Genesis And Greek Creation Stories Similarities Essay Sample

Creation stories have existed for as long as man could think. Creation stories have sought to explain the origin of the world, with numerous cultures having their own. In the Bible, we see the creation of the Earth and the fall of man from grace in the Book of Genesis. In ancient Greek culture, in the story of “The Creation of the Titans and the Gods,” there is a long complex family tree of how the Gods came to be and how humans are created by them. Although they are different, they share core elements. Through creation stories, we can explore human’s natural curiosity about the world around them and other elements of human nature, like curiosity and greed.

The ancient Greek creation story and the Bible creation story are different in many ways, yet they both seek to explain why humans are created and why we act the way we do. The Book of Genesis starts with the creation of the Earth and man. They were placed in the Garden of Eden, before they ate from the tree of knowledge, they were frolicking around the garden naked, not caring who saw them. But after they ate the fruit, they became ashamed of their nakedness, even hiding from God. They were punished by God, as he warned them before not to eat of the tree of knowledge. He made Eve and all future women be the ones to bear children and feel the sorrow of bearing children, and to desire a husband who shall rule over her. Then, to Adam and all future men, he would have to work for his whole life, providing food for Eve and his children. “Till thou return unto the ground: For out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:19). In the ancient Greek story, man is created by the most intelligent and clever of the Titans, Prometheus, who created a mortal man out of clay and water and because there were no more good traits left for man after creating animals, he made them stand upright. The first mortal woman is created by the Gods, angered by Prometheus who stole fire from Olympus and gave it to man. Zeus then gave Pandora as a gift whose great beauty allured one of the Titans, Epimetheus, and gave them a strange jar for their wedding gift but is told never to open it. She opened the jar, curious about what was inside, and released the evil spirits trapped inside, sorrows, miseries, and hope, forever plaguing mankind. In this story, we see that man is created by a higher being, this time a Titan, and again humanity is cursed with good and evil, through Pandora's box. We can also see the reason why man walks upright and on two legs, and why they have fire because Prometheus gave them these things. In both stories, we see Man being created by a higher power and evil and human nature making its way into the world through trickery. Although it is the fault of humans, as they were the ones to open the jar or eat the fruit, they are deceived by a serpent or a God into doing it. Pandora couldn’t resist not knowing what was inside, an element of human nature we have today. Eve couldn’t resist the possibility of being on par with God, another part of human nature we still have, a lust for power. 

The world and its beauties are things some of us take for granted but how did they come to be?  The Greeks believed that the Earth was Gaea and then she gave birth to parts of the Earth, the sky, the sea, the mountains. They believed from these Gods and creations, they formed the modern world. It doesn’t go into very specific detail but it seems to be the war caused mass destruction and from that birthed the world we know today, a beautiful and captivating picture. In the Book of Genesis, we can see humans were created in the image of God, and animals were made to multiply across all the Earth and to be ruled over by people. In this story, God created the Earth and the many animals and creatures that live on Earth. He had a vision for the world and liked what he saw, so he kept going. It’s interesting to think that at one point Heaven and Earth were once part of the same whole, possibly pointing to Heaven being a more Garden of Eden type of place, akin to Earth in a more perfect way. Similar to the Greek story, the Book of Genesis talks about how there was darkness at first, and Heaven and Earth were in it, like how everything was born out of Chaos as told in the Greek story. In addition, we can see a divide in the place where God or Gods are, and where humans are placed. God lives in heaven, with humans on Earth, and the Gods live in Olympus, where humans can’t reach them. 

The beginning of the world and how it was created still fascinates us today, with the beauties that once existed and still do and how we got here. In both the Bible, and “The Creation of the Titans and the Gods”, we see different explanations of how the world came to be. Though they vary in how the world was created, they share many similarities. They help us understand our natural curiosity to learn more about the world around us and they both seek to explain why we are the way we are, and how the wonders of the world came to be.