Chinese and Greek Myths

TJHIN Tsz Ching Lorraine 06006396

WANG Shuo Sylvia 07051301

Outline

• Definition of myths

• Creation of the World– Chinese Version– Greek Version

• Comparison of Characters

• Summary and conclusion

Definition of myths

• Events or stories took place in the beginning of human evolution

• The view of the world of an ethnic group

• Supplementary explanations are historical features

Creation of the World: Chinese Version

Creation of the world: Pangu (盤古 )

《三五歷記 》

• World shaped like an egg, chaos inside

• Pangu grows for 18000 years → use an axe to separate the sky and earth

When Pangu died:• Breath → wind and clouds• Voice → lighting and thunder• Left eye → the sun• Right eye → the moon• Limbs → mountains• Blood → rivers• Muscle → fields• Hair → stars• Skin → plants• Teeth and bones → stone and

minerals• Sweat → rain

Reparation of World: Nüwa (女媧 ) 《史記 ·補三皇本紀》

• Wars between Zhurong (祝融， God of Fire) and Gonggong (共工， God of Flood)

• Gonggong defeated → crash in Mount Buzhou (不周山， a pillar upholding the sky) → collapse of sky → world disaster

• Nüwa: cut off the legs of a giant tortoise and used them to supplant the fallen pillar; use stone of 5 colors to reseal the broken sky

Creation of Man: Nüwa (女媧 )

• Lonely in the world → using rattan and mud from the Yellow River (黃河， Huanghe) to create human-beings

• Appearance of man as her reflection seen in the river → Man looks like gods

Houyi (后羿 ) shoots the suns

• 10 suns on the sky in ancient time• Too hot, crops unable to growth• Houyi was sent from the heaven to shoot 9 suns down

Gaeo Uranus

12 Titan Gods

Olympian Gods

3 Cyclopes 3 Hecatoncheires

• Human beings are all created by Prometheus

• Well known for his generous help to human kind

• Stole fire from Zeus and gave it to human beings

• Punished by Zeus:

Bound to a rock while a great eagle ate his liver every day, but it has to grow back to be eaten again the next day

• Playing a vital role in the early history of humankind

Comparison of Characters

Jade Emperor / Yu Di ( 玉皇大帝 )

Zeus

Appearance • Dressed like a typical Chinese Emperor• A Taoist

• Strong man• With thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak

Personality Strict morality Lustful

Power • Ruler of heaven, hell and human world• Supreme power

• Ruler of Sky and Mount Olympus •Supreme power on earth• Thunderbolt as a powerful weapon

Leader of Gods

Queen Mother of the West ( 西王母 )

Hera

Appearance Beautiful •Beautiful•With a crown and pomegranate

Personality Noble, gentle Jealous and vengeful

Power Owner of peaches of immortality

Second to Zeus

Goddess of women

Old man under the moon ( 月下老人 / 月老 )

Younger Eros

Appearance • Old man• With red string• Often related to the

moon

• Winged little boy• With bow and arrows

Personality Kind Naughty

Power Use red string to tie up couples

Shoot arrows into people’s heart to inspire love and hate

God of love

Yama ( 閻王 ) Hades

Appearance With a book listing the life expectancy of all human-kinds

• handsome but feared by the others

Personality Fair, incorruptible and intelligent

Dark and morbid

Power • Judge of the death: - The villains: punishment in the Hell - The well-doers: sends back to life, or appoints as gods

God of the underworld

God of Underworld

Dragon Kings ( 龍王 ) Poseidon

Appearance • 4 Dragons• Ability to transform into human form

• With three-pronged fish spears• Rides a chariot pulled by a hippocampus or by horses

Personality Strict and sereve Lustful, hot tempered

Power • God of precipitation• Soldiers: crabs and shrimps

• God of the sea• “Earth-shaker”

God of Sea

Tai bai jin xing ( 太白金星 ) Hermes

Appearance Old man with a child face An athletic youth

Personality Decent, sincere and kind Cunning and shrewd

Power Supervisor of the world of mortals • Guide to the underworld• God of shepherds, land travel, merchants, weights and measures, oratory, literature, athletics and thieves

Messenger of Gods

Chinese Myths Greek Myths

Birth of God • Human can become gods if he has a good personality

• By sexual intercourse between gods

Blood linkage • Blood linkage is not common between gods and goddess

• Strong blood ties between gods and goddess

Relations between each myth

• Vague relations • Clear and systematic relations

Personality of God

• Emphasis on good morality and divinity

• Gods are humanly described, often with negative personalities like envy, greedy…

Summary

Conclusion

• Different region → different habits → different wishes and demands → different sprits → differences in images of god → different myths