Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Mythology Similarities and Differences in Creation Myths Similarities and Differences in Creation Myths Similarities and Differences in Creation Myths Many early pieces of writing, especially myths of different cultures, seem to concentrate on similar themes even though they come from different regions and societies. Early creation myths demonstrate this even more intensely, especially Genesis, the Christian creation myth and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, a representation of the Roman creation myths, which were derived from the Greek myths. The similarities and differences between these two pieces of writing are intriguing. In both of these works the themes are often very close or related, and the small differences that occur illustrate the difference in situation of these two peoples. For instance, the theme of the golden age is prevalent in both, but the end of the golden age differs: in the Metamorphoses, the head god Jove was responsible for the end, but in Genesis it is mankind’s mistake that ends their happiness. Perhaps this difference came about because of the difference in climates. Another common theme is that of a great flood, which in both myths was sent by the head god to destroy his creation. The bringing of sorrow by women is common in both pieces. In Ovid’s metamorphoses, Jove sends Pandora down to earth so she could release unhappiness into the world, which she succeeds in doing. In Genesis it is Eve who brings the forbidden fruit to Adam, who coincidently takes a bite, which brings about the end of his happiness. However in both stories it is obvious that the men are to blame for their sorrow because it was their choices that released sadness into the world - Adam knew that God would be angered if he ate the fruit, but did it anyways. The men in the Metamorphises were warned that Pandora was trouble, but accepted her anyway. If men had not done this in both cases, they would not have lost the golden age. The strong similarities are interesting because they show some uniformity of culture between the two people, who lived thousands of miles away and between the time that these two things were written down, did not interact a lot. They most probably stem from the same earlier myths that were started in the cradle of civilization, which would be another prove that many cultures and peoples have common early ancestors. This is shown in the creation myths especially. Bibliography: Word Count: 391
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