The so-called "loss of goddess", that is, the degradation of goddess, means that with the transition from matriarchal clan to paternal clan, matriarchal system is replaced by patriarchy, and women's status falls from peak to trough, thus being oppressed and enslaved. The goddess world is the reflection and reflection of the female world, so the goddess has also experienced the change of status like women.
Human society began with matriarchal society, and human worship of ancestors also began with goddess. There were many outstanding goddesses in the early myth, such as China's Nu Wa, the western heavenly queen, and the Greek goddess Gaia.
Nu Wa in China mythology is the goddess who created human beings. She kneaded the loess and created the "spirit of all things" in her own image, so there was human beings. Nu Wa loves the world and her children more. When the sky were to fall and mankind was almost extinct, she refined colorful stones to fill the sky and killed the black dragon on the Jizhou plain to kill the people, and mankind was freed from the disaster.
In Greek mythology, the primitive universe is a chaos, and Gaia is produced from this chaos. Kaya is the source of all things and gods. She gave birth to the god Uranus from herself, and together with Uranus, she gave birth to twelve titans. Asia represents the power of matriarchal society.
However, when the clan society transits from matriarchal system to paternal system, paternal system replaces matriarchal system, and patriarchy replaces matriarchal system, the male god is in the dominant position, and the goddess image gradually retreats from the leading role to the supporting role.
In many myths, the goddess is replaced by the male god, which is reflected in the creation myth. Throughout the history of mythology, the creation myth has generally gone through an evolutionary process, that is, the goddess created the world independently, the goddess and the male god combined to create the world, and the male god created the world independently. This process is the process that the goddess changed from the protagonist who created life to a supporting role, and even lost her natural rights. Pangu, a rising male god in China mythology, is regarded as the god who created the world. He monopolized the creation instead of Nu Wa. In Greek mythology, it developed from an old generation of gods centered on Gaia to a new generation of gods centered on Zeus.
It is not uncommon that male power is superior to female power in mythology. It is said that when Athens chose the patron saint, all male citizens chose Poseidon and all female citizens chose Athena. As a result, Athena was elected by one more vote. However, people are afraid that Poseidon will drown Athens and deprive women of the right to vote, and the children's surnames will be changed to their fathers' surnames.
From the transformation of God's image and position in China and ancient Greek mythology, we can explore the evolution of human social history at that time: from a feminist society to a patriarchal society.
(2) Worship the heroic image
With the development of social history, the primitive ancestors' understanding of nature became more and more profound, and human beings began to conquer and transform nature, which promoted the progress of human civilization. The productivity level of primitive society is very low, and human beings are powerless in the face of natural forces, and human beings are born with the instinct to worship heroes, so national heroes become gods. Engels said: "The next step will lead us to the advanced stage of barbarism, during which all cultures and nations have experienced their own heroic times." Heroic achievement is the creative source of myth. The Greeks regarded myths as "ancient history" and thought they were true. Heroes are the protagonists of "ancient history". "In the eyes of the ancient Greeks, they are like living people in ancient times, belonging to an older and more powerful race than now. Because they are more like people than gods, they are regarded as examples to follow." In addition, some hero worship mythologizes the relevant history, among which the hero was originally a real person or a legendary mortal, and they were described by later generations as semi-deified figures with magical abilities, which can change the fate of mankind and avoid evil spirits and disasters. Heroes created by people help people solve problems and become the object of praise. They are all endowed with excellent qualities.
