the bible and greek mythology
87The Goda
Most Christians or those religions that follow the basic principles of the Bible believe in the stories told in the Bible. In fact, these stories are usually regarded not only as mere stories, but also as actual historical accounts of important people, events, and concepts of the Christian faith. However, stories of Greek and Roman mythology are typically regarded as nothing more than fictional, fantasy stories. The idea that Ancient Greeks viewed these stories to be their religion seems insane to many people of Biblical Faith. This idea seems to cast a stigma of irrationality, almost ignorance, upon the Ancient Greeks. Although placing this stigmatism on a long-dead culture may seem to be unimportant in much of the contemporary world, it is important because this long-dead culture represents the history of a large portion of the world. The Ancient Greek empire was much more vast than modern-day Greece. Just as many Americans would find it offensive to have their history as irrational and ignorant, it seems logical that Greeks might as well. Therefore, it is necessary to try and understand that both Ancient Greeks and Ancient Christians may have held similar beliefs about the world they were living in. The fact is that Greek myths contain unrealistic and unbelievable characters, events, and other elements, but upon comparison of Greek mythology stories with different Biblical accounts, it is apparent that some parallels between the two do exist, and that the Ancient Greeks view of the events of the early world are very similar to the views of both ancient and contemporary Christians.
The similarities begin with the creation stories, although these similarities are very minimal. In both the Christian creation story, Genesis, and in many accounts of the Ancient Greek creation story, the earth began with darkness and nothingness- a void, or Chaos, as known to the Greeks (Genesis 1:2; Tripp 159). This Chaos was the bearer meaning that he gave birth to of Ge; earth, Tartarus; underworld, Eros; love and sex, Erebus; darkness, and Nyx; night (Tripp 159). In the Christian creation story, God is the parallel to the Greek Chaos in that he invents the same things with the exception of an underworld; the creation of Adam and Eve and their later reproduction could be comparable to Eros as Chaos bore (Genesis 1:1-18). However, unlike Chaos, God is not a void of nothingness, but the beginning of all things. God also remains the ruler of the entire world in Biblical stories, while the Greek Chaos is displaced by several actual divine beings, the most important and permanent of those being Zeus (Tripp 606; Hesiod 2-3).
There is also a slight similarity in the separations or falls in mans relationships with God and Zeus, later chief god of the ancient Greeks. Although the offenses in each case were very different, both falls were the products of trickery, deceit, and temptation. In both cases, the temptation was in the form of food (Genesis 3:1-6; Tyrell and Brown 15). Probably the most important similarity in the two falls, however, is the negative role that Woman plays in each. In the Bible, woman actually leads man to the fall from God and as the punishment for that fall exile from the Garden of Eden, while Greek mythology cites that Woman was the punishment for the fall from Zeus (Genesis 3:6-24, Hesiod 4). In the ancient Greek culture, Woman was designed to make man miserable (Hesiod 4). Although she plays different roles, Woman eventually bears the blame for all human suffering and sorrow in both stories (Tyrell and Brown 17).
In both the Ancient Greek and Christian accounts of the early world, there exist stories of great floods that destroyed most of humankind (Genesis 7; Tripp 608). In the Bible's version of the flood, God becomes frustrated with the wickedness of the world and decides to destroy the earth with a flood, although it saddens him to do so (Genesis 6:5-7). However, God found Noah to be a good and just man, and he asked Noah to build an ark that would float upon the waters (Genesis 6:9-14). On the ark, Noah was to take his wife, three sons, their wives, and two of every living creature (Genesis 6:18-22). In this way God could be sure that the world would be repopulated. In the Greek flood story, Zeus becomes very angry with men and decides to destroy them as revenge for their impieties (Tripp 608). His intention is to destroy all of mankind. However, Prometheus, who tells his son, Deucalion, to build an ark so Deucalion and his wife could escape Zeus wrath, thwarts Zeus attempt. In this story Prometheus assures that mortal life will go on. Although the stories are different in some aspects, the parallels show that both the Ancient Greeks and followers of the Christian faith seem to agree that a great flood was a significant event in the early years of the world. As well, they both believe that someone survived this flood by building an ark and living there until the flood subsided. These people survived in order to continue human life.
