Creation Story Vs Greek Mythology Essay

There is no definite answer to how the world was created, each religion and culture has a different answer. The creation story is the telling of the development of the present world. These stories are derived from early oral tradition, that was passed down from generation to generation until they were written down. The stories vary on how the world came to be, some say it just emerged or it was created from chaos, or it came out of nothing. Some stories state that there is a world parent or a earth diver, that brought up mud from the bottom of the water to create land. Each one of theses variations have multiple creation myths attributed to them; so, there can be similarities between the different myths.
The egyptian creation story states

that before the universe there was chaos; and out of the swirling darkness came the world and universe. Out of the dark water arose a great hill, Ben-Ben. The great god Atum stood upon this hill alone. So, he matted with his shadow to give birth to Shu, and Tefnut. Leaving Atum on Ben-Ben, they set out to create the world. They were gone for so long that Atum became worried, so he sent his all seeing eye to search for them. Shu and Tefnut finally arrived back with the eye, Atum cried tears of joy creating man. to give a place for man to live, Shu and Tefnut gave birth to Geb and Nut, earth and sky. Geb and Nut were inseparable, because they were in love. Being brother and sister this was unacceptable, so Atum pushed Nut to the high heavens. However, Nut was already pregnant, and gave birth to Osiris, Isis, Set, Nepthys, and Horus. Atum granted Osiris the rule of the world, as he was a thoughtful and judicious god. He ruled alongside Isis, his sister-wife, providing for all the needs of his people. Set became jealous of Osiris and the power he had, so he trapped him in a coffin and threw it in the Niel. Set found out that Isis was going to attempt to bring him back to life, so cut him up into to pieces. Isis and Nepthys searched for all the pieces and found all of them, but the penis. Osiris was brought back to live but could not rule anymore because of his incompetence and because the righteous judge of the underworld. Horus, who was raised in secret, grew up to challenge his uncle, Set. The battle lasted eight year until Horus won, he sent his uncle to the desert and harmony was once brought back to the land. (Mark).
There are striking similarities with the Egyptian creation story compared to the Greek mythology creation story.

The first similarity being the succession of rule. The Greek story starts with Gaia and Uranus, then the Titans, then finally Zeus; and, the Egyptian story starts with Atum, and Osiris and Isis, then Finally Horus (Buxton). Another similarity is Osiris not being able to rule because he became incompetent. This is similar to Cronus castrating his father, after he does Uranus is not able to rule anymore (Buxton). Both stories start out with chaos in the beginning (Buxton). Also, in both creation myths brother and sisters are married. For example, Hera and Zeus in Greek mythology and Isis and Osiris in Egyptian mythology (Buxton).
Even though the two myths have many similarities, there are differences. For example, in the Greek story, each new ruler came a new age of man; but, in Egyptian story the new ruler caused or brought about an attitude man had (Buxton). In the Egyptian story, Atum created his children to cease loneliness, and in the Greek story there is no explanation why the titans were created. In the greek mythology, the gods are suspicious of their children at birth, so they eat or hide them. This ultimately becomes their demise (Buxton). In the Egyptian story Osiris demise was brought upon by a jealous

brother.
These two stories derive from different regions and from different time periods. But, somehow very similar; and there is no telling how these two myths became similar. The similarities are rooted in the idea of succession between the gods. From that many similarities stem from that; like, being incompetent makes a god unable to rule. However, there are differences like who is the successor. Both of these stories are rooted in cultural significance, like any creation story worldwide.