Comparison Of Genesis And Theogony

Genesis and Theogony came from very different cultures. The book of Genesis is the Hebrew description of creation, and make up the first book of the Holy Bible. This creation story is not only the most well-known by foreigners, but also the most accepted, by the Christian and Judaic cultures. Hesiod's Theogony is the Greek story of the creation of earth and humankind. Before Genesis, there was no book to decree what one should believe about the beginning of humans, and Hesiod's story of creation was the most popular at around that time. At this time the Greek culture was a polytheistic one meaning they worshipped and had many more than one god. The Genesis description of creation showed a vital change from the polytheistic culture of the Greeks

to the monotheistic culture of the Hebrews mainly since the worship of one God was an entirely new idea to both of these cultures.

God punishes Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, much like those in Theogony are punished by their gods. When Eve, the mother of all living things and the first woman created in the image of God, takes fruit from the tree of knowledge she is going against the word of God. God directly told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of knowledge but Eve was deceived by the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Since Eve was disobedient and went against God’s word, Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, and for her disobedience God punishes the future generations of women by giving pain during labor. In Theogony humans were made from mud and water or from mud mixed with wind. From the moment of their creation, the gods and mortals had a rough relationship. When Zeus was tricked into accepting bones laden with fat during a feast, Zeus chose to first punish the mortals instead of Prometheus himself. Zeus removed fire from the face of the earth causing starvation for the mortals who had learned to eat cooked meat in order to survive.