Hero worship can be divided into two categories:
The hero worship of invention and creation. With the continuous progress of human civilization, our ancestors learned more and more skills, such as drilling wood for fire and building houses. These advances have brought great benefits to people. For example, fire can not only make people eat cooked food, but also help people keep out the cold, thus fighting against the harsh living environment. It is a miracle that people can make fire by drilling wood, but they don't understand why drilling wood can make fire. Therefore, in mythology, it is the hero who steals fire from the sky and brings light and warmth to people. Sui Lian Shi, the inventor of China Fire, traveled around the sun and the moon and arrived in Sui Ming State, where he didn't know day and night. When he saw birds pecking at the fire tree, he drilled wood with twigs to make a fire. Prometheus, called by Marx as "the noblest saint and martyr in the philosophical calendar", is the patron saint of mankind, and he has made great sacrifices to protect mankind. In order to reduce the burden on human beings, he wrapped the cow bones in cowhide and fooled Zeus. After being deceived, Zeus refused to pass on the fire to mankind. So Prometheus picked a woody fennel and walked to the solar car. He ran under the car and put the branch in the flame until it burned. He fell to the ground with a fire, and the first pillar of fire in the jungle immediately rose to the sky. Because he stole fire for mankind, Zeus ordered him to be chained to the cliff of Caucasus Mountain and cut open his chest with a spear. Every morning, a huge eagle pecks at his liver. At night, the liver grew well again, and the next day, the eagle came to torture him again. This unbearable pain lasted for a thousand years. During the Olympic Games, people greeted the flame from Mount Olympus in Greece and held a torch relay to commemorate Prometheus.
Heroic worship to defeat evil forces. This kind of worship shows the dim expectation of ancestors to conquer nature and master their destiny. In the eyes of our ancestors, only superheroes can do it. Hou Yi is a famous hero in China ancient mythology. "Huainanzi Materia Medica Classic" said: "Yao time, a total of 10 days, burning crops, killing plants, the people have no food. Anger, tooth digging, nine babies, strong winds, deities and snakes are all harmful. Yao is the man who killed nine babies in the wild in China, killed nine babies by floating on fierce water, shot up and down in the castle peak for ten days, killed snakes in Dongting and sealed birds in mulberry forest. Everyone is happy and made Yao the son of heaven. " Hou Yi saved the people from fire and water and was deeply loved by the people. Yao who sent him was also honored as the son of heaven. Hercules is the most famous hero in Greek mythology. He was frightened by Hera when he was born. Hera sent two big snakes around Hercules, who strangled him. When I grew up, I was invincible in the world and achieved twelve great achievements: strangling the giant lion, burning hydra, shooting a strange bird with bronze claws, wings and feathers, subduing a fire-breathing bull, defeating the three-eyed giant and even defeating Hadders, the keeper of the underworld. He also shot and killed the vulture that hurt Prometheus every day ... He was widely praised and worshipped by Greek city-states.
(C) the reasons for similarity
Why do China and Greece, which are far apart, create the same quality of heroic images? I'm afraid this is due to the consistency of material production and social forms of all ethnic groups in the era when myths were born.
In primitive society, productivity is low and people are full of fear of nature. In the eyes of uncivilized culture, natural phenomena such as the sun, the moon, the stars, storms and thunder and lightning that we usually see are regarded as acts of gods, because people never understand the causes of these phenomena. Some unusual natural disasters, such as catastrophic floods, earthquakes and tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, are even more incredible to our ancestors. People regard the real world as a harmonious and conscious arrangement, which is obviously not made by ordinary people. Thus, the mystery of the ancestors was explained: the arrangement of the gods. It is a very popular view that our ancestors attributed the progress of human civilization to the inventions or talents of mythical figures. Because people can't trace back to the origin of some production or life skills originally adopted by human beings, some skills gradually formed through long-term evolution of human beings are considered to be the creation of a god or a genius. In addition, people are afraid of natural disasters and various human sufferings, such as diseases and unexpected misfortunes. Hero worship places the ancestors' desire to conquer natural disasters or human suffering. Many disasters in nature can't be conquered by ordinary human beings, and catastrophes are often fatal to human beings. People are helpless in the face of these injuries, and only a god beyond nature can stop the ravages of natural disasters. So people imagine some heroes to help mankind overcome disasters and save mankind.
Second, the difference between them.
The descriptions of God in China and Greek ancient myths can't be exactly the same, but they are different. This paper will compare the appearance, personality, thought and relationship between man and god, and show their respective characteristics.
