Although Christianity is viewed as
being the polar opposite to the Olympian religion, there are enough similarities
between the two faiths that suggest Christianity was influenced by the Greek
religion. Christianity is most commonly known to have been founded from
Judaism, and many of the stories before Jesus Christ have been derived from
that religion. However the parallels between the stories from the bible and
tales from Greek myths are unprecedented, particularly with themes such as the treachery
of women, the first people, and the great flood. In both the bible and the
Olympian religion, the first women were the cause of all suffering on earth
because of their weakness: curiosity and inability to follow instructions set
by the gods. In the bible stories of Christianity, it is an accepted story that
it was Eve, the first woman created by God, who took the forbidden fruit form
the tree and ate it. She also, “gave some to her husband, and he also ate it”[1],
and therefore they gained wisdom at the expense of, “the Lord God sent them out
of the Garden of Eden and made them cultivate the soil”[2],
and they could not return to paradise or have internal life. Similarly, the first woman in the Olympian
religion, named Pandora, was created by Zeus[3] to
punish man. She, “possessed a sealed urn”[4],
which she was instructed not to open, but eventually her curiosity drove her to
open it. As a result, “she scattered its contents throughout the world: toil,
disease, an earthly death”[5],
hence she brought agony and hardship as well as a shortened the lifespan of
man. Another theme that is common with both religions is that the first people
lived in a perfect world of peace and prosperity with no pain or sadness before
wickedness was commenced from the first woman. In the Olympian religion, the
first people were the golden race of mortals who, “lived free from all cares
and worries, eternally young”[6],
and they lived in peace and prosperity until the wars between gods destroyed
them. Correspondingly, Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden, which is
considered a paradise, before they ate the forbidden fruit and were banished
from the garden. The Great Flood is the most commonly known to be the most
similar between the Olympian religion and Christianity, as well as having the
most similarities. Both floods were caused by the superior gods[7] to
wipe out humanity because sin has taken over where worship once was. Only a few
humans chosen by the gods were allowed to survive and, “repopulate the world,
passing on their knowledge, skills and high moral standard”[8], to
avoid such a catastrophe again. In the case of the Olympian religion, “Zeus
disguised himself as a traveller”[9],
and went to a common oikos[10] to assess the
development of humanity. What he found were the people of the oikos serving a meal of human flesh,
which enraged Zeus and he became, “determined to destroy the human race. He
decided to do so by the means of a deluge that would inundate the earth,
drowning all the people”[11],
and nearly all the people on earth died, either from starvation or drowning. Only
two humans remained, Deucalion, son of Prometheus and king of Pthia and his
wife Pyrrha. They had been pre-warned by Prometheus, whose duty as a god was to
protect the human race, and hence they were able to build a boat that was
plentiful with supplies before the storm hit. Likewise in Christianity, “The
Lord saw how wicked everyone on earth was and how evil their thoughts were all
the time, he was sorry that he had ever made them and put them on the earth”[12],
and summoned a great flood to destroy all of humanity. Before doing so, the
Lord approached Noah, knowing that he was a loyal disciple and told him to, “build
a boat for yourself out of good timber”[13],
so that he, his family and two of all animals on earth can survive on the boat
as the floods destroy the evil that humanity had created. Despite the appearance
of being completely different religions and faiths, the stories that are
presented in the Bible of Christianity have some parallels with the Olympian
religion, such as the themes of the treachery of women, the first people who
lived in paradise, and the great flood.
[1]Good News
Bible. The Bible Society in Australia, Canberra. 1983. P. 4.
[2] ibid. P. 5.
[3] The god of the sky and the
King of the Greek gods.
[4] Ruck, C. and Staples, D., The World of Classical Myth: Goods and Goddesses, Heroines and
Heroes. Carolina Academic Press, North Carolina, 1994. P. 41.
[5] ibid.
[6] Allan, T. and Maitland,
S., Titans and Olympians: Greek and Roman
Myth. Duncan Baird Publishers, London. 1997. P. 36.
[7] It was the Lord for
Christianity and Zeus for the Olympian religion that created the Great Flood.
[8] ibid. P. 38.
[9] Ruck, C. and Staples, D., The World of Classical Myth: Goods and Goddesses, Heroines and
Heroes. Carolina Academic Press, North Carolina, 1994. P. 42.
[10] Greek word for ‘household’
[11] Allan, T. and Maitland,
S., Titans and Olympians: Greek and Roman
Myth. Duncan Baird Publishers, London. 1997. P. 38.
[13] ibid. P. 7.
