Since time immemorial, humans have wondered about the origins of everything, including the Earth, natural forces, animals, and even themselves. Such curiosity about the unknown encouraged early humans to search for answers; however, since at that time, science was not yet as developed as today, people started to create myths. It is worth noting that at the foundation of nearly every culture lays a cosmogony, in other words, a creation myth. It is a religious myth that tries to explain how the world was made. This paper aims to compare the creation myths of ancient Greeks and Egyptians as researchers have thoroughly studied both mythic traditions. It is generally known that myths give an insight into various cultures that include the way people perceived everything around them that could not be explained logically. Greek and Egyptian myths, despite being different in many ways, still provide interesting viewpoints on various subjects. Such topics include the driving force behind the creation of the universe, what was before the beginning of everything, and how gods were born.
One of the first similarities that can be drawn between these two traditions is that both Greek and Egyptian creation myths begin with a god or several gods being born from the universe. The general idea of those tales is that the world was made out of primordial chaos. The narration of both myths begins by pointing out that once there was nothing but endless swirling chaos without form or purpose, and then something new comes into existence. Moreover, the newborn universe has logic and order, while the chaos is disordered, evil, and detrimental. For this reason, the new universe must be protected by gods from chaos. The Egyptian personification of the lifeless abyss of nothing was Nun; it was represented as a dark water abyss.
A similarity with the Greek creation myth can be extracted from this fact because the idea of water as the source of life can be found in this tradition as well. Greeks, however, personified chaos as Oceanus or the great river Okeanos, which contained all water and surrounded the entire cosmos. Such an analogy demonstrates how both cultures appreciated water not only as a resource but as an essential part of life for every living creature. The concept of water as the force behind creation would later be displayed in scientific theories of the 19th century.
Regarding similarities, it should be noted that another parallel between Egyptian and Greek myths is that the world was created by a supernatural force. This is mainly due to the fact that people could not explain the formation of the world logically. For this reason, they created theories where mystical creatures and events served as the foundation.
However, that is where some differences can be drawn between Greek and Egyptian mythology. For instance, Egyptian cosmology implies that the first god, Ra, was not born, but was created by his own hands. In his book, Spence provides examples from the texts of myths. While telling about the creation of everything, the legend states that “heaven did not exist and earth had not come into being, and the things of the earth and creeping things had not come into existence in that place, and I raised them from out of Nu from a state of inactivity” (Spence 32). As the narration goes, it is stated that “I made every form, I was one by myself, and there was no other being who worked with me” (Spence 32). These sentences suggest that from the dark waters of Nun, the first god formed life, the universe, and even himself.
On the other hand, Greek cosmology is deeply connected with the theme of birth, which represents the beginning of the universe as the beginning of a child’s life. According to the tale, Gaia, who emerged out of chaos along with Eros and Erebus, gave birth to Uranus (Kerényi 18). In this case, gods are shown as being comparable to humans, as Gaia bears children as an ordinary woman. Moreover, other gods are conceived and born in the same manner, unlike in the Egyptian tradition, where gods are created supernaturally. This fact demonstrates the remains of matriarchal culture and that a woman “was the origin of fertility and life, forgiveness and mercy” (Behjati-Ardakani et al. 2). The idea of creation through reproduction is prevalent in Greek mythology as it tries to explain how every part of the physical world came from chaos because of the fertility of both women and the Earth.
In conclusion, it would appear that both traditions, while being similar, are diverse in various ways. The appreciation of natural forces such as water is clearly stated in Egyptian and Greek creation myths. Moreover, the ideas of the origin of the universe out of nothingness are present as well, which indicates the lack of astronomical knowledge. However, the two cultures are different in their viewpoint on the creation of gods since Greeks make their procreation more human-like, while Egyptians preserve the mysterious nature of it.
Works Cited
Behjati-Ardakani, Zohreh, et al. “An Evaluation of the Historical Importance of Fertility and its Reflection in Ancient Mythology.” Journal of Reproduction & Infertility. vol. 17, no. 1, 2016, p. 2.
Kerényi, Károly. The Gods of the Greeks. Pickle Partners Publishing, 2016.
Spence, Lewis. Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt. Good Press, 2019.