(1) appearance
The images of God and man in China's early myths are very different, but the images of God and man in later religiousized myths are basically the same, which is beyond the scope of this paper. In China's myths and legends, many gods are described as "half man and half beast" or "beast with human face". These anthropomorphic gods occupy the mainstream position, and the number is far above that of isomorphic people. According to statistics, among more than 450 gods in Shan Hai Jing, the ratio of humanoid gods to non-humanoid gods is 1: 4. For example, Fuxi and Nu Wa, considered as ancestors of human beings, are depicted as gods with human heads and snakes on bricks painted in Han Dynasty. Chiyou, who fought against the Yellow Emperor, was "copper-headed and iron-footed, with four eyes and six hands, ears like swords and halberds, and horns on his head" (Tales of Different Things); The Queen Mother of the West "has a face and a tiger body, a tail and a tail, all white and in place. Dai Sheng, Tiger Tooth, Leopard Tail Cave (Shan Hai Jing, Xishan Jing), "Its shape is like a human being, and Leopard Tail Tiger Tooth is good at whistling, which is the perfection of the five remnants of heaven (Shan Hai Jing, Xishan Jing); River God Bingxu, Tianwu, Yujing, Yuguo, Mud God Xiang Liu; Zhuan Xu has a face, a pig's mouth and a unicorn's body. These gods are a combination of human and animal images. Although there are some gods in the form of human beings, the main image of gods in China mythology is still that people and animals are the same.
In the earliest Greek mythology, God was the same as man and beast in appearance. Titan gods before the Olympus system were all like this. The giant born of Gaia, the goddess of the earth, and Uranus, the god of the earth, is ferocious, with a scaly dragon tail behind it. This is only a small part of Greek mythology. In the later system of Olympus gods, the ancient Greeks shaped gods according to the image of human beings, so these gods were in human form and were regarded as the most beautiful, robust, intelligent and powerful people. For example, the image of Apollo, the sun god, is unnecessary. He has a Greek nose, a handsome face and a well-proportioned figure. He often carries a bow and arrow, holds a bow or a stringed piano, and is often accompanied by a muse. He is a symbol of male beauty in the world. In little love god, Cupid is usually portrayed as a child with a little wings, covered with black cloth, bent with an arrow. Priam, the son of Dionysus, the god of wine, and Aphrodite, the god of beauty in Greek mythology, was the protector of farmers, shepherds and fishermen at first, and later became the god of reproduction and lewdness. His image is a bearded man in a long skirt with fruit hanging on his chest. No matter according to hershey's Ancient Divine Spectrum and Homer's Ancient Iliad, or the works of later tragic writers, the Greek gods, especially the main god (Zeus), have experienced quite thorough humanization. The gods in the Olympus system are exactly the same as human beings in appearance, and the only difference between them lies in immortality and superhuman ability.
(2) Personality
The gods in China ancient mythology are often single in word creation, and the gods with high status are always just. They are solemn, great, perfect, creative and supreme. They regard conscience, reason and sense of responsibility as laws with reason, modesty, kindness and reward. They are lonely, above all else. For example, Nu Wa died quietly after creating human beings, asking for nothing in return, full of great love and the great creative spirit of the nation. For example, Dayu did not enter the house three times to control water. He put the people first and gave up his family for everyone. Heavy and hard work left him without skin and shin hair, so that his body was proud and his skin festered. Pangu created the world for mankind and supported it for eighteen thousand years. After the earth was formed, it collapsed and became everything on the earth. Fuxi invented the note symbol gossip for human beings; Emperor Yan taught people to sow grains and distinguish herbs; The Yellow Emperor taught people to build houses to keep warm ... When mankind encountered various difficulties, God did not manipulate and rule mankind, but lived in harmony with others and benefited them. Myth's description of God's character is limited to one aspect. There is a clear distinction between good and evil, and good gods never do evil, while evil gods never do good, with a single character.
