1. Why do we study them?

2.  1. What creation stories do you know? Make a list.  2. Who makes humans in these stories and how?  3. What purposes do the gods/God serve? Make a list.

3.  They inform us as a form of evidence  Make us wonder how important they were to the culture itself  They provoke questions like:  Were they important once and not so important later?  Have the stories changed over time and translation?  What do these possible changes indicate?  What effect did an oral tradition have on their accuracy?

4.  Do we base our judgment on what is important to us?  What if their religious beliefs, or cosmologies are not something we believe in, then what?  Should we look for ties between the past and the present? What would we gain with that understanding?

5.  1. What creation stories do you know? Make a list.  2. What purposes do they serve?

6.  They have helped to explain the universe  Developed a meaning for human existence  Often outlived their culture  Offer a basis for understanding the roles and rules of a civilization  Group identities, social relationships, definitions of ethics, gender roles, and class hierarchies

7.  2. How are people made in these stories?

8.  3. What purposes/roles do the gods have in these stories?

9. Literature exists in monumental inscriptions Royal Decrees Treatises Songs Prayers and hymns Guides for departing souls