War was also a common characteristic of both the Ancient Greek world and of the Biblical world. For example, the Trojan War is a major event in Greek history, and is recorded most famously in Homer's Iliad. The gods always seemed to play important roles in this war, especially Zeus, Ares the god of war, and the other Olympians the gods and goddesses living on Mount Olympus (Homer 404-405). Wars between Greek city-states were also common occurrences, with gods and goddesses almost always involved in them in some way. Similarly, the Bible accounts many stories of wars between different countries and religious groups. One of the most famous examples is the war between the Philistines and the Israelites (Samuel, 1:17). In this war, God interfered and sent the small shepherd boy David to save the Israelites (Samuel, 1:17). David does so by defeating the giant Goliath, a feat he would not have been able to accomplish without God's help (Samuel 17:46-52). These examples show the cross-cultural belief that war was an important event in the ancient world, and the gods God played significant roles in these wars.
Prophecies of the overthrowing of rulers were frequent events in both Greek mythology and in Biblical stories. In both cultures these prophecies usually lead to the attempted suppression, usually murder in Bible stories, of the group that the over thrower will supposedly come from. This suppression rarely worked. For instance, the Greek god Cronus was told that one of his children would conquer and overthrow him (Tripp, 177). In a desperate attempt to prevent this, Cronus swallowed each of his children as they were born (Tripp, 177). However, through deceit and trickery, Cronus' wife Rhea manages to bear and hide the youngest child, who grows and conquers his father (Tripp, 177). This child is Zeus. He frees his brothers and sisters and then seizes his father's power, becoming chief of gods (Tripp 177, 705). The most important example in the Bible of this same type of prophecy is directed at Herod, who was King at the time that Jesus was born (Matthew 2). When three wise men tell Herod that the King of Jews was to be born that night, Herod demands that the three find where the baby was to be born and report back to him (Matthew 2:1-9). When the wise men fail to do so, he orders that all newborn boys in Bethlehem be killed (Matthew 2:16). However, Jesus escaped this fate because God tells Joseph, Jesus' earthly father, to take the baby and its mother to Egypt until the time that Herod dies (Matthew 2:13). Both the Christians and Ancient Greeks found these prophecies to be important parts of their histories.
These are only the big similarities. There are many smaller ones. The previous examples show that Christian and Ancient Greek histories of the origins and events of the ancient world are not as different as many people may think. Both have floods, wars, and prophecies. Both cultures believe in the nothingness that existed before everything else. Most importantly, both cultures have their own beliefs, the most significant of these being their gods or God.
The similarities are so parallel one must wonder as to the actual origin of these stories. They had to come from somewhere. If the Bible holds so many similarities to Greek and Roman mythology, it causes one to question the actual relevance of the Bible. Christians believed and still believe to this day that those who worship other gods are heretical and pagan. Although Christians refuse to accept that these stories are not historical accounts written by God through man, one cannot discount the likeness of both the stories of the Greek Gods and that of the Bible. Christians may have to see that their beliefs may be more similar to Ancient Greek beliefs than what was previously thought. A historian cannot look past the facts, all of which are written in a book cherished by so many. The historian can prove that the fall of Rome was credited partly to the rise of Christianity, and the Christianity that we know today had to start from somewhere. One may even go so far as to say the stories in the bible are stories of Greek mythology changed to suit the belief system of new religion; Christianity.
Works Cited
Hesiod. Selections from Hesiod's Theogony. Trans. John Svarlien. 17 Dec. 1999. 11 Nov. 2005. <http:/classics.mit.edu/Browse/browse-Hesiod.html>.
Holy Bible: The Old and New Testaments. King James Version. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1973.
