中国神话与古希腊罗马神话的比较

希腊罗马神话课程论文题目：中国神话与古希腊罗马神话的比较

姓名： XX

学号： 2009XXXX

专业：英语

年级： 2009级

系别：外语系

完成日期： 2012年6月

指导教师： XX（讲师）

Contents

1. Introduction

1.1 The basic information of ancient China and Greek

1.2 What is myth?

1.3 The brief introduction to the topic

2. Similarities and reasons

2.1The similarity of the theme

2.2About the formation of things in the world

2.3About how human came into being

2.4The myth about flood

2.5The possible reasons

3. Differences and reasons

3.1Difference of Conception of Love: Conservative and Open-minded 3.2Difference of Social Conception: Conception of Status and Democracy

3.3Conclusion of the possible reasons

4. Conclusion

5. Bibliography

The comparison between ancient Chinese myth and the Ancient

Greek Mythology

Author: XX Tutor: Yuan Xuehui Xue Yanhua

(School of Foreign Languages, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571127) Abstract:The ancient Chinese myth and the ancient Greek mythology are the miracles of the myriad folk art garden. With the compound affect of historic period, geographical position, economic form and political system，there is a great deal of the egregious similarities and obvious differences, which are worthy of further ponder.

Key words: The ancient China myth；the ancient Greek mythology; the similarity; the difference

中国神话故事与古希腊罗马神话的比较

作者：XX 指导教师：XX

（XX大学XX学院，海口， 571127）

摘要：中国上古神话和古希腊神话是多姿多彩的民间文学百花园中的奇葩。由于历史时代、地理位置、经济形式、政治制度等因素的共同作用，他们之间既有惊人的相似之处，也有许多明显的不同，值得我们进一步的思索。

关键词：中国神话，古希腊罗马神话，相同点，不同点。

1.Introduction

In ancient times in the east world, the vast Chinese land was so fertile that it produced plenty of rich products with the mild and pleasant climate. The brilliant ancient Chinese culture was born in such a favourable climate and geographical position. In the old Europe, the beautiful Greek peninsula was surrounded by the ocean to three sides. Moreover, there were more than four hundred and eighty islands around it, which looked like dazzling jade and agate in the Aegean Sea. Splendid ancient Greek culture was born in such beautiful mountains and rivers. The rich land conceived the most brilliant and influential eastern and western culture, and the

Chinese and Greek culture is undoubtedly the most amazing flower in the two treasure house.

Myth, from the point of etymology, comes from the Greek "mythos", which means "word" or "oral language," and the general name of the myth is derived from the Greek "myths + logos," In Greek "logos" means “the story”. According to the definition given by Mr. Lu Xun, myth refers to the twisting reflection of the primitive humans’ view of nature and society, and it is the earliest record of ancient people’s primitive understanding on the world origin, natural phenomenon and social life. Both the Chinese and ancient Greek myth came from the clan society and they reflected the human in their youth’s observation and understanding of the nature and human society. Therefore, there were amazing similarities not only in the ideological content, but also in the art form. However, because they were formed and developed in two different cultures, considering the geographical position, economic form, political system and the national psychology as the influential factors, they had their own different characteristics.

2.Similarities and reasons

Myth was produced in ancient clan society, it is the original form about how ancient people think and also it is the special reflection of nature and history. Thus, no matter it is ancient China or ancient Greece, their mythology are the products of ancient clan in society. There’s no doubt that they have many similarities.

First of all, they mention the similar way of the formation of things in the world. China and Greece people all think that the original universe is a mass chaos. In Chinese old book, it recorded the story of Pan Gu breaking out the sky and the earth. And in the ancient Greek myth, according to Hector spectrum, the universe at first is also in a mass chaos, people can not divide the heaven and earth. What’s more, land, water and air all mixed together, right now the god Chaos and by his wife night god Cox and their children made the animals and plants in the world.

