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The Greek mythology and the Bible
Greek mythology and the bible similarities
Comparison of Greek and Christian myths
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The similarities between biblical stories and Greek Mythology. In the Bible and Greek Mythology both were the believe of us to God(s). In biblical stories, christians believe that the lord God created the world; he created birds, animals, and humans. Similarly, in Greek mythology, Zeus and his forces established the mount olympus to be there Eden, and he ordered to create all alive things in earth, even though he doesn’t want mortals, but the mortals still appears. Therefore, Biblical stories and Greek mythology have many similarities, both have the stories of the creation of human. In particular, the three examples that have the closest similarities are The Creation of woman, How god's punish those who don’t worship them and reward those who worship them. and The Kingdom of God. Firstly, the legend that both scripture have was the characteristic of woman; in Greek Mythology, Pandora was a beautiful woman made by hephaestus( Who was the son of Zeus, God of fire; The smith.) he made pandora the most beautiful mortal for Zeus ‘ secret weapon. In Zeus’ plan, he planned to let Pandora marry Epimetheus(who create the mortals and all alive things on the earth). For the dowry, he gave Pandora a sealed chest and told her never opened it. Consequently, because of her …show more content…
curiosity, she opened it without anyone with her. subsequently, she released evil and spreaded throughout the world. But for Zeus, this achieve his plan in Pandora’s inadvertently. Similarly, in Biblical story, Eve made by Lord Jehovah consent from Adam’s rib to accompany with adam and live in the Eden. In the Garden Eden, God allowed them to eat everything there, except the tree centered in the middle of the garden, because God said, “you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die."(GENESIS 2:17) But the serpent enticed eve with rhetoric, it said that, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"(Serpent GENESIS 3:1) and those words, influenced Eve to change her choice. Likewise, due to a of woman’s curiosity, they offend the rule by the God, ate the fruit Therefore, she began to see good and bad, and the shame, then, She also invited Adam to eat it too. Consequently, God discovered that they offend his rules, finally, Lord God banned them from Garden of Eden, never come back. ”After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.”(GENESIS 3:23,24). In a similar way, Pandora and eve has the same characteristic, ,and this was the reveal of human nature of woman in both scriptures. Secondly, the point can contest which described is “How God Punish those who don't worship then and how reward those who worship them. In Greek mythology Deucalion and Pyrrha were the only couple who worshiped the gods. Shortly, Zeus felt that mortals do not worship the gods and goddess as they should. Therefore, he sent a flood to clear the earth, exceptions of the old couple. Zeus’ action is shown, “Deucalion has never neglected to sacrifice and pray to the gods, Zeus determined that he would destroy all human on the earth and spare only this pious thus pious couple.”(32) The main reason of why the couples were not perished was their faith towards the gods and goddess. In biblical stories, Noah was an old person who was a believer in Lord Jehovah indeed that no one has faith in God. in a period of time, “Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence”(GENESIS 6:11)nevertheless, in the in the environment like this, Noah still stay pure for hope, and consequently Lord God promised a miracle and told him to build an ark, because Lord God will sent the flood to erase the world, as the pious faith, he did start building the ark within bystanders frigid irony and scorching satire, However when the time comes, God sent the flood to the earth, but only noah and his family was saved, same strong faith as Deucalion;s. In retrospect, both stories was the legends of how god rewards those who worship them and punish them who don’t have worship to them. This two stories from bible and greek mythology reveal in human nature if faith. Lastly, the point both scripture have was “The kingdom of god” for last point . in both scripture, the kingdom of God has the mostly same information. In greek mythology, ; “Zeus and his forces established their headquarters on a high mountain called mount Olympus. His main allies were his brothers, Poseidon and Hades and two titans, Prometheus and Epimetheus.”(5).but lately there brcome the home of Gods. in biblical stories, Lord God make a garden at east and called it Eden, at first, Lord God permit that human can live here, but because of Eve’s, mistake they banned by the Lord God( Details in first paragraph) from the Eden, from then on, the Eden garden become a legend tale. In both legend of kingdom was unrealistic for us, but now there was some other stories tell is that when you are dead , your soul will flows to the kingdom of God and become angel to protect us, this was another reveal of faith in human nature. In conclusion, In all three points and there examples.
