Between 6th and 5th centuries BC: Approximate writing of the Book of Genesis [16] [61] ; Approximately 8 CE: The Metamorphoses, Ovid [136]

Art Piece: Circular Dish with Phoenix-and-Cloud Decor, Chinese, Jiajing period, 1522-1566 [26]

Scientific Paper: A Production of Amino Acids under Possible Primitive Earth Conditions [124]

Creation myths have persisted since the beginnings of humanity [35], with people attempting to make sense of the complicated, often unpredictable, world around them. The Creation myth present in the Bible is arguably one of the most notable creation myths there is, with Christianity’s continued influence making this creation myth persist throughout the different millennia. Perhaps the most iconic component of this creation myth is the very beginning, of God creating all that there is, according to the Bible: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” [61] Moreover, the creation of humanity itself is also rendered iconic as well, this idea that humans were inherently shaped by God persisting even to the current day. Notably, it’s written in the Bible that, “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.’” [62] Though the act of creating humanity to rule over the Earth seems like a giant, cataclysmic and dramatic event in and of itself, the true drama comes a bit later in the Biblical story of humanity. This drama is one of misbehavior and punishment, of wiping the slate of humanity clean and then leading to a “better” society — a story whose ideas are still explored and considered significantly even today, and probably will continue to be discussed far into the future. Essentially [77], humanity is created by God via Adam and Eve, but they fall prey to the Original Sin and are cast out of Eden and onto mortal Earth, where they must atone; God observes humanity and deems them insufficient in worship and respect of Him, so He then calls a great flood where only Noah, his family, and the world’s animals are spared, leading to a new, hopefully better world. These are long-held beliefs, and many like William Paley were devoted Christians despite also being [126] highly interested in the natural world. Curiously, this Biblical creation myth is also present in other writings, such as in Ovid’s The Metamorphoses. Ovid’s work was written after the Bible, but in a time when there was much emphasis placed on Greek and Roman classical mythology. Yet, Ovid’s creation story is exceptionally similar to that of the Bible. Notably according to Ovid, in the beginning there is just Chaos — “Chaos, a raw and undivided mass” — which Nature/God then organizes into entities, and then creates humanity. Humans go through a number of Ages, with many of the Ages highlighting the worst characteristics of humans. Unimpressed and dissatisfied, the Gods create a large floor — a “deluge” — in the hopes of ushering in a better world thereafter [136]. Many scholars have explored these similarities between The Metamorphoses and the Bible, however, there is still no clear answer about the specific ways that the Bible may have influenced [120] Ovid. These ideas of Creation have persisted to Darwin and to even us, now, and have represented a paradigm shift in the way people engage with and think about the story of humanity. A piece from the Harvard Art Museums [26] that I think best exemplifies these creation myths of the beginning is this plate, depicting a Phoenix rising out of the ashes, amidst a dark backdrop of the plate. This seemed very much like the creation myths discussed here — the phoenix can be representative of humans, re-emerging from floods and strife anew amidst a still-chaotic world of varying shades of darkness and light. A more modern scientific paper [124] that also exemplifies and explores these ideas is the famous Miller-Urey experiment, which highlighted some of the molecules/compounds which may have been present during the time of the ancient Earth, suggesting some conditions which may have contributed to the origins of life. Although this is somewhat less dramatic that the origin of life stories in the Bible and in The Metamorphoses, this experiment offered another sort of paradigm shift, suggesting a scientific explanation for how life came to be. All of this shows the interconnectedness between historically-held beliefs about Creation, artistic interpretations of it, and also scientific experiments which add more insight and data to the context.