Axis Mundi
The definition of the term Axis Mundi.
What is a worldly plane, axis of the world, the central pillar, tree, or mountain that connects Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld?
In Hesiod’s Theogony, the original primordial deity representing the sky who hid his children underground.
Who is Uranus?
In Greek mythology, the Titan who molded the first humans out of clay and water.
Who is Prometheus?
The Greek war between the older Titans and the younger Olympian gods for control of the cosmos.
What is the Titanomacy?
In Chinese mythology, the goddess Nuwa created humanity out of this material.
What is Yellow clay/river mud
The great World Tree in Norse mythology whose roots and branches connect the Nine Realms.
What is Yggdrasil?
The creature in Norse mythology whose body was slain by Odin and his brothers to construct the oceans, land, and sky.
Who is Ymir?
In Norse mythology, the first two humans (Ask and Embla) were created from this material found on a beach
What is driftwood logs?
The younger Greek god who overthrew his father Cronus to become ruler of the cosmos.
Who is Zeus?
In the Mayan Popol Vuh, the gods destroyed this attempt at humanity because they dissolved instantly upon touching water.
What is mud/earth humans?
The sacred mountain serving as the metaphysical center of the universe in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology.
What is Mount Meru?
True or False: The older primordial forces (like Titans or Giants) in ancient myths generally represent civilization and rule of law, while the younger gods represent wild nature.
False
In the Mayan creation account (Popol Vuh), the reason why the gods destroyed the wooden humans.
What is they lacked hearts, minds, and proper respect/reverence for their creators?
The Norse chief diety who alongside his brothers Vili and Ve, overthrew the primordial chos represented by Ymir.
Who is Odin?
The reason why river valley civilizations (like ancient China or Greece) commonly feature clay as teh material for human creation.
What is the local abundance of ferile river silt/clay and its widespread use in everyday pottery and crafting?
In Norse cosmology, the squirrel that runs up and down Yggdrasil carrying insults between the eagle at the top and the dragon at the bottom.
Who is Ratatosk?
The Titan whom Zeus punished by chaining him to a rock for stealing divine fire and giving it to humanity.
Who is Prometheus?
True or False: In Greek mythology, Zeus wanted humans to be powerful, intelligent, and completely independent of the gods from the very beginning.
False
What both the Greek story of Zeus overthrowing Cronus and the Norse story of the Odin slaying Ymir represent in cosmic terms.
What is the transition between chaos and order?
The agricultural staple that Mesoamerican creation stories utilized to represent the material makeup of human flesh.
What is maize/corn
The primary psychological and cultural purpose of establishing an Axis Mundi in ancient mythology.
What is orienting a culture by providing a sacred "center of the world"?
The dragon at the base of Yggrasil that gnaws on its roots and trades insults with the eagle at the top.
Who is Nidhogg?
The successful material used by the Mayan gods to create true humans after the failures of mud and wood.
What is maize/corn paste?
The specific group of elder deities in Greek myth, led by Cronus, who represented the early cosmic order before being overthrown in the Titanomachy.
Who are the Titans?
The general principle connecting a mythology's human creation story to its physical culture.
What is the concept that ancient cultures modeled divine creation on the specific natural resources and daily craft materials present in their physical environment?