All has surrounded a important point, FAITH. Because faith does not strong enough, Eve/Pandora followed their curiosity, Eve/Pandora ate/opened the forbidden fruit/box, destruct them because less faith. Because faith strong enough, Noah/Deucalion and Pyrrha saved from the disaster of cleaning the earth's atrocities, saved by their faith, because we have faith , we are not being afraid of death, accordingly, when we are going to dead , faith will appears in our heart and lead us to a better situation, conversely, those who do not have faith or less faith, will feel nothing, and this was the point i think reveal human nature in Greek mythology and
bible.
In Hesiod’s version, Zeus created Pandora as a punishment to man and illustrated her as an evil, deceitful and supposed curse on mankind, “Evil conspirators. And he added another evil to offset the good...she was a real pain for human beings” (Hesiod, 149-164) On the contrary women in Ovid’s tale were treated as companions who worked together for the greater good, as depicted by the myth of Pyrrha and Deucalion, “Then, side by side, they went without delay to seek the waters of Cephisus’ stream.” (Ovid, 17) Deucalion and Pyrrha are portrayed to be righteous and true devotes of the Olympian gods and hence given the responsibility of repopulating earth. Ovid demonstrates that the humans in this myth portray the role of a god, where they repopulate Earth with righteous humans, thus creating order in the universe again. He portrays their role as a vital component in this occurrence as without their diligence and morals—this act would not have been possible. Thus, establishing the human-centered concept of his
And so for men Zeus plotted grief and trouble. He hid fire. And Prometheus, bold son of Lapetus, stole it back from the side of wise Zeus, in a fennel stalk, and gave it to men and Zeus who delights in the thunder did not notice” (Bauschatz, ). Clearly, disobedience and deceiving the gods leads to chaos because Prometheus who tried to steal the fire from Zeus enraged him and therefore ordered the creation of Pandora as punishment and evil delivered to men.
They had similar beliefs, but also immeasurable differences. It was composed of many meaningful gods and goddesses that all played a part in the everyday life of the average Roman and Greek person of that time.
Throughout the history of the world there have been a number of civilizations which have had a longstanding influence not only their own people and culture, but also on various other societies and civilizations. The Greek and Roman civilizations are two such civilizations. Both Greek and Roman influences have permeated societies and cultures besides their own. While there are many notable similarities between ancient Greek and Roman mythology and religion, there are likely also many differences in their origins, beliefs, and practices. Still, ancient Greek and Roman mythology and culture have influenced people of the world from the medieval ages up to the present. Indeed, ancient Greek and Roman mythology and culture have influenced world theology through the ages.
Throughout history many civilizations and cultures have had their own ways of explaining the world and its creation. Each of these civilizations has created unique descriptions and accounts of such events. However, when comparing them to each other, are they really different? Look at the ancient Greco - Roman creation myths as told by Hesiod in his Theogony and Works and Days and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, when compared to the creation myths as seen in the Old Testament’s book of Genesis they may not be as different as one would think. Taking a more in-depth look at both Genesis and Hesiod’s and Ovid’s work more closely, the reader can see that on multiple occasions the myths have almost identical similarities which reflect their views in society. The similarities in particular are the myths of the creation of man, women with their subsequent role of evil in ancient times, and the great floods. These similarities prove that even though these two scriptures were centuries apart, the concepts presented in each myth were almost identical to one another.
...rect influence on Greek creation mythology. But the truth is that the tables date back to 1100 BC, which means the Babylonian creation myth is much older then Greek mythology’s Theogony by Hesiod. The Enuma Elish might even contain stories that much other then itself, some scholars argue. In conclusion it is obvious that there are many parallels between the Enuma Elish and the Theogony. No matter the creation myth there will most always be unexplainable similarities that cannot be explained. Comparing and contracting different creation myths is a very good way to help explain different cultures and their differences and similarities. It also opens the door to more questions that seek answers only found by looking in the past and how can any culture hope to have a rich and valuable future without being aware of it’s past; this is why creations myths are so valuable.
Long ago, stories of gods, goddesses, heroes, and monsters in ancient Greece were essential to everyday life. Mythology is a culture’s collective rationalization of events, history, and super natural power. Myths are told to have originated in ancient Greece during but the concepts true source is unknown. Influences mythology has on Greeks and Romans include religion, history, art, and entertainment.
