Similarities Between the God of the 'Fall' and 'Deluge' Stories in 'Genesis' and the Gods in Homer's 'Odyssey'

In the Aztecs’ story, the first entity was the Earth Goddess Coatlicue, from whom all else sprung. Likewise, in the Greeks’ account, the earth goddess Gaia was the progenitor of the universe. Both are the direct ancestors of all their cultures’ respective deities. Thus, the Aztec and Greek creation myths have deeply rooted

One similarity that is present between the Theogony and Genesis is that both have women in a central role when it comes to the pitfalls of man. In Genesis it is Eve who eats the fruit from the Garden of Eden and eventually forces God to banish them from the Garden. In the Theogony, it is made clear that by the creation of Pandora from Zeus that the race of women is considered a curse to men and an “infestation” that is evil for them (Theogony ln, 375-385). In a similar vein to the above example, another major similarity is how in both creation stories, the deity plays an active role in shaping the lives of man through intervention or punishment. In Genesis, God does this by creating other wildlife as helpmates which Adam then names, by creating Eve, and also eventually punishing man for disobeying the order to not eat from the Garden. In the Theogony,

The Hebrew or Israelite’s (HoI) book of Genesis (2.5-3) and the Pandora Myth in the Greek poet Hesiod’s Work and Days both include the creation of Men and Women. In each of these works, this creation plays a significant role in showing the relationship between human beings and gods (or God) in that culture. The order of creation (Man Vs Women) indicates the importance one sex has over the other. In the book of Genesis (2.5-3) and Work and Days, Men are created before women towards the beginning of creation. However, the basis on why women are created indicates the importance of women in HoI and Greek cultures. In the book of Genesis (2.5-3) woman is created to be a companion for the lonely man, but plays an important role helping humans become more human like. In contrast, the story of Work and Days tells us women are created to punish man and are the root of all evil. The process in how women are created also indicates their importance within these cultures. In Genesis, the woman is created from a man’s rib, while in Work and Days the woman is created out of clay and the “gifts” of many gods. Lastly, how the gods (or God) treats man, preceding creation, may also indicate some insight to their relationships. In Genesis, we see God worry for man’s well being, while in Works and Days man is being punished for something they didn’t do.

Many authors have employed the religious beliefs of their cultures in literature. The deities contained in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Biblical book of Exodus reflect the nature of the gods in their respective societies. Upon examination of these two works, there are three major areas where the gods of the Greek epic seem to directly contrast the nature of the God of the Israelites: the way problems are solved, the prestige and status that separates the divine from the masses, and the extent of power among the immortal beings.

Creation is the number one aspect that is represented by Genesis. Both creation stories have drastic differences from one another and that alone gives different meaning to each story. Because the order of creation is changed in the second story, the meaning of importance of humankind to God is exemplified. That is not to say humans were not important in the first story; however, they were created last but man and woman were created equally

It is an important thing to learn about other cultures and how they believe that the earth was formed. By reading these two accounts of creation, one can begin to have a deeper understanding of the people that believe it. It also seems that although there may be some differences between the account in Genesis and the account in the Popul Vuh, the similarities are what matters. It is through the similarities that one can see the hand of God over everything. Everything points to God, the true Creator, in the

The Drama of Scripture written by Bartholomew and Goheen takes the reader on a journey through the entire Bible in six short “acts.” The first Act discusses creation and the establishment of God’s Kingdom. In the beginning was complete darkness. Then, God created light and divided the heavens and the earth. He then split the waters and the seas, creating dry ground on which the rest of creation could walk. He proceeded to make plants and flowers and the sun, moon, and stars. He created days and seasons and animals of all shapes and sizes. And then, to add the finishing touch, God created men and women, male and female, He created them. The book states that “the Genesis story is given so that we might have a true understanding of the world in which we live, its divine author, and our own place in it” (Bartholomew, 29). Genesis 1-3, the story of Creation, is prevalent because it introduces the author of creation, humanity, and the creation upon which humanity’s drama unfolds.

