Creation: Greek Mythology and The Bible

In both stories, creation is made by a divine being. In the Bible, creation is made by God, while in Greek Mythology, creation is formed and later on molded by gods and titans.

Darkness and Light

Greek Mythology

• Chaos was the 1st being
• From Chaos came Erebus (darkness) and Night
• Everything was silent, dark, and empty

Cont.

• Love was created and began order in the world
• From Love came Light, and from Light came Gaea (earth)
• Erebus And Night gave birth to Ether (heavenly light) and Day
• Gaea gave birth to Uranus (sky)

The Bible

• God created Earth and Heaven
• Earth was unformed and empty
• Darkness covered everything
• God said, "Let there be Light." and there was

Cont.

• God separated light and darkness and called them 'day' and 'night'
• Named the space between heaven and earth the 'sky'

Similarities

• In both stories, darkness was one of the first things present.
• Before there was light, everything was empty.
• From darkness came light, as well as night and day.
• The sky was created after earth

DIFFERENCES

• In the Bible, earth is already present, where as earth was later 'born' after light was created in the Greek creation story.
• Love was only present in the Greek story
• Choas was absent in the Bible's story

DIFFERENCES Cont.

• Day and night were physically separated in the Bible by God
• Day and night were born in the Greek myth
• Earth comes after darkness in the Greek story

While there are next to no similarities in the next part of each creation story, there are many dramatic differences.

After Earth is Formed

The bible

• In seven days God created the rest of creation
• Over these days, the seas, animals, birds, fish, landscapes, and the stars were all formed
• God created Man in his image
• He created a man and woman and told them to rule over his creation

Greek Mythology

• Gaea married Uranus
• The two had the first Cyclopes, The Hundred Handed Ones, and the 12 Titans
• Uranus did not like the Cyclopes and Hundred Handed ones and imprisoned them

Greek Cont,

• One of their Titain children named Kronos assisited Gaea in killing Uranus
• From his blood came the Giants, Ashwood Nymphs, and Erinnyes
• Some of his blood fell into the ocean, creating Aphrotite

Cont.

• Kronos became the next ruler and married his sister Rhea
• A prohecy was given to Kronos by Uranus that his children would over throw him
• Kronos too imprisoned the Hundred Handed Ones and the Cyclopes
• To avoid the prophecy Kronos ate his children, the gods

Cont.

• Rhea hid their youngest son Zues before he could be swollowed
• Zeus later made his father throw up his siblings
• Zeus and his sibliongs overthrew Kronos
• Zeus became king of the gods

Similarities

• The earth was lived on by creatures other than it's original creator

DIFFERENCES

• In the Bible, the creation story ends after man is created
• God creates all of the things on earth: animals, nature, etc.
• Nature is sort of 'there' already in the Greek myth, or is created later by various gods
• Man is not created in the Greek creation story, but in another myth

Cont.

• There aren't any sort of wars in the Bible creation story
• The Greek creation story is more family focused
• The Greek creation story is primarily about divne beings rather than the creation of the world like in the bible

Cont.

• The Greek creation story is told more in a story like manor
• The greek creation story is more detailed and longer
• The Bible does not use as much imadrey

Works Cited

• Prior Knowlage
• Greekmythology.com,. 'The Creation'. N. p., 2015. Web. 27 Mar. 2015.
• Bible Gateway,. 'Bible Gateway Passage: Genesis 1 - New International Version'. N. p., 2015. Web. 28 Mar. 2015.