we're going to talk about something that's almost impossible to avoid when discussing creation myths: Sex.

今天我們要討論的是 創世神話中無可避免的一個重點：性

Or, more specifically, sexual reproduction. It's going to be a little awkward.

更準確的說是「性愛繁殖」。 呵呵～這會有點尷尬

Stop covering your ears Thot, you're gonna be fine! You can handle it. We can all handle it.

圖特，別蓋住耳朵了。 你接受的了！我們都接受的了。

We're all adults and after all, sexual reproduction is how all of us got to be here!

我們都是大人了。 畢竟，沒有性愛繁殖，就沒有我們了

Well, maybe not Thot who was born of Seth's skull? Ew.

或許圖特不是。他是直接從賽特的頭骨出生的...噁～

But for the rest of us, it probably makes sense that a lot of cosmic creation myths often invoke sexual reproduction.

但對於我們來說許多創世神話與 性愛繁殖有關是很合理的事

Still, cosmic sexual reproduction is a little different, and sometimes a lot weirder than human sexual reproduction.

但是宇宙的繁殖（天地交合）與我們不太一樣 甚至會比人類的還要更奇怪

Well, I mean– depending on what you're into of course.

當然，端看你如何看待繁殖

[Theme Music]

《神話速成班》 〈速成班〉主題曲

So let's ease into this with a little latin. Sexy, sexy latin.

我們先從可愛的拉丁文開始看起

So, you know how when you grow plants, they come from seeds? Well in latin, the word for "seed" is "semen."

你知道要種植物需有種子。 而在拉丁文中，種子是 semen

Which is why a man's seminal fluid is also sometimes called his seed.

所以男人的精液也被稱做「種子」 （譯按：精液的英文也是 semen）

The idea of something growing from a seed is a logical analogy to creation but,

「由種子產生某種東西」的概念 用來類比創世過程是很合乎邏輯的

multiple godly fluids seem to be fertile, as we'll see in an Egyptian creation myth.

然而許多「神液」似乎都很「活躍」 比如說在埃及創世神話中...

In one of the many versions of the Egyptian creation story, the creator god says:

其中一個版本是這麼說的... 創世神說：

"I fulfilled all my desires when I was alone, before had appeared a second to be with me in this place;

「我完滿了我的孤獨時的慾望， 在有第二者與我同在此處之前

I assumed form as that great soul wherein I started being creative while still in the primeval waters in a state of inertness...

我以靈魂的形體，開始創造 我仍在上古神水之中，如如不動

so it was I who spat forth Shu and expectorated Tefnut..."

我吐出了舒（大氣之神） 並咳出了忒芙努特（濕氣女神）...」

So, honestly, that sounds a lot more like saliva. At least in translation. But the image becomes clearer in a later part of the myth, when the god relates:

說真的，從翻譯中，這聽起來很像口水 但是在後半部份就比較清晰了

"When I rubbed with my fist my heart came into my mouth in that I spat forth Shu and expectorated Tefnut."

「我握拳揉時，我的心臟深入口中 然後我吐出了舒，咳出了忒芙努特」

Thankfully this myth isn't actually... explicit, in what the gods are doing, and the... anatomy is obviously a little strange,

幸好這則神話不是很...直白的解釋 這些神在做什麼動作，而且器官的位置有點怪...

but here's a god, alone, fulfilling his desires, and rubbing with his fist.

但是一位神，獨自一人，滿足自己的慾望 還有用拳頭揉...

With the result that two new figures–also gods–are created.

最後的結果是：兩位新的神祇被創造出來了

It's not Shakespeare-level body, but neither is it Disney Channel material, right?

不到金瓶梅的等級，但絕對不是普遍級，是吧？

Notice that the creator god here is alone, and also presumably male.

注意：這位創世神獨自一人，而且似乎是位男神

This may suggest a patrilineal culture since creation occurs without a female presence.

這可能是在暗示父系社會 因為創造時沒有女性的存在

The story of Mbombo's creation, from the Boshongo Bantu people in Africa, is remarkably similar.

非洲的柏商勾-班圖人的 「邦伯」創世神話也極為相似

Including water, a solitary creator, and best of all, vomiting. It's a banner day for bodily fluids here at Crash Course.

包含了水、單一造物者，最好玩的是：嘔吐 哈！今天肯定是速成班的體液紀念日

In the beginning, in the dark, there was nothing but water, and Mbombo was alone.

起初，在黑暗中，除了水以外，什麼都沒有 只有邦伯獨自一人

One day Mbombo was in terrible pain. He retched and strained and vomited up the sun.

一日，邦伯感到一陣劇痛 一陣乾嘔之後，吐出了太陽

After that, light spread over everything. The heat of the sun dried up the water until the black edges of the world began to show.