Gilgamesh, Genesis, and Greek mythology all have detailed and very similar stories that tell of a great flood that wiped most of civilization. Each of the floods described are very similar detail with slight differences that were most likely different because of culture. The epic of Gilgamesh tells of Gilgamesh determined to find immortality since he now fears death after seeing Enkidu die. It is upon this search that he meets Utnapishtim, the character most like the Biblical Noah. Utnapishtim had become immortal after building a ship to survive the Great Deluge that had destroyed mankind.

In both accounts of creation there is a separation between God and man. While the reasons and injustices accounted in these two stories differ drastically there are a few a few parallels. Both stories involve women being the primary cause of the fall of man. In Scripture, Eve eats from the Tree of Knowledge and eventually talks Adam into doing the same. This leads to a broken relationship between man and God. (Genesis 3: 6-25) In the Theogony women serve as the punishment for the fall of Zeus. In Hesiod’s Works and Days Zeus Created women, starting with Pandora. "To set against the fire I shall give them an affliction in which they will all delight as they embrace their own misfortune” (M. L. West 38) Hesiod goes on to describes women in

Although Genesis and the Five Suns are each a myth in their own right, a key difference between the two is how gender roles are meant to be perceived by the reader. For example, Genesis sets the tone for God’s purpose for male and female, as well as husband and wife relationships. Overall, God’s design shows that men and women have distinct roles. In fact, God’s portrait is mainly one of a man who was in need of a companion to complete him. As a result, God creates a woman to be a helpmate, which shows that while men and women are equally valuable, they are designed to have complimentary purposes. Therefore, it is understood that neither men nor women are the superior gender, since one mutually benefits from the other. However, once God pronounces

“26 Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness...27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.’” Genesis 1:26a, 1:27

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

The book of Genesis is about the beginnings of creation and life on earth. It begins with “nothingness” and in the first seven days following God creates the heavens and the earth, light and darkness, the seas, plant life, then came the sun and the moon, the fowls and the creatures who roam the lands, followed by humankind to finish it all off. Comparing the creation aspects of Genesis to Theogony, we see that the earth was again created out of “nothingness” known as Chaos. Chaos, instead of creating everything on earth, created several other godly beings to create the earth as it is today. Therefore, it can be deduced that the stories of Genesis we derived from the stories of the gods and goddesses of Theogony. Another similarity the stories possess is in the identity and condemnation of women as evil. In Theogony women were created to be an evil placed upon the earth to cause suffering for men because Iapetos, a mischievous god, stole fire from Zeus and presented it to man. In retaliation, Zeus had his lame smith mold the shape of a “modest

In Genesis 6 God regrets making “human beings” because of the evil thoughts of their heart but finds “favor” with Noah. God decides to destroy creation. In Genesis Chapter 6-9 there is an interweaving of two separate flood stories according to scholars (dCW Lecture# 5). The Yawistic account of the flood stories God told Noah to take “seven pairs of clean and one pair of unclean animals and seven pairs of birds” (dCW Lecture# 5), however in the Priestly sources God told Noah “take with you two of everything that lives, male and female, of birds, cattle, and creeping things” (dCW Lecture# 5). God told Noah

So while these texts do contain some contradictions, many argue that they can easily be taken together as one overarching mythos. For instance, the first Chapter is often viewed as an overview of what happened, a synopsis of the entire mythology, whereas the second Chapter is viewed as an in-depth view of what had occurred. For instance, when it says that a great welling up occurred to water the plants, it refers to God’s creation of sprouting growth on day three in the first Chapter, and when it says that man and woman were created at once in the first Chapter, it is just stating that they were created at very nearly the same time. Even as some contradictions cannot be resolved, it is easy to dismiss them as mistranslations of literary liberties taken by the authors, and instead examine the overarching themes of the mythos. These constant themes are many, but a few of the important ones are: Gods creation of the universe from pure will, Gods personal creation of man, and How God concerns himself directly with his creation (in the early days). These themes are found in Genesis, but are notably absent from both Theogonic and Darwinian mythos.