Homer. Iliad: Book Twenty. Classics 135-001: Greek and Roman Mythology, Fall
1998. Ed. James A. Francis. Incentives Creativity, 1998. 62-68.
Tripp, Edward. The Meridian Handbook of Classical Mythology. New York: Penguin
Group, 1974.
Tyrell, William Blake and Frieda S. Brown. Hesiod's Myth of the Birth of the
Cosmos. Foundations of the Liberal Arts: Science, Nature, Culture, Spring
1999. Acton: Tapestry Press LTD., 1999. 8-20.
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it was really interesting but i wonder what do make out of it?
Makes you question Christianities relevance!
Very nice... last night I was thinking about the similarities 'tween the bible and greek mythology (I dunno why) and today googled to see if anyone wrote anything about it...Your page came up... Nice work.
or its possible that these events did happen and the christians came up with their interpretation, and the greeks had their own.
You may want to look also on Iapetos, Cronos' brother and compair him to the biblical son of Noah, Japheth!!!!
Iapetos is the one, according to greek myhtology, that started the Greek nation, along with other few!!!
If one examines the beginnings of Greek Mythology closely, one will find very distinct similarities between Greek Mythology and the book of Genesis. For example, when the first women was created, according to Greeks, her actions lead to the unleashing of many evils upon mankind. These evils had been contained in a box that she had opened even though she was warned to never open it. This is remarkably similar to the account in Genesis. Even more astounding is the paralllel found in the first prophecy of the messiah. According to Greek Mythology after all the eveil within the box had been releashed, hope for mankind came out of the box. The very first prophecy of the messiah comes directly after God describese the hardships that mankind will now face as a result of eating form the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is very strong evidence that both of the Greeks and the Jews had common ancestors.
lol, this is retarded. just kidding! very interesting, glad i read it
WHEN STUDING GREEK MYTHOLOGY AND THE BIBLE. IT IS AMAZING TO FIND
THAT THE IDEA OF GOD AND HUMANNITY ARE COMMUNICATING WITH EACH OTHER.
I was thinking about this not to long ago, It started when i read the Epic of Gilgamesh and the story of the great flood got me thinking. I occured to me that there are similarities in Greek Mythology. the first part i noticed was that of Zeus and hades compared with God and Satan. Hades was forced to the underworld due to litrally drawing the shortest straw, where as Satan was banished for rebellion. Both however seek to claim the souls of men.
I have heard that there are several stories in different cultures concerning a flood that are much like the account of Noah, such as the epic of Gilgamesh.
A discussion on this is just what I've been looking for!!! I'm writing an article proving that the Puritans of 1600's who came to the New World are descended from the Jews, and that the Greek and Roman gods are in part patterned after people in the Bible's Old Testament! The evidence is overwhelming! Many small details line up and I'm also coming to find that it is indeed possible to find the direct link from Noah down to the present day! The God of Abraham has preserved the records and He knows where they are! God is revealing this in these days for because the prophecies of the Old Testament are approaching their total fulfillment. God has hidden His story and glory out in the open for all to see but few to understand until the time of the end. All will see His second coming and EVERY knee will bow to Him. He is the great God of Justice, but He is also the God of great mercy, kindness, love, compassion, and calling all who willlisten to His open and tender arms. The only people He seems harsh to are those who refuse to acknowledge Him as LORD!! He says,"come, you who are heavy with burdens, and I will give you rest"!!!
Yes, I am very interested in discussion!
Wow, this is truely amazing. I hope you dont mind, Im citing my sources for my report and Im using this. This is so fascinating. I knew there were similarities, such as the creation and that God specifically said in the bible not to put other gods before him, but this is astounding. Great job.