Secondly, the way of how human came into being is similar. It is a pity that even though Chaos and Pan Gu have created the things in the world, there’s no human being around. In fact, Nv Wa and Prometheus have already thought of it. According to the Han Yingxun, without any people in the world, it’s just a lifeless land. So Nv Wa used soil to create people. And the higher rank of yellow soil and the lower water of Huan.Prometheus used the hidden seed of god in the soil and the river to create small creatures, which looked the same as himself. And then he took the heart of all kinds of animals: the lion, the fox, cows, the eagle, and pigeons to intake good and evil, and rooted in people’s chest, making the person with many kinds of character such as the brave, cowardice, greed, generosity, cunning, loyalty and so on. Finally

the love god gave the spirit to people, intelligence goddess Athena gave him a soul, then a complete man was made. It is certain that Nv Wa and Prometheus didn’t discuss in this noble project. The reason why they used mud to create human is that they did it as the shape of human, which reflects the idea of the god and human are the same.

Thirdly, they all mentioned the myth about flood. Whatever the reason, human beings became worse, so there was the scourge--- huge flood pouring to human leaving only one or two survivors. In China, there are many myths about flooding, NvWaBuTian Shun Yu adminstratng the river, Nv Wa and her brother married. When the flood came, they two sat in the bottle gourd and became the only two who survived. After they married, the gave birth to a strange stone, which became shrimp and fish when it was cracked down and became birds and animals when it fell in the mountain and fall in the village the people. In Greece, Zeus, in order to punish the human, decided to use the flood to destroy humans. So he then summoned the gods. All aspects of the wind together gathered the cloud, and then heavy rain drops, flood occurs, the flood, and those who live in there all the creatures drowned. Deucalion accept his father Prometheus’s advice of building an ark, so only he and his wife Pyorrhea were saved. In the ninth day of the flood, they sailed to fox's pearl Nassau, mountain. Deucalion asked the justice goddess how to save human. The goddess said, throw the bone of mother land can get the human revived. Deucalion guessed the so-called mother bone must be the stone. He did throw stones and they became man. From the flood myth of the two countries we can see its similar points: they regard the flood as the will of god, and after the flood ther e’re only a male and a female survived, and then again they created humans and all related with stones.

The reason for these similarities may be because in the clan society the productivity level was very low, and their ability to conquest the nature was limited. All things of the universe are incredible, and human curiosity led mankind to explore, but the original productivity level and their limited ideology made them not able to answer all sorts of natural phenomena. They thought that everything was under the drive and control of a supernatural power-god's, so they owned the things they can’t explain to the God. This is the basic reason for the similarities of ancient Chinese myth and the Ancient Greek Mythology.

3.Differences and reasons

Difference of Conception of Love: Conservative and Open-minded As I mentioned earlier: China is located on an inland, which faces blue sea on the east, extensive desert to the northwest, the highest tableland Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the world to the southwest. So the transportation is not very convenient. This semi-isolated environment can help create cultures and subcultures, but blocks cultures of other countries to enter. So ancient Chinese is conservative. We can see this from ancient Chinese myth where there are nearly not any love stories. Ethic is more important than love. Ancient Chinese’s love is founded on Chinese’s ethics. It seems to Greeks that love is beautiful. They advocate love so much that there are many stories about love in Greek myth. To face three goddesses, Paris, the prince of Troy chose Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and desire; when he faced peace and Helen, he chose Helen. That is to sa y, he chose love. Greeks’ conception of love is open-minded. They are very active. Even if it may bring disaster to others, they will still follow their heart. Medea was King Ae?tes’s daughter, the princess of Colchis. She fell in love with Jason, the head of Argonauts at the first glance. To help Jason get hold of golden ram’s fleece and pursue her love and happiness, she betrayed her father, killed her brother and escaped from her country. Theseus abducted Antiope, the queen of Amazons as his lover. This action of Theseus brought out the war between Amazons and Athens. The actions of Medea and Theseus are guiltless in Greeks’ minds. Most of famous heroes are illegitimate children and they are products of deities’ lechery. There are many loves of Olympian d eities. And Olympian deities are proud of their loves. But there is not a deity of love in Chinese myth. If Aphrodite were born in China, she would be regarded as a profligate woman and be despised. Difference of Social Conception: Conception of Status and Democracy

