Let there be light! The creation story in Ancient Greek
Channel: Found in Antiquity: Ancient Greek
Date: 2022-08-06

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This is the first of two stories of creation in Genesis, read in Ancient Greek from the Septuagint (Genesis 1:1-2:4) with Lucian pronunciation. The God who created the heavens and the earth is characterised as having immense and uncontested power to shape the universe according to his desires, such that all he needs to do is speak and the formless void of Chaos is immediately divided and conquered into Order. This is in contrast to other Near Eastern creation myths in which the world is created through the violent struggle of the gods. 

God here repeatedly declares his creation 'good' throughout the orderly process of making it, but it is not until the creation of humankind that he calls it 'very good'. Human beings are given special honours not granted to other living creatures of the earth: they are made in the image of God, according to his likeness; they are to subdue the earth and rule over all its creatures; and they are presented as the final act of creation. Without humans, the universe was merely 'good'; but when the universe is total and complete, it is 'very good'. 

Making an artistic depiction of God is risky. I could have opted for a more abstract representation or depicted him half-obscured, or left him off-screen as an unseen force behind creation. However, I chose to depict him as a human-like figure partly to fit the scene where humans are formed in his image, and partly because I wanted to be able to show God expressing emotions. Drawing him lying down casually on a cloud on the Sabbath is not intended as disrespect, but I wanted to highlight the surprising characteristics expressed by the text: that God would 'rest' at all, so we can ponder what that posture of 'resting' would mean for the powerful creator.

The cētus (plural cētē) - representing the word translated as 'whale' or 'big fish' in English versions - has a specific image in Latin and Ancient Greek culture. This is probably not the same as how the Ancient Hebrews would have imagined the creature, given the cultural differences in context. However, I wanted to depict the cētus as it would appear in Greco-Roman contexts: to them it was a monster of the sea, featuring body elements of predatory whales and/or sharks, but also having a dog-like head with forward facing ears, and an undulating serpent-like body. It is a threatening creature in Greek mythology, but given that it was declared good here, I wanted to draw it looking more friendly and playful. The word "cētus" later became part of our scientific names for the family of whales, "cetaceans".  

I use the Lucian pronunciation, which is a historical reconstruction of Ancient Greek phonology from the time of the Roman Empire that preserves pitch accent and syllable quantity. For more information about Lucian Koine pronunciation and its historicity, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt9z5Gvp3MM&t=0s

I do not write the smooth breathing mark in my orthography of Ancient Greek. This is to give it greater contrast against the almost-identical looking rough breathing mark. Removing the smooth breathing enables the rough breathing mark to become more discernible to all sighted humans - with varying degrees of vision impairments - and at lower screen resolutions and smaller font sizes, in all lighting conditions.

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