History Main / SpontaneousGeneration

[[folder:Non-Myth Beliefs]]
* The Greek philosopher Creator/{{Aristotle}}, and by extension his following, believed that insects had no parents, but were born right out of mud, corpses, etc. This was in part related to the concept of life and breath being related [[note]]as seen in the myth of Pygmalion, the statue the Greek gods "breathed" life into to turn her into a living woman[[/note]]: as insects didn't appear to breathe like mammals or birds, they weren't alive in the same sense that mammals and birds were.
* Given the way mushrooms seem to pop up overnight and their mysterious, invisible reproductive process (spores, which are so tiny they cannot be seen without a microscope), it's easy to see why people used to think mushrooms generated spontaneously and circles of fungi were magical "fairy rings."

[[folder:Celtic Mythology]]

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[[folder:Classical Mythology]]

* As Perseus flew over the desert on his winged sandals, blood from Medusa's severed head fell on the sand and formed "poisonous asps and adders," as a JustSoStory element. Pegasus and his less popular, human or winged boar brother Chrysaor were born from Medusa post-mortem, and depending on the version, are either her children by Poseidon or an example of spontaneous generation. In one, her blood falls in the sea and spawns them, Aphrodite-style.

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[[folder:Egyptian Mythology]]

[[folder:Norse Mythology]]
* In Myth/NorseMythology, life began when the warm air of Muspelheim hit the cold ice of Niflheim, creating the giant Ymir and the cow Audhumla. Other giants grew from Ymir's sweat and Bori, the first of the gods, appeared from Audhumla's salt lick. Fun times.
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* ''Film/{{Clash Of The Titans 1981}}'': In this adaptation of the myth of Perseus, it's giant scorpions that sprout from drops of Medusa's blood.

* ''{{Literature/Thud}}'': According to the dwarfs' creation myth, the god Tak's first action was to write himself into existence. Further, the first troll sprung unbidden from the stone egg that Tak used to make the first man and dwarf. In the traditional, conservative version of the myth, the troll went unregarded and so wanders through the world without purpose; in an alternate version, however, Tak was pleased with the stone's tenacity and gave the troll His blessing.

[[folder:Web Original]]

* In ''Literature/HayyIbnYaqzan'', this is given as a possible explanation for how Hayy came to be a WildChild on a DesertedIsland. The intense heat of the sun combined with a particular mixture of elements in a certain spot under the ground and spirit infused by God to create life. Hayy gestates until the mud around him dries and cracks, revealing a fully-formed infant.

It should be noted that abiogenesis, the ''extremely'' simple chemical processes scientists propose as the origins of life, is ''not'' the same as spontaneous generation, the emergence of complex organisms from non-living matter, such as maggots forming from rotting flesh or truffles from small rocks.