who are the original beings and what is the primary matter in the account?
• How or by what mechanism does creation occur?
• Who is the creator and what is the nature of the world that was created?
• How are the other deities created?
• What questions does the story answer and on what occasions is the story told or retold?
• specific questions regarding deities:
• Egyptian: Who are Re, Shu, Tefnut, and the Eye, and what role do they play in the myth?
• Indian (Veda): Who is the One and what role did it(?) play in the myth?
• Indian (Upanishad):  Who is the Soul (Atman), Man, Wife and what role do they play in the myth?
• Hopi: Who are Tawa and Spider Woman and what role do they play in the myth?
• Bantu: Who are Bumba, the three sons of Bumba, and Tsetse and what role do they play in the myth?
• Mesopotamian: Who are Apsu, Tiamat, Mummu, Ea, and Marduk and what role do they play in the myth?
• Mayan (pp. 60-1) Who are Heart of the Sea, the Plumed Serpent, Heart of the Sky and Hurricane and what role do they play in the myth?
• Greek: go to Powell's web site: click here

• Creation Accounts:
• Powell: Prometheus, Sumerian, Prometheus: Protector of Mortals, Five Ages of Man, Pandora, Aristophanes
• Leeming: Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Hebrew, Indian (Upanishad), Hopi, Bantu, Mayan (60-62)
• Powell: go to his web site: click here
• Leeming:
• basic questions (not applicable to all the creation (of mortals) myths):
• Who is the creator of humans?
• How or by what mechanism does creation occur?
• Why are humans created (i.e. what role/purpose do they play in creation)?
• What questions does the story answer?

Flood Stories

• Flood Accounts:
• Powell: Sumerian (Ziusudra), Akkadian (Atrahasis. NB same story as Leeming, Mesopotamian only name of hero different), Greek
• Leeming: Hebrew, Mesopotamian (Utnap.), Chinese, Indian (Manu), Greek, Mayan
• Powell: go to his web site: click here
• Leeming: basic questions (not applicable to all flood stories):
• Who creates the flood?
• Why did this deity (or deities) create the flood?
• Who is saved, how and why?
• How is the earth repopulated?
• What questions does the story answer?

Powell, Chapter 23(through Malinowski): go to his web site: click here

1. Short Essay Question: (150-200 words long)
• Do the non-Greek myths agree or disagree with Xenophanes' views on myth and the divine? Pick one to three myths and discuss. In your essay also make sure to state succintly but accurately what Xenophanes' views are.
• What would Plato make the non-Greek myths we have studied so far? Pick one to three myths and discuss. In your essay also make sure to state succintly but accurately what Plato's views are.


2. Long Essay Questions: (300-400 words long)

• Leeming in his introduction to his section on "The Flood" states "The flood myth ...  is ... a 'festival' of productive chaos, a 'restoration of primordial chaos, and the repetition of the cosmogonic act'." Discuss with regard to 2-3 of the flood myths we have studied. In your discussion you may wish to note how the flood is a return to the "primordial chaos", a "repetition" of the initial act of creation,  and explore how chaos can be "productive"
• One aspect of science is to make hypotheses about what one cannot observe on the basis of what one can observe (think of Newton's proverbial apple and the theory of gravity). Since divine myths can be seen as proto-science, some scholars have noted that these myths are based on what the people could physically see and observe around them.  Discuss with respect to the myths of two different cultures, making sure you discuss two of the following : the creation of the universe, the creation of mortals, the flood.