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... women (Ovid 559). Genesis after the flood now reveals the presence of Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth along with their wives as the first people to inhabit the earth (Chapter 9: 1, 7). Meanwhile, in Ovid's tale, the animals were the focus as they evolved from the heat and the water among the mud (559). In all these, it is interesting to note that both text give credit of creation to a Supreme Being, or a god. Ovid says it as the gods, who make the changes, will help more I hope south a poem (p. 548).
Genesis 1: 1 states, In the beginning God creates the heavens and the earth. In another similar way, both accounts depict the flood as an occurrence due to the disobedience of mankind to God in Genesis or the gods of Ovid. Both the Supreme Beings in these two accounts allow flood to destroy all inequities. Similarly, both accounts narrate of only one chosen family that is spared from the ire of God. This family is set apart from the rest because of their goodness Noahs family and those of Deucalion and Pyrrha. In return, both families worship and give thanks to their God after the flood is finished (556 and 8: 20 - 22).
These differences and variations in writing and technique make the two bodies of knowledge unique in their own ways. Chapter 1: 24 proceeds with the land producing living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind. Metamorphoses talks about a molded earth that comes to life with a breath from the Creator where some parts of the earth are swallowed up. Genesis is quite clear that no shrub of the field had yet appeared on earth. The streams that come up from the earth water the whole surface of the ground (Chapter 2: 4) is keenly similar to the Metamorphoses as Ovid writes, And bounding banks for winding rivers makes. Some part, in Earth are swallow'd up, the most In ample oceans, disembogue'd, are lost.
There is a sense of the waters swallowing some parts of the land surface. Ovid is said to distort some conventions when he announces his theme of change. He invokes the gods yet the invocation is minimal, weird and ambiguous. He only hopes that the gods will help him and this makes his Invocation rather superficial because one does not know if he is serious in invoking the gods help or he is just feeling his way around this god, Will help more so I hope (Ovid 3). According to Ovid, the creation puts an end to the strife between the warring forces that is closely similar to the Chaos of Genesis.
This strife characterizes the Western thought and it is even said that Ovid's account is more scientific than Genesis (Ovid Metamorphoses Book I). Ovid includes the air and portrays this as hanging over them and heavier than fire. The clouds are vapors and thunder to shake the minds of human beings, with winds creating lightning bolts and flashes. Chapter 2: 10 of Genesis talks about a river watering the garden that flowed from Eden. From there it was separated into four headwaters. One is reminded of the Metamorphoses four winds where air overhangs them and this is heavier than fire by as much as waters weight that is lighter than the earth.
The significance of this state of chaos and conflict of opposites is the same for both texts. The chaos is shown so that the peace and harmony and unity of all creation will emerge distinct in the end. Even the uncertain form is seen as confused and disturbed. The opposites are well elucidated in both text and one gleans the confusion in the process. Though that from Genesis is quite orderly. There is a ruling of the creatures as God commands the land to produce living creatures according to their kinds; livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.
What is different here is the dwelling on the temperatures that is found in Ovid's Metamorphoses as in 1: 23 and 1: 24. 1: 21 No certain form on any was imprest; 1: 22 All were census'd, and each disturb'd the rest. 1: 23 For hot and cold were in one body fixt; 1: 24 And soft with hard, and light with heavy most. Ovid's ambiguity in terms of his account on the creation of human beings is can probably be explained by the fact that Ovid does not believe in any certain Supreme Being who is capable of creating such a being. In fact, he addresses this Creator as a Supreme Being and then hesitates and takes back his words. How can he believe then that that someone mighty is capable of creating a wonderful piece of work that is a human being? The same is true with the creation of the earth and the air.
