People thousands of years ago, believed in the same concepts and myths across the world with no communication?

Question

Thousands of years ago, concepts of myths, for example dragons, Heaven and Hell, were believed in around the world with not many methods of communication or travelling between countries available. Beliefs and images of dragons were quite consistant from China to South Africa and also the concept of Heaven and Hell around the world.

How did people come up with these concepts and was it just coincidence that almost the same myths and ideas were believed in across the world or is there some social or scientific reasoning behind it? (and preferably no religious views seeing as i am an athiest.)

yea.. sorry, I messed up on this question before so i had to delete it.

Answer 1

Most people are unaware that the word “dinosaur” was not coined until the 1840s by Sir. Richard Owen (who was a Creationist by the way... oh, sorry). So, if these creatures lived alongside humans prior to that time, they were not called dinosaurs. So what were they called? Dragons. As you say, most cultures throughout the world possess ancient stories about dragons and sea monsters that closely resemble what we today would call dinosaurs. For instance, the flag of Wales depicts a dragon, which by the way, is claimed by some to be the oldest national flag still in use. Dragon stories have been handed down for generations in most civilizations.

No doubt many of these stories have been exaggerated through the years, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t have their original basis in fact. I believe many of the dragon legends are simply distorted versions of dinosaur encounters. As Paul Taylor has said, “Most of the dragon legends are full of exaggeration, magic and marvelous deeds. But this is not true of all of them. Many stories seem rather believable.”

It is true that many of them are mythical or legendary but it is also true that most legends are based on some truth. It cannot be an accident that so many separate peoples of the world tell such stories. The same can be deduced from the 250+ different flood stories from around the world. Flood legends in many cultures that have never even heard of the Bible, and yet many of them are very similar to the account in Genesis. Why? Because everyone is descended from Noah (oh, sorry again). Some of the details have been distorted from thousands of years of telling and retelling, but it is based in fact. I believe the same is true of the dragon legends.

And the same goes for Heaven/Hell; they descended from people who got the information from God (oh, sorry yet again).

Answer 2

Well some of the myths you have mentioned do seem to have some basis in fact, like dragons - and Yeti's for that matter. Heaven and Hell are impossible to prove from this vantage point and so have a lot less credibility, in my opinion.

I think that what is evident is that humanity all over the globe has had a desire to determine and understand their purpose, their surroundings and their origins. It seems to me that when the different cultures were really isolated, they came up with Gods and stories, but they seemed to have a lot more to do with their environment - volcano gods, gods represented by local wildlife, etc.

I think fire has probably been an important but necessary evil in the lives of humans from the moment we first encountered it (lightening, forest fire and our own ability to make it) which accounts for a fiery hell, and a beautiful sunny day surely accounts for majesty and tranquility in the sky.

Honestly, I think it is this basic urge to understand our existence that drives us in almost everything we do - from religion to medicine to space travel to physics. It's fascinating how that drive to understand has created so much and yet still leaves so many unanswered questions.

Peace!

Answer 3

a million.) Do you want the further present day e book, by Charles Darwin: The foundation of Species by technique of organic decision, or The protection of Favoured Races contained in the warfare for existence Does it problem you in any respect that Darwin grow to be a racist, and alongside with Margaret Sanger grow to be a significant impression to the eugenicist philosophies of Adolph Hitler? 2.) re: the flat earth remark: Jesus is telling the disciples what issues will be like at the same time as He comes again for His human beings. here are in basic terms 2 words that are 3 verses aside: Luke 17:31 "In that day... Luke 17:34 I inform you, in that evening... If the folk believed that the earth grow to be flat, if Jesus did not comprehend that the earth grow to be round, how is it that He knew that it will be day and evening at the same time?

Answer 4

Religious urges — expressions of belief in and reverence for supernatural powers — have appeared in all societies throughout history. The earliest religious beliefs, however, lie far beyond the historian's reach. They have to be reconstructed from archaeology, mythology, and even modern ethnographic evidence.

Some anthropologists believe that all religion originated in shamanism, the effort to communicate or mediate between the world of spirits and the world of humans. The desire to revere, please, or influence an unseen power was often expressed through rituals, which themselves promoted social cohesiveness and bound members of a community together.

