7 Ancient societies were able to live accordingly to their beliefs. They need not fear for they were justified in mind and heart. Due to their profound nature, creation myths portray more effectively than any other kind of myth how a given culture perceives and organizes the world around it. A given myth is properly understood only within the context of the culture that created it. Given the general background of ancient beliefs, practices, and use of cosmologies examination of the three examples can now take place.
Egyptian cosmology is probably the best paradigm of the aforesaid criteria.
In it lies abundant mythological characters and gods that represent the various necessities of life on earth. A feature common to the synthesized religions of Heliopolis, Memphis, Hermopolis, and Thebes was that life began on the primeval hill that rose out of Nun-the primeval waters. 11 Click here to see the Image of the goddess Shu. To the diagonal right is a picture of the God Hapi, who represented the Nile river an obvious source of life and fertility. Here he has both man and woman characteristics to show the fertility of the Nile area and to ensure seasonal flooding.