A story about how to make men in Tai ping yu lan (Taiping Anthologies for the Emperor) is that there were no men when the sky and the earth were separated. It was Nüwa who made men by moulding yellow clay. The work was so taxing that her strength was not equal to it. So she dipped a rope into mud and then lifted it. The mud that dripped from the rope also became men. Those made by moulding yellow clay were rich and noble, while those made by lifting the rope were poor and yellow. (Ding Wangdao, 1995: 7) How to make men in Greek myth is different from that of Chinese myth. In Greek myth, Prometheus is regarded as the creator of human being. Prometheus is a Titan, one of the children of Ocean. He and his brother Epimetheus are cousins of Zeus and Hera. In the beginning of the world, the Titans lived on the

earth. There were no people yet, just the Titans and the animals. Prometheus used to play with clay, sometimes, and one day he made a lot of little people out of clay. He showed them to his cousins. Zeus liked the little people so much and breathed them into life. But these human beings did not live for a long time. As human being degenerated step by step, the angry Zeus asked his brother Poseidon, the Sea God to destroy all human beings by a huge flood except Deucalion, the son of Prometheus and his wife Pyrrha. Deucalion constructed an ark in which, according to one version, he and his wife rode out the flood and landed on Mount Parnassus. Offering sacrifice and inquiring how to renew the human race, they were ordered to cast behind them the bones of their mother. The couple correctly interpreted this which meant that they should throw behind them the stones of hillside (“mother land”), and did so. Those stones thrown by Deucalion became men, while those thrown by Pyrrha became women.

Difference of man-creating myths reflects the difference of social conception. “Those made by moulding yellow clay were rich and noble, while those made by lifting the rope were poor and yellow”, which fully confirms C hinese conception of status. In addition, from the relationship between deities and human beings, we can also sense it. The deities in Chinese myth are arranged by relationship of blood, they are limited in the blood relationship and social relationship. In Chinese myth, the deities are deities for ever while the human beings are human beings for ever. That means the essence of deities and human beings are different. Since thousands of years, Chinese feudal hierarchy was too strict. The phenomenon of male superiority and female inferiority existed everywhere in ancient Chinese society. The monarch was the noblest. If ruling classes wanted to keep this feudal hierarchy, they must find theoretical grounds to convince the mass. Myth was widespread and had gone deep into people’s mind. It was the best material what to practice feudalism. In the thousands of years, the conception of status could keep long-stable Chinese society. And myth played an active role. But there was negative side. This kind of the conception caused that democracy was weak in ancient Chinese minds.

From the beginning, Greek myth did not reflect this kind of conception of status same as Chinese myth. The first human beings whom created by Prometheus are all clay human beings. Prometheus pinched the clay into every man personally. He did not say that which men were high and which men were low. The second time when Deucalion and Pyrrha threw behind them stones, these stones became human beings.

There are not any differences among these human beings. These human beings are stone men. In Greek myth, deities can marry with human beings and they are able to bear a baby hero who is half deity and half human being. This is democracy. Though Zeus is the king of all deities, he still cannot control his wife. If Hera harms other goddesses or women for her jealousness, Zeus even has no way to protect those goddesses or women whom he loves. In fact that who rule this world are the twelve Olympians. They are not despotic but a complete unit. All men at birth are free and equal. This kind of thought has become a part of Western culture, and it is deeply rooted in Westerners’ minds。

Reasons:Just because of the difference of the time when myth produced and the difference of environment, there are many cultural differences between Chinese and Greek myth.

4. Conclusion

Both the Chinese and Greeks use myth to explain the world when they could not understand it. Thus, myth is the most concentrated and unique embodiment of national spirit, and it is the most ancient and solid root of life, it is also essential characteristic of national culture. There are still many other cultural differences between Chinese and Greek myth. But in a word, Chinese myth lays more emphasis on morality and it is conservative, while Greek myth emphasises strength and it is open. The analysis of cultural differences between Chinese and Greek myth will help us understand the literary outputs of Western countries further, and can promote our cultural exchanges with Western countries

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