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Expression of RELIGIOUS GENES in Literature

Common Concepts in Ancient Literature as a possible expression of human DNA

An overview of human cosmologies in ancient Western Literature (as distinct from the non-intuitive cosmology derived from scientific interdisciplinary investigations) that reveal the fundamental underlying rock-solid and time-worn truths of what it means to be human in an uncertain, time-flexible relativistic universe.

Cosmologies of How and From What:
GOD as FATHER-FIGURE:
Zeus and Odin: Both are very large men, not fat. Both have beards, rule from mountains (Mts. Olympus and Asgard), guarantee the fulfillment of oaths and contracts, look down into the hearts of mortals, both take other forms (Zeus = bull, swan, golden shower, and a quail. Odin = snake or an eagle. Zeus sometimes depicted as an eagle, while Odin changed himself into "The Wanderer"), both married, Zeus threw lighting bolt like Odin his spear, both fathered many offspring.

COMMON COMIC CANNABALISTIC COSMOLOGICAL ORIGINS
Most human Creation Myths seem to start with a void, and then a race of manlike beings who fail and get destroyed by the Gods, then Gods create the men again. Mayan, Norse, Biblical, and Greek mythologies often suggest a void in the beginning, and failed attempts to create men. Norse stories call the eventual source of life "Gunnungagap" (the void) while the Greek's creation myth claims all creation sprang from Chaos, a shapeless void. The first gods or people often revolt against father- or grandfather-figures, overthrowing them to become rulers. In most mythologies, humanity forms from nature;
The Norse Creation Myth suggests fires and sparks warmed frozen vapours which dripped and collected into two gigantic beings, Ymir the Frost Giant and a huge cow called Audumla. Ymir drank Audumla's milk, grew bigger and stronger, and then sweated one night; and from the sweat of his armpits came a male and a female Frost Giant; from the soles of his feet a Six-Headed Troll. The cow licked the salty ice and birthed a new creature who had hair the first day, and on the second a head. The body of a New Giant came out on the third day, and this Giant's sons and grandsons became the Gods. Odin killed Ymir and the corpse's flesh became earth, teeth became stones, worms turned into dwarves and elves, the bones became the mountains, and his hair the trees. Blood became the sea, and drowned all the Frost Giants except two, who started a new race of giant Witches, Warlocks, and Enchanters. Sparks became stars. Two trees became the first two humans; a man from an Ash, a woman from an Elm.
The Greeks persisted in a complex family tree Creation Myth where the God "Chaos" existed first as the oldest of the gods, described as a shapeless void. From him sprang Ge (or Gaia), Tartarus, Eros, Erebus, and Nyx (Night). Ge created the sky, the mountains, the sea, and Uranos her so with whom she had intercourse to produce the first divine races (the Titans). Uranos didn't like his offspring and forced them back into Ge. A very angry Ge persuaded her son Chronos (the youngest) to castrate Uranos during their next intercourse. Uranos died, Chronos became ruler of heaven, but Chronos understandably feared his own children so he ate them. Rhea hid her son Zeus on an island where Ge raised him and plotted the overthrow of Chronos. The goddess Metis gave Chronos a drink which caused him to regurgitate Zeus' brothers and sisters. Zeus and his siblings fought and defeated their father. Another Greek myth tells of Hephaestos sculpting Pandora the first woman. Another has Prometheus sculpting humans from clay, then Athena breathes life into them.
A parallel to the Greek God Hermes, Zeus heard a prophecy that wife Metis would bear a frighteningly powerful child equal to Zeus, so he ate his wife while pregnant with his unborn daughter (also eaten). Some days later, Zeus had a headache and ordered the craftsman-god Hephaestos to split his head open with an axe and Athena sprang from his forehead, full grown with armour. She only fights to protect the state and home. As the Goddess of the city, handicrafts, and agriculture, she invents the bridle, tame horses, the trumpet, the flute, the pot, the rake, the plow, the yoke, the ship, and the chariot. Representing wisdom, reason, and purity, she was allowed to use Zeus' thunderbolt.
The Biblical creation of man claims God fashioned a self-portrait in clay, with woman (Eve) made of Adam's rib-bone but these first men God destroyed with a flood, making all humans descendants of the family of Noah.
The Mayan universe began with a silent immobile vast calm emptiness called Heaven whose heart was Huracán. People were fashioned first from clay (too limp), then dry and souless wood but deemed failures because they were speechless and couldn't honor the memory of the Gods and therefore destroyed with a flood. Gods successfully made mankind of corn.
Rarely do ancient cosmologies depict humans descending from Gods, Stars, or UFOs.

