Creation Story

How interesting are the parallels of Ovid's creation story written at the beginning of the book and the creation story in the Bible. On page 5, we read "Whether He who made all things aimed at the best, creating man from his own living fluid, or if earth, lately fallen through heaven's aether, took an immortal image from the skies, held it in the clay which son of Iapetus mixed with the spray of brightly running waters-it had a godlike figure and was man." In this part of the creation story, the author does not clearly state how man was made, rather, he gives two possibilities. Whichever possibility is right does not matter, the known fact in this part of the creation story is that "it had a godlike figure and was man." Genesis 1:26-27 "Then God said, "Let us make man in Our image, according to our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." Genesis 2:7 gives a more detailed look at the creation of man, "Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being." In a sense then, Ovid's two suggestions of man's creation are both seen in the Bible. In both cases, man is not divine, yet he is made in the image of God. I have no doubt that this has been recognized countless times. But this does really spur me on to read other creation myths in order to see the differences and the similarities seen in the different accounts.