“Without a knowledge of mythology much of the elegant literature of our own language cannot be understood and appreciated,” Thomas Bulfinch once proclaimed. Greek Mythology is often misunderstood as the main religion of Greece, but in all actuality Greek Mythology is simply a genre. A genre with the same equivalence to any other genre but this genre did something that no other could’ve accomplished. This genre has inspired religions, poets and artist all over the world and continues to influence somebody’s life every day. So why was Greek Mythology created, what is Greek Mythology, how does it compare to other mythologies, how does it exemplify the human race, and why has it affected so many people?
The Epic of Gilgamesh is a fascinating story that has been one of the oldest tales known to mankind. Being a piece of literature from Mesopotamia, we see there is great relation between the Old Testament Hebrew Bible and The Epic of Gilgamesh. Many themes, motifs, and characters in the story point back and compare to the Hebrew Bible. In this essay, I will be discussing a few of these relationships between the Old Testament and The Epic of Gilgamesh. The ideas I will be presenting are the relationships of the Epic’s flood and its similarities to the Old Testament story of Noah’s Ark, the character of the serpent in The Epic of Gilgamesh and the events of the Garden of Eden, and the commonality of Samson in the Old Testament and Enkidu.
The myth concerning the creation of Pandora and her opening of “Pandora’s box” is one of the etiological stories surrounding the formation of women and their archetypal role in society. Pandora was meant to be a punishment to manhood due to Prometheus’ (Forethought) trickery when he misled Zeus to choose a lesser portion of an ox that was split between him and man, and also when Prometheus stole fire and gave it to mankind without permission. In order to reprimand Prometheus and mankind for their cruel deception, Zeus calls upon his siblings and children to help him create an evil gift, Pandora, also known as “all-gift” (since all the gods created her by contributing a “unique gift”). Zeus presented Pandora to Epimetheus (Afterthought), Prometheus’ brother, and ultimately gave the evil gift of women to all of mortal men as well.
Some aspects of other belief systems are very similar. The story of Genesis, associated with Judo-Christian, corresponds to Prometheus Bound, with the Greek culture. Where there are parallels between each story, the apple from The Tree of Knowledge would be fire, Adam and Eve is humanity, and in a way the serpent is Prometheus. The whole story of Genesis was to tell the tale of how life was created. It was to be the origin point of all humanity, much like how Prometheus Bound was supposedly when mankind was finally to advance in life with Prometheus’ gift of fire. His actions of “g[iving] privileges to mortal Man.” (2) was condemned, but simultaneously it is giving the gods more power against humankind. This solidified how the gods believe that it is humanity’s obligation to serve under their gods; the gods created mankind’s world therefore they owe their lives to the gods. The parallels between the two beliefs represent how much divinities play a role in the fate of humanity, or where god can have control over their well-being. Focusing on Greek culture, there is a biased relationship. Aechylus states, “In worshipping the gods with/Pure offerings of bulls…” (18) Where the gods have the mentality that they have given mankind so much that they in return have the obligation to give back as well, through sacrifice. Humanity shall always be beneath the
While reading Genesis chapters one and two, I found several similarities, these similarities could easily complement each other. Dissecting the separate concepts of similarities proved to be a hard. Researching the bible, online resources, and bookstore materials of these differences have guided me to a better understanding of these similarities and compliments. The authors have offered opposition and agreement as to why this scripture is independent or complimentary accounts.
The beauty of Pandora and her deceptive motives, as ordered by Zeus, released the evils, diseases, and suffering to all men when she was presented to Prometheus’s son. Unlike the Old Testament, in which God makes woman as a gift for man rather than a curse, and punishes Adam and Eve after they have disobeyed his explicit orders not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, in Hesiod’s world human beings are innocent victims of a quarrel between the gods. Without the intervention of Zeus and the wars and affairs of the gods, mortals would have remained pure, as Adam and Eve would have remained in the Garden of
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).
The beginning of the story of Pandora is an interesting one. It begins with the Titan Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus. The Titan Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus were spared imprisonment in Tartarus because they had kept their neutrality in the war between the Olympians and the Titans. According to the legend, Prometheus shaped man out of mud, and Athena breathed life into the clay figure. Once man was created, however, Prometheus allowed his brother, Epimetheus, to distribute various qualities to the animals and man. So Epimetheus began by giving the best traits to the animals. Traits like swiftness, courage, cunning, stealth, et cetera,