It makes so much sense, Ill be researching this for ages the topic is so interesting, great debating sessions coming my way
WOW interesting. this is great. lol
yeauhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
this was too confusing.#
blaahhhh :P
sorry for offencelike
this was too confusing.#
blaahhhh :P
sorry for offencelike
The Torah, (The First 5 books of the bible) were written many years prior to the rise of Greek Mythology. The stories the writer on here is talking about is missing that fact, that even though Christianty started around 40 AD, he is talking about texts that were written before 1000BC.
the bible is predominantly fiction; much mythology, and religion comes from nature (mis)interpretation, especially the sky ..examples
Dec 25 .. the end of the winter solstice, when the sun starts to climb the sky for 6 months, until the summer solstice, jun 25 .. and was used by many Pagan cults for the birth of their Gods (like Dionysus), as was Easter for the Gods' death and resurrection .. this is well documented
Easter .. is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, ie it is really about the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon ..
from the autumn equinox (Libra), Sep 22, to the spring equinox (Aries), Mar 22, there is more darkness than daytime per day; from Mar 22 to Sep 22, it's the other way round, thus these are the 'good' 6 months; from Sep 22 to Mar 22, these are the bad 6 months (this is where 'good' and 'evil' come from - light and dark) .. so Easter (really the spring equinox) marks the boundary when daylight begins to dominate darkness, ie the 'weak sun' dies, and the 'strong sun' is born - hence, death and resurrection .. in other words, as with the Pagan cults (banished by Christianity), the 2 major dates, Dec 25, and Easter, are really all about the Sun (in the northern hemisphere)
Samson and Delilah .. a biblical tale .. about? .. yep, the Sun
in Hebrew, Samson means 'sunlike'; Delilah (Delij) means 'water bearer' .. in other words Samson is a personification of the Sun, and Delilah is the sign of Aquarius, ie mid-winter, Jan22-Feb22 .. and Samson's hair are the rays of the sun, which Delilah cuts off, being Samson's strength .. but Samson's hair really refers to the Sun's rays, which are weak in mid-winter as the Sun struggles through the Zodiacal sign of Aquarius .. Samson then dies in the temple of the Canaanite God, Dagon (in the Bible) .. amongst other things Dagaon is a fish-god .. in the Zodiac the last sign before the spring equinox is Pisces, ie the sign of the fish. and so Samson (the Sun) dies in the fish-god's (Pisces) temple, with his arms outstretched against 2 columns .. these columns represent the 2 fishes of Pisces .. ie Samson (as the weak sun) dies just prior to the spring equinox in Pisces .. and Samson is also lame .. which again refers to Pisces .. in ancient times a year would often start at the spring equinox, ie in Aries, and thus end in Pisces .. the signs of the Zodiac had a relationship with the parts of the body, ie from top to bottom, an through the year.. eg Head-Aries, Shoulders-Taurus, and so on, until Feet-Pisces, this is why Samson is lame, ie his feet let him down because he dies in Pisces .. it's ALL A SOLAR MYTH, and nothing to do with human beings on earth..
in Greek mythology, Hercules and his 12 labors.. where Hercules in now the Sun, and the labors represent what the Sun has to do each month (sign) of the year, as it maneouvers its way through the constellations, each imagined as an animal, a human being, an object etc .. eg in Aries (the Ram), Hercules goes with Jason, Castor and Pollux (the twins in Gemini), and others, to find the Golden Fleece, ie of a Ram .. in Leo, also, Hercules kills the Namastean lion - Leo the lion ... etc etc...
so now maybe you also know why there are 12 tribes of Israel, and why Jesus supposedly had 12 disciples .. and Marduk, god of Babylon, had 12 followers
Jonah and the whale is also a solar myth .. dawn and dusk, with the 3 days in the whale being the gap between the shortest day, Dec 22, and the end of the winter solstice, Dec25
(in the 4 gospels there are 4 different versions of how many women visited the tomb on the 3rd day, from 1 to a minimum of 5.. in Matthew 27 names only connect Jesus to David; in Luke it's 42, and the 2 sons of David from which they descend aren't even the same .. in these 2 same gospels, in one, Jesus is born before 4BC (ie before Herod the Great dies), in the other at the time of a Roman census in Galilee.. this is known to have happened in 6AD, ie there is a 10 year gap! ... just 3 of the many blatant inconsistencies the bible contains .. as with, is Jesus just for Jews or everyone? .. depending which bits you read you'll find stated both yes and no)
Think about it... The only copy of the "bible" was held by The Roman catholic church. The Bible was only written as a control method. That is why there are similarities to Roman mythology.
