Comparing Norse And Egyptian Mythology

In Greek and Egyptian mythologies, there is a supreme God. In Greek tradition this was Zeus, “Zeus was now King of all the gods and lived on Mount Olympus.” (Corsar, Reid Rooney, and Smith 9) In Egyptian mythology, this position was first held by Osiris, and the other deities herald him by saying “He lives, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, beloved of Ra, living forever! Heir of Geb, Osiris, beloved of the gods, Osiris, given life, endurance, joy, health, all happiness, like Ra!” (Kaster 81) After being murdered by Set, he became ruler of the Netherworld, and was replaced as King of Upper and Lower Egypt, by his son, Horus. The idea of a supreme deity is common in both Greek and Egyptian traditions.

In the beginning, it all started with the gods and goddesses Cronus (God of the Sky) and Rhea (Goddess of the Earth). They met and got married. While they were married they produced six offspring. These offspring would turn out to be some of the most famous in mythology. The offspring consisted

Out of Chaos, came Earth and Sky, and the very first gods. In this story, life came from nothingness-a void. From the Void there then came Darkness and Night. From Night came the Light and then Day. Earth, named Gaia, brought about Sky, known as Uranus, and then after lying with Sky, she birthed Ocean, along with the giants and Cyclopes, and immortals. Hesiod's story is similar to the Bible in that it describes children falling from grace and having to deal with the consequences and fallout. Also like the Bible, where Eve is the cause of the fall, it is a female-the "mother" who causes the same problem in the Theogeny. This mother gets together with Chornus, her son, who cut his father Sky's insides out of his own body. In the Bible, the Father has great love for his creation, but in Hesiod's story, the father hates his children, who he called the Titans. The Titans were the parents of the Greek gods of Mount Olympus, thus beginning the line of gods that rose from chaos. There is a similarity, though, in the hatred of the father of the Theogeny and the rebellion of the children that stemmed from this feeling, and the great flood of the Bible and the Epic of Gilgamesh, in which the children were punished for their disobedience by an angry Father or

Attention Getter: Formatted as one long story, beginning with the creation of Ra, the Still god, and Thoth, the moon god, and ending with the story of how the Egyptians believed they arrived in heaven

The Ancient Egyptian were polytheistic most of the time, which means that they believed in multiple gods. When Akhenaten was pharaoh, the Egyptians were monotheistic, meaning they worshiped only one god. He ended the worship of other gods and claimed that Aten, the lord of all was the only god in Egypt. The Egyptians didn't like this idea, so on their own,

Although a lot of other cosmogonic myths have presented creations as part of a natural process that has the clear understanding that it is an act of divine and creative will. We all know there are several creation myths across different cultures. It is known that every different culture even has its unique creation myth that also explains how life and world came to be (Leonard & McClure, 2004). The two myths I would talk about when it comes to this topic are Genesis creation (Hebrew origin) of the Christian culture, and the Norse culture of Iceland (the Vikings). From the readings of both, both myths also start with an emptiness where conflict and chaos may even eventually develop. The Genesis conflict is between God, loneliness, blackness, emptiness, and the need to create

Scandinavian Paganism, more commonly known as Norse Mythology, was a popular polytheistic religion during the Anglo-Saxon time period. It is believed to have been derived from the culture of Germanic Paganism. According to Norse Mythology, at the center of the universe lies the greatest ash tree, known as Yggdrasil, whose roots and branches spread across the universe connecting each of the nine realms of Aesir, giants, and Niflheim. The world was believed to have been created by the body of Ymir, a giant that was killed and dismembered by the first gods. His flesh created the earth, his bones formed the mountains, and his blood filled the seas.

The Hindu culture resonates well in Norse mythology. The creation story of the Brahma is a great example because it is close to the Norse creation myth of Ymir, a giant who was dismembered by Odin, Vili, and Ve to use his body parts to create the earth. Although no one was killed, the man uses his body parts to create earth. The Babylonian culture also has a similar story line with the gory creation myth of Ymir. In the story there is a sky god named Marduk, and to create earth he kills a goddess named Tiamat. He splits her body in half and uses one half to create earth and the other half to create the sky.

In the typical life of an Egyptian citizen, one was constantly being influenced by their gods and goddesses because of his or her belief in a polytheistic religion. The gods and goddesses were believed to have power over the forces and elements over nature, and myths about them explained the connection they had between their

As the Mesopotamian civilization rose up in the valley of Tigris and Euphrates, the Egyptian civilization was centered on the Nile River. The Egyptians were also a polytheistic religion, in that they believed in many gods. Egyptian Gods have human bodies, with human or animal heads, and wear crowns or thorns. Egyptian Gods were gods of different things such as the sky, sun, earth, and music. The Egyptians worship took place at small shrines; they left offerings to the chosen gods as well as simple prayers. The Egyptians believed that there afterlife was full of dangers, but those dangers could be overcame by magical spells in the Book of the Dead. Also the Egyptians believed in the preservation of the body and that it was essential for the afterlife.

Creation in Ancient Egyptian religion can be much different than the creation account taken from The Bible. Genesis has a set description of “The Beginning” while there are several different versions and variations in Egyptian mythology. The versions range from a “one god” myth (Ptah; see picture) to the more common creator out of Nun, which in itself has several derivations.

Myths are clearly important to a mythology, and there always seems to be two very important myths one needs to know about in a mythology. How they believe the earth and the gods came to be and the afterlife for the mortals. The Egyptian creation myth is not very detailed, most likely due to how it was originally written and years of being told and retold. According to Donald A. Mackenzie, in the book Egyptian Myth and Legend, Ra was the first god and was the one who created or helped created the original eight deities. Shu (god of wind and air), Tefnut (goddess of rain), Seb (god of the earth or ground), and Nut (goddess of firmament) where the first four gods, then Seb and Nut created Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys (1-2). Though in some tellings

Every single day The Egyptians worshipped the Gods in the hope that they will help them. Some Gods helped with Crops and Farming other Gods helped with protection from things like a spider, scorpion

The Egyptians had interesting gods. For example Ra was the sun god and the first king of the gods until he got exiled. The text of Gods & Goddesses Ancient Egypt states “Human beings were born from the tears of Atum” (also known as Ra). Ra has different names because their is different parts of Egypt. Horus was the god of war, falcons, and he was the second king of the gods. The same text states “Horus was the war god and he fought Set to avenge his father named Osiris.” In the stories Set entombed Osiris and that sent him to be the god of the underworld. The last god is Set, the sometimes evil but always power hungry desert god. The Gods & Goddesses Ancient Egypt states “When the hot winds blew in from the arid wastes it was not just a confluence of air but the god set stirring up some trouble.” That means that the Ancient Egyptians thought every bad happened because of Set. That shows how interesting their gods were.

Amun-Re is often referred to as the most important and powerful god of Ancient Egypt. Amun-Re was the god of the sun. “Amun-Re is the main name of the sun god, but also has three different names in which describe the phases of life that Amun-Re goes through each day.”(Budge, Pg. 92) When examining the ancient Egyptian god Amun-Re, four main points must be understood, including: the origin of Amun-Re, the characteristics of Amun-Re, how Amun-Re was worshiped, and how Amun-Re impacted Egyptian life.