Similarities Between Genesis And The Memphite Myth Of Genesis

When we ask people about their thoughts on how the world was created, the first idea that comes to mind is the story of Genesis. Most people generally assume that there is only one account of creation, the account that portrays God as the sole creator since in the Genesis account he creates heaven, earth, man/woman, and other living things. However, Genesis is not the only face of creation because religious texts from different cultures tell us otherwise. In ancient near east religions, there are two creation myths that give their own different accounts. While some details of the Genesis account are similar to the Enuma Elish of Babylon and the Memphite Theology of Egypt, each account individually brings their own nationalistic pride and personal touch. Each culture establishes their own story of creation, as well as their own portrayal of who is “the supreme creator”.

God speaks the world into creation, with the use of carefully chosen words, he creates the sky, ground, vegetation, light, living creatures, man and woman (Bible 1-2). Similarly, in the Memphite Theology, Ptah who is the god of Memphis, speaks the world into being which shows that these cultures may have believed that words can hold power (54). However, that is not the case in the Enuma Elish where the world was created through the separation of the corpse that belong to the mother of a god. After a hard fought battle, Marduk, wins against his mother (Enuma Elish 31), He then proceeds to split her corpse in half to create heaven (Enuma Elish 32) and then creates other things using other parts of her