Cosmologies: To Where?
HELL as ENDLESS TORTURE FOR BAD BEHAVIOR:
Norse God Loki was bound in chains with a serpent above him dripping poison.
The Greek Gods chained Prometheus to a rock in the Caucasian mountains where a vulture tore away his liver all day long in endless torture, because his liver would grow back every night.
The Bible talks of an eternal punishment after death, sometimes depicted as fire and brimstone, gnashing of teeth.

HELL-DOGS and GODS:
A half white and half black Goddess named "Hel" rules the Norse underworld. The daughter of Loki and a giant (Angurboda), she is sister of Fenrir (Fenris-wolf) and Jormungand (Midgard Serpent). Her realm, named "Niflheim" was often referred to as Hel and her hall was named Elvidnir [Misery] . Her hall her table was named Hunger and her bed, Disease because only those who died of these "natural causes" went to Hel. A gigantic dog, Garm, guards the gates to Hel's realm with his pack of dogs and wolves.
Greek God Hades, brother of Zeus, drew lots with Zeus and Poseidon for shares of the world. He won the worst draw and was became Lord of the Underworld to rule over the dead. Known as a greedy god concerned with increasing the number of his subjects, he does not allow them to leave his domain.
A ferocious dog, Cerberus, given to Hades to guard the entrance to the underworld, has three-heads although Homer described him with fifty. Sometimes he has a serpent tail and dragons on his back. He prevented the living from entering and the dead from leaving. On one occasion, during the Labours of Heracles, he left Hades. His brothers include the Hydra with nine serpent heads and the Chimera, a fire-breathing mix of goat, snake, and lion. He also represents a God of Wealth because precious metals come from below the earth. His helmet makes him invisible, though he rarely leaves the underworld. Hades abducted Persephone to make her his wife. He is the King of the Dead, but death itself is another god, Thanatos.

IMMORTALITY and REBIRTH
Gilgamesh harvested an underwater plant that would make men immortal but a serpent steals it on his way back home. The Norse "Golden Apples" kept in a basket by the goddess Idun were fed to the gods and goddesses whenever they started to age, to rejuvenate them. The Greeks fed Ambrosia to mortals to confer immortality on them. The Bible routinely talks of men (mostly) living hundreds of years and promises Eternal Life for people disciplined enough to surrender all skepticism for a faith that by becoming terminally boring and intellectually dead on this mortal plane, they would either live forever in Heaven or rise (alive) from the grave if Jesus revisits the planet. The Hindus believed in a wheel of rebirth that enforced the concept of Life-long Learning t oavoid Karmic error, and Ponce de Leon discovered Florida on a search for the Fountain of Youth, as Dr. Brinkley discovered Del Rio, Texas while searching for a place to install a super-powerful radio station across the border to sell Goat Glands he claimed would rejuvenate old men. In modern times, Viagra sells as a solution to at least remedy one common complaint of aging men.

RAINBOW BRIDGE TO HEAVEN
Odin rules the Norse realm of the gods, Asgard (Asgarth), located in the heavens but connected to earth by a bridge (Bifrost) symbolized by a rainbow. Another route runs from Asgard to the underworld "Hel" Fallen kings, dead heroes, and killed warriors enjoyed their afterlife partying in Valhallais, a beerhall palace within Asgard.
Associated with the sky, Zeus, the King of the Greek Gods ruled from Mount Olympus. Although the mythology suggests a large, looming mountain of thunderstorms, it is not.
Both these high-altitude Heavens or Sky Paradises resemble the "heaven" of later religions, forbidden to ordinary humans although Gods or Goddesses could descend to interacted with people.

