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A cosmic ocean or celestial river is a mythological motif found in the mythology of many cultures and civilizations, representing the
A cosmic ocean or celestial river is a mythological motif found in the mythology of many cultures and civilizations, representing the world
In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
or cosmos
The cosmos (, ) is another name for the Universe. Using the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity.
The cosmos, and understandings of the reasons for its existence and significance, are studied in ...
as enveloped by primordial waters.
In ancient creation texts, the primordial waters are often represented as originally having filled the entire universe, being the first source of the gods
A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater ...
cosmos with the act of creation corresponding to the establishment of an inhabitable space separate from the enveloping waters.
Fraxkard ( pal, plʾhwklt, Avestan: ''Vourukaša''; also called ''Warkaš'' in Middle Persian) is the cosmic ocean in Iranian mythology Iranian mythology or Iranic mythology may refer to any of the following mythologies of various Iranian peoples:
* Persian mythology
* Kurdish mythology
* Scythian mythology
** Ossetian mythology
* Azerbaijani mythology
See also
* Iranian religio ...
.
In the first creation story in the Bible the world is also created as a space inside of the water, and is hence surrounded of it, "And God saith, 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.'" ().
See also
*Abzu
The Abzu or Apsu ( Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ), also called (Cuneiform:, ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: — ='water' ='deep', recorded in Greek as ), is the name for fresh water from underground aquifers which was given a religious fertilising qual ...
* Ap (water)
''Ap'' (') is the Vedic Sanskrit term for "water", which in Classical Sanskrit only occurs in the plural ' (sometimes re-analysed as a thematic singular, '), whence Hindi '. The term is from PIE "water".The word has many cognates in archaic E ...
* Arche
''Arche'' (; grc, ἀρχή; sometimes also transcribed as ''arkhé'') is a Greek word with primary senses "beginning", "origin" or "source of action" (: from the beginning, οr : the original argument), and later "first principle" or "element". ...
* Chaos (cosmogony)
* Danava (Hinduism)
* Danu (Asura)
Danu () is a Hindu primordial goddess. She is mentioned in the ''Rigveda'' to be the mother of the eponymous race of Danavas. The word ''Danu'' described the primeval waters that this deity perhaps embodied. In later Hinduism, she is described ...
* Erlik
Erlik, Erlig, Erlik Khan, Erleg or Yerleg (Hungarian mythology equivalent to ''Ördög'') is the god of death and the underworld, sometimes referred to as ''Tamag'' (hell) in Turkic mythology. ''Er'' (or ''yer'') means ''Earth'', in the depth ...
* Firmament
In biblical cosmology, the firmament is the vast solid dome created by God during his creation of the world to divide the primal sea into upper and lower portions so that the dry land could appear. The concept was adopted into the subsequent ...
* Heh (god)
Ḥeḥ (''ḥḥ'', also Huh, Hah, Hauh, Huah, and Hehu) was the personification of infinity or eternity in the Ogdoad in ancient Egyptian religion.Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003). ''The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt''. Thames & H ...
* Heryshaf
In Egyptian mythology, Heryshaf, or Hershef ( egy, ḥrj š f "He who is on His Lake"),Forty, Jo. ''Mythology: A Visual Encyclopedia'', Sterling Publishing Co., 2001, p. 84. transcribed in Greek as Harsaphes or Arsaphes ( grc-koi, Ἁρσαφ ...
* Kshira Sagara
In Hindu cosmology, the Ocean of Milk (',', ''Malayalam: Pālāḻi'') is the fifth from the centre of the seven oceans. It surrounds the continent known as Krauncha. According to Hindu scriptures, the devas and asuras worked together for a mi ...
* Nu (mythology)
Nu ("Watery One") or Nun ("The Inert One") ( Ancient Egyptian: ; Coptic: ), is the personification of the primordial watery abyss which existed at the time of creation and from which the creator sun god Ra arose, in ancient Egyptian religio ...
* Oceanus
* Rasā
Rasa (' ) is the name of a western tributary of the Indus in the Rigveda (verse 5.53.9). The word rasa means "moisture, humidity" in Vedic Sanskrit.
In RV 9.41.6, RV 10.108 and in the Nirukta of Yaska, it is the name of a mythical stream suppos ...
* Samudra
Samudra (Sanskrit: समुद्र; ) is a Sanskrit term literally meaning the "gathering together of waters" (''-'' "together" and ''-udra'' "water"). It refers to an ocean, sea or confluence. It also forms the name of Samudradeva, the Hindu g ...
* Sea (astronomy)
* Sea of Suf
In Mandaean cosmology, the Sea of Suf (or Sea of Sup, myz, ࡉࡀࡌࡀ ࡖࡎࡅࡐ, translit=iama ḏ-sup, lit=Sea of the End) is a primordial sea in the World of Darkness. It is analogous to Tehom in the Book of Genesis
The Book of Genes ...
* Styx
* Tehom
Tehom ( he, תְּהוֹם ''ṯəhôm'') is a Biblical Hebrew word meaning "the deep". It is used to describe the primeval ocean and the post-creation waters of the earth. It derives from a Semitic root which denoted the sea as an unpersonified en ...
* Unhcegila
In Lakota mythology, Unk Cekula (uŋȟčéǧila or uŋkčéǧila) is a serpentoid creature which was responsible for many unexplained disappearances and deaths. Her male counterpart is known as ''Unk Tehi''.
Description
She was described at first ...
Notes
Creation myths Water and religion Chaos (cosmogony) Biblical cosmology {{cosmology-stub