Essay Similarities between Greek and Egyptian Mythologies

Osiris (shown above) the god of the afterlife, or underworld, Osiris was the King of Egypt, murdered by his brother Seth and then resurrected by his sister/ wife Isis as the king of the dead, a king from which every Egyptian hoped to join in the afterlife. Osiris was a god originally connected with fertility, he is known primarily through the story of his death, murdered by his brother Seth over the jealousy of his throne, and

Every culture has its own past belief on how everything was created; Gods, lands, plants, animals, creatures, and humans all have a unique story to be told throughout the ages. But it is plain to see there is some overlap between ideas on how everything was made. Take the Greek Mythology, the most popular and well known type of mythos, has connections to other cultures like Nordic and Native American. But of course, each story has their own twist or other idea to it, as well.

The ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek civilizations are two of the oldest known civilizations in our history. The Egyptian civilization, based in the eastern part of North Africa, is believed to have started around 3150 BC and continued till the end of the Pharaoh rule in 31 BC. The ancient Greek civilization is believed to have been in effect from 1100 BC till about 146 BC. Many similarities and differences existed between these two civilizations, as even though they co-existed during a certain timeframe (1150 BC to 146 BC), they were located in different geographical areas. Because of these differences in geography, both these civilizations were subjected to different kinds of exposure, which included contact with other civilization and cultural inheritance. In the political sphere, we find that the Egyptian civilization had stronger emphasis on central authority, while the Greeks had a more decentralized structure, where powers were distributed over the cities and the states as well. As far as art is concerned, we find that the Egyptians were more involved in creating great monumental and gaudy structures, while the Greeks were more involved in creating smaller, more literary pieces of art.

Egyptian Mythology’s creation started with Nu, the dark and swirling chaos before time. Eventually, Atum rose from Nu and created a hill for himself to stand on. He had one eye that would see everything, but was very lonely. Soon after, Atum brought Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of mist and moisture into life. They gave birth to Geb, the earth, and Nut, the sky. Nut would give birth to the sun every night before sunset so the sun would shine through the day, and die at night.

The last main similarity is that each god had their own group of chosen people. The Egyptian idol’s chosen people were, not surprisingly, the Egyptians. The gods provided for the

Ptah was also a creator god who built the boats that carried the souls of the dead into the Underworld. Osiris was the ruler of the Underworld and husband to Isis, the goddess of fertility and the ideal wife. Isis’ song, Horus, was the god of the sky and depicted with a hawk-like head often portrayed with a double crown. These deities were worshipped daily by the Egyptians in temples built by the ruling pharaoh and his priests. The pharaoh was viewed as the intermediary between the deities and his people. Through his kingship and divine power, he was expected to maintain universal peace and order. Egyptians also underwent extensive and excessive processes to preserve their souls after death through tombs, mummification, and offerings to the gods for preservation of the deceased bodies (“Ancient Egyptian Religion”). The concept of life after death is rooted in ancient Egyptian religion where funerary processes and burial rituals were fundamental and crucial to an afterlife.

It should be noted that all creation myths tend to possess similar themes, despite differing story lines. As noted before, there exists the basic ideas of chaos before creation, and gods to form life. But then various myths show that, once life has been created, the gods tend to retreat from the humanity they create, instead watching them from afar and using specifically chosen and often religious contacts to spread their words and commands. This deus

In the time of ancient Greeks many people believed in certain Gods and Goddesses and their mythological stories. Among the many gods and goddesses there was Athena, Goddess of wisdom, crafts, and war. Also there was Apollo, God of the sun, music, healing, prophecy, and poetry. Apollo’s twin sister Artemis Goddess of hunting and archery. Then there’s Poseidon, God of the ocean and brother to the most powerful God of them all, the God of all Gods, Zeus. However, there was only one specific God that mortals and even Gods feared, the brother of Poseidon and Zeus. He was the ruler of the underworld and the dead; he went by the name of Hades.

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.

Both Mythological Cosmologies were similar in the ways they were ruled. Also in the way the human race was created. They both started out with Gods that ruled the land. In the Egyptian Myth, the god Re created mankind. In the Sumerian Myth, the God Enki created mankind.

Osiris was the king of Egypt; he was second in authority, to his Father Ra. Myths say that Osiris was responsible for teaching man about agriculture and civilization. After his death, Osiris became the god of the underworld. Isis loved her husband so much that she collected his mutilated body parts, resurrecting him temporarily. http://www.ancient.eu/Egyptian_Mythology/ mentions of Osiris, "In all things, he acted in accordance with the principle of Ma'at (harmony) and honored his father and siblings by keeping all things in harmonious balance." In contrast, to the tumultuous relationship between Zeus and Hera, the two constantly fought over his infidelities. Hera sought revenge on Zeus in a very indirect manner. Zeus's illegitimate children were the recipients of Hera's jealous frenzies. Moreover, Hera's own son Hephaistos was a victim of her psychosis. Hephaistos, born handicapped and was a source of amusement for the other gods. Hera was so embarrassed by his physical challenges; she threw him from heaven and into the ocean. Next, her

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

Similar Gods of Different Cultures During the time of ancient cultures, myths arose to explain a cause for natural phenomena within that region. There are archetypes within similar gods and goddesses between multiple cultures manipulating the same concepts and ideas for their functionality. For ancient Greece, Poseidon, the god of the seas and waters was created to explain why floods, sea storms, and earthquakes occurred and to promote the fertility of certain plants and animals on land (Felson 15: 697; Conner 80). The ancient Egyptians lived near the Nile River and attributed many occurrences of the Nile River to the water and fertility god, Hapy (Wilkinson 106).

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.

Greek Mythology played a monumental role in the structural development of ancient Greece, not only as a society, but as individuals. Surprisingly, their religion was not exactly one of originality. In fact, their religion was loosely based on earlier cultures’ religions. It bears many strikingly similar resemblances to some of the oldest recorded religions in history. Ancient Greek religion is a type of polytheism called “Monarchial Polytheism.” That is, they believe in several different gods and deities but there is a supreme ruler above all of them. In order to fully understand how similar the mythological systems of religions have been throughout the years, you must look back towards the earliest of recorded civilizations. Polytheism