Creation of man from clay

Fashioning a man out of clay

The "creation of man from clay" is a theme that recurs throughout world religions and mythologies. Examples include:

• According to Sumerian mythology the god Enki or Enlil create a servant of the gods, humankind, out of clay and blood. See Enki and the Making of Man
• According to Genesis 2:7 "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."
• According to the Qur'an^[23:12–15], God created man from clay.
• According to Greek mythology, Prometheus created man from clay, while Athena breathed life into them.^[1]
• 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.
• According to Egyptian mythology the god Khnum creates human children from clay before placing them into their mother's womb.^[2]
• According to some American Indian beliefs, the Earth Shaker formed the figure of many men and women, which he dried in the sun and into which he breathed life.
• According to Inca mythology the creator god Viracocha formed humans from clay on his second attempt at creating living creatures.
• According to a Sumerian story, in which both Enki and Ninmah get drunk from beer and enter into a contest that involves one deity making handicapped or deformed humans from the moist clay of the Abzu, the other deity decreeing a function for the created individual. ^[3]

References

1. http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Prometheus.aspx
2. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/316758/Khnum
3. p 9-10: Lost Treasures of the Bible, Clyde E Fant and Mitchell G Reddish 2008 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. USA