Natural Phenomenon:
THUNDER AND LIGHTNING
A Norse God of Thunder that ensured fertility called Thor (Thursday) fought giants, smashing their heads with his axe-hammer, Mjolnir, which he wielded with iron gloves and a belt of strength. Mjolnir, symbolic of lightning, would return to Thor's hand after being thrown. Donar was an early version of Thor among the early Germans. The Anglo-Saxons worshiped a thunder god named Thunor. The Greeks had Zeus flinging thunderbolts.
Evidently the most popular Norse God well into the Christian era, Thor could be compared to Athena, the most beloved goddess of the Greeks. They contrast each other; the brutish Thor next to the Greek Athena as wise and strategic goddess. Where she reasons out strategy, Thor acts on impulse which may reflect the simplistic and impulsive world-view of the anarchic Norse compared to the deviously democratic Greeks.

FLOOD:
Another common nightmarish fear, perhaps genetic programmationto keep people from camping too near watercourses, shared by the cultures of the Mayans, Jews, Christians, Aborigine Australians, Navajos, etc. "The Epic of Gilgamesh" includes the oldest "Flood Myth"- destruction of Mankind due to another Biblical parallel, the Tower of Babel- because the incessant bellowing clamor of teeming mankind denied the Gods their sleep. Here from Gilgamesh we can read the epically powerful and stunning poetry of disaster films, edited and quoted below:
"With the first light of dawn a black cloud came from the horizon; it thundered within where Adad, lord of the storm was riding.
"Then the gods of the abyss rose up; Nergal pulled out the dams of the nether waters, Ninurta the war-lord threw down the dykes, and the seven judges of hell, the Annunaki, raised their torches, lighting the land with their livid flame.
"A stupor of despair went up to heaven when the god of the storm turned daylight to darkness, when he smashed the land like a cup.
"Even the gods were terrified at the flood, they fled to the highest heaven, the firmament of Anu; they crouched against the walls, cowering like curs."
Noah saves the animals "two by two" and his family repopulates the earth after his God became infuriated by the multitude of languages and immoral behaviors and destroyed mankinid by flood. Zeus also caused a flood that destroyed mankind. Notice that humanity always seems to renew itself.

BIRDS AND BEES or "DREAMS OF FLOATING" and SEXUALITY
Symbol of love, beauty, reproduction, laughter and sexuality- the Greek Goddess Aphrodite sprang fully-grown from white sea-foam (her name means 'foam'), just as the severed genitals of Uranos fell into the sea. This Goddess of sexuality and reproduction, patroness of prostitutes, reputedly mothered many children.
Norse Goddess of fertility, love, war, and wealth (which in sum signifies the Goddess of Magic and Divination) Freyia, the daughter of Njord and the sister of Frey, owned a feather coat that enabled her to fly between worlds. Freyia lived in Folkvang (which means "battlefield") and split half of the slain warriors with Odin each day. In a confusion of mythic proportions, she cried golden tears when she lost her husband Od who also might really be Odin (the Big Daddy God). She rides in a cat-drawn chariot and owns the precious Brisinga-men's necklace, which she acquired by sleeping with four dwarves. Freyia, revered by women, could be the root of our word Friday.
Although both Aphrodite and Freyia enjoyed multiple partners (or practiced serial monogamy), the Norse promiscuity and infidelity living communally in Long-houses and saunas gives Freyia the title of Goddess of Lust and Sexual Freedom.
Western women trade clothing to wear each other's clothing, and both Freyia's famous necklace and Aphrodite's famous girdle were often lent to others.