此後，光佈滿了宇宙。 太陽的熱將水蒸發掉，露出了黑色的土地。

Black sandbanks and reefs could be seen. But there were no living things.

黑色的沙洲和礁石出現了 但是卻沒有任何生命

Mbombo vomited up the moon, and then the stars, and after that the night had its light also.

邦伯又吐出了月亮及星星 這樣夜晚也有了光芒

Still, Mbombo was in pain. He strained again and nine living creatures came forth. Last of all, came man.

但是邦伯還是很不舒服，又吐出了九種生物出來 最後吐出來的，就是人類

Again, we have a solitary man creating the world using his body and bringing it forth after being in terrible pain.

同樣的，又是一個單一男性在劇烈的疼痛之後 用身體創造了世界

Which is possibly an analog to female childbirth.

當中的疼痛可能是代表女性分娩的陣痛

And speaking of pain, few myths involve more of it than the Greek creation story involving Aphrodite. I mean this myth just has it all.

講到疼痛，沒幾則神話能比得上希臘神話中 有關亞芙蘿蒂的創世神話

Water, genitals, violence, creation, armored giants– really just the whole completely horrifying megillah.

這則神話什麼鬼都有。水、性愛、暴力、 創世、盔甲巨人...一整套恐怖饗宴

Here's the version found in Hesoid's Theogyny.

這是赫西俄德的《神譜》中記載的版本

"Great Heaven came, bring on the night and desirous of love, he spread himself over the Earth, stretched out in every direction.

天父來了，同時也帶來了夜晚和性慾 全方位的擁抱著地母

His son Chronos reached out from the ambush with his left hand, with his right he took a huge sickle with its long row of sharp teeth, and quickly,

他的兒子克洛諾斯躲著，用左手抓住天父 右手拿著銳利的鐮刀，迅速的...

cut off his father's genitals, and flung them behind him to fly where they might.

截斷了天父的陰莖，使勁向身後拋去

They were not released from his hand to no effect: for all the drops of blood that flew off were received by the Earth, and as the years went round, she bore the powerful Erinyes,

每一滴落到地母身上的血都產生了各種珍禽異獸 例如：厄里倪厄斯（復仇三女神）

and the great Giants in gleaming armor with long spears in their hands, and the nymphs whom they called Meliai on the boundless earth.

手持長矛、身著鎧甲的癸干忒斯（巨靈族） 以及精靈女仙墨利亞（梣木寧芙）

As for the genitals, just as he first cut them off with his instrument of adamant, and threw them from the land into the surging sea,

至於那陽具，就如同剛被切下時一般 飛過了大地，落入了海中

even so they were carried on the wave for a long time. About them a white foam grew from the immortal flesh and in it, a girl formed.

在海浪放浮沉很長一段時間後 一個女孩從這不死的血肉中所產生的泡沫裡誕生了

First she approached holy Cythera, and then from there she came to sea-girt Cyprus.

她先接近了神聖的基西拉島 然後來到塞浦路斯島

And out stepped a modest and beautiful goddess, and the grass began to grow all round beneath her slender feet.

愛與美的化身女神走到哪裡 她的玉足之下就會長出青草

Gods and men call her Aphrodite, because she was formed in foam, and Cytherea, because she approached Cythera,

因為她從泡沫中誕生，眾神與人類稱呼她阿佛洛狄忒 又因為她曾在基西拉島待過，所以又名基西拉

and Cyprus-born because she was born in wave-washed Cyrpus, and 'genial', because she appeared out of genitals."

又因為她曾來到塞浦路斯島，所以又名塞浦莉絲 又因為她是自陽具而來，所以又稱珍妮雅爾

Side-note: I need to stop using the word genial as an adjective.

註：別再用 Genial（珍妮雅爾） 作為美好、友愛的形容詞了

And there you have it ladies and gentlemen, violent castration begets a word meaning "friendly" or "cheerful", and the goddess of love.

就這樣陽具被閹割後，成了陽光、美好的字眼... 還有愛的女神

Well, one goddess of love. There are lots of others, and we'll see more of them in later episodes on pantheons.

至少是其中一個愛的女神 之後講到「眾神」的時候再深入研究

But enough about saliva and vomit and bleeding testicles and other horrifying things that can potentially be read as semen,

不要在討論口水、嘔吐、蛋蛋的哀傷 還有其他疑似精液神秘液體...

let's turn to that other important part of sexual reproduction: the egg.

我們來看看生殖繁衍的 另一個重要因素：卵（蛋）

A number of cultures have creation myths that feature something called a cosmic egg.

