Greek Myth - Anuranjini SIngh

According to Greek mythology the world was created out of complete darkness. A bird with black wings, Nyx laid a golden egg out of which Eros, the god of love was born. One half of the shell rose into the air and became the sky and the other became the Earth. These were named Uranus and Gaia respectively. Eros then made them fall in love and they gave birth to many children.

One of their children Zeus fought a mighty war with his father and won. He started furnishing Gaia with life and Uranus with the stars. He summoned his sons Prometheus and Epimetheus to create men and animals and give them each a gift. In the end Epimetheus wasn’t left with anything to gift to man, so Prometheus decided to gift them fire, even though gods were the only ones meant to have access to it. When Zeus heard about this he was furious. He ordered his son to be chained to a mountain and for a vulture to peck out his liver every day till eternity. He also decided to punish mankind.

One of his sons created a beautiful woman, Pandora. Zeus gifted ‘curiosity’ and a box that he ordered her never to open. He then presented her to Epimetheus as a wife. Pandora had a happy life but she longed to open the box given to her. One day when her husband was gone she opened the box and out flew all the horrors of the world – pain, sickness, envy, greed. Epimetheus heard Pandora screaming and hastened to shut the lid, but was too late as all the evils had already escaped. Later that night they heard a voice from the box saying, “Let me out. I am hope.” Pandora and Epimetheus released her and she flew out into the world to give hope to humankind.

Today due to the advancement in science and technology, it is difficult to believe that myths like these hold any credibility. They just seem to be stories that were told as a form of entertainment and have been passed down generations. Humans created fictitious characters and personalities based on their limited knowledge. It is interesting to note how Greek ‘gods’ and ‘goddesses’ bear a striking resemblance to humans in their artistic depictions. Even the forms in which humans, gods, animals were created are based on ‘an egg hatching’ or ‘giving birth to children’ both of which are types of reproduction. Such myths do not take into account possibilities of other life forms, materials, organisms or systems existing during that time. They seem to be quite ‘human-centric’ in their approach. Very much like almost every belief that exists today.