Morality and causes of Good and Evi
APOCALYPTIC KNOWLEDGE- Evil Serpents and a Good Warm Hearth
Surveys around the world reveal the Serpent as mankind's most common nightmare. "Gilgamesh" predates themes found in the "Adam and Eve" story; the (Evil) serpent causes Gilgamesh to lose the herbs that would give him immortality. Gorgons' hair of serpents turn men into stone with a glance.
Loki provokes the Norse version of Apocalyptic destruction, where Surtur engulfs the world in flame after the battle of Ragnarok. Loki personified a God of Fire, and (Greek) Prometheus brought fire to the humans. Prometheus, who brought fire to mankind, caused the creation of Pandora who damned mankind.

DANGEROUS APPLES OF KNOWLEDGE:
Aphrodite wanted the Golden Apple as a party prize, so she bribed Paris with a gift of the World's Most Beautiful Helen so he would name Aphrodite the winner of a beauty contest he judged. Unfortunately Helen had to abandon her husband King Menaleus, looting his kingdom in the process, and this supposedly started the ten-year siege of Troy called the Trojan War. The Bible's Adam took one bite of an apple Eve offered, and Knowledge caused him Shame; he realized the Garden of Eden didn't really provide for the new-found sophisticated needs of he and Eve, similar to when the Iranians educated themselves enough to realize how much the Shah of Iran looted their country under the USA's economic Imperialism. "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing"

DANGEROUS WOMEN
Woman as Jezebels, beautiful women that reject the female's societal function as the nucleus of the family with characteristics such as loyalty and loving affection and instead barter their sex appeal for wealth, status, or political power.
Gilgamesh spurns and ridicules beauty Goddess Ishtar who's dad sends down the Bull of Heaven to seek revenge (they kill the bull) and Gilgamesh's sidekick forest-man Enkidu gets domesticated by a whore hired for just that purpose.
The Greeks blame "The World's Most Beautiful" Helen for the Trojan War because she ran off with Paris, stealing her husband King Menaleus' blind.
Homer's Odysseus staying away from home for twenty years shacking up with Kirkê (Just as all beautiful women have the power to turn Men into Pigs, Odysseus as leader of his men "had to sleep with her to break the spell" because anything else would be insubordination), and Kalypso (an Italian girl with sexual tempos beyond his capacities, whose lust he enjoyed for years, but as he aged, he decided his wife would suffice),
Virgil's female African Queen "Dido" (a character plucked from mythology to resemble and thereby discredit Cleopatra, who the Greek ruling class feared might birth an heir to the throne of Ceasar) depicts a jilted madwoman who frightens off her suitor-ruler in Virgil's work-for-hire "The Oreistes", a shameless piece of educational propaganda which even he wanted destroyed.

WAR-GODS
Zeus and Hera had a son Ares whom they both disliked. He became the Greek god of war, considered a murderous and bloodstained coward who loved the brutality and carnage but was constantly outwitted by Athena. Tried for raping a daughter of Poseidon, yet became Aphrodite's lover. Hot-tempered and jealous, some think the golden boar that killed Adonis was actually Ares in disguise.
Norse War-God Tyr also personified the impulsive attack, no strategy, but known for bravery and well-liked, Tuesday is named for him. Perhaps these differences point out that the Norse were not strategic or sneaky fighters while the Greeks liked sneaky strategies like Trojan Horses.

MESSENGERS TO HELL AND BACK
Norse God Hermod rode to Hel's realm to try and convince her to let Balder come back from the dead. Greek Hermes (Roman "Mercury"), the son of Zeus and Maia, wears winged sandals, a winged hat, and carries a magic wand as the fastest God representing thieves and commerce. He guides the dead to the underworld. As inventor of the lyre, the pipes, the musical scale, astronomy, weights and measures, boxing, gymnastics, and the care of olive trees, he might represent the first scientist-poet-musician to corrupt youth and destroy traditions. Hermes has sometimes been called "Psychopompos", which means bearer of souls.
One famous Norse stories describes Hermod's trip to to retrieve Balder from the Underworld, similar to the Greek story where Zeus sends Hermes to retrieve Persephone from the Underworld. Odysseus opens a pit to hell with the blood of a black sheep and gets an interview with dead friends and even death himself.