許多文化中的創世神話都有一顆「宇宙蛋」

In one Indian creation myth, found in the Satapatha Brahmana, the creator god, in this story called Prajapati, forms a cosmic egg after creating water.

印度的創世神話之一，記載在《百道梵書》中 ： 生主(Prajapati)在創造水之後，創造了一顆宇宙蛋

Out of which this egg come various creatures, but most importantly, the Earth and the rest of the universe, which, confusingly, is also water.

從蛋裡面誕生了各種生物，最重要的是大地 以及宇宙中另一部分...更多的水

One translation from the 19th century puts it this way:

十九世紀的一個翻譯版是這麼記載的：

"He desired, 'May I be reproduced from these waters!' He entered the waters with that triple science. Thence an egg arose. He touched it.

他想：讓我在這些水中繁衍，他持三部吠陀進入了水中 一顆蛋出現了，他碰了碰這顆蛋

'Let it exist! let it exist and multiply!' so he said. From it the Brahman was first created."

他說：「出現吧！出現並繁衍吧！」 於是梵天是最先從蛋裡創造出來的

"And that which was the shell became the earth. [...] The juice which flowed from it became a tortoise [...]

...蛋殼成了大地... ...蛋汁流出形成了神龜...

This whole (earth) dissolved itself all over the water: all this (universe) appeared as one form only, namely, water."

整個大地溶解，覆蓋在水之上 整個宇宙源自一體：水

So that is... confusing. And also... wet. Also, what is this triple science that he enters the waters with?

很混亂...而且很濕... 而且他進入水中的三部吠陀是什麼？？

What we do understand is that, water brings forth an egg. And from that egg comes the Earth, sky, a tortoise, and more water.

我們所能瞭解到的是：水中誕生了一顆蛋 蛋裡孵出了天、地、神龜、以及更多的水

There's an early Persian creation story that's similar to the one from India, in that it also has an egg. And hey, our old friend water is here too!

一則早期波斯創世神話與這個印度神話相似 當中也有一顆蛋，老朋友水又來了！

According to this story, the god of good, Ahura Mazda, and let's remember, this is a god, not a making model of car, [sarcastic laugh]

在這個故事當中，善神阿胡拉·馬自達 記得：這是神，不是汽車廠牌，ㄎㄎ

Ahura Mazda created a perfect spiritual world, before creating the tangible one.

阿胡拉·馬自達先創造了完美的精神界 接下來才創造物質界

And this perfect world made the god of evil, Angra Mainyu a.k.a. Ahriman, so angry, that he burst through the cosmic egg,

這個完美世界讓惡神安格拉·曼紐（又名阿里曼） 很不高興，所以他從宇宙蛋中破殼而出

causing such a disturbance that the sun began to rotate through the sky instead of standing still. And this in turn led to day, night, mountains, valleys,

造成的震盪使太陽不再停滯不動，而是在天上運行 同時造成了日、夜、山、谷

and most importantly, the destruction of the perfect world. Which led to work, pain, and death for humanity. So, nice going evil.

最重要的是，世界不再完美，所以人類 有了工作、苦難、死亡。看你做了什麼好事！

You know what they say: you can't create the universe without breaking a few cosmic eggs.

你知道嗎？不打破宇宙蛋就沒有宇宙

What, too soon? And why are there no creation myths about cosmic bacon? I could really go for a cosmic breakfast.

太冷了嗎？為什麼沒有宇宙培根的創世神話呢？ 我可以吃一餐宇宙早餐

There's one more cosmic egg creation myth that I want to talk about, and it follows really nicely from the Zoroastrian one

還有一則我想講的宇宙蛋創世神話 他跟剛才的瑣羅亞斯德教（祆教）神話...

about Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu because, like that one, it features a duality as a fundamental principle of creation.

關於善神與惡神的對立很相似 因為在這則神話中，也有相似的二元創世法則

One of the many Chinese creation myths combines a cosmic egg trope with a world-parent myth. Let's go to the Thought Bubble.

在中國神話中，有一則融合了「宇宙蛋」 和「天父地母」的神話。進入〈思緒泡泡〉

In the beginning was a huge egg containing Chaos, a mixture of yin-yang—female-male, passive-active, cold-heat, dark-light, and wet-dry.

太古之時，有一個包含渾沌的蛋 是陰陽、男女、動靜、冷熱、光暗、乾溼不分的混合物

Within this yin-yang was Phan Ku, that which was not yet anything

在混沌中，盤古出現了。

but which broke forth from the egg as the giant who separated chaos into the many opposites, including earth and sky.

盤古從渾沌蛋中破殼而出，將渾沌分成 陰陽二氣、形成了天地

Phan Ku was covered with hair; horns sprang from his head and tusks from his mouth.

