THE SYMBOL OF “EARTH” IN WORLD MYTHOLOGIES

Since the very early periods of history when mythical thought based on oral tradition began to develop myths have been formulated in order to give meaning to the concept of creation, which has always been a basic turning point in the culturization processes of the societies. These myths have usually provided similar explanations and similar symbols for creation regardless of the place and the society they were born. Mythology, which has also been called the “science of metaphors and symbols”, contains universal elements among its symbols and metaphors. One of these symbols is “the soil (earth)”, which occupy a central role among the symbols. In all mythologies, Egyptian, Greek, Turkish, Indian and Far Eastern most significantly, it is widely observed that “the soil (earth)” has been one of the central symbols that has been loaded with various meanings. The works and findings of the pioneering scholars such as Mircea Eliade, Joseph Cambell and Branislaw Malinowski, and other Western scholars such as Jack Goody, Maurice Bloch and Adam Neville in the field, complemented with the studies of the recently translated works and findings of the Russian ethnologists and scholars of mythology have contributed to the development of new approaches and different views in respect to “mythical symbolism” in wide contextual studies such as traditional worldviews. This study subjects “the earth (soil)” metaphor in the creation myths, the definition of the levels of earth in these stories, “the earth” as the symbol of “good” and “benevolence”, and as a symbol of purity, cleanness and purification, “the earth” in the context of “returning to the womb”, “birth”, “death” and physical and cultural transition, “the earth” as a symbol of sex and sexuality, as the symbol of maturity, healing and social participation as well as the role “the soil (earth)” plays in the determination of economic roles. This study aims at formulating a general explanation on the symbolic and metaphorical meanings of “the earth (soil)” by selecting examples from different mythologies