MUSICIANS, POETS, AND TRICKSTERS
Loki, Athena, Odysseus, Hermes. Hermes stole Apollo's cows and when taken to Zeus for trial after this crime, he cunningly offered the lyre (lyric poetry) he invented to escape punishment. (Norse God) Loki talked his way out of predicaments. Athena, Loki, Zeus, and even almost-immortal Odysseus (Homer describes this adventurer disguising himself, with the help of the Goddess Athena, as vagrant, old man, then rejuvenated) behaved as "ShapeShifters" as they changed shape, sex, age, or species. The Mayan culture's "Bible", the Popol Vul, features the mis-adventures of a pair of hero-god boys where shape-shifters metamorphize through messenger-head lice-frog-snake-hawk and cigarettes that stay lit with lightning bugs .

FAMILY VALUES AND MORAL GUIDANCE
Siduri (Gilgamesh) the Woman of the Wine, although at first afraid of the haggard Gilgamesh, counsels him to stop hurrying and "fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man"
In Homer's The Iliad, the almost-hero Hector, family man and main warrior of Troy, displays all the qualities of staid masculinity and quiet altruistic nobility, but when confronted with the murderously enraged and frustrated Achilles outside the walls of Troy, he runs around the city three times for all his city to see, and dies in disgrace. Homer's manly men laugh at Art and dancers, value Loyalty and Honor cement their hordes of pillagers and plunderer-rapists, and as a moral lesson, this book only serves for the instruction of stupid young men who want war.
In The Odyssey, most likely written by a woman as the first piece of Romance Literature, a wily liar goes back to his true love and the mother of his children, after an absence of twenty years which included a stretch co-habitating on an island with the bewitching Kalypso. Upon releaseing him, she said "what I tell you, will be the same as if your need were mine. Fairness is all I think of." Odesseus' travels end with a final, everlasting kiss of marital happiness.
Popol Vuh uses language like "happiness in their hearts, no envy nor jealousy, and limited grandeur."

HINTS OF UNIVERSAL UNITY
At the end of Gilgamesh, we read of inhuman Namtar "who is fate", who has "neither hand nor foot, that drinks no water and eats no meat"
The Iliad is the tragic story of the noble Achilles, who perfectly embodies the ancient Greek ideals of heroic conduct but also suffers from the human failings of pride and anger. Iliad conveys the idea of heroic energy burning brightly in the midst of the dark futility of human existence.
THE ODYSSEY shows an almost comic episodes hero, Odysseus, who triumphs through cunning, not by brute strength, proving the gods reward the good man.
The Oresteia treats Justice as the manner in which the Gods enforce mortals to rectify crimes, with responsibility staying within the family related by blood, but only the father's.

SOURCES- Bibliography and Webliography:
Norse Mythology compared to Greeks: http://webhome.idirect.com/~donlong/
Epic of Gilgamesh (2000 BCE from then-ancient oral traditions) by Sin-leqe-unninni. Written in Sumerian cuneiform inscribed on 12 clay tablets along with the name of the author, Sin-leqe-unninni. Discovered in the library of King Assurbanipal (Iraq) during the 1850s, some tablets believed lost during an invasion by the Persians in 612 B.C.
The Iliad by (around 800 BCE) attributed to Homer
The Odyssey (around 800 BCE) although attributed to Homer, appears to be traveler's tales most likely compiled by an anonymous woman
The Oresteia (524-466 BCE) by Aeschylus
The Aeneid (70-19 BCE) by Virgil
The Bible (30-150 PE) The Old Testament written by Moses and others of Jewish literature with parts that seem inspired by previous works such as Gilgamesh, the New Testament dealing with the Christ written by Disciples Mathew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul.
The Popl Vuh (1544-1558) written by Mayan scribes from mostly oral tradition, after the Spanish destroyed their libraries