In Greek mythology, God is highly personified. Greek gods and heroes are "the unity of god and man", and they are exactly the same. The Greeks created God on their own basis, so what people have is also owned by God. Greek gods, like human beings, have love and hate, joys and sorrows, secular desires, food, clothing, housing and transportation, love, fertility and other life needs. Their behavior is honest and brave, cruel, jealous and vain. Zeus, the father of the gods, as the supreme ruler of all things in the world, was cruel and dictatorial. Her wife Hera, the goddess of marriage, is beautiful and noble. She is often jealous. There are also the handsome and brave Apollo, Sivir Athena, who is in charge of victory and skill, and Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. Their kindness, wisdom, courage, compassion and other beautiful aspects of human nature make their image more brilliant. On the other hand, they also reflect the inevitable ugliness of human nature, such as jealousy, domineering and indifference, which makes them look like real people. The quality of human nature can be reflected in God. For example, Zeus, the Lord God, lacks the sacred majesty of China. He fell in love with the beautiful princess Io and turned her into a snow-white heifer to avoid Hera. Princess Europa was dignified and charming, so he turned into a cow and abducted her; I took a fancy to Leda, a mortal beauty, and turned into a swan to pick her up when she took a shower; He also turned into a golden rain and entered the room through the window, which made Shen Jianing give birth to the hero Poerxiusi. For another example, Medea helped Jason capture golden fleece for love, betrayed his father, killed his brother, and wholeheartedly followed Jason to a foreign country. Later, he was old and abandoned. Her indignation kindled the fire of revenge in her heart. She first designed to burn the bride and her father, and then killed her son with Jason. There was a terrible expression on her face, intoxicated with the joy of revenge. She held the child's body and drove away with Lapras in the air. Jason drew his sword in despair and committed suicide. Medea retaliated by the most cruel means, and her strong and fierce character was really incisive. All these can be seen that the Greek gods are very human, which also reflects the fundamental outlook on life of Greek mythology, people-oriented, passionate about real life, and supreme love.
Therefore, the great gods in China ancient mythology are full of divinity. They are solemn, without aura, completely sanctified and idolized, and the Greek gods are extremely personalized and artistic, with rich images.
(3) Values
In terms of values, there are obvious differences between China and Greek mythology. China mythology emphasizes the moral responsibility of society, while Greek mythology emphasizes individualism, which can be reflected in God.
The gods in China mythology have a strong sense of social responsibility and dedication. Gun, as a metaphor for water control, highlights a spirit of advancing wave upon wave and selfless dedication; The goddess of mending the sky embodies the great creative spirit and broad love of the nation; Jingwei fills the sea, and Kuafu improves the quality of self-sacrifice for the benefit of future generations. These gods take the world as their own responsibility and speak for the people of the world. They are all saints who are self-denying and dedicated to the public and have lofty aspirations. Greek mythology tends to be self-centered, emphasizing humanity and individuality and attaching importance to personal interests. This is mainly reflected in Greek mythology's respect for egoism, affirmation of adventure possession and concern for material interests. For example, the dispute over the Golden Apple describes three goddesses fighting for beauty. Legend has it that the goddess of quarrelling threw a golden apple engraved with "For the most beautiful" at the wedding of peleus, the father of Achilles, which caused the competition among the three goddesses. Zeus didn't dare to offend anyone, so he threw the question to Paris, the prince of Troy, who was grazing on the mountain. Aphrodite, the beautiful god, was amazing in beauty and won the golden apple with the attractive reward of "Helen". This shows that the Greeks fully agree with people's desires. In addition, many heroic stories are actually personal struggles. For example, Hercules chose the road of hard struggle and adventure. He accomplished twelve great things, and was finally accepted by Zeus, became a god, and made brilliant achievements in life. The values embodied in ancient Greek mythology are mainly manifested in self-identification, pursuit of freedom, respect for human nature and publicity of desire, commitment and pursuit of happiness.
In a word, China mythology emphasizes personal sacrifice and advocates moral ethics of serving the public, selflessness and supremacy of virtue, while Greek mythology emphasizes the pursuit of personal interests. The former values righteousness over profit, while the latter values profit over righteousness.
