The Mesopotamian and Hittite mythology has considerable influence on Greek mythology in literary works of the epic period. The Mesopotamian and Hittite mythology were developed around 4000 years ago. According to Greek art and architecture discovered during that time, Greece absorbed significant amount of elements from Egypt and the Near East to develop its own myth, thought, literature and philosophy. .
There were many similarities existing between Greek and Near East mythologies. Most ancient people believed that the earth was female while the sky was male. Moreover, they also believed that the birth of gods were through ejaculation or castration of other Gods. In Greek mythology, Cronus overthrew his father Uranus by placing him in an ambush with Gaea and castrated him with a sickle. He then threw the served genitals into the ocean. Uranus' blood spilled over the earth, from which the Gigantes, Erinyes and Meliae were produced. The testicles produced a white foam in the sea from which Aphrodite was produced. Kumarbi, the son of the god Alahu in Hittite myth, avenged for his father who was overthrew by Anu the god of heaven. During the battle, Kumarbi cut off Anu's genitals, which was just like what Cronus did. However, Anu impregnate Kumarbi with three new gods. One of them was the storm god Tessup, who later on fought against Kumarbi and overthrew him. In the creation stories in both cultures, Anu can be paralleled with Uranus while Kumarbi can be compared with Cronus. Both Cronus and Kumarbi took over the kingship by castrating their predecessors. The only difference was that Cronus used sickle while Kumarbi was armed with cutting tool which separated the earth from the sky. However, neither Cronus nor Kumarbi had ruled for a long time. They were overthrew by their sons, Zeus and Tessup, who finally resorted the rightful order of the universe. Interestingly, both Zeus and Tessup were considered as storm gods.