Metamorphoses accounts that the earth from the air and seas from earth were all driven such that the grosser air sinks from the ethereal Heaven. Ovid is quite amazing with the scientific facts that he mentions here and there. His account of the creation is peppered with these scientific details that make readers at awe with how he could be so accurate in his account. He mentions the fact that the grosser air sinks from Heavens. He has a vivid account of the details as seen in these text: 1: 27 Then earth from air, and seas from earth were driv'n, 1: 28 And grosser air sunk from arterial Have'n. 1: 29 Thus disembroil'd, they take their proper place; 1: 30 The next of kin, contiguously embrace; 1: 31 And foes are sunder'd, by a larger space. 1: 32 The force of fire ascended first on high, 1: 33 And took its dwelling in the vaulted sky: 1: 34 Then air succeeds, in lightness next to fire; Meanwhile, accounts of the creation of man differ in both texts. Ovid is detailed again and the process of making the human being is with the participation of several other elements such as particles of heavenly fire as well as most with living streams, the godlike image cast.
However, the God of Genesis creates man in simple actions. God forms man from the dust of the ground. He breathes into his nostrils the breath of life and so the man became a living being. It stops there. God of Genesis no longer uses streams or any form of body of water to add to the ingredients in making man. Ovid's Metamorphoses needed to use living streams.
A big difference between these two books though is that in Metamorphoses Book I: 68 - 88, when humankind is created, there is hesitation as to who is the god and where he gets the seed from which he makes humans. It is evident in these words, Then Humankind was born. Either the creator god, source of a better world, seeded it from the divine, or the newborn earth just drawn from the highest heavens still contained fragments related to the skies, so that Prometheus, blending them with streams of rain, moulded them into an image of the all-controlling gods. Ovid is uncertain how the first humans were made, attributing it to something divine or from the earth. Also Ovid mentions of an all-controlling gods here while Genesis is consistent from the very start that the God who makes the heavens and the earth and human is one and only one Almighty God who created all things from nothing. In summation, we see that both Metamorphoses and Genesis account of Creation and the first signs of life on earth gives a picture of an all powerful both Supreme Beings as seen unsatisfied with the creation after the earth is made.
In Metamorphoses, we read this dissatisfaction as Ovid writes, 1: 97 A creature of a more exalted kind 1: 98 Was wanting yet, and then was Man design'd: 1: 99 Conscious of thought, of more capacious breast, 1: 100 For empire form'd, and fit to rule the rest: This is the same with the Genesis God when we read no man was there to work the ground. Ovid gives a high worth for the creation as with man as he writes that 1: 109 Man looks aloft; and with erected eyes 1: 110 Beholds his own hereditary skies. 1: 111 From such rude principles our form began; 1: 112 And earth was metamorphoses'd into Man. Ovid's Metamorphoses speaks of the force of fire and takes his dwelling in the sky. This air, fire and sky are all used in forming man. It seems to be in one form and unites where the atoms from the inactive earth rest. He tells that from the rude principles of form, and that the earth metamorphoses into Man.
The use of earth and dust are clearly seen as the same in both accounts. These accounts portray that the story of the creation of earth and man between these two texts have distinct yet amazing similarities that only shows how the account is in more ways than one true and undoubtedly not just a figment of mans wild fantasy and thoughts. WORKS CITED Brown, Larry. An introduction and commentary with discussion of myths and links to sources and influences in art and literature. Accessed 14 August 2006 at: web Metamorphoses from Book I. Accessed 14 August 2006 at: web Metamorphoses Tales.
Accessed 14 August 2006 at: web New American Standard Bible. Nashville, TN: Broadband 1977. Ovid. Metamorphoses Book I.
Accessed 14 August 2006 at: web Ovid Metamorphoses Book II. Accessed 14 August 2006 at: web Ovids (43 BC- 17 AD). Accessed 14 August 2006 at: web Ovid. Metamorphoses. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed.
Maynard Slavitt, David. Comparison of the Christian Creation Story with Ovid's Creation Story found in Ovid's Metamorphoses. web The Elements of Creation. Accessed 14 August 2006 at: web Two Translations Ovid's Metamorphosis. Accessed 14 August 2006 at: web Who was Ovid. OVID FAQ.
Accessed 14 August 2006 at: web
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