In Norse mythology, the universe begins when a giant cow licks the gods out of the salty lip of a primordial pit. In Japanese mythology, Japan arises from the incestuous embrace of the brother and sister gods Izanagi and Izanami. In one Hindu creation myth, all creatures rise out of the clarified butter obtained from the sacrifice of the thousand-headed Purusha. More recently, though, over the last century or so, astrophysicists and cosmologists have constructed a detailed history of the universe supported by observational evidence.
