Exploring Cultural Parallels

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Exploring Cultural Parallels

• Comparing Eve and Pandora

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Creation stories reveal a great deal about a
culture.

• What is the nature of mankind?
• What is the nature of God/the Gods?
• How do men and women relate to each other?
• How should mankind relate to God/the gods?

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Consider the Greek and Hebrew stories of

• Pandora

Eve
and
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We can find these similarities

• Both stories describe a first woman,
• Both women were created after the first man.
• Both were created by a supreme male god.
• Both women introduce death, woe, evil and toil
  into the world.
• Both stories reveal mans inability to resist
  temptation.

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But consider these differences
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• Pandora
• was created in an atmosphere of robbery and
  deceit.
• Think about it--

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• Prometheus was a god long
• before Zeus took the Throne
• on Olympus. In fact, he fought
• for Zeus against Cronos,

but he never had true respect for Zeus

• He felt that the new Olympian gods had no
  compassion for each other or the mortals on earth
  below.

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• When Zeus took the throne,
• he had no interest in the
• mortal race of men.
• He intended for
• them to simply die off.

He said that knowledge and divine gifts would
only bring misery to mortals, and he insisted
that Prometheus not interfere with his plans.
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• Prometheus loved man more than the Olympian gods.
  After all they had banished his family to
  Tartarus.

So when Zeus decreed that man must give the gods
a portion of each animal they killed, Prometheus
decided to trick Zeus. (He was afraid that
men would starve.)
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• This was Prometheus first trick.
• At a banquet, he prepared 2 sacrifices. He made
  one sacrifice of fat and bones (but he made it
  look good.) The other sacrifice was of the finest
  meat, hidden in the hide of the animal.

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• Zeus was to pick the sacrifice he preferred.
  (This would be the kind of sacrifice men would
  offer him from then on.)

• Fooled, Zeus picked the bones, AND since he had
  given his word, he had to accept that as his
  share for future sacrifices from men.
• But boy was he was angry!

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• In his anger, Zeus took fire away from man.
• But Prometheus lit a torch from the sun and
  brought it back to earth.
• Zeus was so enraged that he decided to inflict a
  terrible punishment on both man and Prometheus.

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• To punish man, Zeus had Hephaestus create a
  creature of stunning
• beauty. The gods gave
• her many charms, but
• Zeus had Hermes give
• her a cheating heart and
• lying tongue. A final gift
• was a jar which Pandora
• was forbidden to open.

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So from the beginning, Pandora was intended to be
a curse to man, one that he could not resist.
Man was to yearn for her and to long for and
embrace the very source of his torment.
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Now consider the Hebrew Eve.

• She was created in an atmosphere of love and
  compassion felt by God
• for his creation.

God had observed Adams loneliness and felt that
he needed a help meet.
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• After creating the birds and the beasts, God saw
  that they were not enough for Adam.
• So God created Eve, not far away on Olympus or in
  heaven, but on earth.

Since Eve was made from Adams rib, she couldnt
be evil. She was a part of him. Eve was not
created to torment Adam, but to complete him.
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Now consider the WAY each woman brought evil into
the world.

• First, Pandora brought evils with her in a box
  from the gods.

Second, Pandora was completely alone when she
opened the box. She was not fooled by a sly
deceiver.
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Now look at Eve.

• Unlike Pandora, Eve was not alone. Adam was with
  her. He could have spoken up
• at any time before she ate the fruit.
• She took of the fruit
• and did eat and she gave
• also unto her husband with her,
• and he did eat. Genesis 3 6

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• Second, Eve was tricked by Satan. She did not act
  entirely on her own. According to scripture, the
  false deceiver tricked her . . .

as Adam stood by . . . saying
nothing.
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Punishment

• Only the suffering of men is mentioned by Hesiod,
  who speaks very hatefully of women. According to
  Hesiod, since there is no good in women, their
  evil is a two-edged sword-- If men marry, they
  will live in torment but if they do not, they
  will have no sons to care for them in their old
  age and, when unmarried men die, their property
  will be divided up by
• distant relatives. No acknowledge-
• ment is made about the suffering
• of women.

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Now consider the Biblical Eve

• The Hebrews were not so one-sided in their
  description.
• The Bible acknowledges the
• suffering of, not just men who
• must toil for their food, but
• women as well, who will
• bring forth children in pain.

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So what do these stories tell us about the
cultures who created them?

• To what extent does the Supreme God value man in
  each culture?
• What happens to those who disobey the Supreme God
  in Greek and Hebrew literature?
• How are women viewed in each culture?
• Which genders are responsible for hardship and
  woe in each culture?

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• The myths and stories told by a society reveal
  much about that cultures values. Compare and/or
  contrast the myth of Pandora and the story of Eve
  and explain what each story reveals about its
  culture. Identify at least 3 major issues.

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Information gathered from the following sources

• Hesiod. Theogony. (Tr. 1914 by Hugh G.
  Evelyn-White) (l. 492-617) January 25, 2003)
  Available online at http//www.hermetic.com/texts/
  hesiod.html
• Hesiod. Works and kDays. (Tr. 1914 by Hugh G.
  Evelyn-White) (l. 42-272) January 25, 2003)
  Available online at http//www.sacred-texts.com/cl
  a/hesiod/works.htm
• Hunt, J. M. The Creation of Man by Prometheus.
  (n.d.) (January 22, 2003)
• http//edweb.sdsu.edu/EdWeb_Folder/People/BDodge/s
  caffold/GG/creationMan.html
• Phipps, William E. Eve and Pandora Contrasted.
  Theology Today. April 1988 vol. 4 available
  online at http//theologytoday.ptsem.edu/apr1988/v
  45-1-article3.htm

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• Prometheus International, Inc. GREEK MYTHOLOGY OF
  PROMETHEUS. (2002) (January 25, 2002)
  http//www.prometheuskkp.com/mythman/prometheus1.h
  tm
• XAVR. Prometheus the Rebel. Greek Mythology.
  (1998) (January 254, 2003.) http//www.messagenet.
  com/myths/bios/promethe.html

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Created by Rosemary C. Perry January 26, 2003 for
Myths And Legends