Terracotta, a part of human history

In this new post, we would like to recount some curious facts about terracotta, a material so deeply cherished by Goti Terrecotte. For example, going back through the centuries, did you now that clay - the main ingredient used for making terracotta - played a crucial role in the creation of mankind according to myths and religious beliefs?
In fact, in ancient times, when science alone was unable to answer the greatest questions about mankind, stories and legends were invented from human imagination in the relentless search for the ultimate answer.
Curiously enough, in many cultures, despite the great differences between each other, the creation of man is associated with a natural material known by humanity since the dawn of time. We are talking about clay, commonly known as “earth”.
Here are a few examples.
According to Greek mythology, Prometheus, a Titan god, shapes man out of clay and breathes life into him. He then steals fire from the gods and delivers it to mankind, but this will eventually cost him the deadly wrath of Zeus. Pandora, the first human woman, is believed to have been created by Hephaestus who, according to Hesiod “models out of clay a being resembling a chaste maiden”.
In the Book of Genesis, “God forms man out of the dust of the ground and breaths into his nostrils the breath of life”. And speaking of the Assiryrian-Babilonians, the magical text Šurpu reveals how the human figure was modelled directly from clay. An ancient Chinese fairy tale instead, narrates the story of a female goddess, Nuwa, who decides to create a being "in her image and likeness" from the soil of a riverbed while she was admiring her reflection in the water. As we can see, in recounting the origin of everything, a common thread unites all these cultures although they differ so greatly from each other in terms of time, place and space. Think about it: a poor material valued as a precious substance linked to the origin of life. Clay (and its derivatives), a constant presence in the daily life of many peoples, has always played a privileged role throughout the ages and in many different contexts, taking on a legendary trait at times.