I came upon this page because recently I too have begun to realize some similarities between the Bible and Greek/Roman mythologies and started searching online for comparasons of the two. I belive there is as much truth in the Bible as there is in Greek Mythology and there is as much mythology in the Bible as there is in Greek Mythology. I wonder.... Are Hercules and Samson the same man? Are Mt Zion and Mt Olympus the same mountain? There are also several similarities between the Bible and Sumerian Mythology (see http://home.comcast.net/~chris.s/sumer-faq.html). There are numerous accounts about a great flood from many different ancient cultures. I think many of these ancient accounts are re-tellings of the same events and people and if we are looking for the truth of the past, we should not focus on just one source.
Have any of you considered the fact that the Bible is much older than the Greek myths. This only prove that a few thousand years ago, someone was telling their children about what their parents told them, the real facts and history we see today in the bible. Eventually through the ages the stories got mangled up, added on to, and some forgotten. But by the time they started to write them down, the Greek "myths" was born.
I must chime in. Many scholars believe that the old testament books were written well after the events described within them. That would mean that they do not predate the greek myths by "thousands of years". More likely, the greek myths influenced the hebrew myths and vice versa.
Greek mythology predates the bible. Just as the koran predates the bible.
"One may even go so far as to say the stories in the bible are stories of Greek mythology changed to suit the belief system of new religion; Christianity."
That's ridiculous because the "Ancient World" accounts you speak of in the Christian tradition were derived from the Hebrew tradition which was entirely separate from Greece. As a Christian, I don't find it hard to believe that the Greeks had gods and demi-gods running around ruling things because it's pretty clear in Genesis that the "nephilim" (meaning "fallen ones") were still "walking the earth". So who were the "Nephilim"? Let's find the parallel... It's also a common theme in Christianity and Judaism that Lucifer (one of God's first and most powerful creations) rebelled against God which resulted in him being cast out of heaven along with 1/3 of the angels whom he led in the rebellion... Now that sounds an awful lot like the "nephilim" or "fallen ones" doesn't it? These "nephilim" were also present in Sumerian mythology which I'll come back to later...
Now, it also states in Genesis that these fallen angels "came in unto the daughters of men" and bore children that were noted as "mighty men of old" and "men or renown"...
Sumeria is recognized as one of the earliest civilizations on the planet. It is written that Abraham (father of the Jews), was chosen by God from the city of Ur (which was located in Ancient Sumeria). Now, the Sumerian creation story, the Greek creation story and the Judeo-Christian creation story are all very similar along with their mythologies... That would make sense if both the Hebrews and the Greeks ultimately came out of this civilization, right?
So, from a Judeo-Christian standpoint... It's really not that hard to believe that most of the Ancient "mythologies" regarding gods and demigods were, more or less, true.
It's not very difficult to write something down that's not true, i.e. the bible.
Very interesting reading.
Why do U people think that the bible is Fake. even though there are similar corelations why does the Christian bible speaks of the prophcies that are occuring today. this bible was written thousands of years ago? so one needs to think hard and long Jesus was a Real Man God is real to. There is much trickery going on in the world today. such as this now i dont doubt or say that greek mythology may not have an affect but i will say There is a True and Living God that heals people, bring lives back from the dead, doctors nor greek mythology can explain these occurances and how the bible has given prophcies so long ago that are occuring today. I pray that you all find the TRUTH Jesus is Real i know him o too well and the Living God is real!!! people please repent and go back to the foot of the CROSS!!!!
