The Sumerians, located in modern-day Mesopotamia, were one of the oldest civilizations known to man, dating back well before 3,200 B. C. Separated not only by thousands of miles, but also by hundreds of years, was the ancient Egyptian culture of the Nile River valley, which appeared around 2850 B.C. Northward and many centuries later would see the emergence of the timeless civilization of ancient Greece around 900 B.C. Despite the vast frozen sea of time that separated these (and countless other) cultures, as well as their unfathomable differences in geography, environment, and lifestyle, virtually all of the world's peoples have been found to have many similarities in their most basic traditions and myths. The notion of a higher power, be it an assortment of gods or a single omnipotent deity, has proven universal. Other mythological ideas that have appeared worldwide, regardless of culture, include creation stories, as well...