盤古身長長毛、頭頂雙角、口含巨牙

With a great chisel and a huge mallet, he carved out the mountains, valleys, rivers, and oceans.

用他巨大的鎚子和鑿 刻劃出了山川河海

He also made the sun, moon, and stars. He taught the people what they know.

他創造了日月星辰 教導人民知識

When Phan Ku finally died, his skull became the top of the sky, his breath the wind, his voice the thunder,

盤古死後，頭骨成了穹頂 呼吸變成風、聲音變成雷

his legs and arms the four directions, his flesh the soil, his blood the rivers, and so forth.

四肢成為四方、肌肉成為土壤 血液成為河...等等

The people say that the fleas in his hair became human beings. Everything that is, is Phan Ku. And everything that Phan Ku is is yin-yang.

有人說他身上的蚤子成了人類 一切就是盤古，盤古就是陰陽

With Phan Ku's death a vacuum was created, and within this vacuum pain and sin were able to flourish.

盤古死後，出現了真空 從真空中產生了痛苦與罪惡

In the beginning was Chaos, from which light became the sky and darkness formed the Earth.

太古有渾沌，清氣上升為天，濁氣下凝為地

Yang and yin are contained in light and darkness, and everything is made of these principles.

光暗中有陰陽 一切都是從陰陽而生的

Thanks Thought Bubble!

謝謝〈思緒泡泡〉

Here we see that many of the themes in creation myths overlap.

在這裡我們看見許多神話融合在一起

For example, last week we talked about Chaos, as being a state of undifferentiation,

例如上週所說的渾沌：蒙眛不明的狀態

and here it appears again, although, this time, it's a series of dualities. Mixture of yin-yang.

在這裡又出現了 雖然這次是陰陽二氣的混合

Unlike in the Bible, where God has to come in and created the dualities as a way of imposing order.

不同的是，在聖經中神要來創造二元來建立秩序

Although this myth features a cosmic egg, it's also an example of what are sometimes called world-parent myths.

雖然這則神話中有宇宙蛋 但同時也是「天父地母」神話

"where a creator god brings the universe into being, through actual or metaphorical sexual reproduction,

也就是創世神透過明示暗喻的「交合」來創造宇宙

or as in this case, by being differentiated into aspects of the known world."

有些情況，則是分別成已知世界的若干面向

Those of you who remember Crash Course World History Episode #6 on Vedic religions, Buddhism and Ashoka,

看過《歷史速成班》第六集 「吠陀諸教、佛教與阿育王」的人

might recall the story of Purusha, who was also divided up into aspects of human reality.

可能會記得「神我」的概念 也是分成了人類眼中的世間萬物

Although Phan Ku and Purusha are usually thought of as male, if they are thought of as having a gender at all, often the world-parent is portrayed as maternal.

雖然「盤古」和「神我」（如果有性別的話） 通常被視為男性，但是大地通常是母系的

An Earth-mother, as opposed to a sky-father. But that is a story for another day.

會有「地母」以及相對應的「天父」 但那是下次再來討論的題目

So that is out first take on creation stories that involve either explicitly or more symbolically, sexual reproduction.

以上就是我們首次討論包含 或明示、或暗喻「交合」的創世神話

As you can tell, these myths are not always straightforward, or biologically possible, strictly speaking.

你應該看的出來，這些神話並不是很直白 或者說...不是很符合生物學

I also hope you haven't come away thinking we're reading too much into these myths. And that we have dirty minds.

但我希望你不要以為我們想得太多、 思想太不純潔

Which is what Thot over here thinks. I'm not the dirty bird, you're the dirty bird.

就像圖特一樣 你才不純潔，你全家都不純潔

But that the exciting thing about myths, they're open to various interpretations.

這就是神話有趣的地方 要怎麼詮釋都可以

Try your own reading while still noticing the broad commonalities in these stories, taken from many different parts of the world.

你也可以自己去找找世界各地 流傳的故事當中的相同之處

And thanks for watching. We'll see you next week.

謝謝收看 我們下週見

Crash Course Mythology is filmed in the Chad and Stacey Emigholz Studio in Indianapolis, Indiana,

00:11:47,107 --> 00:11:52,016

and is produced with the help of all of these very nice people. Our animation team is Thought Café.

00:11:52,016 --> 00:11:56,388

Crash Course exists thanks to the generous support of our patrons at Patreon.

00:11:56,388 --> 00:12:02,377

Patreon is a voluntary subscription service where you can support the content you love, though a monthly donation,

00:12:02,377 --> 00:12:05,868

and help keep Crash Course free for everyone, forever.

00:12:05,868 --> 00:12:10,508

Thanks for watching, and next time you sneeze, check the tissue, there might be an universe in there.