The earliest attempts at contacting the supernatural may have been designed to ward off misfortune (such as poor harvests or disease), to seek benefits for the living, or to mourn and care for the dead. These activities were central to early social organization, as evidenced in the shamanism and animism of early Japan that came to be known as Shinto. The power to invoke spirits and to mediate with them on behalf of a community supported the exercise of political authority in many early societies.

The earliest highly organized societies — centered on a temple and priesthood, and led by a divinely sanctioned ruler or god-king — emerged well before 3000 BCE in Mesopotamia. In the mid-first millennium BCE, philosophical and ethical traditions that evolved in Greece and China sought in their own ways to address fundamental questions about how humans should organize societies and how they relate to the cosmos.

Also in the first millennium, Hinduism, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism combined elements of earlier religious and philosophical traditions to emerge as organized religions with priesthoods, texts, practices, and followers. These organized religions, in turn, provided the foundations for the eventual development of Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam.
http://www.learner.org/channel/courses/worldhistory/unit_overview_5.html

Answer 5

False premise. "Monsters" is too general a category to consider anything universal. Your example of dragons look different all over the world, and there are reptiles all over the world that these ideas could have been extrapolated from. It's like saying "boats" are the same all over the world, so boats prove the Bible true.

I flat-out reject your claim about Heaven and Hell being the same...that's stupid.

Answer 6

Yes you seems to be right but partially ! when ever you dont undersatnd and do not have a scientific support to some event and thinking that you say it is MYTH !Its not so !there is no such things like heaven and hell !but is found important to believe in this for a reason that by this mankind gets benifit of togetherness and have creativeity and to control destructive forces !Actually in fact God is a creation of the Human being! Of course it is for the good and benefit for mankind! But when believer becomes aggressive than it create many problems! So better not to believe in this ! THERE IS NO GOD AT ALL! GOD IS WHAT EVER YOU DO AND WHAT EVER OTHERS HAVE DONE! Salute and pray for the scientist who has invented so many things for betterment of human life! HAVE YOU EVER GIVEN A THOUGHT WHY YOU ARE HUMAN BEING ?ENJOYING THIS COMLETEBODY WITH ALL ARMAMENTS INSIDE TO SEE HEAR TASTE !in spite you wrote not to write anything on religion but i am tempted write something which perhaps you do not know and may enjoy it ! Have you heard about JAINISM/It is a religion in which they try to practice 100% Non Violence and Universal Forgiveness! Their Priest live in such way that even invisible microorganism also is being taken care 0f not for few days but for the whole life! They don’t eat food or drink water from evening till morning for lifetime! They walk bare foot for lifetime! They don’t touch or keep money with them! They do fast with nil by mouth from day one to several days! Many give away their life just like this! They just worship and stay or lie down for to achieve death! It may take few days to even few months! All who are follower visits this to happen! See this is one way to LIFE without hurt to any living creature. This is the only unique religion, which is practiced by very fewer people through out world! It is very very difficult to understand and to follow for lifetime! But surprisingly this is the only one religion has been supported documental proof that it is very near to the science! Just to go the site JAINA you will find many things there to believe this! Be 100%vegetarian if you are not! Take care! It is good to believe in REBIRTH so that we can restrict ourselves in doing any hurt to any! I am always YouRsmE Source(s):Mainly on reading about JAIN riligeon

Answer 7

Very good question, it is because humans all came from the same place, ie creation and the stories were handed down. THey just get changed a bit over time, hence the different but similar stories etc.

Answer 8

Dragons are a universal myth, but I would argue about your claim of Paradise and the Revenge Afterlife being universal. They weren't. Most ideas about the afterlife involve being with your anscestors and few were like paradise and few were like hell.
All the ancient people were trading with each other, sometimes really far away. People like to tell stories.

Answer 9

Some of the concepts may date back to before the diaspora, starting roughly 100,000 years ago, when the original humans spread from Africa to Europe and Asia.

Answer 10

The need to believe in something that explained why people suffer diminishes as people understand more about the nature and about the problems of society.

The concepts were similar but the conflicts persists.