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These heroes were a gateway to the common man and his problems, so everyone wanted to read about them. But as the common man differed from country to country, so did mythology and tales. Two of the countries with a large difference in their ways are Greece and Egypt. While Greek and Egyptian mythology shared the use of gods, creators and stories, the Greeks put more structure into these areas and developed others. Both Greece and Egypt used gods to portray aspects of life and meaning. For mythology the use of gods are needed so they were created by both of these countries. While the Greeks had more gods than the Egyptians, the Egyptians had more names for these gods. For every Greek god there was an Egyptian god with two or three names, such as the Greek’s Zeus was known as Pluto and Atum or Hera as Juno and Venus(-----13). All of the Greek Olympians live atop Mt. Olympus with their set ruler Zeus, but in Egypt the Zeus equivalent did not rule on Mt. Olympus. Egyptian mythology had no one single god who ruled all, but the gods did live atop the large pyramids with a few other entities at their side, just as in Greece(----- 12). “Heliopolis, located in the main pyramid are with the other god villages,”(Cavendish 67) was where the Zeus equivalent prominently dwelled and although he “was a ruler he had no power significant of the actual Zeus”(Cavendish 7). While the Egyptian and Greek gods had similarities and differences all came about the same way through the creator. Mythology did not just happen in these countries, there had to be authors/writers who created the myths. These creators were responsible for everything that came about into mythology. They started the ideas and thought of each story or myth, picked which god was to be in the myth and picked what was going to be explained in each myth. In Greece the creators put themselves into the stories, making themselves part of the story, while in Egypt the creators stayed away from the stories and just wrote them without become involved. Some of the creators in Egypt believed it to be a sin to involve themselves in the stories (Patrick 14). The creators were the basis for mythology and everything that branched from it. From the creators came the stories, the building blocks of mythology for both of these countries. Each country told its stories differently but was still based upon the same central ideas. The Greeks based their stories upon two of the main Gods for Mt. Olympus, each in a different human form for each story. The Egyptians had two gods and the peasants that they ruled in each of their different kingdoms (Patrick 14). Not only did the Egyptians incorporate the peasants into the stories, they added a moral to the myths, almost making a fable out of the stories as well as a myth (Edwards 3). The Greeks had stories about the gods, the festivals of the gods, the birth of the gods and the death of the gods, while Egypt had stories only about their Gods lives ( Cavendish 67). The main cause in the difference of these countries stories was how the country itself developed. As the countries of Egypt and Greece developed differently so did their mythology. Greek Mythology was set on one solid belief, based on the gods that lived atop Mt. Olympus; Egyptian mythology based itself on various beliefs and rituals which determined how long it would last (St. John 65). Because the Egyptian mythology was based on this large variety, the stories became shorter based on one of their beliefs or rituals, which caused shorter stories. The Greeks based each story on everything in their one solid belief, which led to large stories. Some of these stories, known as epics, were large tales that told story upon story through chapters. The Egyptians didn’t have an equivalent to the epic because none of their beliefs were strong enough to write long stories about. Also because the Egyptians beliefs were set on so many different things, they had fewer stories. When the creators argued upon which ritual or belief to write about nothing got written (Edwards 3). This also broke apart the structure the Egyptians lacked. The Greeks had a large structure system that everything was based on that the Egyptians lacked. The rank of the entities and the class the people fell into was based on this structure. The Greeks rank was as follows Zeus, the twelve Olympians, other gods, heroes, the Spirits of Land and Sea, and humans.(Slide 10) The Egyptians weren’t so extensive about their structure and rank. Theirs was as follows Gods, Sun-cult, and peasants ( Cavendish 7). Not only were the Gods rank less structured, the human ranks and class was also. In Greece they had five races of human starting with the Golden class and ending with the Iron (Cavendish 7). While in Egypt there were peasants and no other class or rank in their culture. Some philosophers think the lack of structure in Egypt in comparison to Greece was due to less knowledge and smaller minds (Edwards 3). Because the Greeks had more structure, rank, and class distinctions their mythology was looked upon as the best and related to most often. Greek and Egyptian mythology shared many things, including the use of gods, creators and stories, the Greeks however put more structure into these areas and developed these and others. The Greek’s culture affected their culture and others because they had such a strong basis for their mythology and life. Many cultures stole what the Greeks had because it was so strong. Even in current life, Greek mythology is still a factor. Mainly because The Greeks are the only culture associated with the word mythology in present life, the other cultures have nearly been forgot about or left out of people’s minds. With the use of mythology the Greeks changed not only the lives of their people but also the lives of millions after them. Bibliography: Word Count: 1079
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