(D) the relationship between man and God
The gods and heroes in China's mythology were created in separate stories, and there was no close relationship between them. "This is an interesting phenomenon different from Greek mythology, that is, in the whole myth system, there is no supreme god, and there is no absolute obedience between the five emperors after opening the gods, but they rule the east, west, north and south respectively." The boundary of the transformation between God and man in China mythology is vague. To become a god, you only need to practice hard, and God and people can be connected. However, God and man cannot get married. The marriage between God and man is seldom happy, and usually ends in a sad tragedy. For example, Cowherd and Weaver Girl, Dong Zhuo and Seven Fairys all ended in tragedy. In addition, people have great respect for God. The words "Shun Tian An Min" and "Dai Tian" can show the ancient people in China's expectation of the tacit understanding between man and nature.
The gods in Greek mythology are arranged in a prominent blood relationship. God will always be a god and will not be reduced to a mortal. Mortals can only be mortals, not gods. The essence of God and man is unchangeable. However, God can marry people and give birth to a demigod hero. These heroes made immortal contributions through struggle and became one of the gods. In addition, where god and man are not completely at peace, the gods enjoy themselves on Mount Olympus and don't care about everyone's sufferings. There are many stories about the opposition between man and God, such as the story of talos and Niobo.
(5) The reasons why the images of China and Greek mythical gods are different.
There are two reasons for the differences in appearance, character and emotion between China and Greek gods:
On the one hand, they came into being in different times. The myth of China was formed much earlier, when wild animals were regarded as sacred pets by China people. Due to the influence of totem worship, the worship of god beast was unified, and the image of "man and beast are one" appeared in mythology. Compared with the myth of China, the Greek myth came into being relatively late. According to Engels' analysis: "When the Greeks stepped onto the historical stage, they were already standing on the threshold of civilized times; ..... matriarchy has given way to patriarchy. "At this time, Greece is in the Homer era or the heroic era, which is far from the ancient totem worship era, so it is less influenced by totem worship.
On the other hand, it lies in the different concepts formed by the two peoples in different living environments. The combination of man and animals in China's mythology embodies the ancient China people's desire to live in harmony with nature. Due to the relatively superior natural conditions, people are full of gratitude for the gift of nature, so the description of God is mainly positive, although there are some fierce gods, but they are far lower than the positive gods in the godhead. This gratitude constitutes the concept of protecting people's safety and protecting their lives. The Greeks believe that heaven and man are opposites, they live in a harsh environment, and people need to constantly struggle with nature. The similarity between god and man shows the ancient Greeks' thought of opposing heaven.
Other aspects:
A striking similarity in theme.
Myth originated from ancient clan society, which is the primitive thinking form of ancestors and a special reflection of nature and history. Therefore, regardless of ancient China or ancient Greece, their myths are the products of ancient clan society. There are many similarities.
(A) about the creation of the universe
Both China and Greece regard the primitive universe as a chaotic whole. "Taiping Yu Lan? The third calendar in May recorded the myth of China's creation: "Heaven and earth are as turbid as chicken eggs, and Pangu was born in them. Eight thousand years old, heaven and earth open, sunny for the sky, cloudy for the ground. Pangu is among them, changing nine times a day. God is in heaven and saint is on earth. The sky is ten feet high, the earth is ten feet thick and Pangu is ten feet long. Therefore, at the age of eight thousand, the number of days is extremely high, the land is extremely deep, and Pangu is extremely long, so I will go to Wan Li in the next day. "In ancient Greek mythology, according to hesiod's genealogy, the universe
It was a mess at first. Heaven and earth are indistinguishable, and land, water and air are mixed together. At this time, the God of Chaos, Chaos and his wife, Nyx, the night god, followed by Gaia, Tal talos and Uhlas, the goddess of love. Uhlas, the god of love, created heaven and earth. He shot an arrow into the center of the earth and gave birth to plants, animals and birds.
