The Great Flood: Greek Mythology vs. the Bible
All cultures have myths. Some are in the form of stories passed down from generations verbally and some are immortalized in printed form. A common myth, found in many cultures, speaks of a great flood that encompasses the earth. Common to almost every story is the idea of God or the Gods becoming angered with mortals and deciding to wipe them out. The two myths discussed in this paper derive from the Greek and Roman accounts of the flood and, the most well known, the Bible's account. Though these myths have their similarities and their differences, both stories discuss the morals and the fear of God or Gods of the cultures they are derived from. The flood myths from these cultures have many similarities and many differences. One common aspect of the myths is the reason it was brought down. In both stories, the flood is brought upon by God or the Gods expressing his/their anger at the mortals. In Ovid's version of the Greek/Roman story, he tells the story of Zeus's/Jupiter's disgust with the human race. He states, "The demon of madness is holding dominion the wide world over; you'd think that the human race had joined in an evil conspiracy"(Ovid p.17). All of the God's
The Bible states, "the Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time" (Genesis 6:5). The story in the Bible is almost identical in premise. Deucalion and Pyrrha landed on the topmost peak of Parnassus and then emerged from the chest. Discussing the motives of the Gods leads to our next comparison and contrast. Just like in the Greek/Roman version, evil had infiltrated the thoughts, hearts, and actions of mankind. Both of these myths discuss the power of the Lord/Gods. It bothered him immensely but he realized that for the future, he had to. It goes to show that while cultures can be miles or centuries apart, morals and attitudes did not change that much. Therefore, the Lord sent the rain to flood the earth and to wipe out mankind. In the Bible, when the Lord knew he was going to flood the earth, he went to his faithful follower Noah. They use their senses to observe the world around them and are inquisitive enough to ask questions. These myths also show the cultures want to have an explanation for the world around them. Myths are a way to explain the unexplainable. Both cultures have a strong sense of good and evil.
Common topics in this essay:
Bible Lord,
Luckily Prometheus,
Deucalion Pyrrha,
God Gods,
Greek Mythology,
Hamilton's Mythology,
God's Olympia,
Greek Roman,
Bible Greek/Roman,
bible lord,
human race,
sent rain,
greek/roman version,
repopulate world,
god gods,
deucalion pyrrha,
noah family,
heart evil,
similarities differences,
lord sent rain,
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