Greek and Egyptian Mythologies

1705 Words4 Pages

The ancient world was comprised of mysteries, with no scientific explanations for the structure of the world, the existence of humans, or the meaning of life. To explain these dilemmas, they turned to religion and mythology. However as they were often isolated geographically, there was no universal answer to any of these questions. Yet, many cultures derived related solutions to certain questions, despite being separated by large physical distances, such as the Greeks and Egyptians. Although there are minor differences, Greek and Egyptian mythologies share many similarities. One parallel between Greek and Egyptian creation stories is that they both began with a God or Gods being created from the universe. The creation of the Greek world began when Eros (cupid) sprang from the great, shapeless mass of chaos and was later followed by Gaea (Earth), Erebus (darkness), and Nox (night). These later deities would become the ancestors of all other greek Gods and goddesses. Similarly in Egyptian mythology, Ra came into being, and gave life to other gods, “After I had come into being as the only God, there were three gods aside from me [Shu, Tefnut, and Nun].” Eventually, Shu and Tefnut begot Geb and Nut, who in turn created Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. Creation from the universe is a common factor in both Greek and Egyptian stories. Another parallel between Greek and Egyptian creation stories is the concept of birth involving only one parent. For example, Athena is commonly described as “having sprung into life, fully armed, from the head of Zeus . . .” Some myths also describe Aphrodite’s birth as involving one parent, Uranus. In Egyptian mythology, Ra gave life to Shu by masturbating, “I it was who aroused desire with my fist; I masturbated with my hand, and I spat it out from my own mouth. I spat it out as Shu . . .” In both Greek and Egyptian mythology

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