It is easy to see a relationship between the stories of Pandora and Prometheus and the biblical account of Adam and Eve's sin. Greek mythology even had its own story of a Great Flood, not unlike that of the Sumerians and Israelites. But in fact there were far more differences than similarities between the religion of the Greeks and that of the Israelites.
The account of Adam's and Eve's sin in Genesis is an incredibly complex piece of symbolism that carries with it a whole range of concepts: guilt, sin, redemption, and so on. The Prometheus tales are simple stories to explain why the world is the way it is. As important as they are, they are far from being the foundation of the Greek religion, whereas it is impossible to imagine the Bible without the Eden story and the great drama it set in motion. Prometheus's theft of fire, while it offended the gods, was hardly a sin; in fact, it made the world a much better place, unlike the eating of the apple.
There was simply no concept of sin in the Greek religion. Rather than being good or evil, actions either pleased the gods or displeased them. The Greeks did their best to avoid angering the gods. To worship them, they made offerings at temples. There was no bible other than the myths. To learn the will of the gods, the Greeks went to places such as Delphi (DEL-fie), a city north of the Gulf of Corinth.
At Delphi was a shrine called the Oracle of Delphi (OHR-uh-kuhl), inhabited by a priestess who would, for a fee,
The Garden of Eden.
Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.
Answer any question visitors put to her. As with much else from Greece, the Delphic Oracle has become a part of modern language, often referred to as a symbol of great wisdom. Actually, the term “Delphic Oracle” refers to the shrine itself rather than the priestess, who was called the Pythia (PITH-ee-uh). The words of the Pythia were notoriously vague, much like modern horoscopes, which can be interpreted to mean almost anything one wants them to mean.
Again, the Pythia was not like the prophets of Israel. The prophets would never have dreamed of accepting money for telling the future, which was a holy gift from God. Both the Old and New testaments contain a number of stories concerning the terrible fate of men who did prophesy for money. This idea would have made no sense to the Greeks. However, just as there was no sin, there was no holiness. Certainly if one were looking for a model of righteousness, one would hardly look to Olympus.
Unlike Yahweh or Jehovah, Zeus and the others never claimed to be perfect. No modern soap opera has as many cheating husbands, scheming wives, and all-around dastardly figures as the Court of King Zeus. Whereas Jehovah abided by specific laws that restrained his behavior as well as that of humankind, the Greek gods were bound by no law other than their own desires. They were basically just like humans, only with much more power. This aspect is readily apparent in the Greek “scriptures”—the myths concerning the world's origins and other deeds of the gods, as well as the many stories associated with the Trojan War.
World History
