where the world came from and to explain man’s role in the world. A popular myth in Mesopotamia portrayed the universe as the body of a god who had been killed in a cosmic struggle. Human beings had sprung from his drops of blood and they had been forced to work for all time for the victorious deity. The Egyptians had at least five creation myths. These myths featured gods giving birth to other gods, with the universe an almost accidental by-product. In one of the myths, human beings sprang from