Bible vs. Mythology Essay Example for Free

Bible vs. Mythology Essay There are many similarities and differences between Greek Mythology and The Bible. Whether it’s the creation of man and women, or the universe, stories have been told throughout time and some can be alike and others completely different. There are people that have gathered, translated and recorded all of these events for us now to learn about. Whether a person believes it is true or not is up to them but if a God is real how come the stories between these two different beliefs can be so similar. A strong similarity is the creation of man and the universe. However the Greek Myths and the Bible have many differences when it comes to how and why everything happened. A comparison between these two is the creation of the universe. In Genesis 1:1 it states that â€Å"the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters† (Genesis 1:2). Then throughout seven days, God created light, the sky, the sea, plants, stars, birds, animals that live in water, livestock, and finally mankind to rule over all the others. Everything starts off as a dark, empty void much like in the Greek Myths. In Mythology there was a lot of chaos to begin until Tethis the first mother mated with an endless river to create Gaia, Tartarus, and Eros. After that, Gaia (Mother Earth) mated with Ouranos (the sky) and created the Titans. The Greek God’s created all the living beings on Earth because they were bored and had nothing else to do. Unlike God it did not take seven days to create all. The Greek God’s would just think of something and it would happen. Prometheus was given the task to mold the animals from clay and Epimetheus gave them their unique abilities. In the Bible, whatever Adam called the animal was what it was named. With humans however, it took many tries for mankind to be created and with both the Bible and Mythology, there was a flood to wipe out everything. In the creation of men, both in the Bible and Myths, he was created from the earth. In the Bible man was formed from dust and God breathed life into him. When humans became so corrupted, God sent a flood to kill everything on earth. He spared Noah and his family along with seven pairs of every animal on Earth to repopulate once the flood had passed. There are two versions  from which men were created in Greek Mythology. Homer’s version is that man was molded from clay by Prometheus but was not given any special power because Epimetheus forgot about them. Hesiod’s version was that of a series of races: gold, silver, bronze, heroes, and iron. The time of the golden men was when Kronos ruled and everything was an easy, perfect paradise until they vanished. Silver was under Zeus’ rule when man had a short maturity and horrible old age. They were arrogant and disappeared under the earth. During the bronze era of man there was constant warfare until Zeus sends a flood to kill all of mankind. After that, the heroes followed, a time of mighty mortals who battled monsters and had a peaceful afterlife. Finally the era of the iron man, a balance towards fighting and attitude to the Gods. This time is also the time of the creation of women. Nowadays people don’t see women as evil but in the Bible and Myth’s women are defined as â€Å"beautiful and evil creatures† (Gods and Goddesses). The first woman, Eve, was created from the rib of Adam so women are the flesh and blood of man. Adam and Eve are the first humans in the Bible and at first all is serene and happy that is until Eve eats from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The serpent tricks her into eating the fruit and Eve shares it with Adam. Because of this Eve is evil for sharing the knowledge to Adam and leveling with God. In Greek Mythology, Prometheus and Epimetheus warn their children Deucalion and Pyrrha about the impending flood. They build an ark on which they survive and reach Mount Parnassus. That is where they consult the goddess Themis on how to repopulate the Earth. Deucalion was told: â€Å"You and your wife are to veil your heads, and as you walk from my sanctuary, throw behind you the bones of your mother† (Waterfield, Robin). So Deucalion and Pyrrha threw behind them rocks, the bones of Gaia and the rocks that Pyrrha threw formed women and the rocks Deucalion threw formed men. Another version on the creation of women is the story of Pandora and her box. Prometheus as the God of mankind is always looking out for them. He tricks Zeus into choosing the worthless offering and gives humans the better portion. As punishment Zeus takes fire from humans but Prometheus steals it back. Outraged, Zeus asks Hephaestus to forge a woman. Athena and Aphrodite taught her womanly skills, grace, and allure. Hermes gave her a cunning mind and a thieving temperament. Pandora  was sent down to Earth with a box in which all the horrible things in the world were inside. Eventually her curiosity got the best of her and Pandora opened the box unleashing all the evils into the world. This is why women are seen as beautiful and evil. Although people might think that these two subjects seem totally unrelated. They have much more in common than thought possible. This is only scratching the surface of the enormity of the comparisons between these two subjects. The main idea may be the same of a lot of these but there are many different versions separating the Bible from Greek Mythology. Works Cited Gods and Goddesses. AE Television Networks The History Channel, 2001. DVD Waterfield, Robin, and Kathryn Waterfield. The Greek Myths: Stories of the Greek Gods and Heroes Vividly Retold. London: Quercus, 2011. Print. The Bible