Common Mythological and Religious Beliefs and Custom Among the Early Civilization, Essay Example

Distinct parallels in the myths of absolutely different cultures remain an amazing phenomenon which is studied by comparative mythology which synthesizes the findings of folklore, anthropology, history, linguistics, and theology. The science investigates shared themes and characteristics of myths and relationships between them to explain the development of religions and cultures as well as study human psychology. Myths are classified according to their themes associated with a particular level of the development of civilization.

The first group includes origin myths describing the origins of various phenomena. One type of these myths is cosmogonic myth which tells about the creation of the world and can be found in every early civilization. For example, the Greek believed in pre-existential Chaos which gave birth to Gaea (the Earth), Tartarus (the Underworld), Eros (love), Nyx (night) and Erebus (the darkness of the Underworld) who in their turn bore the next generation of gods.

Another popular mythological theme is the deluge – a great flood usually sent to people by the indignant supreme deity to punish them. Only a group of survivors or one survivor can live on and give birth to new humans. The best known myth of the group is the one about the Noah’s Ark from the Hebrew Bible. Besides, the motive of a bird which flies over boundless water to find land which is mentioned in this myth is echoed by the Finnish cosmogonic myth in which a bird is flying over the sea looking for a place to lay eggs from which the world later emerged. A Greek parallel to the story of Noah is the myth about Deucalion and Pyrrha, and a story of Manu is a Hindu Puranic myth about the great flood.

The motive of a life-death-rebirth deity is realized in the Egyptian god Osiris and the Mesopotamian Tammuz. In some cultures, the cycle of life, death and rebirth is associated with seasons of the year when nature lives, goes to sleep and revives in spring. The motive is so strong that it is reflected in the Christian story of Jesus of Nazareth who also died and rose from the dead, which is celebrated by Christians annually.

The evolution of civilizations often led to the appearance of new gods who were responsible for human activities such as trade, craft, and art rather than for the elements of nature. These younger, more civilized gods had to struggle with older gods and subdue them. Many older gods ceased to be as powerful and benevolent as they used to and turned into monsters. The myths about the struggle between older and younger gods are Titanomachy myths presented in the Greek, Hindu, Celtic and other mythologies. Many hero stories are also characterized by a similar structure.

A number of explanations to these similarities were suggested. Linguistic approach allows to find not only plot but also language similarities, for examples, in the names of gods. This evidence led to the conclusion about the initial integrity of Indo-European mythology.

Other scholars explain the similarities in mythological and religious beliefs and, correspondently, customs by the same psychological forces working in different cultures. For example, the Oedipus complex described by Sigmund Freund is expressed in a number of stories similar to the Greek myth about Oedipus all over the world. Jung and his followers have identified a system of images, themes, and patterns that appear in the myths of many cultures. They find the ground of these similarities in the archetypes presented in the unconscious level of the mind of each individual.