Ancient Near Eastern • The
Epic of Gilgamesh states that the goddess Aruru created humans and animals out of clay. The epic goes on to narrate how
Aruru also creates
Enkidu out of a pinch of clay. • The Sumerian myth of the
Ninhursag states that humans were fashioned from clay to serve the gods (see
Enki and the Making of Man) as part of a competition. In the Akkadian version, the
Epic of Atrahasis, Enki advises that a god is killed and that Nintur (the birth goddess) mix his flesh and blood with clay to create humans. A similar idea is seen in the Enuma Elish, where Enki creates man out of the blood of a slain revel god. • The Babylonian
Epic of Atrahasis states that humans were created by
Nintu (Ninhursag) from mixing clay with the blood of a sacrificed god. In context, the elder gods forced the younger gods to do all the hard labor so the younger gods devised a plan to create humans to do their bidding instead. The sacrificed god
Ilawela (also written as Geshtu-(E), Geshtu, Gestu, or We-ila) is a minor god of intelligence (the text states this quite clearly: "Ilawela ...had intelligence"). • Contrary to common misconception, the Babylonian creation epic
Enuma Elish says that humans were created from a combination of blood and bone, and not clay. Marduk instructed
Enki (Ea) to do this, which he did using the blood of
Tiamat's fallen consort,
Kingu.
Egyptian • In
Ancient Egypt, it was the Egyptian god
Khnum that was most commonly associated with the creation of humans. Khnum is said to create human children from clay before placing them into their mother's womb. Khnum was the crafter of all living things, including some gods, on the potter's wheel: "You are the master of the wheel, who is pleased to model on the wheel . . . you have made humans on the wheel, you have created the gods; you have modelled the small and large cattle; you have formed everything on your wheel each day, in your name Khnum the potter".
Prometheus molded men out of water and earth. Near the town of
Panopeus, the remaining used clay was allegedly still present in historical times as two cart-sized rocks that smelled like a human body. Myths about Prometheus were inspired by Near Eastern Myths about Enki. • Also in Greek mythology,
Prometheus moulds a clay statue of
Athena, the goddess of wisdom to whom he is devoted, and gives it life from a stolen sunbeam. •
Pandora, from Greek mythology, was fashioned from clay and given the quality of "naïve grace combined with feeling".
East Asian • According to
Chinese mythology, (see
Chu Ci and
Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era),
Nüwa molded figures from the yellow earth, giving them life and the ability to bear children. • The
Ainu historically believed that
Kamui built the Ainu on the back of a giant fish using clay, sticks, and water. • Although there is not a single creation myth that is common among the Korean people, in a shamanic hymn for a shamanic ritual called "
Seng-gut(셍굿)" that originated from
Hamgyong Province, there is a section that men and women were created from
loess(which is called
Hwangto in korea), though the hymn does not specify who the creator is.
South Asian • The
Birhor of
India believe that a leech was responsible for bringing the creator god mud which would later be made into humans. • The
Gondi people believe that Nantu (the moon) was made of mud that
Kumpara spat onto his son.
Southeast Asian • In
Vietnamese mythology, the
Ngọc Hoàng and the Twelve
Bà mụ created people from clay.
Central Asian • Central Asian mythology, including Altaic and Mongolian, have stories about how the god Ulgen created the first man, Erlik, from clay floating on the surface of water. • The
Efé people have a creation story in which the first man was made of clay and skin. • The
Dogon people believe the Earth goddess was made when Amma flung earth into the primordial void. • In a Madagascar myth, two gods create human beings: the earth god forms them from wood and clay, the god of heaven gives them life. Human beings die so that they may return to the origins of their being.
Polynesian • In
Hawaiian tradition, the first man was composed of muddy water and his female counterpart was taken from his side parts (story may be partially or entirely Christianized). • Tane, in
Polynesian mythology, created the original woman from red clay.
Americas • According to the beliefs of some
Indigenous Americans, the
Earth-maker formed the figure of many men and women, which he dried in the sun and into which he breathed life. •
Iñupiat mythology has Raven create a human out of clay, who would later become Tornaq, the first demon. • The
Aymaran creation myth involves the making of humans from clay. == In fiction ==