(2) About the emergence of human beings
China and Greece were created by Pangu and eros respectively, but there were no human beings. Wouldn't it be a pity? In fact, Nu Wa and Prometheus have long thought of this. According to the custom of Hanshu Ying Shao? "Yi Tong" said: "It is said that heaven and earth have opened and there is no one. Nu Wa can't provide enough for working as a person and performing a play, so she holds a rope in the mud and holds it as a person. Therefore, rich people are also loess people; Poor ordinary people are also people. " The ancient Greeks believed that after the creation of heaven and earth, Prometheus, the descendant of the gods exiled by Zeus, made a little creature like himself out of the soil with the seeds of the gods, mixed it into the river, and then absorbed good and evil from the hearts of lions, foxes, cows, eagles, pigeons and other animals and planted it in people's chests, making people brave and fearless. To be sure, Nu Wa and Prometheus never discussed this great project. The reason why people are made of clay is that they are made according to the appearance of people, which just reflects that the ancestors of China and Greece shaped God according to the appearance of people, and embodies the idea that primitive people walk with God.
(C) the flood myth
For some unknown reason, mankind has become worse and worse, so it has been condemned by heaven. A huge flood destroyed mankind, leaving only one or two survivors.
In China, there are many myths about floods, such as the flood control of Yu Yi, the goddess mending the sky and marrying Nu Wa's younger brother and sister. Lei Gong flooded and drowned human beings. Only Nu Wa and his brother sat in the gourd and escaped the flood and were saved. So they got married and gave birth to a strange stone. After it is broken, it becomes fish and shrimp, birds and beasts in the mountains and people in the village. In Greece, in order to punish mankind, Zeus decided to destroy mankind with floods, so he called the gods together. The winds in all directions were ordered to gather clouds, and heavy rain and floods flooded the country. All the creatures there drowned. Deucalion built an ark at the suggestion of his father Prometheus, so only he and his wife Pilars were saved. On the ninth day of the flood, they took a boat to Mount Parnassus in Fox. Ducalion asked Simis, the goddess of justice, how to regenerate human beings. The goddess said that only by throwing the bones of Mother Earth behind us can human beings be resurrected. Ducalion guessed that the so-called bones of the earth refer to stones. He did this, and all the stones thrown by pilar turned into men, and all the stones thrown by pilar on 150 turned into women. From the flood myths of the two countries, we can see their similarities: both regard the flood as God's will, and only one man and one woman remain after the flood. They created human beings, and they are all related to stones.
There are similarities between China and Greek mythology, but there are also many obvious differences in content.
(1) They have their own characteristics in shaping gods: the gods in China mythology are half-man, half-beast, while the gods in ancient Greek mythology are the same person. Most of the gods in China mythology are non-human or half-human. According to statistics, among the more than 450 gods in Shan Hai Jing, the ratio of humanoid gods to non-humanoid gods is about one to four. Although these gods love human beings, labor and heroic beauty, they are not beautiful in appearance and have different forms. For example, Pangu and Candle dragon, snake-shaped figures Fuxi and Nuwa, Yandi and Shennong, Zhuan Xu, face and beak, and Queen Mother of the West all created gods according to their own images: gods have the same body, personality, secular desires and emotions. For example, many gods in mythology are willful, love pleasure, have strong vanity, jealousy and revenge, and sometimes secretly go down the mountain to have sex with beautiful men and women on earth. Most of the gods represented by Zeus also like to play tricks on mankind, and even intend to destroy mankind again and again. The ancient Greeks thought that God was the perfect embodiment of man, so they created God in the image of man. The only difference between God and human beings is that people eat humble meals, while God enjoys the delicious food and nectar of the immortal family. People's clothes are coarse and hemp, and they are full of silks and satins; People will die, but God is immortal. God is smarter, stronger and taller than people. But God has no power to dominate the fate of mankind (as can be seen from Plato's Drinking). In some cases, people can confront, confront and even defeat God.