Greek,Egyptian, and Hindu: The similarities in mythology.
I know the mythologies of many cultures. Greek, Egyptian, and Hindu mythology seem very far from each other, but there are many similarities between them which you may not have known.
Multiple gods
Okay, this is the most obvious similarity. I do find this interesting, though, for most religions nowadays believe in only one god, or none at all. However, these cultures saw the many different things that happen in the universe, and decided that one being could not have done everything
Order over chaos
Gaea and Uranus are born from chaos. The first island rises from the sea of chaos. The world and everything formed from chaos. Do you see a recurring pattern here? They all describe the very first thing in the universe, to be chaos. Surprisingly, they also describe chaos to be evil. The Egyptians called chaos Isfet, and described it as an evil force, constantly warring with Ma’at, or order. The Hindu god Shiva, an evil figure in most stories, was described to be the embodiment of chaos. Fact: Chaos is Greek for, the gap. Nothingness.
Imperfection
Have you read Homer`s Illiad? Well, if you haven’t, there is a humongous war between the Greek city states and the kingdom of Troy. And you know what started it? A golden apple. In the middle of a huge wedding, The goddess Eris puts a golden apple on the table, with these words written: FOR THE FAIREST. It causes a giant argument between the goddesses, and kicks off a chain of events leading to the Trojan War. This comes to show that the Greek gods aren’t perfect, but is that trait exclusive to the Greeks? No. The world is lead to corruption for one mistake by the Egyptian god Osiris. Indra’s pride results in the power of the Hindu Deva to vanish. The list goes on. It is very strange to think that the beings who created everything are imperfect, and it adds a sense of reality to these otherwise myths.
It may sound crazy that there are similarities between the mythologies of three civilizations, completely isolated from each other, especially considering the major differences you can see at first glance. But hopefully, after reading this post, you will think in a different way.
I like that you illustrated the connection of imperfection between the 3 cultural mythologies. It is one that is so central to so many stories of Gods and yet easy to overlook in the face of all their magnificent and powerful actions.
I do wonder if these 3 civilizations were completely isolated from one another. It could be interesting to look at them in a historical timeline and see if any chance cross pollination could have occurred.
Greek and Egyptian societies have met before, and yes Egyptian mythology influenced the Greek story of Typhoeus!
According to the story, the Greek gods fled to Egypt and took the form of animals, which is why the Egyptian gods have animal heads.