中西神话的区别

The differences between Chinese and Greek mythology

Historically speaking, with the development of human beings’ civilization, all sorts of myths are handed down and told at every corner of the world . Chinese mythology and Greek mythology are two important parts of the whole mythology system. Seen from different views , there are various differences between the both . So I will just explain them from the following several aspects .

1.Difference in origin

The origin of Chinese mythology has a long history . 170 million years ago ,the ancestors of Chinese nation lived on the earth and created its myths .The birthplace ,Y ellow River plain ,had the advantage of developing large-scale agricultural production ,but droughts and floods were also great threats to people. When they met with a disaster ,our ancestors struggled bravely ,then they transmitted their own stories and heroic exploits form generation to generation in the form of mouth .This is the ancient Chinese myths .However ,Greek mythology was created late ,approximately around the 11th century BC. As the spiritual product of the clans, the Greek mythology was passed on among primitive people in a long period .Then the myths were fully reflected in the works of Homer and Hes iod.

2.Difference in conservation

Chinese existing myths are fragments, scattered among various ancient texts, such as ,Classiques, Historie, Philosophie, and Litterature .and not formed a system .The reasons for this are as follows .Firstly, after the feudal society took the place of slavery ,the thinking of weighing persons but despising ghosts was increasingly strong .And ancient sages even regarded myths as superstitions ,which brought harm to mythology .They not only did not pay attention to the collection and record of myths , but also strongly denigrated and deleted them , which led to the vanishing of a large number of Chinese mythology. Secondly, our society was in disruptive condition and the nation was united late ,so long-term war led to the result that the scattered myths could not be unsystematic. Thirdly ,Chinese myths spread mainly by word of mouth, which made the myths always in the constant change ,loss and deletion .

However ,Greece has an up to 48 volumes, nearly twenty-eight thousand lines of Homer's epic- "Iliad" and "Odyssey", which recorded abundant and interesting myths and legends of ancient Greece, and formed a complete, large system of myths and legends. This is because when the Greek myth was generated , there had been a number of city-state of slavery, at the same time there was corresponding city culture. Then some epic and tragedy emerged , and they became materials of ancient mythology , thus making the Greek myth of ancient times is recorded, sorted , processed and circulated.

3.Different Roles of Gods

Chinese mythology treats "good" as the core of aesthetics. Gods, the embodiment of the truth, goodness and beauty, is the protector of mankind, and do play a very essential role in helping human being's to develop the society .For example ,the emperor helped the good and punished the evil . Shennong tasted hundreds of herds to protect all the living creatures . Houyi was brave enough to shot down nine suns in the sky ,leaving one hanging

there .These examples are countless .Sometimes ,they were even willing to sacrifice their own precious lives. In return ,the mortals acknowledged them with gratitude and worship form the bottom of the heart . Obviously, these myths are not to criticize the evil, but to praise the justice ,kindness , industry , courage, optimism .

However ,such situations are hardly seen in the Greek mythology .What they did were mainly about jealousy,hatred,punishment ,revenge,and disaster.The gods on the summit of Mountain Olympus only cared about their own affairs ,and seldom did much noble and remarkable things to promote the development of the real society .They would rather stand aside to observe everything go on . What's more ,the gods behaved as the mortals in some way .The typical feature was that they wear not loyal to their spouse as we expected ,especially the most powerful god ,Zeus ,who seduced so many beautiful goddesses and mortals .All in all ,the Greek mythology has the element of evil ,and claims that fate take charge of everything ,and focuses on emotion and human nature .

4.Different tendency in gender

Females were much stressed in Chinese mythology , while male gods were much preeminent in Greek mythology .

Nvwa played a very important role in ancient Chinese mythology, and there was a statement that Nvwa was the very first god created by Chinese people among all other gods. She created human beings equally, both men and women, without discrimination. Mending the firmament of the sky, helping people expel dangerous beasts, and fighting against nature to create a stable environment for mankind to live, she really can live up to any compliment from Chinese people of all times.

On the contrary, Greek myths put more emphasis on man. They always attributed the great achievements to male gods. It was Prometheus who created mankind, and only male, in Greek myths. And the most powerful god was also male .Besides ,Greek hero myths also obviously reflect the thought which praised the male while suppressed the female. Hercules achieved twelve big events with his talent and intelligence; the Trojan War was absolutely a battlefield for male.

The creating times of myths were thousands of years apart between China and Grace, which attributed to this tremendous contrast.

In my superficial opinion ,by comparing the two myths, we can have a profound acknowledge and gain better understandings of the two countries. I cannot tell which one is superior to the other ,because they just represent the different ways thinking and their unique culture .but there is no denying that they both are of great treasure to us all around the world ,which would promote used to pursue and create much more magnificent and splendid civilization .