So basically, because there are similarities between other religions and Christianity, the Bible is counted as false? That's ridiculous. Of course they are going to predate Christianity, it wasn't made until the time of Christ! Which is hundreds of years before Christ was even born. Judaism however has been around as long as the other religions, which does speak of the same God etc. Dead sea scrolls anyone? Yea they predate Constantine's revision of the Bible and stay constant with the Bible's accounts. Other documents have been found that were written a long time before the Roman's revised the Bible that stay consistent with what it has to say (meaning what the documents say are what we see in the bibles we read today). This reinforces that scholars are correct when they say the bible is a very old document that has remained constant(relatively speaking due to translations between languages). The similarities, of course there will be similarities, it is common sense people! Man has to have been created somehow. So whats the non-scientific explanation? God or some other form of supernatural being right? Does that sound consistent with most religions of the time? They had to explain how the world works, how it was created and what happens to the human soul in some way shape or form. How else would they cope with their lives? Answer: religion and stories to give life meaning, purpose and a hope for a life beyond this one. It is the purpose of mythology throughout humanities entire existence so if that's the case why wouldn't there be similarities in what they said? Does that make one religion correct of all others? That is up to you. The consistencies between them show that there are certain things you could consider true no matter which religious orientation you are but where do the similarities end and originality begins? My belief is Christianity because of its differences from other religions and it's uniqueness in how God treats humanity with obviously good intentions as well as a few other details that set it apart from others (i'm sure most of you have researched these as well). So what is the conclusion? Rather than research all of this information and tip the scales towards discrediting Christianity because for some odd reason you just want to prove it wrong with "rational" and "logical" deductions of religion. How in any way, shape, or form is that open minded (what most scientists etc. claim to be about religion)when you are just trying to disprove it from the beginning rather than actually try it out? This was a good article and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Please think about what I have said. Thanks and God Bless you.
Please understand that the early Greeks were heavily influenced by nomadic Hebrew tribes. Accounts were passed along by mouth and later text giving birth to Greek mythology (Hebrew stories with a twist). The accounts literally predated Greek mythology by hundreds of years. It's like the example of sending one person out of room, starting a story to be passed around the room by mouth a person at a time, and eventually bringing that secluded person back into the room to hear the last account from the last person then presenting it; it is far different that it began, almost to the point of being absurd. Another key point which is overlooked is that much of Greek myth has been disproven (atlas supporting the earth among several others) where as biblical accounts, old and new testaments, are legitimately untouched regarding truth. Enjoyed the article; post contributors, please do your research. God bless you.
Trust me i found these things so confused Islam has Arabic myths back ground and also Christianity has Greek,Roman and jews back ground i dont find it hard for someone to choose not to blieve in this thing of so called the Only God let us pray in our way we like.....
You could also type english that makes sense...
I don't know you,but i will be praying for you. I am a Christian, and i just want to tell you that the Bible is absolutely true. John 3:16 says,"For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten son, that whosoever beleiveth on Him should not perish,but have everlasting life". That simply means that God sent His son Jesus to come to Earth,and die a painful death on a cross, just so everyone that would accept and believe Him could go to heaven and live eternally. In case you haven't noticed, the word MYTH is is Greek mythology. Myth means not real or fake. All you have to do is repent, and ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins. I am only 14, and if you are scared to become a Christian just because you don't want to give something up, you should just let it go. I'm sure if you thought about it you would rather live forever in a painless place than to watch that tv show or say that word or whatever it is. Jesus loves everyone, and He will forgive you........no matter how bad you are.
Uhm the oldest book in the Bible predates the Greek and Roman Empires both so I am a little confused as to how the validity of the bible is in question here. The Basis of facts and similarities in Christian religion and Greek Mythology is there wich should be reasearched more, but the conclusion that Greek Mythology was the prelude to christianity is purely a stretch by far in assumption becasue it holds no fundamental fact in history.
coolbreeze says:
2 years ago
WOW Interesting reading